Making my ATV street legal-

[CP]

I’m in the process of jumping through the State’s hoops to accomplish this; so far it has been pretty easy to do. If you are considering a DIY street legal conversion maybe this will be useful to you.

I checked around for options on getting my Polaris Hawkeye street legal and came up with 3:

1.   The easy way is to have a dealer do it.  Just drop it off and pick it up all ready to go with the state form filled out.  That will run you about $500.
2.   There are kits available that run about $200 +/-.  They may have parts that you don’t need, and/or may be missing parts that you do need. 
3.   Buy and install the parts that you need.

I went with option #3, figured out what I needed and ordered the parts off Ebay.

Step 1 - figure out what is needed:
The state requirements are found here:  - http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/watv.html

1.   Make sure the vehicle has all the following equipment installed*:
o   Head lamp – used whenever the vehicle is in motion on a road. See RCW 46.37.030 and 46.37.040.
o   Tail lamp, See RCW 46.37.525.
   2 Tail lamps – For utility-type vehicles. See RCW 46.37.070.
o   Stop lamp. See RCW 46.37.200.
o   Reflectors. See RCW 46.37.060.
o   Turn signals. See RCW 46.37.200.
o   Brakes in working order.
o   Mirror on left or right handlebar.
   2 Mirrors – For utility-type vehicles. See RCW 46.37.400.
o   Horn or warning device. See RCW 46.37.380.
o   Spark arrester and muffling device. See RCW 46.09.470.
o   Windshield. See RCW 46.37.430, unless the driver wears glasses, goggles, or a face shield of a type conforming to rules adopted by the state patrol. See WAC 204-10-026.
o   Seatbelts – For utility-type vehicles. See RCW 46.37.510.

My ATV complied with these requirements:
•   Head lamp
•   Tail lamp
•   Stop lamp
•   Reflectors
•   Brakes
•   Spark arrester and muffling device
•   Windshield – I’ll need to wear eye protection

It did not comply with:
•   Turn signals
•   Horn
•   Mirror

So I needed to install a horn, mirror and turn signals.

Step 2 – order the parts:
I sketched up a diagram, checked around for what I had on hand, and made a list of what I needed.  I had a couple of amber lights and a lot of wire left over from re-wiring a boat trailer.  So I needed to buy:
•   1 horn - $3.75 (used motorcycle part)
•   2 lights - $7.95 (3/4” amber LED – grommet mounted)
•   1 mirror - $6.30 (used motorcycle part)
•   1 flasher relay - $3.21 (New – from China)
•   1 horn switch - .99’ (New – from China)
•   1 turn signal switch - .99’ (New – from China)

Everything totaled less than $25 including shipping to my mail box.  The Chinese parts took awhile to arrive (about 2 weeks) but they seem to be just as good in quality as any others. 

Step 3 – Install the parts:
Drilled a few holes, installed the lights, switches, flasher and horn, ran the wires, and mounted the mirror. Took about 2 hours.  I used a few wire terminals, splices, zip ties, electrical tape, solder and flux.   Just standard tools used, nothing special was needed.

Step 4 – Inspection:
Have a WA licensed WATV repair shop or dealer inspect the vehicle. They’ll complete Part 1 of the Wheeled All-Terrain Vehicle Road Use Declaration form and sign it.

The repair shop charges $50 for this (price set by RCW)

I hope to get this done today - I'll let you know how it goes....

more to come ...

Step 5 – Licensing:
Take the Wheeled All-Terrain Vehicle Road Use Declaration form, receipt of payment to the repair shop & the title a vehicle licensing office.

[CP]

Inspection is complete, via Everett Power Sports.  It was a piece of cake; the inspection literally took less than a minute and I didn’t even have to unload the machine.  5 minutes more for the paperwork and $57.94 total charge:

•   $49.82 labor
•   $3.24 for shop supplies- (really? what shop supplies? 2 pieces of paper and some ink?  I wish that I had noticed this before I left the place). 
•   $4.88 tax.

One more hoop to jump through, one more check to write.

[CP]

I'm not an atv person. Just curious where this can be ridden after it is licensed? Good write up and interesting information.

That varies by county and by city.  For example Chelan:

http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=7e391f873d004a54a2bc24cbb3d558b3&extent=-121.0858,47.2885,-119.6919,47.9163

[Katmai Guy]

All of the Okanogan/Wenatchee Nat. forest roads.

[Romeo 2-6]

There actually is an exception in the code for the turn signals limiting that to "required" at night only.  The wording is confusing, but it is in a cross referenced RCW in the text, but when you read that law in RCW 46.61, you can actually get by with using hand signals in the daytime.  But for as cheap as you got it done, you might as well not hassle witha deputy that hasn't actually read the law.  The damned thing has so many other laws it sends you too when you read it, it is crazy.  Why not just put the text they wanted in that one law and not send you all over the map to find the exceptions? 

[KFhunter]

TAG


Thank you for this write up, I've been putting this off for too long.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Tag.  Still confused where we are allowed to ride them.

[Eli346]

It's going to be confusing for awhile because the roads that 'were' opened up for WATV's in the Wenatchee-Chelan areas were rescinded by a Sierra Club lawsuit so although we had them legal to ride there we can't. I wish the liberal tree hugging demos would stay on their side of the mountain and work on the so-called global warming that Al Gore made millions off of or some other inane effort that makes them feel good about driving their BMWs around. What a crock!

[Eli346]

CP-Thanks for posting that info. I think that the more people that go through the hoops and get it done will be a factor in opening up some areas that should be open. Money talks. I know I went the commercial and spent close to $450 to get mine legal.

[TheHunt]

One would think it might be cheaper just to my a 4X4 Samurai and add some additional features but keep it street legal.   

[jburkett]

.

[CAMPMEAT]

$500 from a dealer, you're getting screwed big time.


You can use a bicycle horn, it's 100% legal.

[CAMPMEAT]

It's going to be confusing for awhile because the roads that 'were' opened up for WATV's in the Wenatchee-Chelan areas were rescinded by a Sierra Club lawsuit so although we had them legal to ride there we can't. I wish the liberal tree hugging demos would stay on their side of the mountain and work on the so-called global warming that Al Gore made millions off of or some other inane effort that makes them feel good about driving their BMWs around. What a crock!

The last time I heard, the forest service did not do and Enviromental Impact Study, EIS, they lied about it and all of the Okanogan/Wenatchee NF is open.

[Kittman]

CP thanks for all the info you provided.  The only I am left wondering now is how to come up with a list of actual part numbers, like a bill of materials so a DIY kit can be assembled.   

[CAMPMEAT]

ezturnsignalkit.com has everything you need.