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Custom made Sportsman 800 from Russia

52K views 157 replies 71 participants last post by  carch4 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone ! Let me introduce my 2005 Sportsman 800 :

Some specs :

- Gorilla Axles
- ITP 312 SS rims
- 28" Deestone Swamp Witch tires
- Tamarack 3000 rear with tail lense lamp
- Front Kolpin gas can
- Custom made snorcels
- Custom made led tail lights
- HID everywhere
- Custom camouflage body paint
- 2" Highlifter liftkit
- OEM Polaris Windshield and Handguards
- ComeUp Winch 3000
- EPI Clutch kit
- Custom made Roll Cage

It looked like this, when I bought it :





Winter in Russia is very long, so quad was carefully inspected and repaired in the garage:

























First trip :



LED tail lights :















Kolpin Gas Can :







Some photos from the recent expedition :





















Video about Spring Expedition 2011 :

 
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#27 · (Edited)
Action Thanks for the story, it was interesting !

bgirard420,Discount Tire, windsor396, crazyjoe, marty2194, hduc2005, OuachitaMtnMan, Forrest, WilliamBos, DBert, fishhooker, Kalani938, RadRed44, Fishy thanks for the comments, nice to read it.

MDH148, hell yes, it was a really BAD ASS ride. Changing the belt in the deep swamp in the dark was unforgettable

SportsmanJohn500, check your e-mail, I've sent you a plenty of photos, concerning LED tail lights
 
#30 ·
EasternIA4X, thanks !

Roll Cage was custom made for me at one of the munition factories using special strong duralumin.

WilliamBos, Superatv produce roll cages for Sportsman 2007-2010 (2 rows 10 rolls in each)

My roll cage has 2 rows, 7 rolls in each. (Sportsman 2004-2006)

Stock roll cage bursted in to peaces due to awd auto-engagement problems. (Problem is solved, but still I decided to intall metall one)

 
#33 ·
As an ex military member, I think you are doing an awesome service for your country!!!! Keep up the great finds, and may some peace be brought to those fallen soliders and to their families.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
 
#35 ·
Your work is awesome and your intentions with it are most admirable, I assume you recover all nationalities too, You & Your Group are True "everyday" Heroes, I think we would all like to see more of your progress.
You are top dog on the fabrication front, Love your Led work, I think that between Cree leds and all other types it's about time all ATV's were "globeless"

Best Regards - MM :)
 
#37 ·
Very cool, was that a DP magazine in the fist pic?
 
#40 ·
As a former Airman in the USAF your work is nothing short of Heroic, from myself, and my family we thank you for bringing piece of mind to the families that have lost a love one in the perseverance of their country. Also as a local Police Officer, I have gone on several search and recover trips,and I can say it is not easy on the body or mind. Beautiful quad too, paint job is top notch.
 
#41 ·
alphaplex20 , we are searching in the forests near Saint-Petersburg, where in 1943 russian troops were trying to run the german blockade of the city.

But every soldier has his own sad and heroic story..

GoodOleBoy, thanks for the good words!
 
#43 ·
love the paint job, very unique.

beautiful machine and work to get it where it is today.

thanks for sharing, loved seeing it go through some of the stuff you went through, and pulling the trailer through it!
 
#44 ·
This is probably the best post I have ever subscribed to. Epic stuff!!! Thank you.
 
#45 ·
^^ I agree, must be exciting to find all those items.
 
#47 · (Edited)
Hello everyone !

A have not written for a long time, but now I have something interesting to show you.

After three months of searches, we managed to find the place of plane crash, that happend in 1942. The searches started based upon the stories, told by 2 eyewitnesses only. The swamp area, where the plane could be was about 70.000 square meters. First attempts were unsuccesful, but at last, in late November, we managed to find the place of plane crash !





































 
#48 · (Edited)
Small fragments of the plane were found at thе depth of 1 meter, the bigger ones - at about 5-7 meter depth. After researching the fragments, we discovered the model of the plane - it was the soviet dive-bomber PE-2.



We went to the Moscow Museaum of Aircraft, to see the plane :







 
#49 ·
In january we went to the place of plane crush again.

The quad was modified with tracks:



The tracks were given to us by Aleksander from Moscow, who read about our activity in atv-blog and differents forums. As a result Aleksander offered us to use his own TATOU 4s track system absolutely for FREE.



































 
#50 ·
Wow, didn't think your expedition or your quad could get any better but you've proved me wrong! Still the best thread on the forum!!
 
#51 ·
all I can say is WOW!!!!

and here I get all excited when we find an old still or barn back in the woods when we ride.

what was inscribed on the back of the belt buckle?

were both of the grenades russian made?

why did the old man walk out into the water up to his neck?

what are your thoughts on the trax system?

what do you do with all the big ordinance you find, those were some massive shells.
 
#52 ·
Today is the first time that I have seen this thread/post. This is awesome!!! I am retired Air Force and I have helped in the recovery of a pilot that went down in a swamp - very slow work. The only thing that made it easy for us was the fact that he had just crashed his plane (A-10) and it still took 2 weeks of hard work to recover as much of his body as we could.

Do you use gps and metal detectors to help find the artifacts? Going on an expedition and accidentally running over a mine will ruin your day. Have you tried using water pumps to drain the water from your digs? Or is there just too much water to even try to pump out?

Your trailer needs more ground clearance and larger/wider tires to help you get through the deep mud and water. I am sure that the tracks are a huge improvement as to how far you can go in to the swamps.

The led tail lights are amazing. The workmanship is top notch. All of your work seems top notch. That paint job is very nice looking. The new clutch belt that you installed, does it work better than the factory one? I have not seen one like that here.

I hope that the museums and the government are helping with funding your expeditions, even as noble as they are it cost a lot of money, time and people to do an expedition of this size.

Keep up the excellent work and keep sending us those great pictures and videos.
 
#53 ·
This is the best thread of any forum i have ever seen! I said "wow" out loud so many times, my family had to come look as they thought i was crazy!
 
#54 · (Edited)
bgirard420, thank you !

roompainter, thanks !

- you mean that picture?



If that one - "GOTT MIT UNS"

- Yes, both grenades are soviet-made
- That man is not so old, as he looks like :) He is trying to find the pieces of the plane with a 6-meter long iron stick.
- Tracks are fantastic thing for our purpose. But I would not recommend to buy it for entertainment - the speed is to low to enjoy the ride. But for utility work they are irreplaceable - the quad goes through 1 meter thick snow without any difficulties
- When we find explosives, we mark the places in gps, and in the end of the expedition call local police sapper to disarm them.

twotxns, yep, working in a swamp is a a very exhausting thing

- Yes, we use gps and metal detectors in our searches. We have waterpumps, but in this swamp they are almost useless.

- That was snowmobile sledge, in future we plan to modify our atv-trailer into winter variant :











- Thanks for the leds and paint - it took a lot of efforts, but it was worth it. That belt was bought by a mistake, it has a different part number, and it is suitable for 2007-2011 Sportsmans. So after the expedition I bought the OEM belt and installed it.

- Unfortunately, goverment and museaums do not help us with funding, all the work we do is made by pure enthusiasm and self-financed.

In the nearest future we plan to dive in to the swamp, so stay tuned !

shakin , it is nice to understand, that our work evokes such emotions even outside Russian Federation. Thank you !
 
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