Cleaning your 3 wheeler questions..

[atc350xer]

Wisk laundry detergent.

Keister showed me that one... works great!

[El Camexican]

I use liquid dish soap, like Sunlight in warm water and a big sponge. Rinse, rub, rinse. Your hands will be baby butt pink when you're done. For 2 stroke oil and chain lube stains spray them with WD-40 first, cuts it like butter. Maybe wipe those areas with a rag before hitting it with the clean soapy sponge. There are plastic polishes out there, but be carefull as the ones for car headlighst can leave a dull finish, so find a good practice spot like under the seat to test it. If you are looking to impress your buddies, or take photos, a light fogging with WD-40 after cleaning makes plastic and engines look like new...for a while anyway. Stay away from the brakes, hand grips, tires, seat, etc.

[Nubbinz]

I dont wash my quad or trike... the film of dirt preserves the plastics, the one or two times i have washed them they look brand new because everything is protected because of the dirt, and all i did was use a sponge and a hose, no soap... the trike gets left under a roof but my 93 kingquad is always out in the sun... just throwing that out there... oh yeah, itll prob disolve the coating on wires but pb blaster is kinda like wd40 but stronger, its the only thing ive ever seen that will straight up disolve gear oil... also maybe try that Gojo hand wash on anything other then metal components, hope it helps

[atctim]

I don't use Wisk, but the really cheap laundry detergent. I have a big 3 gallon pump sprayer. I mix laundry soap and water 50/50. Hit the bike everywhere with it (do not do this in direct sunlight, do not let it dry, do not do it on a hot bike). Let it sit for 3 - 5 minutes, then pressure wash. This gets 90% of the dirt off. I think it was Ditchmud who originally found this secret.

In the past 3 years this is the only way I have ever washed all the mud and gunk off my (new then) XR650L. and because of this method, the plastics still look brand new, no scratches from washing with a mit or sponge. Then I dry them off with compressed air. WD40 on the chain to dissipate the water!

[zzmegad]

awesome thread dcreel, lots of good info on a simple task that has lots of differant tricks...

I also use a pump sprayer to apply the soapy water, I love that

[Jon Boy]

spray bottle of Mean Green, water, rag, toothbrush and a rag on a wire coat hanger to get into the intake tube inside the frame and that's all.

[brd812]

never heard the laundry soap one. got a try that. thanks Tim

[dear140]

i always wash with a car wash concentrate looks good. for getting dirt and oxidation and such off of your engine use Greased Lightning it's a great product and it is cheap.

[bansheekx]

I always use laundry soap and alott of elbow grease brushing and wiping. WD40 on all of the bare metal parts and pledge furniture polish on the plastic to make it shine.

[Mr_RPM]

Theres a product called SC1, they call it new quad in a can

its a plastic polish, works amazingly. works good on the jeeps fender flares too.

just spray it on and let it set for 30 seconds and you will have a beautiful dry finish

[Xpress]

I've tried a LOT of things to clean my bikes and make them look presentable. Dawn dish soap with water in LOTS of different mixtures, oven degreasers (do NOT use if you like your paint), carb cleaners, starting fluid, toothbrushes, ect. ect. and NOTHING seems to work as well as WD-40 does. WD-40 is a degreaser and it's quite cheap for what it does.

What I do is I spray it all over the dusty, dirty and greasy parts of the bike, and give it a good soaking. One can will clean 2-3 bikes depending on how much you use. I let it soak in for about 10 minutes, then do a light spray over the really greasy areas, then break out the hose with a high pressure nozzle and have at it. Since the WD-40 is a degreaser it should break up the oils and whatnot and it should wash away with the high pressure water spray. I always cover up my air filters and exhaust outlets to keep the water from entering places it shouldn't go. Takes about 20 minutes total, but leaves a pretty clean bike that doesn't look like a rag when you put it away.

I generally do a quick spray of WD-40 inside of the moving joints to get out all of the water, then I go over the whole bike with the leaf blower to get most of the water out. The remaining water shouldn't hurt anything.

Don't forget to remove the plastic bags from your air filter- don't ask how I remember this

[bentthumbtriker]

dont spray wd-40 on after market ufo plastics because i got some on my yz80 and it went all dull looking like you rubbed it down with fine sand paper.

[keister]

This is my area of expertise. My method is extremely close to what described. I will give you a step by step.

1. Shut off the gas and stand your trike up on its grab bar (remove fenders on most models).
2. Hose the bike down to get the big mud off undercarriage and skid plates
3. Cover entire trike with 50/50 Wisk/water mixture from a pump sprayer (Roundup pumper works well)**
4. Light a smoke and drink a beer (~7 minutes).
5. Rinse trike - set it back on all 3 wheels
6. Repeat steps 3 & 4.
7. Air dry if its hot and sunny, otherwise use leaf blower to dry the wheeler.
8. Generously spray all plastics, rubber, lines, hoses (not the seat) with Armor All - no need to wipe it off, it will dry.
9. Spray all metal components with WD40. Especially kicker, all springs, insides of cables, and motor.
10. Finish 6-pack while and admiring its beauty.

Start to finish this process should take 30 minutes. Remember, the beauty of this is that you never touch it with a rag, sponge, brush, etc. The WD40 will remove oxidation and make your motor (especially unpainted ones) look MINT!!

**Special thanks to Ditchmud for spreading the word on the "Wisk trick." Any laundry detergent will work, but Wisk is the most expensive and hardest to find - doesn't your trike deserve the very best??

[redskinman]

This is my area of expertise. My method is extremely close to what described. I will give you a step by step.

1. Shut off the gas and stand your trike up on its grab bar (remove fenders on most models).
2. Hose the bike down to get the big mud off undercarriage and skid plates
3. Cover entire trike with 50/50 Wisk/water mixture from a pump sprayer (Roundup pumper works well)**
4. Light a smoke and drink a beer (~7 minutes).
5. Rinse trike - set it back on all 3 wheels
6. Repeat steps 3 & 4.
7. Air dry if its hot and sunny, otherwise use leaf blower to dry the wheeler.
8. Generously spray all plastics, rubber, lines, hoses (not the seat) with Armor All - no need to wipe it off, it will dry.
9. Spray all metal components with WD40. Especially kicker, all springs, insides of cables, and motor.
10. Finish 6-pack while and admiring its beauty.

Start to finish this process should take 30 minutes. Remember, the beauty of this is that you never touch it with a rag, sponge, brush, etc. The WD40 will remove oxidation and make your motor (especially unpainted ones) look MINT!!

**Special thanks to Ditchmud for spreading the word on the "Wisk trick." Any laundry detergent will work, but Wisk is the most expensive and hardest to find - doesn't your trike deserve the very best??


That took

Yeah,I stopped by Walmart this morning to pick up some WD-40 and Wisk after reading this thread,They only had a few bottles of Wisk and it was largest one they make,didnt really wanna buy the extra large bottle but I went ahead and got it

[Dammit!]

I forgot to mention the leaf blower trick. I used to do that before I sold the thing. lol.