I just bought my first aatv, it is a 04 Bigfoot with 18 hp. It seems to be in good shape. It shifts hard when warmed up and I think the idle is a little high and we water tested it and after an hr. We had about an inch or two in the bottom. My kids and I had a blast on the river but it needs a trolling motor to help go back up stream where it can't touch bottom. Thanks guys. Also where is a good spot to buy a winch and is there roll bars available or just build my own.
Welcome to the site...as for shifting try putting it in reverse before putting it in forward gear. This may make some difference..... as for a little water try greasing all the zerks....have fun...
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
—Will Rogers
Hey congrats! That's the same machine I have and it's great fun on and off the water.
I put a Superwinch 3500lb winch with the synthetic cable on mine which I got from Amazon for a good price. You will have to get a winch plate made to match up the bolt pattern which you can do yourself or get a welding shop to do for a few bucks.
I would recommend the Minn Kota Endura C2 50 Freshwater Transom Mounted Trolling Motor (42" Shaft) with the Argo 617-00 bracket. I use mine with a large marine battery and get ample time out of the battery even at the highest (5) setting on the motor. Don't expect to be wipping up and down the river however...the motor moves the argo at about the same or slightly faster speed than using the tires.
Argo does not recommend the use of roll bars in the water as they make the vehicle more unstable. My Bigfoot came with a roll cage which I removed and have not encountered any problems but your terrain may be more hilly than mine.
Also if you're planning to be in the water alot you may want to install a bilge pump if your machine doen't have one. I also replaced the drain plugs in mine with a more secure version that screw in from the inside.
Good luck and have fun!
Just curious what kind of screw in plugs are u using. I would like to find something like that.
These are the ones I installed 100-107 PLUG, DRAIN-FLANGEDOriginally Posted by wheeler
I installed them on the inside and trimmed off the plastic pieces of the plug that's suppose to prevent you losing the plug. They work very well and I've never lost a plug or had one come out on me.
One note...if this plug doesn't fit your existing holes you may need to plastic weld the holes up using HDPE and then redrill to fit the plugs. In my case the previous owner had enlarged the drain holes significanlty so I welded them up and redrilled specifically to fit this style of plug. It's easy to do and looks great.
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