Hills are fun until the ATV is chasing you back down the hill end over end ha-ha

 

I always approach steep hills in 4x4- if it's rocky and twisty I'll put it in low gear. I center my chest over the bars and try to keep the momentum going. If it's a rocky steep incline, the front diff will assist in pulling you over rocks, instead of the rear tires just pushing you over rocks and having your bars deflect.

Waiting to put it in 4x4 until you lose traction going up a hill is asinine. That's not the time to be messing with your atv features and shifting into 4x4. Not to mention you can damage your diff by hitting 4x4 under a load or when spinning your tires.

Seen a lot of people roll down hills or get stuck in the middle because they lose momentum while shifting into 4x4 from 2x4 mode.

Why not play it safe and just use the 4x4- Lots of steep rocky hills in new England- you become a pro quickly...

 

after watching your video- I agree with moose about your heel placement. I think your problem was caused by a loss in momentum near the top. You could probably hit that coal hill in high gear (4x4)

 

most of my hill climbing doesn't have a long run like this one. I can tell you that there wasn't to much speed I gave up at the bottom being in low range verses high, there was only a short distance where I had to ease of the throttle once I reached top speed in low range, if that makes sense

he is my buddy climbing the hill in 2wd high. disregard he is riding a 800 outlander but look near the top on how smooth the quad is without the front tires trying to hook up

 

well, for starters, that outty 800 is a lot lighter then your 2-up sportsman.
and having ridden both atv's up hills I can say the outty handles hills like a jack rabbit and the sportman handles hills like a dodge pick-up
That longer wheelbase also changes things a bit at the top.

that looks like a fun hill to catch some air at the top tho

 

I found out the hard way you can only climb so steep of a hill before the laws of physics takes over and you flip back wards.

When I do I used low range, and use diff lock if you have it.

 

understand that outty has way more power, but just his back wheels are spinning which makes it appear smoother, not as much hop towards the end, maybe its just he had more speed and didn't need as much traction. end result I should have tried it in 2wd high or atleast 4wd high. just thought I would ask for some input from you guys. thanks for all the replys

I love the way my pig handles it has been a love/hate relationship from the start (stiffer springs in the front helped but the oem tires had some to do with it as well). with the bh tires on it now it handles like a slender pig . by the way these bh rock, I beat them on the trails down in wva and they just asked for more....

also if you want to see some more videos of this hill go to youtube and search bearwallow and watch the videos from the coal hill or slate dump

 

A longer wheel base is the most important thing when hill climbing its common sense.

Thats why the pro bike hill climbers stretch out there bikes.