SideXSide Action - January 2008 - (Page 16) Tips & Tricks > The Obvious Tip While this tip may seem like a no-brainer, I can’t tell you how many times I see, hear, and smell this mistake. Take off your emergency brake when you drive! Yamaha realized this often overlooked problem and added a car-sized emergency brake lever on their new ‘08 Rhinos, as seen in the picture> If you smell burning rubber, that’s the smell of your clutch belt frying from leaving the emergency brake on. Also, when transporting your SXS, be sure to release the emergency brake and take the machine out of gear. This will lessen the wear on your drivetrain. LEAVING YOUR EMERGENCY BRAKE ON = BAD When working on your Side X Side, be sure to keep plenty of Brakleen around. Not only will it clean off your brake rotors and brake pads, but you can also use it to remove dirt, mud, sand, or oil that is sticking to your chassis or engine. We also found that Brakleen works very well for removing oil from concrete. If you spill some oil on your garage floor, spray some Brakleen on it immediately, wipe it off with a paper towel and watch the oil stain dissapear. < More Than Just Clean Brakes Oil Fi lter Do’s Oil filters and the oil filter housing (where the filter attaches) are often overlooked. By doing a couple minor preventive measures while changing your oil you can really help out your oil system, and save time on your next oil change. 1. 1. < Oil Change Special There are those who take their machines to a mechanic to have work done, and then there are those of us who like to do that work ourselves. If you’re in that latter group of individuals, here are a couple tips that will help ease the process of that next oil change. An oil change on a Side X Side should usually only take about 20 minutes, but if you don’t have the right tools it can take hours. You can also save at least $50 by doing the oil change yourself. 2. 2. When replacing your oil filter (which should be done with every oil change), add a little bit of oil to the filter. About two tablespoons will be fine. You don’t want to put too much in because it will leak out when you go to screw the filter back on your engine. Adding oil to the filter will help deliver oil quicker to the engine when you first start it after an oil change. Spend the extra money on a K&N oil filter. You will be thankful you did. The K&N filters have a built-in nut on the end, so that the filter comes off with no fuss. When you buy your filter, you may want to buy a couple. I found that some smaller shops don’t always keep these filters in stock. 3. A lot of oil filter locations on these machines are pretty obnoxious. So, to keep the oil in the bucket and off the side of your engine, let the oil drain for about 15 minutes. You can also poke a decent-sized hole in the filter itself; this will release any vacuum pressure inside the filter. 3. 16 SIDE X SIDE ACTION MAGAZINE
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