When you're trekking into the deep backcountry, you can never really tell what difficulties you're going to face. I guess that's half the fun of adventure riding; you're on your own if the unexpected occurs. While it helps to be prepared for any emergency, 90 percent of the difficulties on the trail are, in my experience, going to fall into one of two categories: some kind of tire failure or a machine buried in mud, sand or snow. Let's take a minute and discuss these two situations so you'll be better prepared if and when you come across them in real life.
Creation of a Deflation Situation
If you ride the backcountry enough, sooner or later you're going to deal with some serious tire issues. Most common are simple flats, ranging from frequent cactus punctures to holes big enough to stick your thumb through. Unless you have a way to patch a hole and inflate the tire, you're not going anywhere. Many times just finding the leak is difficult, and if the hole or injury is toward the inside of the wheel, it's going to be necessary to remove the wheel to make the repair. Make sure you carry the proper tools to remove both front and rear wheels. One important note: The beads on ATV tires are so strong that you'll never be able to break the bead out in the field, so count on having to make all repairs with the tire still on the rim.
Patching a small leak is fairly simple, in the case of multiple thorn or cactus bites it can usually be solved with a liquid tire sealer. Larger punctures require plugs. A plug is a soft rubber rod as thick as a pencil and about three inches long that you coat with rubber cement and force into the tire injury. Small holes can be repaired with one plug, but you can fix larger injuries by simply using more plugs. I've seen holes up to one inch in diameter repaired by this method-taking up to 20 plugs! And forget about carrying patches, even with sidewall injuries, you'll never use them. The solution is always more plugs and loads of rubber cement to lubricate them as they go in. Each ATV in your party should carry a plug kit with 10-20 fresh plugs, an installation tool and plenty of rubber cement.
Once you think you've got the leak stopped, you'll need to air up. There are two basic methods of reinflating a repaired tire. You can use a pump, either electrically or manually powered, or you can use compressed air or CO2 cartridges. Since ATV tires require a substantial volume to fill from totally flat, our favorite inflation method is a mix of the two. First add the majority of the volume of air by pumping, then use CO2 to top off the tire to final pressure. This saves CO2 cartridges, since it may take three or four of them to supply the volume needed to inflate the tire before you build any pressure at all. Tip: You'll have an easier time inflating a tire by hand if you lift the tire off the ground via a jack or a log under the axle. This way you're not trying to raise the weight of the machine as you build air pressure.
It's a good idea to carry both a pump and a CO2 inflation system. Every ATV in your party should be equipped with either a manual or electric (12-volt) pump and at least four large CO2 cartridges (I know we don't have to tell you this, but please pack out your empty cartridges).
Extraction Is the Reaction to Your Distraction
Getting stuck is the second major off-road problem. If you live in an area with sand, snow or mud, you're probably already familiar with what it takes to get out of a jam. But even in dry areas you can get in a bad spot simply by running off the edge of the trail. The key is having the right tools handy. It's either that or brute force (yours) doing the work. I suggest you do it the lazy way!
For a really buried ATV, there's no question that a winch is going to be a big help. It's a good idea to have at least one winch along on any trail expedition. Don't count on using your own winch if you're the one who's mired-it's frequently unreachable due to mud or snow or simply facing the wrong direction. As a rule of thumb, the winch on a free vehicle will be used to extract the stuck machine. When possible, it's important to anchor the pulling machine when using a winch. This will direct maximum power to the cable to complete the tow-out. You can anchor the machine just by nosing it up to a tree or stump and running the winch cable past it, or you may first need to hook up the winching ATV to a solid object with a tiedown. Since the stuck vehicle is already by definition anchored, you'll need a better anchor on the towing machine, or else nothing is going to happen-nothing good anyway. I've used a line of four ATVs linked together in series like a freight train to get enough of a proper anchor before winching.
But winches aren't always the answer, or they aren't always available. That's when you use your free machines to tow out the stuckee. While a strong rope will do in a pinch, a real tow strap is far better to use. It's light and easy to carry and usually has ready-made loops or hooks to make towing easier. Experienced backcountry riders carry two straps on each machine. Two means pulling a quad that has gone far enough off the trail to require hooking several straps together to get enough reach. However, there's another important reason to have an extra tow strap-hauling a dead ATV up or down a steep hill. The multiple straps allow hooking two or more towing quads together, like a train that has two or three locomotives. It's amazing how much power several ATVs pulling can generate. Conversely, two hooked in tandem provide more brakes for steep descents.