General Maintenance Questions

[ranger]

Hello All

I wrote a question last week on the best way to jack up my new Max II for general maintenance and I thank everyone who answered my questions.

Yesterday I started the first general maintenance on the machine. I'd been preparing to lube the chains, grease all fittings and just become familiar with the everything inside the tub.

I started by warming up the chains by driving it and lubed the chains without much difficulty. The chain lube from Recreative seams to put a white coating on the chains? Does this wear away as it's driven?

Next, I began the greasing. Last weekend I bough some good marine grease at Cabella's and a nice Lucas grease gun at Home Depot with a flexible hose at the end. Boy, that turned out to be a wise decision. Here's a question. On the passenger side middle axle I couldn't see an inside the tub grease fitting. I greased what I believe is called the jack shaft fitting there but then looked down below to try to find a fitting and had great difficulty seeing and couldn't feel anything with my hand. Will taking the battery out help to see the fitting? Is there even a fitting there?

After that I took the wheels off one side of the machine. My max was a factory demo that was set up for tracks but never had them. This means that I have bearing cages. So for each wheel, I have 2 outside grease fittings. No problem, but not the easiest to grease the fitting within the cage. How often should I take the wheels off and grease the fittings? Is it every 20 hours and how often under normal use should I lube the chains? It that every 10 hours?

Next question: Taking the 6 wheels on and off looks like it will be some work and I'm trying to get set-up for. I think I'm going to buy a 2nd floor hydraulic jack, that way I can jack up the front and back on each side while I'm taking the wheels off on the other side. I was using blocks of wood on the back and then using my jack with a piece of scrap wood on the cup in the front. The two jacks will save me some time. Here's my question, my air compressor isn't big enough to handle pneumatic tools like an impact wrench so I'm considering buying a 1/2" electric impact wrench. It looks like the good ones are about $170 such as Milwaulkie or DeWalt. However, I'm trying to find out if one from Harbor Freight would do the trick for the light duty use I'd be subjecting it to. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm the kind of person who really investigates something before I spend my money on it. Heck it took my 10 years before I bought the Max!

One more question, I noticed that the cable that goes from the choke to the back of my Briggs engine is resting on a bolt that helps secure the tailpipe coming out of the Max's tub. There is a small piece of silver insulation around it in that section where it rests on the bolt but it seams to almost have worn through the silver wrap of insulation. An ideas on how to keep this from chaffing through to the original choke cable? Anything there has to be very heat resistant due to the muffler being so close.

Thanks again for all of your comments. This web site really helps out new owners such as myself.

[ranger]

Hello

My last post was probably too long winded about my new Max II. Here's my 3 questions:

1. On the passenger side middle axle I couldn't see an inside the tub grease fitting. I greased what I believe is called the jack shaft fitting there but then looked down below to try to find a fitting and had great difficulty seeing and couldn't feel anything with my hand. Will taking the battery out help to see the fitting? Is there even a fitting there?

2. How often should I take the wheels off and grease the fittings? Is it every 20 hours and how often under normal use should I lube the chains? It that every 10 hours?

3. I noticed that the cable that goes from the choke to the back of my Briggs engine is resting on a bolt that helps secure the tailpipe coming out of the Max's tub. There is a small piece of silver insulation around it in that section where it rests on the bolt but it seams to almost have worn through the silver wrap of insulation. An ideas on how to keep this from chaffing through to the original choke cable? Anything there has to be very heat resistant due to the muffler being so close.

Thanks again.

[Mike]

1) Removing the battery will give you better access.
2) I don't know what is recommended but I grease mine every few rides which probably amounts to the 20 hours or so that you are talking about. I lube the chains after every ride. I clean all of the dirt, wash out the tub, and spray the chains down.
3) Move the choke cable up to the heat shielding on the upper part of the lower tub. There may even already be a place bent into the shielding to run the cable through. Check out this picture for more: http://www.6x6world.com/images/t20-s...cement-922.JPG

[ranger]

Hello Mike

Thank you for your reply to my questions. I did take the battery out but then had to remove a spring that goes to the steering levers to see the grease fitting. Then I found that it's a right angle fitting that points backward.

For the life of me I couldn't get the grease gun I have which has a flexible hose on it. Do I need a different grease gun to get this fitting?

[Mike]

I can reach mine with a normal grease gun however you could get a 90 degree fitting for your gun; that may help. The fitting itself is still straight however it is slotted on one side to allow you to slide the fitting over the zerk from the side instead of directly down on top of the zerk.

Here's one on Amazon: Amazon.com: Lincoln Lubricating Equipment LNC-5883 Hydraulic Coupler Assembly 90 Degree Bend: Automotive

[ranger]

Thank you Mike. Do you have to remove the spring I described to get to the fitting?

[Mike]

Thank you Mike. Do you have to remove the spring I described to get to the fitting?

No, you shouldn't.