Mighty Max's new 650 Argo 650 HD with swimming tracks

[Obsessed]

Hey MightyMaxIV....awsome video...Wheres the max4 at in the video?

towards the end of the clip it looked like you drove right over a big pile of logs laying in the water and muck...have you or the kids every been stuck in that machine and what did it take to finally stop you?

looks like fun!

[mightymaxIV]

Hey MightyMaxIV....awsome video...Wheres the max4 at in the video?

towards the end of the clip it looked like you drove right over a big pile of logs laying in the water and muck...have you or the kids every been stuck in that machine and what did it take to finally stop you?

looks like fun!

I have been high centered on a tree but still have not had the machine stuck. The last part of the video lasted about two minutes driving through some very intense swamp covered with fallen trees and very soft mud and picking my way in between trees. During this time Carlos filmed the sky, the tub, my back, the back seat, tree tops, and mud behind us, the grand kids were owwwoooooing and ahhhhhhhhhhinnnnggg the whole time.
I simply cannot believe this machines ability to climb fallen trees in muddy swamp with water, this type of terrain would stop the max cold.
Some of the mud areas were so bad that Carlos got everything except the trail and the machine.

[mightymaxIV]

This is a five minute uncut, unedited section of awful swamp mud and logs-Warning this video is shaky, my grandsons were trying to hold on as i went over several logs-if you can deal with the camera going everywhere this video is a lot of fun.

[pcmark]

Dan, that video is awesome! Have you had to adjust your Adair tracks for stretch or such?

[mightymaxIV]

Dan, that video is awesome! Have you had to adjust your Adair tracks for stretch or such?

I adjusted the tracks when they arrived then after about ten hours and a trip to Doles I had to remove one grouser, since I have removed that grouser I have been running the tires at about two psi and the tracks are still very snug after about twenty hours of this type on driving. If they loosen up at all just a minor change in air pressure should tighten them up from this point forward.

As you can see from the video the tracks are very quiet and you hardly notice you have them on, out of habit I am always looking right and left checking them as I go through the mud but I have had very little problem with them. When I stop the machine I will get out walk around and check everything but this is just for safety, so far no issues and the tracks have never come close to walking out of the tires at this point.

[mightymaxIV]

Video taken at the Seminole ATV park in Metter Georgia on the 7th of May 2011, the park was holding mud races so the place was full of big modified machines. The park is huge with numerous trails I never explored. I remember Model Citizen asking for more trail video, at one point I was filming a mild trail scene just for her when the trail turned into an awful mud lane. If we had more rain this park would be better suited to AATV's but as it is it seems more like a quad trail riding park, none the less there were a lot of bad mud areas and I found a few.

[Model Citizen]

The park is huge with numerous trails I never explored. I remember Model Citizen asking for more trail video, at one point I was filming a mild trail scene just for her when the trail turned into an awful mud lane.

Just for me, why thank you. Looks like you found more of what you like where you least expected it.
A lot of times we ride & ride & find the trail we're on dead ends in the side of a mountain or canyon, but it's still fun exploring new trails.

Bridget

[mightymaxIV]

There were several highly modified high lifted quads at the Seminole park but they stayed away from the extreme mudding areas you saw me run my machine through. I ran with a high lifted CanAm with Outlaws but he had already snapped a front axle. Most of the folks with big machines are very hesitant to go into extreme mud areas because it simply cost to much money to repair a broken axle, it's ashame because the modified quads are a blast to watch in bad mud.

[mightymaxIV]

Information for Admiral owners

A friendly tip for anyone with an Admiral transmission:

While I was on a trail at Seminole ATV park Saturday I was going through an extremely nasty rutted out swampy mud area with several twist and turns. I came around a very sharp corner and my left track dropped into some very soft rutted mud, my tub high centered and my right track came completely off the ground, my left track was in awful black mud, I hit the gas and my right track spun freely but the track in the mud would barely move.

Hold on I thought I have an Admiral here, what am I doing wrong?

I was sure I was stuck and started to get out to winch the machine out.

No I've got an Admiral here I thought, I am not doing something right!

I hit the Handlebar hard right like I was trying to make a right turn and hit the gas. Sure enough the track in the air slowed down and the drive went to the track in that mud and pulled the machine right out of the awful mud pit. I couldn't believe it, I reflected on the fact that only a moment before I though I was hopelessly stuck.

Something to think about if you are ever in a similar situation.

[Noel Woods]

Dan:
Great videos! Good observation about the Admiral as well. There are lots of detractors out there on the Admiral. I think its a great piece of equipment myself. Once you get used to all the gear noises and whines, it does everything it was made to do, and then some.

[pcmark]

Maybe I'm missing something, but on the standard transmission, wouldn't the same effect occur, where locking the right side, as if going into a turn, would power the left side? I'm confused how your description of being high-centered and powering one side by simulating a turn would be any different between the standard and Admiral transmissions? My understanding is that the Admiral transmission doesn't deliver extra power to the "outside" wheels in a turn, but rather slows the "inside" wheels in a turn, as opposed to entirely locking them. However, if the "inside" wheels were high centered, spinning in the air, the effects of both transmissions seems like it would be the same -- simply delivering power to the grounded left wheels. What am I missing? Thanks.

[Mike]

Maybe I'm missing something, but on the standard transmission, wouldn't the same effect occur, where locking the right side, as if going into a turn, would power the left side?

Mark, you are correct. This particular example would work the same with or without an admiral transmission since you are basically just locking the brake, as if you were turning, on the side in the air.

[mudbug3]

( Quote -Mike ) ' This particular example would work the same with or with out an Admiral transmission since you are basically just locking the brake, as if you were turning on the side in the air. '



We had a group ride at river run atv park and I was trying to lead the group to a trail that lead to a long creek that was filled with logs in different parts of it. I wanted to see how the Admiral machines would compare to the open differential machines when trying to navigate in the same conditions. On the way to the trail that I was looking for I inially took the group in the wrong direction. I drove my Argo Frontier up a small hill and then I realized that there was a log laying directly in front of me. When my Frontier crested the top of this hill I realized that my tub was,nt positioned at the proper angle to cross it and this caused me to straddle the log. I put my admiral transmission in low, turned the handle bars full lock ,and was able to counter rotate backwards off of the log. This maneuver gave my Frontier a much better approach angle, and I was able to drive forward over the log. Mike was directly behind me in a 1999, Argo Bigfoot that had an open differential in it. I parked my Frontier several feet ahead and then got out to see how the Argo Bigfoot that Mike was driving would handle this same situation. Mike straddled the log just like I did , but was unable to drive off of the log because the right bank of tires were,nt touching the ground. Tim Schafer will attest to the fact that Mike knows how to drive an Argo with an open differential. Mike tried every trick that he knew but was still unable to drive off of the log like I did. Even with four of us trying, we were still unable to drag or pull his Argo Bigfoot side way off of the log. Mike had to use his winch to get him off of the log.

[pcmark]

Mudbug, one can only use counter rotation if both sides of the Argo had some sort of ground/obstacle traction. If one side's drive wheels are entirely off of the ground, counter rotation is moot because there's simply no traction for counter rotation to occur. It sounds like you're describing a situation where your wheels weren't truly high-centered, but had traction somewhere, allowing you to counter rotate off of the obstacle -- which is a meaningful tactic. However, that's a different dynamic than described above, where one side of the machine was totally off of the ground, void of any traction. Thanks.

[mightymaxIV]

Maybe I'm missing something, but on the standard transmission, wouldn't the same effect occur, where locking the right side, as if going into a turn, would power the left side? I'm confused how your description of being high-centered and powering one side by simulating a turn would be any different between the standard and Admiral transmissions? My understanding is that the Admiral transmission doesn't deliver extra power to the "outside" wheels in a turn, but rather slows the "inside" wheels in a turn, as opposed to entirely locking them. However, if the "inside" wheels were high centered, spinning in the air, the effects of both transmissions seems like it would be the same -- simply delivering power to the grounded left wheels. What am I missing? Thanks.

Mark- Both sides were spinning but the side in the mud was not getting enough drive, when you turn an an Admiral left or right you slow the turning side to 1/3 speed-when you turn an open differential you completely stop the drive to one side.

By turning my handlebar to the right (the right track was in the air) I slowed down the right side and put 2/3 more drive to the side in the mud, that extra power going to the mud side is what pulled me out of the hole.

The point that I am trying to make here is when you turn an Admiral you slow one side down to 1/3 speed but you don't lose the drive on the turning side like you do with an open differential

Driving an Admiral is different and requires a new set of rules, sometimes it wants to act like an open differential, you have to think about what the transmission is trying to do in a situation like this and literally make it do what it is made to do.