That's why the rest of the bunch wants me to go first when testing the ice. Biggest and heaviest man and machine. Not this past winter, but the one before, my buddy Paul and I were riding the trails around Warren, NH and went out to a lake just before turning back. It was about 18 degrees and a white out broke out. Was tough to find the trail where it crossed pastures. I remembered roughly where some thin ice was that I had skimmed over on the way out and just managed to "fly" over it and get back to firm ground. So, long story, short, I understand not going fast enough.

 

When I first got the Outlander Max a buddy and I went for a ride up in Southern Maine. Before I had a chance to warn him he went into an innocent looking mud hole that I've yet to see anyone get across. Soft enough for the tires to sink in, firm enough that he high centered it in the clay. Had not used the winch yet. I put it on freespool to let out the line and then went to switch it back so I could pull him out. Couldn't get the switch to turn to the right spot. Was too stiff. Got him out with a tow strap. Spent the rest of the day with my winch line tied around my front bumper. Made a "winch wrench" out of pvc pipe. You cut a slot wide enough to go over the bar in the middle of the switch on the end of the winch, but narrow enough to put the whole pipe diameter inside the switch. Allowed me to get my hand wrapped around the pipe to turn the switch. Hasn't been a problem since but I still carry it around just in case It gets a little hard to turn.

 

For the ****** block and clevis don't feel like you have to buy the Warn product. Go up on eBay and you can get one for $15-20. Clevis can be bought at most hardware stores.

 

I had a clevis somewhere, I think I bought one at Rural King for a couple bucks but I've misplaced it. I'd probably go to Amazon, I just don't use Ebay anymore. Bad experience years ago with Paypal. Hacker stole some money from my account so I will never use Paypal ever again. Most sellers require Paypal so that pretty much eliminates me using Ebay.

 

I have about 23 years of sport quad riding under my belt. About 3 yrs ago I acquired my first 4x4. The first time I got stuck, off trail wedged between rocks and trees. I totally forgot that I had a winch and ended up extracting the quad by hand. The worst part was I had an audience of 4 other riders wondering what the hell I was doing. Great guys, they just sat there watching and wondering.....

 

White out on un familiar trails plus thin ice would be sketchy at best.
When Tony went through we were on a shallow pond. The ice around the edges was thin and fractured. Towards the center, the ice was thick enough. We took turns scooting across. It was pretty cool to watch. When someone was crossing you could watch the ice that covered the pond shift 3-4'. The pond is shallow and we had more than enough machines to pull out a machine in the event of a worst case scenario.