Materials to Use

• To ensure the maximum safety and security of your ATV on the trailer, you should always use straps that are designed to tie down vehicles. Avoid using standard ropes with knots to secure the ends, as these are not made to hold significant weight and a shift in direction could send the ATV careening off the trailer. Instead, look for tie-down straps that have hooks and ratchets on them. These will typically be rated to withstand very heavy pressure and weight, and the hooks will allow you to secure them to the corners or edges of the trailer. The ratchets enable you to tighten the straps down as much as possible with relatively little effort.
  
  

Tying Down an ATV

• With the ATV parked on the trailer and the brakes engaged, you are now ready to tie it down securely. For maximum safety, you should use four separate straps, one for each side of the ATV. For each strap, hook one end onto the ATV itself. ATVs usually have bars and tie-down points located in various areas for securing a strap. You want something that won't easily break off or cause the strap hook to slip during transit. Once you hook the tie-down strap to the ATV, you need to hook the other end to the trailer itself. You should go directly out and down from the tie-down point on the ATV. Don't cross the strap over to the other side of the ATV or try to loop it around. Instead, you want as little distance as possible from the ATV tie-down point to the trailer tie-down point. Most trailers have several hooks and areas to secure a strap, so look for the closest one and hook the strap in securely.
  
  Now you will need to pass the excess piece of strap through the ratchet and begin to cinch the strap tight. Depending on the model of the tie-down, you may do this by repeatedly ratcheting the cinch or you may be able to simply pull tight and then ratchet only a few times. The trick is to tighten the strap in such a way that the ATV actually pulls down somewhat. This will compress the shock absorbers and put additional downward pressure on the tires, ensuring that if you hit any bumps in the road, the ATV doesn't bounce up and down on the shocks and jar the straps loose. Once all the straps are secured and tightened, take the excess strap and tie it into a knot just below the ratchet. This will simply prevent the excess from dangling below the trailer and possibly getting caught on something. To test the tie-down job, push the ATV in each direction slightly. There should be no excess sliding of the ATV and the trailer should move just as the ATV moves because they're securely fastened to one another.