Project mod quad

When these photos arrived in my email inbox, I knew I just had to get the full story on what looked to me like a 2012 Can-Am Renegade 1000 on steroids.

This quad is owned by Jerrod Tedford of Estevan, Saskatchewan, and it was originally built by Pines Power Sports Marine in Prince Albert. When Tedford bought this ATV from Pines, it was already equipped with a Gen 2 Radiator relocation kit, a snorkel kit, a CVTech primary clutch and plenty of other aftermarket goodies—but that wasn’t enough for Tedford. A year and a half later, he has it so souped up and stretched out that this machine can walk on water. Well, that’s his plan anyways.

“It will skip,” he said.

When he first brought it home, Tedford did some small tweaks to make the Renegade more rideable, and then he decided to add mud stacks and a nitrous methanol kit. With the extra power, Tedford said, he couldn’t keep the Renegade on all four tires, so this led to him putting a stretch kit on it to lengthen the wheelbase. Since he is a journeyman mechanic by trade, Tedford was able to do most of the work himself.

“I had the (stretch) kit built by a company in Alberta, initially, but I had to cut it apart and refab it a few times to make it fit correctly and then adjust and tweak,” he said.

With the stretch kit came a custom-built Elka Suspension, new A-arms, longer brake lines and the proper shoes for walking on water—a set of 27-inch by 14-inch-wide paddle tires. Tedford also has a set of Gorilla Silverback mud tires and Crush Lock wheels for the Renegade.

The man behind the mod

You see, Tedford likes to go fast—whether it’s on an ATV, a snowmobile or a dirt bike—and he’s been a passionate motorsports fan his entire life.

“I have always been into racing, one way or 13,000 others,” he said.

In his younger days, Tedford drag raced cars and trucks, but these days, it’s more about dirt than asphalt.

In July 2012, Tedford started a Mud Mayhem mud bogging event for ATVs, UTVs and the like. It was a huge success and plans are in motion for Mud Mayhem 2013. The date is set for July 20.

The Mud Mafia ATV Club was another brainchild of Tedford’s. Since the closest trail system is an hour and a half away, Tedford said that ATVers in the Estevan area really have no place to play so the Mud Mafia ATV Club was formed to organize riders and eventually build a trail system or an ATV park.

“The reason we put an ATV club together was to slowly work into something along those lines,” said Tedford. “whether it be an ATV park or some sort of trail system that is usable.”

The Mud Mafia ATV Club is still in its infancy. It’s not yet a member of the Saskatchewan All-Terrain Vehicle Association, but the club is off to a good start, considering that there are already 30 members. The club’s demographic includes families as well as the hardcore mudders like Tedford, who is president of the Mud Mafia ATV Club.

“There is a smaller group of us who are really extreme into mud riding and an aggressive riding style," he said, "and there are those who just come out for what we call a nice casual funday Sunday."

With spring right around the corner, Tedford is itching to take his Renegade out for a test run. He will be competing at the annual Wawota ATV Derby in Wawota on April 27, 2013, at Mud Mayhem on July 20 in Estevan and at the Wicked Motor Sports Mud Bog in Regina on the weekend of July 26 to 28.

“I will be running pretty well every drag race and rally I have time for,” said Tedford. “And of course, I will be skipping a lot of water with it.”