Well guys spring is coming, isn’ it?
Few weeks more and its here.
But we steel have huge amount of snow now as you can see.
Today we have an exciting machine that first of all is cut out for dirt.
We don’t have any dirt so far, but anyway we can’t miss this kind of machine, we are
going to test it now, lets go!
Hi guys as usually its me just a voice over and you are watching review machines!
Here it is – the amphibious ATV Taiga 4x4.
Today I’ll tell you why this machine is interesting for us, we’ll look at it in
detail to find out how it’s built.
Then we’ll find the most interesting winter obstacles to test this machine.
By the way this vehicle is a kind an offroading taxi, I’ll tell you about it later and now
I want to thank our friends who provided us with this awesome atv and let us do whatever
we want to test it.
Before we look at it in detail lets have a brief ride you know I strain at the leash
to ride it, cause….
- Sticker: «Voices in my head make me go offroading»
Well what a wonderful weather we are having today!
I should say it’s the worst possible conditions for a wheeled ATV.
The matter is we have the deepest snow and thick ice crust.
The vehicle falls through the crust and when moving forward it has to crush it constantly
cutting its way through the ice cover.
By the way this ATV is produced by a small company in Saint Petersbourgh.
Such vehicles have become quite popular recently, there are numerous both homemade and serial
produced machines of this construction.
The reason of such popularity is simple.
Such vehicles are extremely effective on offroading and they are very cheap at the same time.
The simplest design, good repairability, that is why many people love them.
Its just a…
- Sticker: «Fast and furious my USSR ATV»
Meantime we found a forest glade.
It’s a good place to have a short rest and lets take this time to look at the machine
in detail.
The base of the ATV is an articulated frame made of two sections.
These sections are joined with this steering knuckle from an old 4x4 car.
The front section is used for driver seat, the rear one has passangers seats and cargo
room.
There is a lot of space, that is why we should mind…
- Sticker: «CAUTION!
Don’t run across the cabin when the machine is moving!»
The engine is 16 hp power, battery electric start – its pretty standard for such kind
of machines.
The drivetrain is more interesting.
The engine works with CVT first and then the drive goes to the mechanical gearbox from
a car and then goes through the chain to the drive shaft.
We’ll speak later about this solution.
The steering is also standard – there is a throttle clutch and brakes like on a regular
car.
But there is no any turnable axle.
The machine turns by articulating two sections one to another.
The huge low pressure wheels cut much ice for offroading capabilities.
The tires were taken from an old truck.
Then the most part of rubber was just cut off from the tire and as a result we have
a light wheel with aggressive tire tread.
The tires are equipped with badlocks and special water cranes for fast inflating.
The axles are used also from an old car.
Well I think its high time to hit the road.
But where should we go?
Oh…yeah…
- Sticker: «We travel there where wolves fear even to crap»
We are moving in a snowy forest in search of some interesting obstacles.
And while we are moving I’ll try to explain why this kind of vehicles are so effective
on offroading.
Firstly the articulation.
This solution provides constant best traction of all the wheels on any ground, no matter
how rough it is.
On the other hand such frame has a drawback.
Cause it consists of two sections it is not solid enough for moving with high speed.
That is why such machines are quite slow.
Now we are moving across the big hole, and we can watch now how the articulation actually
works.
The next big advantage of the vehicle is a huge ground clearance 480 mm.
You can easily move in the deepest ruts.
Then the whole weight of the machine is only about 500 kilos.
Together with huge ground clearance and big wheels these features provide us the ultimate
efficiency on offroading.
Besides the construction of the machine is pretty simple and reliable.
The only questionable solution it’s a chain drive.
But they use here the most durable chains and its quite a hard task to break it even
in the severest conditions.
Meantime we are moving forward and it seems that the father we go the deeper and deeper
snow we have.
And how does our atv tackle the thick ice crust?
You know, despite all the features we’ve just talked about, we see that its hard for
the machine to move here.
On a flat ground it moves without serious problems, but when there is some slope, it
is getting harder.
Well it seems its high time to lower the pressure of the wheels!
It’s the best way to tackle any kind of offroading, and you meantime…
- Sticker: «Caution!
Fasten seat belts!
We are going crazy now!»
And now it is much easier for us to move here.
The badlocks on the wheels let us move almost with zero pressure.
And due to the special cranes we can inflate and deflate the tires very quickly just for
few seconds.
Now the tires contact with snow much better and we are moving forward slow and sure.
Well as to construction of the machine its simple and effective, its clear.
But in fact it may be even better.
The matter is the vehicle doesn’t have differential locks.
They may significantly improve the offroading abilities.
On the other hand, they are rather costly gears, and the price of the ATV would be much
higher.
Moreover we can go offroading hardly even without locks due to the articulated frame.
When getting stuck just turn the sections by steering and in most cases that helps to
get out from any trap.
In this way due to the frame it is possible to do without dif lock even on the hardest
offroading.
Trying how the atv goes under load.
While we were shooting this video the vehicle carried 5 people all the way.
I should say sometimes it was quite hard for the machine to carry 5 people in deep snow.
I think it would be better to equip it with more powerful engine.
With this 16 hp engine we could move only on low gears with the minimal speed.
Actually even on dry asphalt the maximum speed will be about 25 kmh so as I said this kind
of ATVs are rather slow machines.
But they are extremely good in swamps and tough mud.
They like mud.
Its common knowledge…
- Sticker: «The more dirt under wheels is the more we like it»
Lets try to get over this steep ascent.
While we are climbing I would like to say few words about the unusual transmission of
the atv.
CVT working together with mechanical gearbox.
For what purpose was that done?
The matter is such a solution provides a very smooth driving, and minimal load for the engine.
The gearbox works like a transfer case here providing low ranges for moving in the toughest
conditions.
As you may have noticed there is Taxi sign on the vehicle.
As a matter of fact it is really some kind of an offroading taxi!
The machine is used in various offroad races to rescue cars that get stuck in mud.
And lets have a word about the price.
As I Said it is one of the cheapest serial production ATVs.
The construction is the simplest there is nothing unnecessary, so the price is low.
It costs only about 3000 dollars.
Well guys lets call it a day now!
Please post your comments what you think of this machine, if it is worth its money.
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It will be many more interesting materials here, good bye!