Wass Up Argo

[cory_Alaska]

You really cant go wrong buying a new machine as long as you keep up on the maintenance. Most of the problems you hear about including mine are all from previous owners habits or neglect. Argo has its issues, but get on any atv or off road forum and you will find each of them have their issues and quirks. The argo is not perfect, but its pretty darn tough and will take you places and through terrain that not too many other machines can! Just jump in and have fun. And make sure you buy the shop manual!

[mightymaxIV]

Problems

I have had my share of problems with my Max, but then again I have had my problems with my 500cc Suzuki Vincent quad, and when I think about it and watch my own videos I have given my Max about 50 times the abuse that I have given my quad. Every time I take the quad out and even try to follow the max I break some thing. Right now the Suzuki has a broken fan blade.Some times I think we forget just how much abuse we give these machines. I noticed when I was at Doles that after I breezed through a mud pit the quads that had to be winched out were having belt slipage problems etc. (I had the same problem with my Vincent and had to go to and heavy duty clutch) If I tried to put my old 4x4 truck through 1/10 of what I do with my Max it would have been on the scrap pile. I have abused my machine repaired it then abused it some more. Just give it maintenace, abuse it, then maintain it again. All machines will break if you push them! How hard are you pushing yours and what are you asking it to do? As for me I love my Max and it does things I can't do with anything else, so I guess I'll just do the maintenance and enjoy what I can do with it!!This is an older video but look at the noncense I put my Max through while carrying four people and two little dogs!!! It's cazy what I ask my Max to do!!! This truely is machine abuse and I know of no other vehicle that could move through this terrain while keeping four people dry and comfortable!!!!!P.S I didn't get stuck here and this truely was swamp from HELL!

[jerrynuss]

Dan, you make a really good point. The modern machines do hold up very well for how they are often used. I've had cars, motorcycles and jeeps that I spent a lot more time fixing than I did driving.

[DerekF]

Thanks for all the input. For the record, I totally agree with the "you get what you give" mentality when it comes to maintenance. I hunt in the Mackenzie Mountains of the Northwest Territories Canada (east of alaska and Yukon). I maintain my quad maticulously and have had no problems in 5 years, my hunting partner, well, he broke both front CV joints last year on the same trip. Just lack of maintenance not noticing they were going. That was bad but the Worst part was watching the 60+ inch moose about 3 kms away and not being able to get to him because it was just a bit too wet and rough for the quads.

That is when I decided to get a Avenger.

One more question. I heard the 05 carbed avengers had a higher geared tranny then they do now. If that true of all of them? Does it make much of a difference with rubber tracks on?

Oh, and one more question. Which is a better track, the argo or the buldoc (?) tracks?

By the way guys, Thanks for all the input and stories over the past few months.......

DerekF

[tracmaster]

the plastic needs cut on both sides of the seat.. here are some pics. the trim is the same as argo uses in the rear. tracmaster - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting.

[Roger S]

I have heard the bolduc track is better. They had it before argo did. Argo track has improved.. their guides used to break. Can't say what the current status is of the comparison.

[xrover]

I had the Bolduc track on my Conquest and the new track on my Avenger. Here is my observations:

Bolduc - the better track. The rubber ridges seemed thicker. Steel wheel guides are much more solid than the plastic ones ODG uses. We break off a few a month. I am actually considering selling the odg track and getting the Bolduc.

Gearing - I must say I was very impressed by the performance of the 06 Avenger with the track. On the Conquest we lost about 50% of the top speed, whereas on the Avenger we only lose about 5-10% of the top speed. Unfortuately I am not sure if the '05 had a different one.

[lager99]

They need to speed these things up...26km/hr in an 8x8 is a joke.

[bearclaw46]

Bolduc

What are Bolduc tracks??

[trebmaster]

link to bolduc tracks

http://www.argorsbolduc.com/items.html

[salamander]

more Bolduc credibility

They have been selling and working with Argos for a long time. Pretty sure the snowplow that ODG/Argo sells was designed and is made by Bolduc in Quebec, and it really kicks ass in the winter!

[lewis]

I hear what you guys are saying. Matt O will soon be putting his machine into the market and maybe he will give them a run for the money. Competition is good. I think he has done his homework and has built a fine machine.

As far as for the Rhinos. They can not even move to the same category as we are in. Amphibious is hard to accomplish with open side. Besides in a resent ride they did not impress me at all. They could not go hardly any of the places we went. One even came back with a entire driver wheel assembly ripped off. The doors are a result of the company being sued for roll-over. They go faster than we do but can they fish out of them.

Last but not least, made in AMERICA means more to me than most. Japs can't make anything better than we can if that were true they would have kicked our @@@ in WWII. Companies are being ruined by greed and end profits at the cost of our jobs just look at the news and job markets. In the 80's Japs paid their workers nothing and expected them to work off the clock to get product out the door. They stayed at their factories and did not go home until the week-ends to see their families. Mental break downs and suicides were common behavior but they don't talk much about that in the news. Really how many of use want to live or work like that. This is where they got their foot in the door. I am sorry but i can not work for free and no one else will either. The younger generation of Japs are not working like this any more, and they are being outsourced. Japanese stuff made in Taiwan?
At the end of WW2 we rebuilt all their factories as the expense of the military budget. The troops that went into Korea were fighting with all outdated and inferior equipment, but Japan had new steel factories. As far as Honda and other vehicles the Japanese produced vehicles were copied from western design on out dated patents.

Sorry guys i get a little upset about this subject.

Japanese have been to our plant and each time they pull out a sketch pad and start drawing (copying) our equipment.

The Zero wasn't even their idea. That too was copied from Howard Hughes.
The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations: it had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the aircraft to reduce drag. The H-1 Racer is thought to have influenced the design of a number of World War II fighters such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf FW190 and the F6F Hellcat; although that has never been proven.

Note: Howard Hughes was brought before the war oversight committees on charges of aiding the Japanese war effort.

Mitsubishi now makes cars, yes the same ones that made the Zero.

These are just my views on Japanese products and how i address the issues, my poor wife has had to listen to this for 34 years.

Lewis

[rdr]

I hear what you guys are saying. Matt O will soon be putting his machine into the market and maybe he will give them a run for the money. Competition is good. I think he has done his homework and has built a fine machine.

As far as for the Rhinos. They can not even move to the same category as we are in. Amphibious is hard to accomplish with open side. Besides in a resent ride they did not impress me at all. They could not go hardly any of the places we went. One even came back with a entire driver wheel assembly ripped off. The doors are a result of the company being sued for roll-over. They go faster than we do but can they fish out of them.

Last but not least, made in AMERICA means more to me than most. Japs can't make anything better than we can if that were true they would have kicked our @@@ in WWII. Companies are being ruined by greed and end profits at the cost of our jobs just look at the news and job markets. In the 80's Japs paid their workers nothing and expected them to work off the clock to get product out the door. They stayed at their factories and did not go home until the week-ends to see their families. Mental break downs and suicides were common behavior but they don't talk much about that in the news. Really how many of use want to live or work like that. This is where they got their foot in the door. I am sorry but i can not work for free and no one else will either. The younger generation of Japs are not working like this any more, and they are being outsourced. Japanese stuff made in Taiwan?
At the end of WW2 we rebuilt all their factories as the expense of the military budget. The troops that went into Korea were fighting with all outdated and inferior equipment, but Japan had new steel factories. As far as Honda and other vehicles the Japanese produced vehicles were copied from western design on out dated patents.

Sorry guys i get a little upset about this subject.

Japanese have been to our plant and each time they pull out a sketch pad and start drawing (copying) our equipment.

The Zero wasn't even their idea. That too was copied from Howard Hughes.
The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations: it had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the aircraft to reduce drag. The H-1 Racer is thought to have influenced the design of a number of World War II fighters such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf FW190 and the F6F Hellcat; although that has never been proven.

Note: Howard Hughes was brought before the war oversight committees on charges of aiding the Japanese war effort.

Mitsubishi now makes cars, yes the same ones that made the Zero.

These are just my views on Japanese products and how i address the issues, my poor wife has had to listen to this for 34 years.

Lewis

AMEN LEWS

[pepper]

you do realize the Rhino is made in good ol USof A dont ya .

it is Designed, engineered and assembled in the USA as are the Kawasaki Teryxs and a bunch of other products. Thats right, Americans pay thier mortgages and purchase the food they eat from a paycheck of makeing these things and shipping them world wide.

The Rhino was designed for America by Americans so if there was enough of a demand I am more then sure they could come up with a far superior design then an outdated Max or an Argo and put it into practice.

one other thing i might add is somne of your facts seem to be a bit embelished , I am curious as to how you arrived at this information

[GREASEMONKEY]

The side by side atv's are mostly made in america, but who owns the corporation, and takes the money home! I can tel you it's not the line workers, or the designers. If you dig deep you will find out that many products that are made by asian corp. are designed by private parties, and the design sold to the corp..

I can speak from experience! I worked in the car audio field for a few years, and did large custom installs for Mfg. I did a speaker box for a Mfg. and of course did not even think of patenting the box. One year later the box was in full production, on the market, and sporting preinstalled speakers, and amplifiers.

Any one of us has the ability to pick out an existing product, improve upon it, patent the improvment,and sell the idea to a big corporation.
BTW: the boxes were preformed, and shipped fron asia, then assembled in the US. If I had been smart enugh to put a patent on the design i could be a little less worried about the high fuel costa!