Ready for another? This is more of a sad note though. Is it possible the arctic kitties have 9 lives? Dad and I were out riding up around my elk camp today. Well, midway through our ride, Dad got into a sticky situation, ended up crossing over a rotten log, then hitting a large rock before finishing the log. It was kind of on a sidehill, but the way it was set up, too much weight was tossed down the hill, so the 'Cat ended up flipping over. She rolled two full times, the first with Dad underneath, then tossing him head first down a steep hill, where he hit a tree head first, and continued falling down to the bottom. The 'Cat continued to roll until it hit a fallen tree about 3' off the ground, which stopped it from rolling further. It was now on it's left side, completely sideways on the hill, held by the fallen tree from falling farther.

After calming down from being scared to death, and making sure Dad was actually OK, we began our attack on uprighting the kitty, and seeing if she was in condition to limp home. After tying off to a stump, rigging up the winch line with the use of the ****** block, once again to the rescue, we managed to pull the 'Cat up the hill facing forward, where we were then able to back the winch off a bit, and roll her over onto her wheels. From there, it was an easy pull up to the top.

As far as damage, the speedo assembly is crushed. The odometer/tripmeter still works, but the re-settable dial is gone, and the entire cover piece, clear plastic lens is broken off as well. The handle bars were laid flat against the gas tank, but were easily re-set to the normal position. We carry tools with us, so we were able to tighten them down so it could be driven and still able to steer. She had to set a bit as she was flooded, but after a few minutes, she fired up like nothing happened, and was begging for more. I must say I was kind of worried about the break fluid reservoir, as it sets on top of the handle bars. It looks as if it would easily be torn off in a roll-over, but seemed to be Ok when the handle bars were turned over.

Other than that, she's fine, and Dad was d_mn thankfull he had his helmet on. It cracked part of it, and gouged the other side. He's also got a pretty nasty gash in his arm and I'm sure tomorrow he'll be pretty stiff, but other than that, all is well.

So, does anybody know how much a new speedo assembly will cost? The bracket is also bent over real bad. It may be able to be straitened, but probably replacement is necessary. Well, the kitties are sleeping now, so I think I'll turn in as well.

Sorry to bore you, but would like to wish you all an enjoyable day of riding, and be safe! Hate to press the issue, but if you don't already wear a helmet, please do so! A crushed or broken bike can be fixed or replaced, but a crushed or broken melon is irrepairable. Good luck!

Mike

 

Glad your pop is ok. Thats the main thing! Like you say the Cat can always be fixed. Sounds like youve had a little streak of bad luck with your Sub and now this. Hopefully its over now and you can get back to having a good time.
This is also a timely reminder to the rest of us. Its a good idea to carry some type of first aid supplies with you at all times. Also a cell phone if possible. If you can afford a GPS thats even extra insurance.
Now where do we send our donations to the fix the Cat fund? Just kidding.....

 

I had a very similar experience happen to me last summer when we were out riding with an inexperienced rider. He had hunted in that area, and was somewhat familliar with it, we were searching for a logging road to take as a shortcut and our friend was traveling along a very steep hillside when his Explorer started to tip. He jumped off, and held it for a second, but when his 7 year old son jumped off he lost his balance and it rolled right overtop of him. He wasn't wearing a helmet, but fortunately no one was hurt, despite the quad rolling overtop of our friend, and narrowly missing his son. Now his Explorer had rolled about 50meters from where it started, and was about 20 meters in the trees, it was jammed in an awkward position, with it standing on end with a tree between one of it's tires, and the swingarm. We decided to come back for it the next day, since it was getting dark. When we came back the next day we had a ****** BLOCK, and since we didn't bring much rope about every tie down we had in camp. We tied our 2 quads togeather with the tie downs,(Put the one with the winch nearest to the Explorer,then tied it to another quad which was then tied to a tree at the top of the cutline) and the 2000 pound warn winch hauled it up without any trouble.(the hill was so steep we were having trouble keeping our footing, and the Explorer when held on the side of the hill with a rope just spun the tires, and didn't even begin to climb)
In the end the racks were broken front and rear, but the little Explorer 300 refused to quit running, and ran fine the rest of the way home.

 

cowboy glad to hear your dad is ok my dad used to be bad about doing that on dirt bikes.

 

Thanks to everyone for the support for my Dad and his 'Cat, and also thanks to everyone who replied on the other rescue part with advice about the seat cover. Kagey's idea about designing something got me thinking, so I haven't done anything yet. I'll see what I can come up with, and price ranges then decide what to do about it. I put another 30 miles on the other day and it doesn't look like it got any bigger. Suppose it's only a matter of time though before it gets worse. Guess I'd better come up with something pretty quick.

XLR8:
Thanks for the story. Though part of it was sad to hear about your friend and his boy narrowly escaping danger, and the xplorer's troubles, it was interesting hearing how you took care of the situation. It seems you can always learn something from others experiences, even bad ones. Gives a person something to think about if they are ever in a situation like that. Even though it happened last summer, glad to hear everything worked out OK.

Thanks again, and good luck to everyone riding this weekend!

 

Cowboy,
Glad to her your dads ok, Tell him to put the helment on the mantle and go get a new one, As for the speedo it will cost somewhere over $100.00 as you know its not needed but nice to see how far you have gone and when you have to change your oil

 

I just saw the post today. Is your dad doing allright, now? He was lucky. It does not matter if the ATV was totalled as long as he is okay. Is he a little apprehensive about riding again? Or just realizes it was an accident.

 

TxDoc:
Thanks for asking. Actually, he is doing just fine now. He was quite shook up there for a while, but seems to be OK now, and I don't think there is a concussion or anything so that is good. He's still a little stiff, and his arm is still gouged up pretty good, but that's it. The accident happened about half way through our ride. It took a while to make sure he was OK, and then to get his 'Cat back on it's wheels, and up to the top of the hill. He acted disoriented for a while, and kept arguing with me about which way to go, so I just said OK, followed him for a few minutes till he decided I was right and we had to go the other way. He was pretty intimidated by the terrain for about a half hour or so, but after that, seemed like himself again. We rode for probably another two hours after it happened. How's thing going on your end? Been riding lately?

BigCatDriver:
Hey, how's it going? Haven't heard much from you in a while. How's the 'Cat doing now with the K&N stuff? Actually, the funny thing about the speedometer is that the odometer and trip meter still work, but there is no **** anymore for resetting the dial. The speedo is the only thing that doesn't work. I called the dealer the other day, he said the whole unit would be $77.23, and that I could do it myself if I wanted, or he would put it on, he didn't care. I don't know if that is his cost or not. He's given me everything else at cost, or said before that whatever else I wanted would be at cost, so you probably weren't too far off with the $100 estimate. Hey, don't you also have a birthday coming up here soon? I thought I remembered you having a birthday in May sometime. I'll be 24 on the 20th, so happy birthday to ya if you do.

Thanks again guys, it's good to hear from ya. Hope y'all have a great time riding this weekend. I've got to work, so won't be able to ride. Take it easy.

Mike

 

Now that I know he's ok, I gotta ask--what did y'all tell "mom" when you got home? I kinda thought she might ground y'all. If that ever happens again, and someone is disoriented and start saying they are tired or want to go to sleep, that can be dangerous for the next 12 hours or so and they really need to be watched and not allowed to go to sleep for some time. It depends on the particular circumstance. The helmet paid for itself. Just like these hockey guys won't wear a visor, now Colorado has lost Adam Foote to an eye injury. A visor on his helmet would have meant he could have played on.
It appears the Cats are pretty tough and may be referred to, from here on out, as Lions. One thing that helped is he sounds like my dad-city folks get a cut and "have to go", whereas coutry folks put some duct tape on it and "cowboy up". Glad everything is looking up.

 

Tex:
Yer darn right! Duct tape and bailing wire will fix anything! And yeah, mom was most displeased. She saw Dad was walking kind of funny, asked what was wrong, so I told her that he had done a pretty bad imitation of those old lawn darts that people used to have, until he hit that tree. Boy was she mad. Then, when she realized he was OK for the most part, she went straight to the garage and the stuff hit the fan, if you know what I mean. Oh well, it's all smoothed over now, so that is good. I think his 'Cat is going to remain without a speedo for a while, as a reminder of "what not to do". Mom said he couldn't fix it for a while, till he can ride safely. Heh heh heh.

Thanks for asking though, hope you are able to have a good ride this weekend. I've got to work. Uugghh!

Mike