So I put my Grizzly through the ice and it sunk to the bottom
This is a discussion on So I put my Grizzly through the ice and it sunk to the bottom within the Tales From The Trails forums, part of the Lets Go Riding! category; I'm gonna do this in separate chunks so you guys can comment if you want and because it’s a LONG story.
Incident
I have a ...
So I put my Grizzly through the ice and it sunk to the bottom
I'm gonna do this in separate chunks so you guys can comment if you want and because it’s a LONG story.
Incident
I have a story to tell. And let me begin by saying that I unfortunately have no pictures of the event. This is kinda old news, it happened last winter when my Griz was about three months old and had only about 800 miles on it (I ride a lot.)
A buddy of mine had been on my case for a while to go out and ride the ice on a creek out behind his parents house (Crooked Creek.) After a LOT of convincing I finally was talked into going with him and his brother. It is a pretty substantial little body of water (as it turns out) it varies in width and depth but is never more than about 10' deep and never more than about 75' wide (at least that I saw.) It snakes along for miles and connects to the St. Lawrence River. I never made it that far though…
The ice was a little thinner than I would have liked but he and his brother both assured me that there would be no issue if I just followed them. They know the area and could steer clear of thinner areas and they were cutting holes and testing thickness every 5 minutes or so.
We all know what happened next. 7 miles out on out trip they stopped to do donuts on a wide corner. I was doing very tight and fast 4 wheel drive donuts. When I came to a stop, the back of the Griz dropped through. It held on by the front for half a second. Then the tip angle sensor killed the motor and I jumped off. I landed on my chest and commando crawled away from the hole. I got to my feet about 20 feet away just in time to watch my Brand New Grizzly 700 EPS turn upside down and disappear through the ice.
__________________
Rockin' a 2011 Grizzly 700 EPS
26x10x14 ITP Bajacross XT, 3000lb Viper Sythetic Rope
Pod Mod, Hanger Mod, Reverse Override Mod, Shift Lock-Out Mod
Chub Bars, Rox Riser, PowerMadd Guards, Super ATV HD Bumper
Kolpin Heated Grips/Thumb, Aluminum Kick-Up Pegs,
Hot Rod Sheave, Purple Spring 16g Sliders
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to TrailLizard For This Useful Post:
__________________ SOLD
2010 350 SRA
unifilter
Secondary Clutch Spring - Green
Viper max winch
Dynojet kit
HMF Performance series exhaust
26"mudlight XL
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660 SS member #6 (SOLD)
04 Red SE grizzly 660
custom snorkels
Custom split tube speakers
relocated rad with temp gauage
29.5 laws on itp steel wheels
2500 warn winch
Kawi bearings
mad mikes mod 2,3
epi white secondary
lightened weights
1.0mm shim
and a uni
Rescue
As I was getting to my feet, my friends brother; Matt (BTW we just met an hour ago) was running toward my wheeler, rope in hand. Too Late. Matt starts apologizing like crazy and pacing back and forth. My friend; Josh comes from around the corner. And in hindsight his expression was hilarious, Confusion, then horror, then apologetic, then VERY worried. I turn to Matt who honestly looks like he is afraid for his life, and ask him "What do we do now?" It was like a light switch flipped in his head. He turns to Josh and tells him to go get a decent length of rope, a ratchet strap, a chainsaw and tell NOBODY especially not their father. Apparently "Dad" didn't want his boys coming over and taking a stranger out on the ice, he was afraid something might happen.
Josh takes off. Matt says "we need three small pine trees, a branch, and we can get started."
Who is this guy? MacGyver? Turns out the pine trees are laid down around the hole in a triangle slightly overlapping each other (they disperse the weight over the thin ice.) We stand on the trees and Matt starts poking around in the water with the branch. Although we couldn't see the wheeler, we managed to locate it with the stick and determine it was upside down, hadn't drifted, and had about 4 feet of water over the top of it.
Josh comes back with Chainsaw, rope, and ratchet strap.
Matt takes the ratchet strap apart, ties the hook end to the stick and pokes around until he hooks the frame of the Griz, then pulls the other end of the strap. Hand over hand, then the Griz emerges. I hold the strap. Matt ties the long rope to the wheeler.
Matt then takes off cutting holes in the ice all over. Apparently where I broke through the ice was about two inches thick. He keeps looking and eventually finds a spot where the ice is about six inches thick (why was I even out there???) Matt then cuts a long slice in the ice with the chainsaw to where the ice is "thick" (if you can call six inches thick) and then cuts a 5' square hole. I pull the rope down the slit in the ice to the fresh cut hole. We pull the Griz to the edge, position it and pull it up onto the ice. It had been under for about 45 minutes upside down.
__________________
Rockin' a 2011 Grizzly 700 EPS
26x10x14 ITP Bajacross XT, 3000lb Viper Sythetic Rope
Pod Mod, Hanger Mod, Reverse Override Mod, Shift Lock-Out Mod
Chub Bars, Rox Riser, PowerMadd Guards, Super ATV HD Bumper
Kolpin Heated Grips/Thumb, Aluminum Kick-Up Pegs,
Hot Rod Sheave, Purple Spring 16g Sliders
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to TrailLizard For This Useful Post:
__________________ SOLD
2010 350 SRA
unifilter
Secondary Clutch Spring - Green
Viper max winch
Dynojet kit
HMF Performance series exhaust
26"mudlight XL
Wow, your story is sad to be sure but glad you were able to retrieve it and that nobody went into the water. I would imagine your buddies helped you fix the Griz? Right?
Last edited by SierraGrizz; 03-29-2012 at 11:04 AM..
__________________ SOLD
2010 350 SRA
unifilter
Secondary Clutch Spring - Green
Viper max winch
Dynojet kit
HMF Performance series exhaust
26"mudlight XL
The Following User Says Thank You to mainegrizz350 For This Useful Post:
Removal
Now my Brand New Grizzly 700 EPS is sitting on top of the ice, water is pouring out of it from everywhere. It is about 15 Degrees F. There is no time to lose. I pull the CVT drain, it’s a faucet tap. Check the Pod, no issues. Lights are still on, no water in them. I open the air box, water came out when I took the lid off. Now the water is level with the filter which is obviously a big sponge. I pull the dipstick and water starts pouring out, and the air box starts draining. SHIT. To be expected though. I pulled the spark plug, knowing I wouldn't be starting it here and now.
Josh and Matt exchange some worried looks. We hook their wheelers in Tandem and then to my Griz to pull it the 7 miles back to the truck (they had sport quads a KFX450 and a LTZ400.) When we get it back in the truck Matt asks me what I'm gonna do. I figured on taking it 45 miles home and getting the heat going in my garage before anything inside can freeze. Then start draining fluids with my fingers crossed.
Matt (remember I have known for about 2 hours now) said he has a place about 5 miles away, tools, heat, oil, and would be glad to help. I think he felt guilty. I was all about getting help. So I follow Josh and Matt to Matt's place. Soooooo glad I did. Matt has a series of chain falls that are on rollers hanging from beams in the ceiling of his garage. It turns out that Matt has an underwater salvage business. He pulls peoples stuff off the bottom of rivers and lakes as a side business. A few days before my Grizzly incident he had pulled a Ford F-350 out of the water that someone had been trying to ferry firewood home in across the ice. This guy was no amateur, he knew how to fix the Griz.
__________________
Rockin' a 2011 Grizzly 700 EPS
26x10x14 ITP Bajacross XT, 3000lb Viper Sythetic Rope
Pod Mod, Hanger Mod, Reverse Override Mod, Shift Lock-Out Mod
Chub Bars, Rox Riser, PowerMadd Guards, Super ATV HD Bumper
Kolpin Heated Grips/Thumb, Aluminum Kick-Up Pegs,
Hot Rod Sheave, Purple Spring 16g Sliders
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to TrailLizard For This Useful Post:
Floaties... Why didn't I think of that.
Linear Mode
