Looking for advice on giving my new (to me) 2003 max 2 some TLC

[lukedaduke]

Hi,

My name is Luke and last week I bought a 2003 max 2 down in southern Maine.

This was the cheapest running and driving Max I could find in new England this year and because of this I knew it would need some work, (there was no hour meter, yikes!) but I figured it would be a great winter project where I could learn the in's and outs of these machines in prep for a max 4 or maybe even a buffalo truck project. When I bought it I was really careful to make sure the transmission, engine and chains were in working order and not beat up too bad, and from what I can tell that is the case as I have put a couple of hours on the machine so far with no issues (over dry land). It is actually quite a bit faster than I would have thought and it stops and turns on a dime, really fun!

The good:
- Starter. Brand new starter, engine starts immediately, nice and easy!
- Engine. The engine seems rev fine with no ticks or knocks and has no problem idling. Oil looks pretty clean with no metal flecks, will know more when I change the oil this year.
- Transmission. It has forward and reverse! the gears are a bit of a pain to shift into, but if I rock the machine a bit its much easier, not sure if that is normal or not. No tranny leaks that I can see, but I will keep an eye out.
- Winch. 2000lb winch works
-Chains. They were greased and look to be in good shape? I have owned a few motorcycles but never broken a chain so I dont know what to look for to be honest
-Bearings? I dont hear any sounds that sound like bearings failing.... but I haven't taken a look at them yet so perhaps they need to be done? anything I should watch out for?

The bad:
-Needs tires. The ones on there are Rawhide 3's I believe, maybe original? they hold air and work well enough on land, but leave much to be desired on water. I was thinking of replacing them with these tires I found on amazon, called Wanda 10135. They are the same dimensions as the Rawhide's on there but have a different tread, has anyone here ever used these before?
- It leaks! Guy I bought it from promised it didn't as I made sure to ask, I wasn't really trying to track down a leak lol. Well there was no water near by to test it on when I bought it so I took his word for it, oh well. Any common places to check when looking for leaks? Its a pretty bad leak, I took on about a gallon of water in 15 minutes in the water. The tub looks to be intact with no visible cracks or holes in it, so I dont think its that.
-Brakes sticking. feels like the brakes are sticking on the left side, not bad at all just slightly. Not a big deal at all when on land but it causes me to go in circles on water when moving forward, reversing works just fine however, kinda strange. I bet this also has to do with the tires having poor tread.
-It is loud! I want to check the exhaust system to see if I can make it a bit quieter as I intend to use this for hunting this year. I found a few kits online (300 ish bucks) that will replace the entire exhaust system and promise to be quieter than stock, but is this worth it? Could I just put a car muffler or something similar on there? exhaust work is not my forte if you cant tell lol.

Thats pretty much it for mechanical stuff. I aim to put a light bar and a gun rack on the roll bar in prep for hunting season, but those are small potatoes.

While I am here how do you guys normally jack these things up? I scored a decent 1500 lb ATV jack for 46 bucks on friday (46 bucks haha) and have car ramps. My plan was to back thing onto the car ramps and jack the front up with the ATV jack. After its up there I figured I could put a bunch of milk crates under the tub to hold it up and spread out the weight. Is that a really dumb idea? I dont know how strong that tub is and I really dont want to crack it.

Thanks for reading this far! I really appreciate any help yall can lend, apologize if I got some terminology wrong or just came off as stupid (I am). If I can clear anything up just let me know and I will do my best to do so.

Thanks, have a good one

Luke

[countrybumpkin]

Would help if you could put up a pic of the inside of machine showing the transmission plungers and what engine you have.

[lukedaduke]

Sure! sorry I totally forgot to mention that its the T-20 transmission and the vanguard 18HP engine. Im out and about today but I will try to snap a pic of the insides and post it here asap

[thejunkman]

Luke where are you from in Maine Im in york county I was a max dealer quite some time ago ..

[lukedaduke]

No kidding, small world! I moved from the town of oxford to North Yarmouth recently. The max is at my hunting camp in oxford at the moment.

[thejunkman]

where did you buy it north berwick

[lukedaduke]

It was south Berwick but it sounds like we're talking about the same machine

[thejunkman]

ppropably is it blue colored ?

[thejunkman]

or camo

[CBass]

One way I check for leaks and to see how your bearing holding grease/seal along with the shape of the bearing is to put your plugs in and fill up the bottom of the Max with water until it is just below the engine mount. If your bearing are packed good with grease and in good shape you shouldn't have any water dripping out from the bearing on the outside. If you have a bad bearing the water will show you which one it is with a steady flow while just sitting.

[racerone3]

The tires you posted will not swim at all. Rawhide 3's are some of the best swimmers out there. yours may be installed wrong. you want them reversed of how you would mount a tractor tire. as you face the front of the machine the center of the tread should point up. if it isn't that way swap them rights for lefts. you could leave the fronts for traction getting out of the water and only switch the back 4. not sure what you expect in water but these machines are pretty slow. spin the tires slow to medium speed in the water and rock the machine a bit side to side. you can also sit backward on the hood area to increase water speed. this gets the back tires in the water for maximum paddle wheel effect

[xbunsenx]

I have similar tires as the Rawhide III and they swim great. Keep in mind that these machines will only go about 3-4 mph in the water vs 20-25 mph on land. Like racerone3 said, check that your tires are going in the right direction. They should be "backwards". The video shows the speed and the tires installed properly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFh0kg6i7SE