Buying a new HDI

[foxvalley]

My first experience with the HDI and the admiral tranny started years ago with a used 2011 HDI with 40 hours on it. since it was still under warrantee,I wanted to find the week link in the unit itself, or the tranny.Not being abusive,but running this thing"hard", and putting on over 60 hours on this unit, mostly in my swamp,I could not, and did not find any week link in the unit or the tranny.I spent more time than normal in "low gear" being that it is not recommended, and it might get hot,but had no issues here either.
Since then, I have put on hundreds of hours on 4 other HDIs,and have not had any issues with any of them.

[Coast2Coast]

Hi, I am draggin this thread up to see how the HDI / ADMIRAL is turning out with more age and seat time from the various users. I have finally decided to get an Avenger but am still unsure what vintage I want. This thread seemed the most relevant. So now that the HDI'S have some hours what are everbody's view compared to older avenger or the frontier?

I may be purchasing an HDI next week and would also be interested to hear if people are still leary of the admiral transmission.

[SHOTGUN]

Hi, I am draggin this thread up to see how the HDI / ADMIRAL is turning out with more age and seat time from the various users. I have finally decided to get an Avenger but am still unsure what vintage I want. This thread seemed the most relevant. So now that the HDI'S have some hours what are everbody's view compared to older avenger or the frontier?

[2014SE]

The suspension seats are awesome!!!!

[2014SE]

I just got a HDI SE a few months ago and it's a awesome machine so far. Allot of this thread is years old and like any new machine the first few had issues but it sounds like argo replaced the trany and I'm assuming they replaced them with upgraded models. I run Lincoln vantage 300 welders and when the new vantage come out they where junk, now every one and their buddy owns a vantage now. I ran mine over 6000 hours and not one problem. I owned a argo in the early 70's and it was a compleat piece of junk in comparison to what we have today. Theirs good and not so good parts to every make and model of AATV, winches, accessories and even the tracks we can buy for them and we all buy what we like and or can afford. Some times what we get is not a good choice and some times what're get is great. As of yet my new argo is awesome and I'm happy with my choice buying it, I'm sure what problem the admiral had has been resolved. I only ever use low range for tight steering, high is good for everything I ever done with it so far.

[Sard]

I'm looking at getting my first Argo this February, great thread with some really good information.

[beungood]

What will the Conquest do that the Avenger won't?

I completely agree with most of this ^ . A bone stock Avenger will do things that a stock Conquest will not (I've also seen more than one Conquest do things that an Avenger won't though)........BUT, the last Conquest I got cost me about $3,200 with a set of rubber tracks. Now, for roughly $5,000 I can upgrade to a 27hp engine, install the new Bearings/seals, and put 24" Frontier tires on it, (Moding the clutches costs nothing). So now I have about $8,200 into a machine that will do almost anything that an Avenger will do (I am willing to say that, although I can't think of anywhere that an HDI can go that I can't), and some that an Avenger won't do, and I have less than half the money into it. I have yet to see an Avenger that will go anyplace I can't, nor are they faster than me on the trail. Personally, I have a slightly different slogan than yours, it's more like " When the going gets tough, you better get a Conquest"
I also believe the same as you, that the Admiral has issues, personally I would take an older Avenger over the HDI in a heartbeat, but at the end of the day, I would take a Conquest over either of the Avenger Models at this time.
I can be a little hard on my equipment though. Rough trails and heavy loads will damage any machine over time.


RD

[mudbug3]

Does anyone have a photo of the suspended seat arrangement? I have the 700HD with the bench seat & want to convert to suspended seats,already bought one seat from the John Deere dealership.....

I have a friend who's also a friend of an Argo dealer. His Argo dealer friend often takes him to ODG to talk with the Argo engineers, and also to see whats new at ODG. I asked my friend before he went to the ODG factory to find out if the suspension seat would be offered as a retro fit for the other Argo models. My friend was told by an ODG engineer that the Argo HDI , SE that comes with the suspended seats takes a completely ' different frame ' and has extra brackets on it to install the suspension seats. In other words , you can't install the factory Argo suspension seat with out the SE frame that it attaches to.

http://www.jacksonholeargo.com/750_HDi_SE_8x8.html

[jays64f85]

Make sure you keep the front axel extension bolts tight, you should keep a wrench under your seat and make sure they are tight all the time, if not they will fail and they are not warrantied.

[mac]

I talked to an Argo dealer and he told me that you had to order a new Avenger 8x8 with suspended buckets seats when you order it , because the frame is different on the Avenger that takes suspended bucket seats. In other words, if you have an Argo Avenger that did,nt come with suspended bucket seats from ODG,,you can,t install them later on.

Does anyone have a photo of the suspended seat arrangement? I have the 700HD with the bench seat & want to convert to suspended seats,already bought one seat from the John Deere dealership.....

[lamonte Halleran]

Hi there i am in the same boat as you are ,i wish someone from odg would comment on this and answer any questions we have .we only want to get our moneys worth,thats not much to ask for.and word of mouth sells argoes too

[mightymaxIV]

...and as she said, the particular T-20 in question was dismantled, and found to be in fine condition. How did the "hot T-20" card get played, anyway? I missed the congruity between "fuel problems" when the 750 EFIs get warm, and a hot transmission, and (apparently) transmission reliability, if that's what precipitated it. What was wrong with your T-20, anway? What needed to be rebuilt? Was it a leaky plunger, or did a band snap? I spin my 38 year old T-20 (I havent' had it apart... doubt anyone else has) at near 10,000rpm for decent stretches of track, and it gets crazy-hot. It'll probably grenade some day, because it's not bulletproof. The right bullet just hasn't come along, yet.

Mike the bands were shot and the transmission was making some awful grinding noises, I am not sure what was done because the whole T-20 was sent R.I. to be completely rebuilt. All they told me was that there were signs of some pretty intense heat.

[AussieMax]

I think it's interesting how when the first Mudd-Ox's had some heat issues causing hot start problems a lot of people made noise on here about how they wouldn't own one until every issue was fixed, yet I see people are fine with buying Argos and running them with the engine cover off and that's ok?? Sounds to me like Argo didn't do enough testing either. At least you never had to run a Mudd-Ox without the engine cover.
All that aside, because a transmission is hot to touch when operating doesn't necessarily mean it is going to cause damage. Even a car trans runs hot under load. How are you all determining what is actually too hot? Are they failing due to heat or is it lubrication issues?

[AlaskaGrizzly]

AlaskaGrizzly, no the 05 Avenger is carburated. It is a good rig, but everyone else in my hunting party are running 750 EFI's with no fuel troubles.

The extra horsepower is evident in the soft stuff with the Argo full of moose and a heavy trailer behind. The 31hp EFI's run off and leave me in the swamps.

The conquest is also a good rig. Before the Avenger I ran a 99 conquest from 99-05. IMO overall the Avenger is better, but there are still things about the conquest I prefer over the Avenger.

What have you decided to do? I am going in to test drive the HDI this week and I will make a decision. Up to now I have purposely not been in to see the HDI because I didn't want to get bit by the new buggy bug.

Northriver

I talked with my friend and the troubles his partner had was on a carburated Avenger, not a EFI, so I was messed up. Anyways, they were up by Chicken in August and best they could tell the fuel line was close enough to the engine that the fuel was getting too hot and was boiling which caused the engine to run rough. They removed the hood and that helped. Lather they wrapped the fuel line with heat sheild and it helped as well.

It will be interesting to hear what you think of the HDI. I think about checking out the newer rigs (both the Avenger's and the Mudd-ox's) all the time but will be staying with the two Conquests I have for a while. I've got all the stuff I want for them and as long as they keep being reliable I can't justify the cost for an upgrade. And when I do upgrade I'll probably be looking at the used market again.

[mudbug3]

Problems people have posted about on the new Admiral transmissions might be related to the 2010 models? The admiral transmission in my 2011 Argo Frontier now has 56 hours on it , and if you,ve watched any of my recent video,s , all of them have been shot with the machine in low gear. So far I,ve had no problems with my Frontier other than it runs VERY HOT with the hood on. I,m sure that a lot of the heat is caused by the VERY RESTRICTIVE , quite factory muffler.