Post up pics of your Max 6x6 Atvs!

[Mike]

Blacktail, that is a neat looking Max IV. I know the cage was purpose built for spraying but it almost makes the Max look like a mini Hydratrek.

In the photo with everyone riding in the Max, the rear passengers (you?) are sitting higher than a stock Max IV rear seat. Is there a custom back seat? It's hard to tell from the other photos.

[akranger72]

Ya I agree with Mike on the hydratrek look alike. Good idea adding some steel cleats to your older RI tracks. I noticed there is no winch on the front but then again I guess a winch isn't needed with those tracks.

[BadBradII]

Nice looking rig's! Can especially relate to the Alaska rig's. I picked up a 1996 Max IV earlier this year and am getting ready to start doing some mod's. The previous owner was a commercial spray applicator for noxious weed control and the rack he had built look's very similar to BadBradII's rack. I'll go back and try to learn how to post some pic's and get'em on here. On a side note what kind of range (miles) are you Alaska guy's getting on 5 gallons of fuel. I've got the 20hp Kohler. Mine also came without a rear seat and rear floorboard. Are the rear seats the same size as the front? Could I just use the front as a pattern for the back. I'm starting to get jacked up about doing mod's and upgrades! Hunting season is just around the corner, I love duck hunting, and half of my 60 acres is flooded 7 months of the year and I love to host friends for duck hunting and is there a better way to get'em out to the blind than in comfort and style? Beat's walking thru 2' deep water, with thick grass and heavy packs for 500 yard's. I took an 80+ year old out for his very first Pintail last year (friend of a friend) and I wish I would've had the Max then. I better get back to work I'm getting all worked up.

The gas mileage is pretty good from what I've been told by my local max dealer he runs all moose season on a tank then fills up to get back to his truck. The front and back seat are pretty much the same except on mine there are some nuts welded into the seat frame and bolts ran though to prevent body sag (was told this was a factory thing) If your cage is similar to mine it was causing about 2 inches of sag unless it is tide into the main chassis somehow. I've got pics in the Max gallery that show what I mean and it even includes a pic of my modified rear seat frame. Can you post some close-up pics of the track modification on your rig and the type of materials used?

[Blacktail135]

Wow those Hydratrek's are SERIOUS.....and expensive. The one photo w/people riding is my daughter,her hubby and my granddaughters. The SIL is sitting on a chunk of firewood as the machine came W/O a backseat or rear floorboard. The previous owner had a custom frame and custom 55gal. tank in the rear area. I'm currently looking to either build or buy rear seat and floorboard. Yeah getting a winch mounted is on my list of things to do. We've tried to get it stuck but haven't done so yet with those tracks. I think I'm leaning toward taking the tracks off and getting some larger tires for now then put the original tires and tracks on for the snow. Read somewhere that the tracks eat up horsepower and are somewhat hard on machine but, they are effective and look cool. The cleats were already on the tracks when I got it. The previous owner did noxious weed control along our shoreline. I'll see about getting a closeup photo tomorrow posted up here. Right now I'm at work and this evening I've got to meet a guy to help put a bridge in over a ditch. Someday I'd like to trailer this thing, with a walking axle trailer (homebuilt), up to Alaska for a moose/grouse hunt/fishing trip for mostly the adventure. I've hunted up there a half dozen times since '95 but we always floatplaned in. I think an amphib. trip would be fun (plus I can haul in much better food). Thanks.

[Blacktail135]

I took some closeup pics of the track cleats today but, my card reader isn't working and the new card reader my wife brought home doesn't rear my camera card. I'll try again tomorrow.

[THenry]

2626.jpg00K0K_bvy1FUjzIZg_600x450.jpgHere is a couple of photos of my first buy. my first 6x6 a max II cant wait to repair the left side jack shaft

[LarryW]

Here is a couple of photos of my first buy. my first 6x6 a max II cant wait to repair the left side jack shaft

Not a bad looking MaxII!! Do you know what Tecumseh is in it? Thanks for pics!

[Adondo]

Just a few of my project. "Play" photos coming up soon! (As in, I gotta take it out and play and get some photos)

I've been posting progress photos on another thread, so these have probably already been seen, but here goes anyway.

With the new Totron LED light bar on the roll cage.


View from the driver's seat with the light bar blasting away. Riding at night shouldn't be any problem since I'll be turning midnight into high noon.


Rebuilt dashboard. It was pathetic when I bought it, not only mismatched switches, but they didn't even flip the same way! One was upside down, the other sideways. The keyswitch was stripped out and half hanging in the hole. It all HAD TO GO.


The platform/ramp setup in my 1967 Chevy 3/4 ton.

[JoeMeg]

Likin' the '67 Chevy! Had a '68 F150 straight 6,3 on the tree,best pick-up I ever owned.
I like the LED light bar,going to have to research those.

Joe.

[Adondo]

Yup, the '67's a "patina" truck right now. Someday I'll paint it, but there's at least one in every issue of Classic Trucks magazine, so the patina look is "in." There's isn't a lot of 'old' left in it anymore, just the bodywork. It drives like new because there's over $2k in the chassis. I told a buddy who owns a frame and alignment shop "If it moves in ways it shouldn't, or even looks worn out, replace it." Another buddy owns a muffler shop, and I told him to "make it sound good" so he put 2 1/2" pipes with no crossover, and glass packs. Needless to say, IT SOUNDS GOOD! In a cruise event this summer, I got a lot of cheers and thumbs up from the roadside crowds because I could red-line it in granny gear and only go about 5 MPH with it sounding like NASCAR.

I got almost 17 MPG on the way to Spokane and back to pick up the Max II. It's somewhat unusual for a 1967 which was pre-marker lights: Factory power steering and brakes, and a 327 with a granny-first 4-speed.

The 327:


The dash. I also added a vacuum gauge, so it's full instruments, and OEM.


A lot of upgrades are "stealth" such as Hella H3 headlights. They look stock, but are 21st century instead of the original sealed beams which birthday candles could out shine. The ignition is electronic with a hidden system - I didn't want a huge HEI ruining it.

[Adondo]

Finally got to seriously play on Veteran's Day. I think my new slogan is "sand is pavement to a 6x6"

Went down a nice smooth gravel road and topped out. The GPS says 28 MPH is top speed, and that's fast enough!

Sitting on top of a dune.


What quad riders CAN'T have... lots of "stuff" storage. Extra coat, hat, gloves, camera stuff, Thermos of hot coffee, tools, 1st aid kit, etc. etc. etc.


Notice our tracks, even Jack's little paws leave holes in the sand. The 6x6 sinks only to the depth of the chevron treads.


Jack sitting on the seat. he's securely belted in with his "seatbelt" harness setup, which is used in any vehicle I travel in.


Jack hooked to an eye bolt I installed. the strap's too short to allow him going overboard.


The epitome of total opposite terrain of where you'd ever expect to see an amphibious ATV - sitting by a wild Juniper tree in the middle of a bone dry desert!

[Adondo]

Last Sunday it was almost SIXTY degrees!!! We went from 15 degrees to spring weather in just a few hours. In fact, Sunday warmed up so fast, it was colder in the house and workshop than outside. The shop was actually next to freezing inside, and warmed up after opening the big door.

So, I loaded up to go riding. Except... one of the new tires was OFF THE RIM!!! I lost an hour messing with it. What finally worked was starting fluid and a cigarette lighter. FFFFOOOOOMP!!! It was a tire again! I put 10 PSI in them all because I wasn't going to trust them to stay on.

I can now say that 10 PSI in a 6x6 tire turns them into a piece of granite. They were just worthless in the sand, and the Max hopped like sitting on an overinflated Pilates ball everywhere it went. I had an electrical fire 200 yards from the truck because the battery bounced around and pinched the cable against the frame. I fixed it on the trail, and continued on.

Climbing anything more than 10 or 15 degrees, and the tires dug like shovels and hopped back up. Any dune was just a boing-boing-boing affair. It worked, sort of. I did get stuck once in a V-notch and rocked back and forth to get out. It would do okay when going fast, but it was too rough for Jack.

I took Jack, so we putted around for a few hours and explored, then went home. Back to Les Schwab it went for tubes in ALL the tires on Monday. (Yesterday) They still put 15+ PSI in them all, so I let 'em all down to 2 PSI before even unloading from the truck. Now, she feels like her old self even in my driveway. I spun a few hard brodies before parking it, and the tires stayed on the rims, so we're good now. The tires even changed shape when the pressure dropped, when over 10 PSI, they're "crowned" pretty good, now they're "flat" across their width. I can step on one now and instead of being a solid rock, it'll mash halfway to the wheel.

So... now, I just need another 50 degree day to see how the new tires work when squishy. With tubes, no worries about popping off a wheel. At least the starting fluid method works, and it had close to 10 PSI after popping itself back round again. Something to keep in mind for those of you who run tubeless. Keep a can of starting fluid and a lighter aboard.

The truck's platform and ramp setup.


Ready to head out.


At a sand quarry. Notice how sunk in the front two tires are. They're rocks here, set to 10 PSI.


Jack loves the sand. Notice the rounded tires. They don't sit on top like when they're soft. They do okay on a flat dune.


A lone Juniper tree. The place is named for them, as in the Juniper Dunes area. BLM land. (Bureau of Land Management) The trees are spread out, some miles from another, some within a few hundred yards. It's quite the place.


Sitting on one of the big dunes. There are several areas, most hundreds of acres of dunes each.


All in all, a good fun day except for minor disappointment in the new tire's performance. But, she should be back to barely making tracks in the sand now that tubes are installed and they're barely holding air.

[Rottsrool]

A

[Adondo]

Took the toy out on Christmas day. There were quite a few riders out that day, despite the 34 degrees and once-in-a-while sun showing. I left Jack home this time.

I received a "real" 0-15 PSI analog gauge from eBay the day before heading out, so I re-checked the tires. My cheap 1-20 PSI stick type gauge which showed 2 PSI with what little indicator stuck out the end of it, was total bunk. Actual pressures were 4 to 6 PSI. (They weren't even the same) Now, they're all set to 2.5 PSI, and they're all "squishy" to the point that I can step on one and almost take a tire to the wheel rim. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!

The ride is night & day from last time out, no more jackhammer pounding. The stick gauge showed 10 PSI then, so only God knows what they really were. I can stop halfway up a dune, then continue on. Try THAT with a quad with anything except paddles, and maybe even then it might be a back down and try again. I could pick pretty much any place I wanted to go, including where I got stuck before on the steep little dunes by the sand quarry pit. The tires haven't moved, so I might drop to 2 PSI to soften it up a little more, and I'll check to see if the wheels don't twist in the tires. At 2.5 PSI, they seem locked in pretty good. I might not bother as the Max is back to her old self of not sinking into the sand AT ALL. Except, now, I don't have to worry about dry rotted tires disintegrating and leaving me to "rim it" back to the truck.

This area is about 150 acres of sand dunes.

[Adondo]

What? I'm the only one with a camera?!?

Come on, we need PHOTOS!