Has anyone actually had their quad floating? Were you in moving water or standing water? How deep was the water. I interested because I will be crossing some fairly large rivers and wonder how deep I can go and if the quad will float, and how stable it will be while floating. Thanx for any and all input.

shmoky

 

Most quads with the larger tires will float. The overall weight will determine how deep the water needs to be before this happens. As for balance the rider has control of this, have seen many quads float by them selves but have never seen a rider balance on one while it`s floating.

98 Scrambler 500
00 Trailblazer 250

 

I once crossed a swift river after some good rain. The quad definitely would not float. Water was over the top of my tires. I could feel my front end getting light, but believe that was due to me driving upstream and the moving water lifting the front.

Shannon
'99 Sportsman 500
'01 Sportsman 90

 

i've had my 400ex floating. i tried to cross a stream that is usually only has a couple inches on water except thr night before it rained hard and had 2 or more feet it. it didn't start floating till i got off it though

 

My friend has as Honda 350 and it does not float. About a month ago I was riding with my friend in his Argo Bigfoot 6x6 and the other guy was following us on his Honda. We were going first through the creek to see how deep it is. We got to one rather large water hole but thought it was ok, couldn't see the bottom though. Oops, it was more like five feet deep. The Honda guy drove in there and disappeared. The quad went to the bottom within 10 seconds. My friend had to swim down there with a chain and we pulled it five miles home with the Argo.

 

I saw a picture of a guy that had dual tires mounted on his Polaris 250. The combination of the lightweight atv and dual oversized 'balloon' looking tires allowed him to float across ponds, the rear wheels driving him about 2 or 3 mph. Without the duals, he said it sunk like a rock.

 

My very first ATV, a timberwolf could float somewhat.

Once we were riding down a creek and came upon a pretty deep section, was maybe 4-5' deep.

Well I went across first while my friend on his 125 dirtbike watched. When I hit the water it came up around my knees but the pipe was still above, kept on going, back end and steering was drifting everywhere, Im pretty sure I floated across cause when my friend on his dirtbike tried he sank the whole thing under!

 

My polaris 400 definately does float. I was riding a trail that I never was on before. I tried to cross this creek (river ), thinking it was shallow. The next think I know is that the quad is rolling/floating downstream. The water was well over my head. The quad evetually stopped rolling in the water and floated with the wheels facing up. Luckily, a couple of guys on dirt bikes came to my rescue. Learned a good lesson that day!

 

My Big Bear will sort of float without a rider, I've never seen any quad float enough with a rider to keep it from drowning out. I've had mine in water over the handlebars (my intake and vent hoses are snorkeled) and it wouldn't float, the front end will rise a little bit if i have alot of air pressure in the front tires.

 

I had my Kodiak float once. I was crossing a creek and the water was about 3 feet deep. However, there was a drop off that I was unaware of that was about 5 feet deep. I went rolling over, fell off and watched my machine float down stream. These days it floats in that same area all the time. I get off and float it across. hahaha