I have been in the skeg, and stuck in the skeg, but I was never not able to spin the tires. If I can I go around it, just like I've done with my Rancher and Rincon. What I will tell you is that there was times on those machines that I was so stuck in mud and skeg that I couldn't spin the tires on them. I've seen it happen to other brands, also. Most of my problems in the skeg is my skid plates. They cause the machine to sit, or partially float, on top, basically making me high centered. The tires will spin all day but I can't dig down to anything solid. This is THE reason a Pull-Pal is the next addition to my machine.
As for clutches burning up, I think it's a problem, but not necessarily for all the machines. There's guys on the FB page that have thousands of miles on their machines without a problem. There's guys on this forum with the same experience. Can I vouch that they aren't blowing smoke up everyone's @$$? Nope. There's way too much information on clutches, them being inspected, possibly having them relined, etc. On this forum to rehash it again in another post. I don't have an answer. Apparently nobody does. The ONE person on FB that thought he burned up his clutches with the gear reduction later posted that it was an electrical issue. What I can tell you about it is that the guy that was pushing them seems to have diappeared and the company that I think was doing them seems to have issues, if it's the right company. I was excited for a gear reduction, as all of us, were, because we know that low end isn't low enough. I wasn't about to go and put faith into an aftermarket fix that was being handled via text message, emails, messages on FB, and PayPal payments. Besides, the case grinding really freaked me out. Until Honda, or a BIG aftermarket provider comes out with a gear reduction, my money is going into things that I know work.
I'm not sure I added anything of value to this discussion. And, I'm waiting to see the results of the relining. We'll see!