Owners of quad bikes, a.k.a. ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicle), know that their machines are capable of so much more than just riding on dirt tracks and having fun in the bush. It’s also very capable of towing stuff! Quad bikes are used on farms, factory plants, hunting expeditions, basically in any environment where you need to transport items quickly and without hassle, especially when you do not have proper access via a road.
Quad bikes, or ATVs, can tow weights ranging from 500lb-1650lb, the average for a full-sized quad being around 1200lb. Check your quad’s rating towing capacity to confirm recommended towing weight. When towing in wet and muddy conditions or up and down hills, you may have to tow less.
Quad bikes have become very popular in the workspace. Together with the quad’s maneuverability and the ability to tow, it has made it an irreplaceable machine, especially for farmers and businesses run from an outdoor perspective. This article will explore what you can tow with your quad and what you should not saddle your quad up with to tow.
What Can A Quad Bike Tow?
When answering the question of what a quad bike can tow, we need to look at the towing capacity of your quad. Here we need to confirm the GVWR rating as well as a few other ratings of your quad first:
- GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) refers to the maximum amount of weight the trailer can safely hold and transport, as rated by your quad bike manufacturer.
- GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) also indicates how much the trailer and the payload should weigh together.
- The maximum tongue weight (maximum weight on the hitch point).
- The maximum rear and front load capacity.
After confirming your quad’s specific gross vehicle weight rating, you will now be armed with a specific weight indication of the weight you can tow successfully. If you have a quad trailer already, and you feel that the payload you can successfully tow is relatively small, you might want to think about investing in a trailer that weighs a little less.
When you install a three-point hitch attachment to the rear of your quad, almost any type of implement attachment can be mounted to your machine, not just a usual quad trailer. The ability to lift the implement will open up a host of new applications for which you can use your quad.
Quads are used in a range of different fields, environments and have many uses that you may not be aware of:
Farming With Your Quad
Quads have become a farmer’s best friend. They can do the same job as lots of expensive equipment, are quick and mobile, and perfect for off-road jobs, which are difficult to access by bigger machinery.
Cultivating/Harrowing
To ensure that your piece of farmland yields a successful crop, you need to do an excellent job when preparing your land. A thoroughly cultivated seedbed is crucial in the preparation process.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A wide variety of cultivators and harrow drags.
- These implements hook straight onto your quad’s trailer hitch.
- The result should, even if a little less effective, be just as good as if you were using a full-sized tractor.
Plowing
After harvesting all your crops, usually just before fall arrives, you will need to start preparations for the following growing season.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A Chisel plow or disk plow attachment.
- These attachments being towed by your quad will do a great job at plowing your fields.
Manure Spreading
One of the more unique implements that you can get for your quad to help with the composting process of your land is the manure spreader.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A manure spreader.
- These small yet highly effective manure spreaders are ideal for small-scale farmers or people with above-average-sized gardens.
Pasture Topping/ Field/Lawn Mowing
Putting your quad to work when your large lawn or field needs a haircut is way better than pushing a lawnmower around. Tractors and riding mowers are becoming outdated when it comes to mowing your land. A high-yielding pasture needs to be maintained through topping it.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- Assortments of flail mowers.
- This mower is stronger than a regular lawnmower and easily copes with taller grass and scrub.
- Compact rotary mowers.
- Extreme duty mowers.
Building Fences
Farmers and most landowners are constantly building fences, and when they are not building new ones, they are fixing existing ones. It is hard work, and often involves getting into hard-to-reach areas, and could involve a lot of heavy carrying. Not if you have quad!
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- Fence poles, fence wire, rolls, and all the tools you require (on a trailer), making the project of building or restoring fences so much easier.
Windrowing And Raking
When it comes to creating windrows of your freshly cut grass, quad rakes like full-scale rakes will do the job perfectly. Should you plan on baling your grass later, you will have to create these windrows. These rakes are also useful in dethatching a lawn.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A motorless rake whose small wheels rotate by way of friction when they touch the ground.
Hauling And Feeding Grain Feed
The process of getting grain feed from the storage facility to the free-range sheep, chickens, pigs, or cows feeding trays requires great physical effort. Filling bags with the grain feed, transporting it to the feeding trays, and emptying the bags is one way to do it.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- Bags filled with grain feed on a quad trailer.
- A hopper-style feeder that attaches easily to your quad, featuring a simplistic auger to feed the grain into the animal’s feeder tanks.
- Specialized hay trailers that allow full-sized round hay bales to be hauled.
Tilling The Soil
Tilling is the combined action of harrowing and plowing at the same time. People on homestead farms or small-scale farms normally use motorized tillers that are pushed by hand. Not the case when you own a quad.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A tiller that attaches to your quad, making the tilling job a lot easier.
Planting Grain Seed
Planting grain seeds is typically done using a tractor with either a row planter or a grain drill. These implements plants seeds in rows, from corn, grain, peas, cereal grains, sunflowers, and sorghum. You can also use a quad bike to plant seeds.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A seed row planter (typically a planter that plants 2-4 rows).
- A grain drill that caters for rows that are closer together and higher in seed numbers.
Spraying Weeds
Weeds are a problem that every landowner has to face. Whether it is fields or the rougher pastures that need spraying, doing it with your quad makes this task easy.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A quad sprayer that you strap onto the bike’s cargo rack.
- A sprayer model that is mounted on a trailer with wheels.
Dethatching
If you have a lawn to care for or a big field, you probably have had your run-ins with thatch (layer of dead turfgrass tissue lying between the green grass vegetation above the root system). When thatch becomes 1-inch thick or thicker, it becomes a problem as it starts blocking air, water, and nutrients meant for the root system.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- Various models of dethatchers get rid of this dead grass quickly and easily.
Hunting With Your Quad
Quad bikes have become very popular when it comes to hunting. The hunting community is divided as some feel the use of a quad is unjust and disregards the principle of what a fair chase embodies (hunting your prey on foot). Some states have banned the use of quads while hunting. Other states are more lenient.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- With an added winch in the front, a hunting trailer will make transporting equipment and game easy and convenient.
- A moose or deer on “clean” areas and short distances via a tow strap that is hooked to your quad.
General Rules To Remember When Hunting With A Quad:
- Make sure it’s legal in your state to hunt with your quad and learn the safety regulations of the area that you are planning to hunt in.
- Never shoot from your quad bike, instead only use your quad to access hunting areas, and where it is permitted, pack out your kill.
- Refrain from chasing and hunting wildlife with your quad. It’s both illegal and irresponsible.
Snow Fishing With Your Quad
Fishing in the snow is a difficult yet rewarding experience. When you are at the mercy of the winter elements, you will need all the help you can get. Fishing with your quad makes hauling gear, refreshments, and all the required items needed for a trip in the snow and ice more bearable.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A sled, just as long as there is some level of snow on the ground (sleds are usually made from impact-resistant synthetic material).
- A snow trailer for when there is little to no snow on the ground-a sled will wear out fast when pulled over bare ground.
- Both options are ideal for hauling cargo over ice and snow.
Helpful Hints When Using A Quad To Go Ice Fishing:
- Havea flotation device fitted on your quad before you head off on your ice fishing expedition, ice can give in under the weight of you and your quad, and the floatation device can be the difference between life and death.
- Example: Nebulus Emergency Floatation Device.
Wood Logging With Your Quad
Logging wood and collecting firewood is a very necessary exercise for many staying in cold secluded areas. Putting your quad to work and adding some implements will not only make this job a little easier but make your winter a little warmer as well.
Skidding
Most skidding arches work by lifting the log a few inches from the ground at the front; it makes for cleaner transport of said log. Should you plan to mill the log, it’s better to use a quad trailer to transport the log. You can transform your quad into a super effective little skidder by simply hooking up a skidding arch.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- Some beefy 20-25″ inch logs.
- Or 3-5 smaller 5” inch logs when gathering some firewood.
- A trailer filled with logs under the recommended towing weight.
Log Splitting
When you need to refill your wood storage at your remote cabin, a log splitter makes a big difference. You don’t need to haul and split your wood next to a road.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- A wood splitter.
- A trailer to haul the split wood to your wood storage at your remote cabin.
Camping With Your Quad
Some people love to camp light and do the whole backpacking vibe; others prefer to pack appropriately for a week from home and include some luxuries. If you fall into the second group of campers, camping with a quad makes sense, especially if long trails are included.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- All sorts of quad camping trailers to haul all the required luggage, refreshments, and camping gear that will not fit onto the storage space located on the actual quad.
Helpful Hint When Buying A Quad Camping Trailer:
- Purchase a high-quality trailer from the start, one with a long-travel suspension, as you don’t want to have to fix a trailer anytime soon.
Hauling With Your Quad
The best thing about a quad is the ability to transport a wide range of materials in a tough, well-built quad trailer. Quads can tow heavy loads without tipping the trailer if you are within the manufacturer’s tow weight guidelines. A quad is a versatile worker when it comes to moving material.
With A Quad Bike, You Can Tow:
- Sand
- Cement
- Wood
- Metal
- Concrete blocks
- Rubble
- Rocks
- Cement
- Tools
- Trailers
- All sorts of materials (below the GVWR threshold)
Many remote wood cabins would not exist today if it were not for a quad bike’s ability to transport building materials, gas, and food to these difficult-to-reach venues.
What Can’t You Tow With A Quad Bike?
However, the answer should be relatively obvious to clarify anything weighing more than the recommended Cross Vehicle Weight Rating provided by the manufacturer of your quad should not be towed. The manufacturers have thoroughly tested what weight your quad can safely and comfortably tow.
As previously mentioned at the beginning of the article, the CVWR also indicates how much the trailer and the payload should weigh together. For example, if your CVWR total is 1200lb, you will be able to tow objects weighing this weight (544kg)—anything weighing more than this weight can’t be towed successfully.
What Should You Not Tow With A Quad?
There are certain things you should not tow even when it falls under the recommended weight. Moving objects that could change the center of gravity could lead to the load becoming unstable, and in turn, could result in your quad rolling.
The following objects are not be towed:
- Liquids (Flammable or Hazardous).
- Live Animals.
- Insecure or Unstable Loads.
Conclusion
Hopefully, after reading this article, you will look at your quad differently. A quad can be fitted with so many implements, and it’s able to transform, just like a Transformer, into an all-around super machine. It can tow a variety of objects and can be useful in so many ways.
When you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding loading and towing weights, you should experience no problems with regards to towing with your quad. Only when you start operating outside of these parameters will you start to experience trouble and complications.
Educating yourself with regards to towing safety protocols is always a good idea. Have fun testing out new ways to put your quad to work!
References
How to tow with an ATV – Quad Bike Guide
ATV Tips: Understand the Towing Capabilities of Your Quad (outdoorlife.com)
