P700 Colorado-High altitude 700- all good!

[vwprostock]

Just got home to Dallas from a week at our cabin outside Fairplay, CO.

Cabin is 9900 ft. on the front porch. We went to the top of Weston Pass (12,900 ft) and I was amazed how well the 700 pioneer did. Three of us in it, chainsaw on back, winch, cooler, variety of gear, etc and it worked just fine.

Was it lazy? Yes, but totally usable and never was in a spot I was disappointed.

Wanted to share since I was worried (mine is a 2014) and nobody had a ton of direct feedback.

Started fine, idled fine, etc.

Did it work the transmission a bit going up the pass? Yeah, but nothing out of hand.

 

[bigbruse]

what size wheels and tires do you have on it? they look nice!!

 

[vwprostock]

what size wheels and tires do you have on it? they look nice!!

They came on it from the guy I bought it from. They are 14" MI2 Diesel wheels. Really do give it a nice look. No roller skate look!

 

[bkduckworth]

What kind of saw carrier is that?

 

[vwprostock]

What kind of saw carrier is that?

A Decker Special (Decker is my last name). I made it out of an acrylic cutting board. So far...works like a champ, dump bed still dumps, and doesn't drag on trees since its flush with cage by design.

 

[vwprostock]

Wanted saw carrier to hold my 290 or 170 so just outlined the 290 bar on a big cutting board. Cut two pieces equal size. Clamped them togther and drilled the holes around the perimeter. Got some nylon spacers and bolted it together. Used two roll bar clamps I had left over...Amazon I think and used longer bolts on those two spots to bolt it.

 

[Johnny]

Great looking pictures, beautiful scenery.

 

[bkduckworth]

Thanks for the info on that saw carrier, looks great!

 

[vwprostock]

Just a follow up- I left my trailer and Pioneer at our cabin after our 4th of July trip as we were returning in 3 weeks. Got back up there, blew the dust off of it, fired right up and proceeded to put another 150 miles or so on it. Two trips up Weston Pass, one with me and one with my buddy and his family. They loved it as he is looking at getting one.

In the end my best description is, its not going to overwhelm or amaze you with HP or speed, but its still gonna do all you need it to, smoothly, with no hiccups. Maybe 4-5 times total when it wa real hot, I did have to crack the throttle to get it to start, but that was it.

We had avoided a muddy stream crossing last trip and since we also had a Kubota RTV900 with a winch with us this time we decided to go through it since it would cut about a half mile off of our walk to prime trout stream fishing.

I was in the Kubota, radio'd back to the Ms to put the Pioneer in 4WD and ease through it and she came right through it. Later I looked and it was in 2WD and asked if it shifted ok and she said "Whaaaaaaatttt??" Never even needed 4WD....

We did have an odd issue with the LF tire. Had a slow leak the day I bought it, double slimed it and was fine. During this trup my buddy had a flat, LF of course. We took it off and found the leak and started to plug it. The hole was right at the base of a lug on the inside of the tire. Upon closer inspection, there was about 6 holes in the ajoining same spot around the inside of the tire. Looked as if the tire had rubbed on the inside of the chassis/suspension at some point (26x11x14 tire). We ran out of plugs, and on the last one the hole was slightly torn into the sidewall, so junk anyway.

Found cell service, Motobreck in Breckenridge had a Moose Utlity tire so we headed over there, they had a pair, so bought 2, had them mount the one, and back in action we were!

P.S. I had a spare, but its a 12", and I really wanted a spare with 2 1/2 days of ridin left!