Max IV Springer

[Roger S]

You notice he lives and rides in the desert, and likes long, fast rides.. he didn't have those concerns to design for.

[Dirty Harry]

Just now catching up on all of your various springer adaptions. Simply amazing stuff.

A few questions, if you don't mind:

I'm curious to know if you run the tires on these conversions at the lower pressures that those of us with un-springered rigs must use (.5 - 3lb), or do you fill them to the manufacturer's recommended sidewall-listed PSI rates??? Seems with the added flex of your suspension system you could run them at factory normal PSI (or anywhere in-between) if you chose to do so - with no loss of ride comfort whatsoever. Might not the rig actually handle better this way, meaning that the traditional squishy flex of AATV tires wouldn't be competing with the flex of your sprung suspension system, allowing for more precise acceleration, braking and steering??

I'd really like to see how well one of these sprung 6-wheelers handles dense brush & sloppy mud. (You know, the kinds of places where mightymaxIV & mudbug3 are usually found.) Deep stuff would seem to be a Springer's arch-enemy, as the exposed & open arms would be a place where there'd be unavoidable drag, not to mention all that open metal work to get helplessly packed full of whatever muddy goop you're trying to plow through.

Perhaps adding some sort of fabric (Cordura nylon-type) wrap around each arm unit to keep crud out? Or maybe fabricating lightweight guards that fasten to the top arm and hang down over the front & back of the lower arms to prevent objects from entering the space inside and possibly damaging the exposed mechanicals nestled therein??? I dunno... just throwing ideas out there.

Lastly, what do you do for H2O protection for the cars to keep water on the outside when you're boating in them? A super-wide mud flap? Individual fenders? Umbrella & rain coat? Man, with all six tires exposed everything they throw into the air must rain back down on you like Niagara Falls when you take those rigs out into the water.

BTW - Very nice execution on the roll cage. Any plans to install a winch... or do you even need one out where you all ride, Whipper??

[AndyL]

this thing is killer whipper!

[George]

Sounds like you'll be taking this one on the next 400 mile weekend.

[whipper-ag]

[hydromike]

Nice fitment, 'Whip!

You and I might be in tight competition for the lowest center of gravity between Godzilla and Big 5. The custom clutch fitting tool worked great. I used a similar method with a salad bowl, a propane torch and 4 Heinekens.

Your approach is somewhat more graceful....


~m

[AndyL]

It's in! I reworked the engine mount so I could drop the motor another 1"1/2.
The top of the motor is even with the top of the body.

Whipper

whipper this is amazing! what engine cover will you use for the max iv? the tall one or the shorter one? also, are you running electric fans for the radiator??

[whipper-ag]

[lewis]

As always, Nice work Whipper!!!

[jerseybigfoot]

I knew that after relocating the T-20 & dropping down the motor, that the drive clutch was going to hit the body. No problem. My son turned up a die the same size as the clutch & I made a bracket to bolt to the engine mount so I could screw the die in a little at a time. By keeping pressure on it & using a heat gun on the outside, the body relaxed enough & took the shape of the die. It worked. Had to do it to get the clutches to line up, but as you can see by the last pic, we made it fit.

Whipper

Nice, simple, low tech but precise. And after all this time I thought you were machining a billet reverse cam, reverse offset driven end CVT.

[George]

This machine really needs to be in the comfy ridr thread....especially sine the thread starter is from AZ.

[AndyL]

this is looking really awesome! whipper you're the man

[Joe M]

WOW! Looks great!!!

[mightymaxIV]

T-20 chains

Very good work Whipper. Can you tell waht kind of adjusters you are going to use on the T-20 chains?

[George]

Looking good Whip.

Can't wait to see it go!