Getting your Utility ATV to the ride area may be as easy as loading it into the bed of your truck and hauling off down to the trail head.
Most of the ATV’s wight will rest inside the bed of the average truck, but in some cases the the rear tires may be sitting on your truck’s tailgate. Considering the weight of your ATV, how strong are the cables that hold your truck’s tailgate in position?
After getting my ATV ready for a long ride I had headed out in my trusty Chevy to ride in the North Georgia mountains with the rear wheels resting firmly on the tailgate.
As I turned off the pavement and onto a dirt road I realized I had a serious problem. When the road got rough I noticed a few hard bumps had loosened the ATV up in the bed of the truck so I pulled over to get a better look.
Upon inspection I discovered the cables on the bed had stretched creating slack in the ATV’s tie-down straps!
During a recent visit to Merchant Automotive in Zeeland, MI for a transmission fix I found a replacement tailgate strap made of high strength steel plate.
This system not only replaces the cables, but bolts right into the stock bolt holes on my truck and folds up to allow the closing of the tailgate.
If you have a truck with tailgate cables I encourage you to look closely at your current cables and consider the replacement of them with the steel plate type from Merchant Automotive.
If your tailgate cables stretch or break you could lose your ATV from the back of your truck while driving, which could result in severe damage to your ATV or serious injury to a fellow motorist.
Its worth a closer look for the security of your ATV.
