Hauling Polaris 700 ATV in a Ranger pickup.

[biggerten]

I have a '99 Ranger pickup, and am considering the purchase of a 2003 Polaris 700. I've obtained the dimensions of the ATV, it's 81" long, 46" wide, ground clearance 11 1/4".

I've measured the box as 50" wide between the sidewalls, not the wheel wells. The ATV tires would have to 'hook' over the wheel wells - this may actually have it's advantages in prevent back and forth travel while hauling, it seems to me. Could be wrong, though.

I've convinced myself that, with the gate down, the ATV will physically fit in there (I'd have to secure it, obviously). I'm also aware that I would need to take care not to break the rear window while loading and hauling.

What I'd like to ask is the following.

Does anyone have any practical experience with the same or similar situation? Things in the real world aren't always what they are on paper. I'm looking for a few 'warm fuzzies' on the idea before I drive 150 miles and find something I overlooked.

Any comments are appreciated, and thanks in advance.

 

[2fast2]

I know tailgates aren't what they used to be, in terms of strength, even with the full size pickups. Nor are the support cables or straps. I personally wouldn't haul any ATV if both sets of tires weren't IN the box (not resting on the tailgate.) I'd suggest loading directly to the box, too, not onto and over the tailgate.
Good luck.

 

[TWO GUNS]

Let me see if I can explain what I'm thinking ..
If one could take a boards,(plywood) and lay it down the full length of the bed and the TAILGATE. That way, the weight of the front of the ATV would help support the back weight, it being on one piece of wood, would take some of the pressure of the tailgate itself. Being a sheet of plywood is 96 x 48 . Your ATV would fit on it ..... might would get a 3/4 inch plywood and put you some support boards running length of the plywood. Hope I explained this well enough >>>> anything to get some weight off the back gate.
Be sure to paint it before use. That way water will not get into the wood and ruin your little investment ....
When tying down the atv, run rachet straps or cam straps from the back of the atv pulling toward the front. I seen a brand new atv two years ago come out of a pick-up on the way from a dealership. The owner said he never thought that that machine could hop out of a truck. But nature sure show him a new thing in life ....

 

[Baucom]

The plywood idea is good. I hauled 3 and 4 wheelers in the bed of a short bed S-10 a lot when I was younger, and guys I rode with hauled 350-400cc ~600-650# 4-wheelers in the bed of compact trucks--Mazda B series, Ford Ranger long bed, Toyota Tacomas, etc. They fit with no problem, and that 700 should fit in a Ranger w/ no problems. The plywood idea is good though, especially since a Sportsman is on the heavy side for an atv. I'd tie it with 4 ratchet straps--2 running from the front bed tie down cleats to the rear of the 4 wheeler pulling to the front, and 2 more running from the rear tie down cleats to the front of the 4-wheeler pulling to the back. Do it right and it won't budge--I had a wreck in April with my Honda tied like this in the back of my Titan and it didn't even budge; if I'd only had 2 straps pulling to the front I'm sure it would've taken out my toolbox, front of my bed, and probably my rear window in the process.

 

[SuperDuty335]

My Sportsman would fit. Unfortunately it fit through the back glass, too.

 

[timswi]

My Sportsman would fit. Unfortunately it fit through the back glass, too.

LOL...Not to laugh at your expense. A dude I know did the same thing. Ran it up the ramps too fast and slid on the bedliner..Smashed the bed bulkhead into the cab and blew out the back window. Brand new truck too. I never let him live it down.

 

[TWO GUNS]

Game Wardens in our area has the best set-up.

Going across the top, across the front of the bed is a heavy section of angle iron going the full with of the bed. On top of that , they have a " protective bar " if you want to call it, angled up and bar'd across to keep the front of their four-wheelers from entering the back glass. Nice set up for sure.
Also, I've seen men take 4x4 post, and set it in the front section of the bed of the truck, to keep the wheeler from going any further, something like a parking block .

 

[Dargo]

My Sportsman would fit. Unfortunately it fit through the back glass, too.

LOL! Sorry, but I did something similar. I can honestly say that I won the last motocross race I ever raced in. I was 15 years old at the time (yeah, they had motorcycles back then!) and was all jacked up after winning the 2nd heat after previously winning the 1st heat. After the 2nd heat of each race my dad would always have a 2X8 board propped up on the tailgate for me to drive my bike up into the bed of the truck after the last heat. I'd forgotten all about previously complaining to him about the board being slick if my rear tire was muddy and him painting it with some paint he'd mixed sand in. In my excitement I cracked the throttle going up the ramp into the truck (as I usually did for fun). The difference was that I got plenty of traction this time. My front wheel went right into the rear window of the truck and I did an awkward flip over the handlebars landing on the hood of the truck with my back, crushing the hood down really bad.

As you'd expect, rather than asking if I was okay as I was writhing in pain on the ground in front of the truck my dad just proceeded to scream at me with colorful language until the medical staff got there. That resulted in my only trip in an ambulance. In reflection, I can't say if I decided to ride to the hospital in the ambulance because I was hurting so much or because I was afraid to ride with my dad. Oh, two ruptured discs was the damage and I ended up missing almost a month of school.

 

[JasG]

One question which leads to a 2nd, does this ATV have floor boards? Will they clear the wheel wells, you noted the bed wide being 50" and the ATV 46", if it has them will it clear width and or vertically?

 

[SuperDuty335]

Luckily it wasn't my truck and if I remember correctly I didn't have to pay anything...weird. Anyway, a Polaris Sportsman will have at least 10" of ground clearance if you want to measure how tall the wheel well is and compare.