Hour Meter Equate too Question

[814cannob]

My Buddie and I were disusing what the hour meter equates too. He indicated (1) hour = 3 miles. So 200 hours would be like 600 miles ? Doe's this sound accurate ? Or is there any better information out there ? Thank you in advance.

[amphibious drew]

3 apples does not equal an orange does it? They are 2 different things all together. The engine could be running and the machine could never even be put in gear. Wear and tear would not happen on the chains, sprockets, or tires if you just have the engine turned on and did not go anywhere. Hour meters are handy when scheduling service intervals, and may give you an indication that a machine was heavily used before you buy it, but they can be swapped, changed, or simply reset to make Archimedes show low hours.

[814cannob]

Thanks, that's what I'm looking for different points of view. So a machine said to have low hours doesn't really indicate low use. Now 200 hours on a 2003 Max II. How do you judge if thats low hours or not ? I'm not sure you can.

[amphibious drew]

Take a new piece of 50# chain. Just a small length and line it up on the chain on the machine. Then look at the tensioners to see what adjustment is left. That will give you an indication of how much stretch has occurred. Jack it up and check the wheel bearings for play. Check the driven clutch for play on the output shaft of the t-20, it should not wiggle much at all. Look for the details like a car. A 60000 miles cars wipers would have a tight linkage, but a 160000 car would have some slop in it. 200 hours could be nothing on a machine and engine if maintained.

[814cannob]

Thanks for your help Drew, Heading north to go pick up this machine. My second Max.

03 MAX II amphibious 6x6 atv ; 850T OHV 23 HP winch, roll bar, low hours (214) in ATVs | eBay Motors

[akranger72]

Well 200hrs on a 2003 Max II is low hour use for a 10 year old machine. The max II could have had that many hours the first year who knows? I put 50 hours on my max during 2 weeks of hunting last fall. To me hours really means nothing unless the machine was properly maintained at the required hour marks such as oil changes, etc? Those 200hrs could have been abusive or gentle hours? So go with what you see e.g. smoky exhaust, oil leaks etc or hear e.g. knocking from the engine etc. If everything looks good and sounds good to you thats all that really matters. Good luck

[msafi65]

I've had vehicles with 250 hrs that were totally worn out ant ones with 1500 that don't need anything but service. Lack of maintance is the whole story. Stationary engines like our backup gensets we were told to figure 1 hr.was approximately equal to 50 miles. Still comparing apples to oranges. Hope the max is a good one

[thebuggyman1]

I've had vehicles with 250 hrs that were totally worn out ant ones with 1500 that don't need anything but service. Lack of maintance is the whole story. Stationary engines like our backup gensets we were told to figure 1 hr.was approximately equal to 50 miles. Still comparing apples to oranges. Hope the max is a good one

I tend to agree with this figure, for the motor and trans at least. For the body it is a toss up. Consider a car with 50k miles of dirt road use (worn out!), and compare to a long haul semi w/500k miles (barely broken in). Body/axles/sprockets/chains/bearings aside, when looking at a modern motor with pressure lube and filter, a few hundred hours should be nothing IF well maintained. How long would a car engine last if the oil was never changed? Yet with proper maintenance they last a long time.

[wfo]

My Buddie and I were disusing what the hour meter equates too. He indicated (1) hour = 3 miles. So 200 hours would be like 600 miles ? Doe's this sound accurate ? Or is there any better information out there ? Thank you in advance.

think of it this way, if your max speed is 20 mph then the most miles it could possably have would be 4k miles..then take a realistic approach and be conservitive and say its speed was probably 9 mph and that would put you around 1500 to 1900 miles.
just my .02...now if you were in GOLIATH that would be 9k miles

[814cannob]

Ok, new way of looking at it. The previous owner paid 8,466.22 with tax. Used it 233 hours. I paid 4,800. (well worth it I feel). Total cost to the old owner is $15.73 per hour used. What per hour cost is reasonable ? Just for fun, I wonder cost per hour ?

[ARGOJIM]

What's a smile and braggin rights worth? What's time with your kids worth? Hard to value,no?
If you maintain your machine cost per hour is lower than beating it, parking it, beating it, parking it and so on until that large parts and or repair bill arrives and blows that cost per hour rate.
Besides if you only keep it an hour and get tired of it your rate would be 4800.

[shot410ga]

It seems 1 hour = 50 miles is really stretching it. My ARGO goes max about 20 mph. Average speed is maybe 10 mph (lots of idle time and poking along) which equals 2000 miles on a 200 hour machine. A 20 year old machine with 600 hours would have put 30 hours a year on the machine. With minimal maintenance the machine should still be pretty good. Maybe that's why people are getting so much for older 8 wheelers.