Back 6 wheeling

[hipowerone]

Hi guys and thanks for the kind words and encouragement.

While the photo does not do it justice, (2022 image), there are tons of trails and paths through the old orchards. While he owns some of it, the nearest neighbor owns tons of acres, formerly family orchard business. There is some resurgence, and one local orchard owner has approached about possibly renting/leasing and restoring the orchard to production. My son-in-law likes to bow hunt, and has a 4wheeler and tractor and is opening some places to make deer travel easier, and it has proven helpful, according to his game cameras. He also has permission to rifle hunt on much of the land, and with a few large fields near by, some really nice clear shots are there.

Johnboy: as I was changing wheels/tires, it too noticed some bad bearings, mostly right side, and I may have to tackle them in the near future. While the front bearings look fairly straight forward, the middle and back ones look like a challenge (access). The right middle bearing was the worst, and has for now put me off wanting to float this tub right away, though it may not leak as bad as I suspect.

Back in 2016, I did inspect my chains and sprockets, and they look surprisingly good considering it is a 1996 machine. I had also inspected the brakes, and replaced the brake toggle cable, and in doing so fixed the brakes, as some previous owner had them reversed (left <--> right) and I was surprised that they had worked at all. Now they will jolt you to a stop.

I also replaced the incandescent headlamps with LED's and what an amazing difference. It sure makes evening rides more pleasant.

And just this past week, in a jaunt through the woods in back of my house, I jumped 8 deer. Flags a waving everywhere! The woods are red oak, beech, hickory, some ash, maple, and cherry. The deer and turkey love the area. Plus, as an added treat, 40+ years ago I planted 9 apple trees out front, which they also love. Turkeys will actually land in apple trees and eat the frozen/wilted fruit.

Also, in today's mail, I received a great e-bay find, a NOS DAYCO MAX1039 belt!

[jeffery9076]

GLAD YOUR BACK.I have been lurking for a while

[tbone9]

Glad you’re enjoying your machine finally. Have fun.

[john swenson]

great story highpower .....my grandson lives with us ( 3 yrs. old ) and loves the max. theres always some maitenance , but when they run good , can't beat it . glad your back . just changed a axle bearing on mine and finally figured out why i had a chain popping . ( sprockets were out of line a tad. ) looking forward to some snow this winter hopefully to pull the toboggin around . keep in touch . johnboy va

[hipowerone]

Hi Guys
Sorry for the absence, but life and sh_t happens.

After I purchased my 1996 MAX II in Nov 2015, I had slowly gone through routine "let's fix this and get going" chores. I drained fuel tank, installed new fuel lines, fuel pump, fuel filter, spark plugs, oil and filter, air filter, etc, etc. I had the thing running fairly decently but in Sept 2018 I had an issue that I could not diagnose, so I took it to a B&S dealer/repair facility, and they fixed that problem for under $100.

I was off and running again. I was sort of going guns a blazing for a while, with repairs, maintenance, potential upgrades, etc, etc., when COVID hit. Then with other crap, life just became too busy, and when I encountered what I thought was a serious 'engine problem' (just would not start), I put the 6x6 on the back burner. I had even bought 6 brand new wheels/tires in hopes to add tracks.

Well, 4 or so years later, life has settled down a bit and last week I decided to resurrect the 6x6 project. As it had been setting for such a long time, and sort of as more preventive maintenance, I decided that first things first. I drained and added new fuel, replaced fuel pump as I know the diaphragm sometimes fail, and when I pulled line off engine side of fuel filter, nothing flowed, but when I pulled the fuel filter from the line, gas flowed in a gusher! Hmmmm?? I closed the gas valve and looked closely at the fuel filter, and where the gas level was it was all dark, yet clear above. Hmmmm... again? I wonder? I installed a new filter, and made sure all was tight and turned fuel valve on again. As my battery was dead-dead, I jumped the MAX from my compact tractor, and after 2-3 tries, the Vanguard purred to life.

Damn! I had let unsubstantiated worries about a serious engine issue prevent me from going back and looking at the simple stuff. I had thought, and maybe or maybe not reasonably so, that with new fuel, fuel line, pump, and filter installed in 2016 that they all should be good to go for a while. Guess not. Current moral to the story is, I will replace the fuel filter regularly. They are definitely inexpensive. I am also considering going away from 'rubber' hoses and opt for clear plastic.

So, now with a new battery and the machine running again, I got really ambitious, and installed my 6 new wheels/tires. Previously, I had noticed a constant pull to the right, requiring constant steering adjustments. Now, with new tires, that problem disappeared. Another problem solved. I now surmise that more than probably the right side tires were worn more than the left sides, and as a result the difference in rolling circumference was causing the drift to the right.

Now I am also noticing that maybe my belt may be an issue. I am going to first look at it for wear/width, and tension/position. After looking back at many posts and replies, it appears some earlier options were the DAYCO MAX 1039 or HP3003. I do have a new HP3003 belt that I can install if that is an issue. With that in mind, I checked pricing on replacement belts. Boy have prices on those skyrocketed. The same HP3003 belt that I purchased back in 2016 for $40 is now $60 and up. I did a quick search again, and found a 'new-old stock' MAX 1039 on ebay and jumped on it for $42.

Yesterday, I took the machine over to my daughter's house, about 6 miles away, situated in an over grown old apple orchard. Her husband has brush hogged, (for deer hunting), a ton of trails through the 8+ acres that they own as there are about 80 more acres surrounding them. The grand kids all climbed aboard and we bounced around for about 2 hours, stopping occasionally so they could pick decent apples from these age old trees. What fun!

Anyway, glad to be back on 6 wheels again.