One of the main reasons to have a gated shifter is to keep yourself from flipping over while climbing hills. On steep inclines if your vehicle starts to get off balance and you feel like you might roll over, a gated in-line shifter allows you to slam the shifter out of low/high gear and right into reverse. This will spin your wheels the opposite direction and allow you to roll backwards rather than flipping over.
While this can take a little practice to get used to, it can greatly increase your safety while paying in the hills! Meaning that you can get out there more and conquer bigger steeper hills knowing that you have an extra tool to keep you safe should you start to flip.
Having gates on your shifter requires you to only have to pull the shifter’s trigger in order to move out of certain positions. Standard in-line shifters typically come with just one gate – out of the park position. This makes sure that you do not accidentally nudge the shifter into or out of park. High lock shifters add an additional gate – around high. This means that when you are gaining speed a stray arm, item falling off the dash, or unruly passenger wont accidently shift you out of high – leading to potentially sticky situations.
Changing out your standard shifter is as easy as apple pie … well it might actually be easier as it has even less steps. For most models, all that is required is simply removing your center console, unattaching your old shifter, and bolting in the new one.
Many people will even purchase both the high lock Gate and the Standard Gate to have both options. This allows you to quickly adapt your UTV to a wide variety of situations depending on your needs.
One of our favorite shifters is the RZR Pro XP gated shifter by Nitro Racing Parts. It is American made with high quality workmanship and easily the cream-of-the-crop.
A sleek modern design – this thing looks much better than the parts of a few decades ago.
It is a true in-line shifter with park lockout. Something that no other competitors have. Meaning that you will no longer have to worry about accidentally shifting to park!
Colored anodized grip options – black, blue, orange, or red. You can customize this shifter to fit any rig (you can even keep it as raw aluminum if that is your thing).
Shifting gears away from the RZR Pro XP Gated Shifter (….get it?), there are plenty of other solid shifters on the market. Our other recommendations include:
With how easy it is to swap many of these shifters in and out of your loadout you can do some trial and error to find out what suits you best in a variety of situations.
No matter which shifter you decide is right for your rig, you need to go take a look at our product page, catch up on our two minute Tuesday videos, and get off the web and onto your UTV for some fun!
Usually when we talk here we’re talking to you about something you might not know, a lot of times we want you to know why one of our products can make you safe, happier, relieve a pain point from your UTV to make sure you are getting the maximum enjoyment possible. Call it a return on the investment you’ve already put in! We care about you and your good times.
Okay, okay a SXS whip is a little different than that kind of whip– but also a lotta fun. A whip is, essentially, an LED pole that you attach to your vehicle, ATV’s, UTV’s, many different kinds of vehicles can have whips attached. These large poles have gotten more and more advanced over the years and through their own unique kind of evolution are now here– with 5150 187 Whips.
5150 Whips The Maker Of 187 UTV whips are killing the competition! (Get it? 187 is the California pineal code for murder. But when you explain the joke, I hear it makes it less funny. I respectfully disagree, this is still a great joke!)
A wide variety of sizes! You have a small ATV, we have 2 footers! A larger SXS? We have 3 footer sets! These bad boys can go all the way up to 6 feet.
187 Whips are Bluetooth controlled. Meaning you pick the colors, you pick the pattern, you pick the speed– they can even dance to music! Imagine blasting your favorite song, top volume as you drive in the dark, strobing LED’s lighting the way!
Simple to disassemble and reassemble! Once you have everything set up, you can take the whips down in a matter of a couple of minutes thanks to the magnetic release!
This amazing set of whips can be wired to work as brake lights and turn lights. While you might see this as the most flashy of the features. It’s definitely an added safety feature.
UTV partsYou can bend this thing from head to toe, run over it, do any of the normal things that might damage a whip– and while we’re pretty sure you won’t even be able to dent this thing. If you do many to get some superhuman strength and accidentally destroy your UTV whip, 5150 has a lifetime warranty on their whip.There are tons of lights 5150 offers for your UTV, they can even be connected to the same module and work through their app.
So if you want to whip it right, you need to go take a look at our product page, catch up on our two minute Tuesday, and have some fun!
Lets Be Honest, Have You Thought About Upgrading Your UTV Harnesses Yet? Lets Talk about It and Much More.
Recently we had a real heart to heart about why it was absolutely, irrefutably important that you take a long hard look at the stock seats on your UTV. There was a laundry list of reasons that can refresh on right here about UTV Seats, and because there was so much information to go over in that post, we didn’t get a chance to talk to you about another component that goes right along with your side by side seats– UTV Harnesses.
Your side by side harness is as important to a UTV seat as a seatbelt is to your seat in a car. Imagine you have a seatbelt that frays, jams, snaps under pressure, and generally fails to keep you and your passenger safe. What’s the point?
There isn’t much of one, and these are some of the problems with stock harnesses. Sadly, they aren’t the only issue’s you’re going to find. RZR Harnesses and Talon Harnesses both tend to dig into the skin of the wearer (and let’s be real here, we get enough of that in our car already, and we can’t change out those!), and there is little to no padding. X3 Harnesses suffer from a lot of the same issues, AND have a bad habit of being incredibly difficult to tighten over time. If we’re all being honest, they also tend to look less than great. Okay… maybe the last one isn’t a huge priority, but looks matter, right?! When you’re putting all of this time and attention (and money) into your SXS it better look good too!
American Off-Roads is here to solve your problems, yet again! Don’t worry, we like doing it. This is the best hobby around.
Amped Off-Road doesn’t just make the amazing seats we’ve been raving about, they made harnesses too! After everything we’ve told you about the dedication and craftsmanship of Amped Off Road, we don’t think it’s going to be a huge surprise when we tell you this. Their harnesses are just as phenomenal!
American Off-Roads Talk Amped Off-Road Harnesses and Give You The Overview
You can order your straps in 2” or 3” width to prevent biting into even the most broad of shoulders.
Amped Off-road harnesses come with padding that can be removed and moved to different positions inside of the harness. Take a moment to really imagine that! As you are driving through rough terrain, your body held in place by straps of fabric, constantly knocking into narrow straps– now imagine that bruising and aching the next day. That can all be avoided now with wide, comfortable padding that keeps all of the support and safety you need.
To add to the list of features you can, and definitely should, choose to use– these bad boys come with a removable, adjustable sternum strap. This durable strap sits across (you guessed it!) your sternum, keeping your straps snuggly in place, and adding even more points of contact to keep you from bouncing around. A four point harness is usually enough for most people, but adding more security never hurts!
The harness is safer than your stock harnesses, but that’s not all they are bringing to the table. In our shop we currently have EIGHT vibrant colors. That way you can mix and match to your heart’s content and find the perfect color scheme for your UTV…. before you get it covered in mud, that is. (Don’t worry, it’ll wash right off!)
Have you ever taken a moment to think about what makes a really, really good UTV seats? If you were picking out a seat for your house, what would you want in it? Support? Comfort? Something you can sink into, kick your feet up, crack open a cold drink in, and then forget about the rest of the world?
When you take each of those elements apart, piece by piece, it always comes down to the same basic idea. Craftsmanship means comfort. The fabric, the cushioning, that sweet, sweet lumbar support– someone designed each of those functions with research, a plan, and a lot of care about your comfort.
Here at American Off-Roads, we think that you should expect the same level of comfort from your UTV seats. You spend your free time, maybe even some of your work time, in them– bouncing around off the beaten path, getting tossed side to side, probably feeling like you might slip over the edge of your seats as you move.
