Heated grips on an ATV make an absolute life-changing difference when out riding around in the winter. Warm hands allow you to shift, brake, and give it some gas with more ease and confidence. A quick installation of heated grips will be exactly what you need for this winter.
In order to prolong winter rides, we need an external source of warmth for our fingers and often our toes. This is crucial to preventing frostbite or any other cold related injuries while out on the trail. Fortunately for us, the installation of heated grips is an easy at home task that any recreational ATV rider can get done in an hour or so.
There are two main styles of heated grips for installation on your ATV. The first type will still use your original grips, but they’ll need to be removed carefully to be used later on. There is a sheet of heating pad that adheres to the handlebars and radiates heat out through the current grips. This style is less efficient due to the need to push through insulated rubber grips.
The second style is a beefier handlebar grip that has heating elements incorporated inside of it. This style is more expensive, but the installation is much easier and will work more efficiently than the previous type. For this reason, this is what we chose for teaching the installing of heated grips on an ATV.
Now it’s time to get straight to how to install heated grips on an ATV. First, you’ll want to disconnect the battery simply because you will be working with some electricity. This proves to be the safest route and will ensure that no shocks occur.
Start by removing the negative terminal, followed by the positive, in order to completely disconnect the battery.
Then you can get down to business with your ATV heated grips installation. Remove the old grips from the handlebars in whatever way you can. Often there is a strong glue used on the grips from the factory, so you may resort to cutting them off. If you want to save the grips for future use, carefully pry them up with a screwdriver and use some lubrication.
Afterwards, you can put the new grips in place, pushing them fully onto the handlebars.
Now you will need an energy source. You can connect straight to the battery, but this has the potential to drain the battery if you forget to turn them off after a ride. Using a different source that only works when the ATV is running is often the best bet.
If you have a heating element for a thumb position, adhere this to the button and use a heat gun and shrink band to get this firmly in place.
Guide the heated grips down the handlebars and connect them to something like an accessory power source.
Finally, you can reconnect the battery, try it out and go get some miles with toasty warm hands all winter long!