Max II axle upgrades

[monkstr6100]

I am not sure if this has been covered before or not as I am new here BUT I recently purchased a 98 max II from my dad and decided to beef up the axles. I found that 1-1/4" sch 80 seamless pipe is a perfect pressed on fit over the outside of the stock axles. I also added 3 gussets to the back side of the flange welded to the new outer sleeve. Cheap and easy upgrade to prevent bending and breaking. No idea how to add pictures but I have some for anyone interested. Zach J.

[garrett1308]

Go on over to the gallery tab of the website, there, Mike has posted a thread on uploading pictures. I have to look at it every time I want to upload one.
Would love to see the upgrade you've done. Pulling my max 2 apart again pretty soon, might end up doing what you've figured out.

[monkstr6100]

Then two photos are uploaded into the max section. Let me know if you have any questions.

[monkstr6100]

[IMG][/IMG]

[philipatmaxfour]

I can't quite see in the pics but were they solid axles before you sleeved them? Looks like a good idea and well executed.

[monkstr6100]

Both of these were solid axles aready but it would work on either solid or the tube axles. Thanks!

[Canadian_Zuk]

Nice, I like that.

[monkstr6100]

[IMG][/IMG]

[monkstr6100]

There is another design I first came up with. May be more accessible to most cause all you would need is some 1/4" steel flat stock. I think this will hold up just the same BUT still swapped both front axles to my sleeved and gussets design. Hope this helps. Also have a picture posted now of the axles installed.

[tbone9]

Great idea. How tight of a press fit is it? Did you have to warm up the sleeve/pipe ?

[monkstr6100]

I was able to use a large arbor press. I would say size on size about so no heat needed. I did not Mic them out but even a large hammer and a hunk of brass would work I am sure.

[thebuggyman1]

One critique: The outer bearing will act as a fulcrum so the sleeve would need to be extended through that bearing right up to the sprocket tube. Total length of sleeve would not need to change, only the placement. Reinforcing the old style outer flange is a whole other issue. With the newer splined style axles the bending axle problem is much more rare and could be looked at as a good thing. It is likely that the bent axle is from hitting an object such as a rock or tree.....the weak link may just save something more expensive. I'm currently thinking of 1 1/2 axles for mine after twisting this one in half, but after all the gentle use this machine has seen, I still have not bent one.

[monkstr6100]

I do agree that the bearing will still be the fulcrum. BUT, short of installing a larger ID bearing it would be impossible to extend the sleeve past/through the bearing. The sleeve also acts as a good place to weld the gussets to without compromising the strength of the axle shaft itself. The older axles that did not have that large backing cone behind the bolt flange were prone to snap that flange off, hence the gussets.