I flipped my ATV last weekend but got the hell away from it. IT went strait up in the air while climbing a hill and I was looking at it as it was coming down towards me ( I bailed off the back) and I rolled out of the way quickly to watch it roll end over end into the river upside down still running. Man was I scared while on my back looking at a 450lb. machine decending towards me! I quickly uprighted the machine and it NEVER DIED! Damn Polaris makes a tough machine(1993 Trail Boss).I have a bent steering post and badly bent bars. I am going to take it apart this evening.

If they start to go, do not try to stop them...get away from them and that way ONLY the quad gets damaged.

 

sixty9cobra,

Been there. The Honda 350 4-Trax has climbed a few trees! Every now and then you hit one that seems stronger than the rest.

When the 4-Trax was new my wife was cruising with a buddy on the back. She went through a muddy creek. As she climbed the embankment the machine went over backwards. My buddy was at the bottom of the mud hole, my wife on top, Honda on top of that. All I remember is my buddy screaming about his paycheck in his back pocket!

The common theme here seems to be "no one dead". You can very quickly get into a sticky situation!

DJ

 

As long as we’re exchanging war stories I’ll offer my one and only even though it’s minor compared to others here. The account was written for a journal I keep. In brief, here’s what happened……

I was leading as we went up the trail to the second vista, the Iron Belt overlook. The boulder was as big as a house and I knew it was steep as I climbed it, but by the time I realized I was in trouble it was too late. I did everything wrong, from attack to retreat, and am very luck to be alive for my mistakes. Three quarters of the way up the rock the front end came up and the 800 lb. machine flipped over backward down the hill with me still in the saddle. It came to rest upside down on top of me, pinning me bent in half with all its weight. Without quick reaction on Dean’s part I’d have landed on top of him and if I’d been riding alone I’d still be pinned there. He jumped off his machine and on the second try was able to roll mine off of me. As accustomed as I am to back pain I’ve never felt back pain like that before. For several minutes the pain consumed me and breathing was difficult. Fearing shock, once I was able to stop crying out in agony, I began to slowly move my appendages to see if they worked. All did, but it was better than a half-hour before I made an assisted attempt to stand. Any and all movement was extremely painful as I was hurting both front and back. Bruised ribs and a significantly traumatized lower spine and ligaments was my guess, and I was right. The broken front rack, smashed headlight pod and bent handlebars on my quad told the same story. The rough, rocky ride on trial 6 from the crash spot to Hoyt fire lane was one I’ll not soon forget. Two and a half hours later we pulled up at the camper. I was exhausted from the spinal pain and muscle spasms. (end)

Just an hour before this “flip” I did the same thing sheluvit describes with a tree, only I had a camera (see trail pix). The “flip” had me disabled for 6 weeks and hurting for a solid year. That was almost 2 years ago and I doubt my back will never be the same but at least there’s no wheelchair in the story.

Here’s hoping your recovery is a speedy one Bob. Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, or in this case, smarter.

 

Wow, you are probably one of the luckiest guys around! My woes pale in comparison to yours. At least we can both look back and sigh knowing we beat the odds!
Your pictures are awesome, but extremely slow to open! I didn't get to see much of them.
Hope we'll be able to pick up our grandchildren one day...Oh well, good luck
BOB '00 sportsman 500, sport 400

 

floodrunner,
your pic was amazing thanks so much looked just like mine when it happened to me !! I fwd your pic to the other members of our club so they could see too.We will be talking about that one for a while..Sheluvit polaris 1999 sm500 4x4 camara (not included ha ha)

 

well not everyone is so lucky on flipping wheelers. Last year one of the test drivers for polaris in roseau mn took a 6x6 home on the weekend for some personel use. It was a unfourtanet thing that happened his daughter went for a ride, the front wheel came off Not sure why it came of but it did causing the 6x6 to flip and it landed on his daughter wich killed her i,am leaving names out of this post so as not to offend anyone. PLEASE if your kids are riding your quads use supervision when they do you don,t want this happening to you. Personaly i have only hade my sp500 slide out of the back of my pickup with me on it when there not running there is not much you can do.

 

I to flipped a 500 sportsman goiing up a hill. Free fall about 15 feet......sportsman reared up and free fell about 25 feet. Lots of damage to my beautiful sportsman. I was lucky to get out with only a broken hand. By the way I am an ER doc.

I love the 500, but the point of my comment is that on a dry hill by the time the rer wheels slip to engage the AWD the back flip is already underway. I wished someone made an aftermarket override switch that would allow you to activate the front wheels before the atv was doing a wheelstand.
If this exists please email me.

Thanks

 

Hugh,you probably need to have the AWD system inspected by your dealer.I tested my AWD system on a snowy steep hill.I stopped completely when I lost traction.I moved the AWD switch to AWD and observed how far the rear wheels slipped before the fronts engaged.It was less than two inches of rear wheel slippage.I did the same thing on a loose packed dirt hill.The same thing was observed.I also beleive that the front AWD STAYS engaged until all strain [upwards hill momentum] is totally releived.Im completely positive that I had lost rear wheel slippage when I went up the dirt hill,yet once AWD was activated,the front wheels stood locked until all hub pressure was releived.[once I made it to the top of the hill]I've had this argument with a well known Honda ATVer before.I dont think he beleived me.He responded,well than you know more than the Polaris engineers who designed the thing.I dont claim to know more,I just know what my experiments provided.Once Polaris AWD system is activated and even if rear wheel slippage does not continue,the front wheels will stay engaged until hub pressure is releived.Yours should work the same way.Anyone else tried this experiment?=====BILL

 

Glad to hear your ok dude.I almost rolled my 98SP
at the Uharrie National forrest hers in North Carolina i was folling a trail next to a hill where a jeep was stuck, guess what i ran out of trail had it on one wheel, some how i saved it and got back to the bottom on good ground.I have been riding since i was 7 and now im 34 i knew better but tried to back but any way.Had only had my sp500 2 days next time for the sake of my bike and pants ill either wait for the jeep to move or turn around an go the other way.
superduty1@excite.com

 

WOW, What excitement I've caused in this forum!!! Seems as though everyone has had an experience at either close calls or a major rollover. But seriously, my heart goes out to Jaime's story of the 6x6 rollover that killed the test pilots daughter. These big monster machines are intended for adult use only. Buy your kids a quad that is designed for them.
My neighbor has a six year old with a suzuki 50 and just by watching him I can see why governors were invented! Also, they should ride with full gear. Our friends daughter had to be taken off of life support due to a crash on her brother's birthday party that left her in a coma. She hit a tree after hopping on a bike unsupervised. My son is 15 months old and he's gonna have to wait quite a while b4 he straddles the seat of a gas powered quad.
Thanks again to all who have given their tales of woe to this forum....I think we'll all take these stories as do's and don'ts when riding!