Well after just buying my new Vinson yesterday I hit ther trails with a friend today. The trails are by a river so there is plenty of places to test the 4 wheel drive at. well I learned a valuable lesson today... If you are going through water make sure your firend is also riding a 4x4, because once you get a 4x4 stuck no 2 wheel drive machine is pulling you out!!! I had crossed the water like 10 times woth no problems until i went through an area about 20 feet wide that was slightly iced over still (about an inch or 2 thick) I made it about half way and the LOOSE sand under the water just gave way and sank my NEW 4x4 Vinson up to the axles. The tires just spun in the water which was covering the floorboards by about 4 inches now. mind you, where I haden't driven the water was only 5 or 6 inches! The temp today was about 35 degrees and there I was trying to find ways to NOT have to get into the icy water, which was about a foot and a half deep from my ruts and pick up a 700 pound machine! Well I got wet, my buddy sure wasn't getting in there. We used my aluminum ramps that we had to haul about a half mile on a raptor from my truck to wedge the back tires and after about a half an hour finally had success! It was time to GO HOME and WARM MY FEET! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

Anyone else have any BAD experinces crossing water? there's no rock here in this part of Kansas, it's just sand and mud. Makes every crossing a real nail biter. What a way to break in the new toy huh??[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

Aww....to bad man, but at least you got to break it in [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
Sounds like a rough day to me. Good luck with the Vinson.
-Ryan

 

yeah, ive been there once or twice with my vinny too.
Loose sand river bottoms make some nasty traps.
sometimes NO 4x4 can get out of these loose beds no matter what tires, lifts, lockers, etc it has. because once you slow up a little its all over. it will just bog down and all the tires will spin.

 

I guess those winch thingys look pretty good now. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
The ramp idea was pretty good, too.