As the “SRV” gauge on my Ranger UTV crawled closer and closer to zero, I had been trying to figure out how and when to take my vehicle to the dealer for service before it counted down to zero.
I considered servicing it myself, but it required more than an oil change. I knew I could change the oil. I knew I could also grease the fittings on the front sway bar and the prop shaft. Changing the transmission fluid shouldn’t be too hard, but I had no idea how to change the “demand fluid” in the front gearcase. Honestly, I didn’t even know demand fluid was, but a quick online search shows it’s a “specialized full-synthetic, high-performance lubricant designed specifically for the front gearcases and Hilliard clutch systems of Polaris Off-road Vehicles (ORVs).” In other words, some fancy lube Polaris insists you use to stay under warranty. And I did not know how to inspect and adjust the shift cable. So I decided to let the professionals do the work.
To complicate matters, the Polaris dealer is 90 minutes away, and I don’t have a trailer. My neighbor would lend me his. It has a license plate, but no lights. I’m willing to drive that locally, but not to the big city where they love to ticket us country folk for little things like not having working lights. So I brought it to my local UTV/ATV repair shop. Plus, I’d have a receipt and proof I had done the service, should I ever need to make a warranty claim.
In Praise of Local Businesses
I stopped by, made an appointment, and they ordered the Polaris parts they needed, which included an air filter and all the fluids.
When I got there, everything went fine at the shop. They were nice guys: friendly, helpful, and efficient—finishing the work less than four hours. I showed him how I had installed the winch, and the owner recommended running one wire differently. When I picked up the vehicle, he had made the fix for me, no charge.
This drove home the reason I like to support local mom-and-pop businesses. We chatted, and it turned out he knew the fellow who sold us our house. He also knew his mother and brother, both of whom are deceased. I met his stepdaughter, who does his administrative work and who called to tell me when my vehicle was ready. Small businesses here in rural America are like businesses were when I was a kid: they know their customers and likely their customer’s neighbors.
Fun with Trailers and Towing
It has been about four years since I towed anything. My truck was fine. The rearview camera makes lining up the hitch and the tongue a breeze. One switch turns on “towing mode,” which changes the gear shift points for hauling, and the trailer and UTV combined weighed about half my 6,000-pound towing capacity. That part was fine. The challenging part was backing down my driveway, which includes two 90-degree turns and the possibility of running off the road and down into the creek if you make a mistake.
In the end, I managed it, but it was neither smooth nor easy. That first turn is a killer. It took me at least four tries. I was happy the trailer was empty. I did it a second time after I dropped the UTV off, and I can’t say I had improved much. On our return trip, I dropped the trailer off at my neighbor’s and drove the Polaris home from there. It was the first time I had driven it on a paved road.
My firewood delivery guy backs down my driveway like it is nothing. Maybe he has to pull forward a few feet one time, but nothing like I did. Of course, he probably backs down several driveways every day, but I am more impressed by that now than I was.
The trailer was also small. I had about two inches to spare on each side, but the dump bed hung over the rear so far that we could not close the gate. So I offloaded the vehicle and backed on. It didn’t matter. Now my nose stuck out. We ended up using my ratchet straps to tie the gate open. Another reason I was glad I didn’t have to drive 90 minutes.
Transport Prep
If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you can imagine that every storage nook and cubbyhole in the Ranger is crammed with gear. I had to remove all of this to take it in for service. They have to remove the under-seat storage to get to the battery and some other components, and after inadvertently showing the ammo stash in my wife’s car to the police officer a month ago, I didn’t want to make that mistake twice. So I removed everything and stuck it in a big cardboard box. This also gave me an opportunity to review everything I keep in the vehicle.
Rough Country, the folks who make the windshield, warn you not to tow with it in place, and because it is held in place with Velcro straps, I can understand why. But that meant I had to remove the windshield and the side mirrors to transport the Polaris. This was easily done. Reinstalling the windshield was more trouble and required four hands. I even had to refer to the original instructions.
Then I had to reinstall the mirrors, only to learn I should have installed them before I put in the windshield. Thankfully, I could loosen the windshield straps and reinstall the mirrors rather than remove it completely. Then I loaded all the gear up, and I’m back in business.
Instead of spending my time crawling under the vehicle, removing drain plugs and then torqueing them back down to spec, I feel like I spent my time preparing it for transport and trailering it. I may think twice the next time, which isn’t for 200 hours. I’m guessing I won’t need to take it in for service again until 2028.
Chickens and Bees
We have been experiencing another week of surprisingly warm weather where the temperatures even squeaked into the 70s. Much to the delight of my honeybees, the tops of the maple trees are turning red, which means they have a natural source of pollen. This will help them build their hive strength.
The chickens are also expressing their satisfaction with the warm weather, and we are suddenly getting eight or nine eggs per day. That’s not bad for 12 hens. We sold our first two dozen last week.
Temperatures are expected to drop this week, and we may get more cold weather later in March, but as long as there isn’t a freeze that kills the apple or other fruit tree buds, no one will complain. Even though the calendar turns to spring in two weeks, our last frost date is in mid-May. But my wife is starting her seeds indoors for the garden and has asked me to pick up 12 bags of raised bed soil, both signs of spring.
I know there’s a war going on, and gas prices here have jumped from $2.67 to $3.09 and then $3.19 the next day, but life goes on. Try not to forget that.
