4x4 vs 4x4

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I recently had to test the Yamaha Grizzly 700FI for the local newspaper. It turned out to be quite a fun day!

It started off with a couple of nice photos of the subject.

Then we started to look for some challenging terrain. We tried several obstacles but the Grizzly took it all in its stride. I never even had to use the low range or diff lock options.

There had to be somewhere on the farm where we can really test its capabilities? Well, there is this one place – the road runs through a valley that’s extremely slippery after the rains… Let’s try!

The Quad rode to the other side and back twice. What a non-event. Could it be that the valley dried that quickly? Oh well – lets find another obstacle. I rode through again with the 4x4 following...

…and guess what? Barely on the other side it started spinning…

We were quite surprised it got stuck after the Grizzly went through so easily. Weight makes a big difference!

After 15 minutes we realized that we were well and truly stuck. We got some help and tried to get some traction with branches and leaves, but without success. Time to get some real help. We fetched another 4x4 Land Cruiser with diff lock capabilities on both axles.

This should do the trick!

No such luck. Both Land Cruisers just spun, and when they stopped the top one started sliding down to the bottom one!

Now both Land Cruisers were stuck, while the quad was still running around happily. Only one option left – fetch the 4x4 tractor.

There is no substitute for traction.

Land Cruiser one being recovered:

Land Cruiser two being recovered:

Apparently the obstacle was a challenge – the quad just didn’t realize it… Two and a half hours later everybody were mobile again. But what would we have done if the tractor got stuck too?

Well that’s easy:

What a fun day!

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