I Chickened Out

[JohnnyG]

We took the XP5 on Yankee Boy Basin road on Saturday. About a mile from the top, there was a deep hole on the left side of the trail. I could have bypassed the hole on the right, but that was a pretty steep slope that leaned towards the hole. Not wanting to role the XP5, I ended up backing down the trail so I could turn around.

We have only had the XP5 for 2 months and like others have said, it feels top heavy/tipsy. I have pointed the XP5 up some pretty steep slopes and it handled them with ease. But those side slopes still scare me.

If anyone knows the spot I am talking about, would you have done it?

Is the XP5 as tipsy as it seems to be?

For what it is worth, the DW was very happy that I did not try to get past that spot.

-JG

 

[johndeerefarmer]

We took the XP5 on Yankee Boy Basin road on Saturday. About a mile from the top, there was a deep hole on the left side of the trail. I could have bypassed the hole on the right, but that was a pretty steep slope that leaned towards the hole. Not wanting to role the XP5, I ended up backing down the trail so I could turn around.

We have only had the XP5 for 2 months and like others have said, it feels top heavy/tipsy. I have pointed the XP5 up some pretty steep slopes and it handled them with ease. But those side slopes still scare me.

If anyone knows the spot I am talking about, would you have done it?

Is the XP5 as tipsy as it seems to be?

For what it is worth, the DW was very happy that I did not try to get past that spot.

-JG

I don't know the spot but yes very tippy. I highly recommend the SATV long travel kit. Mine with 6+1 rims is 76" wide.

 

[JohnnyG]

I don't know the spot but yes very tippy. I highly recommend the SATV long travel kit. Mine with 6+1 rims is 76" wide.

Thanks.

I am trying to stay away from making the XP5 wider than it is. One of the things we like about it is that on a narrow cliff road, we feel more "safe" when having to move over for a jeep or truck coming in the other direction.

What does a upgrade like that cost? I'm assuming $5K or more?

Thanks
JG

 

[Keyster]

I flipped my 2 door General doing something like you're describing and broke my collar bone/ACL during the roll from end to end. Still bothers me two years later. If you have weird vibes on a trail, listen to your gut. Wish I would have. You made a good call.

 

[JohnnyG]

I flipped my 2 door General doing something like you're describing and broke my collar bone during the roll from end to end. If you have weird vibes on a trail, listen to your gut. Wish I would have. You made a good call.

As I was backing down the trail, a small Kawasaki SxS was coming down the trail. He (and his young family) made it with no problem. But as you suggest, I was not feeling it, so I bailed.

In reality, I could have filled the deep hole, but that would have taken some time. On the low side, the hole was 2 feet deep, on the high side, 3 feet. It would have swallowed up 37" tires. So, my 30's wouldn't have been a match. The only option was to go around.... which as I said, I don't trust the XP5 in those tippy situations.

JG

 

[johndeerefarmer]

SATV long travel kit is around $4k depending upon whether you want new ball joints or not. You can sign up for SATV emails as they have sales of 20-30% off fairly often. I also installed Schmidty spring and put 200 psi of nitrogen in my shocks at the same time. My springs really sagged bad as I carry 200-300lbs worth of stuff