Mudd Ox questions/Mudd Ox answers

[hancock]

Okay. How about a little help from the dealers, builder, or other experts on some issues.

Battery first. It sat for two weeks for the second time since I've had it, (since mid December), and the battery was dead again. gotta be a drain from somewhere. Is this my problem only and has this been noted elsewhere?

Secondly, how bout that heat...have there been any resolutions yet to that issue. I really had a lot of my usage in mind to be some dirt/gravel road activity and after my first attempt at this I haven't wanted to do it again. The heat from under the seat, on the back of the knees was outrageous and the 220ish hydraulic temp was, at best, concerning. Heard there were some movements towards fixing this, but that is all I've heard.

How about the speed. Matt was gonna call me back.....ohhhhhhhhh.........a month and a half ago or so and let me know how to tell if I have the low gearing or not. If I don't, 17 mph is rather unsatisfying when it was expected to top end at 24. What avenues do I have to remedy this problem, if any?

Thanks in advance for anybody's time and effort towards these issues

Hancock

[Amphiman1]

mudd ox

i asked moallen when he was selling his and he said it was the best aatv he ever had, humm...... makes me wonder too. I had asked him if there were any issues, i didn't any real answer..... but he did sell his for 1/2 price? 17,000 .00 i think he was asking..
Curious as i said...

[AussieMax]

Mudd-ox

Hi Hancock,
I've had this Ox here since September. I think it was the first one off the line. I might have mentioned this before, but we operate it in really hot conditions for most of the time, and apart from the exhaust heating things up, haven't had too much trouble. After experimenting with different exhausts and mufflers, I ended up mounting the standard muffler up higher in the engine bay closer to the fan. This seems to have made a huge difference to the heat issue. It seems to have lowered the amount of heat coming from under the seat on long rides quite a bit. The weather has cooled down here a bit, so I will need more testing time in hotter conditions, but it was instantly noticeable. The battery problem you are having may just be a faulty battery. The fan timer buggered up on mine and switched the fan on while it was in the shed and flattened my battery, but apart from that it's ok. I know if you have both fans running and the headlights on high beam, the charge system may not keep up. As for hydraulic temps, we are running John Deere Hygard oil in the hydraulics, and only on really long road runs on hot days can we get the temp above 200.
I think you must have the lower gearing if your speed is only 17 mph, we get over 20 out of ours no worries. If you have tracks, it was probably fitted with the slower gears. If you want to be sure PM me and I'll count some sprocket teeth on mine and we'll compare.
The new Ox will be coming out with some big changes so I believe. It will have different chains and adjusters, a car style alternator with around 100 amp capacity, larger cooling fans to extract heat, and some chassis mods. Some of these mods may be able to be fitted to older machines and will definitly mean owners of new machines will not have the minor problems we have had.
All in all the Ox is a good machine. It is a little on the heavy side, but its ability on steep terrain and ease of operation are hard to beat. I think there is good and bad in every machine, and there is no perfect amphib.

[tracmaster]

All that extra heat needs to go somewhere... probably a great feature for up north but here in West Virginia you could die from all that heat...I think the problem with the electrical is just using to many fans to control all that heat..They use alot of juice...and not having a large enough stock alternator.. i personnaly have waited to purchase a Mudd-Ox for that exact reason...even in 95 degree days my Argo Avenger still runs extremely cool with no heat coming in the cabin... Hancock..Put a thermometer behind and under the seat and let us know how high the temps get..

Tracmaster

[tracmaster]

Hose Question

How many hydrolic hoses are there on the mudd ox? And if any one hose fails does the whole system fail?

Tracmaster

[AussieMax]

Hi Tracmaster,
We run our Ox in temps around 100 with very high humidity during the wet season over here. Most of the trouble with heat was in the engine bay not in the cab. The carb would vapour lock when it was turned off, making it difficult to start. The hydraulic drive motors are under the seat, and these do get quite hot, but I think with the better alternator and fans the new ones will have, there will be a lot more airflow through the engine bay. I'm pretty sure they will also have the raised exhaust similar to mine.
I can't see how you say your argo runs cool. I understand there are no problems with vapour locking on an argo, but how does the hot air from the exhaust, radiator and heat from the brakes not blow back on you as you are riding? I have ridden an avenger in the heat up here, and the firewall in front of your legs gets pretty darn hot, not to mention the exhaust fumes blowing back on the passenger. Even our Buffalo truck gets a bit of heat coming back from the engine bay on long hot runs. It's not enough to worry about, but you can feel it on your legs. I'd say the heat we experience coming from under the seat of the Ox is comparible to most other machines now that it has the new exhaust. I don't have windshields on any of them yet either, I think this would trap a lot more heat.

[Amphiman1]

mudd ox

Do these come with some kind of warrenty?

[travisch]

hancock.....Count the teeth on the sprocket on the 2nd axle that the drive motors attach to and I'll tell you what gears you have. Also.....dis-connect both cables to the winch and run some electrical tape around them as they are both hot. With it dis-connected see if the battery drain issue goes away.

[hancock]

sorry, but something happened to this post. Probably operator error. I made an edit and 90 % of my post got dumped. I will replace it later, time permitting. In the mean time, thanks for all the input.

[mudbug3]

I talked with Matt Oxender a few weeks ago , and he told me that he has made some changes to the new Mudd Ox 8x8,s. being made now. These changes include:




1. higher cfm fans ( still 10 inch )
2. exhaust raised 10 inches , lowering the exhaust temp 40 degrees
3. double row , 60 series chain through out the whole machine
4. additional frame cross bracing
5. 105 out put alternator to be able to run more accessories.
6. new " fixed " chain tensioners

[Roadtorque]

I'm sure there is some correlation between the low gear set and high heat if you are trying to run at higher speeds. I think if you can confirm the lower gearing on your machine and replace it with the higer gear it will take care of your heat problem as well as your speed problem

[philipatmaxfour]

Does Avenger motor warm up in hot weather of 100 degrees

Hi Tracmaster,
We run our Ox in temps around 100 with very high humidity during the wet season over here. ......
I can't see how you say your argo runs cool. I understand there are no problems with vapour locking on an argo, but how does the hot air from the exhaust, radiator and heat from the brakes not blow back on you as you are riding? I have ridden an avenger in the heat up here, and the firewall in front of your legs gets pretty darn hot, not to mention the exhaust fumes blowing back on the passenger.

Hi AussieMax, I cannot get my 2007 Avenger EFI to heat up above 175 deg. F.. Our hottest days are well over 90 deg. f. but never over 100 deg, I am used to car engines with pressurised cooling systems running above 212 deg F. and wonder if a little higher heat would make my Argo engine run more efficiently. The Kohler manual says that the thermostat begins to open at just over 170 * F. If I get it hot enough for that to happen even on the hottest day, the temp. drops immediatly when the thermostat opens. My wife has never complained about exhaust fumes. Do you know of an optional higher temp. thermostat for the Kohler EFI?

[hancock]

Okay, let me try to recompose what I typed earlier

i asked moallen when he was selling his and he said it was the best aatv he ever had, humm...... makes me wonder too. I had asked him if there were any issues, i didn't any real answer..... but he did sell his for 1/2 price? 17,000 .00 i think he was asking..
Curious as i said...

well, let's see now. It was Allen's FIRST and ONLY aatv he has ever had, so by default, I guess that qualifes as best. (also worst). By the way, 17 grand is hardly a fire sale and nowhere near half price. And....please don't confuse dissatisfaction with particular items as dissatisfaction with the vehicle in general. It is quite capable. I'm just trying to work out a few issues. Oh yeah.........there IS a warranty.

Aussie. Thanks for all the info. I will pm you and/or Travis with the gear teeth count to try to get to the bottom of the low vs. high gear question. Matt was going to let me know but is somewhat delinquent in providing that information. I also want to get more specifics on your muffler/exhaust mods. By far my biggest complaint is the slower than ADVERTISED speed at cruise and the hot air that accompanies the cruise. 90% of the time this isn't an issue, but it is on the occasions that I want to take off down the road and be able to cruise out at the speed I was told to expect AND not worry about the temps, (both on myself and on the engine and hydraulics). I do have the windshield and half cab still on, and that locks in some heat, but it doesn't affect the air on the back of the legs. I believe I will try putting a thermometer to it to check it out, just out of curiosity. Maybe I'll also try the Deere hydro fluid. I don't know that the 220ish temp is damage causing or not but you can't help but stare at it and wonder. To compound the problem, the hydraulic light was also coming on but Matt told me that was a glitch in the fluid chamber with the indicator and not a real problem. The extra temp in the cab is great in the winter time but practically unbearable in the summer temps.

Travis, I will try the winch connections as you suggested. I probably won't be able to know for sure if there is a drain there until I have another two week hiatus, though. I'm sure the fans drain the battery a lot and the alternator may or may not be able to keep up, but the battery doesn't go too low to start until it has sat for more than a couple of weeks.

Thanks guys

[tracmaster]

I would be furious if i paid 17+ grand and when i got it home it needs immediate upgrades... Matt should exchange those needed upgrades for free.. after all it is a new machine..Boy it sure takes alot of extra parts to have counter rotating wheels... dependability may be an issue straight from the factory with the Mudd-Ox...

Tracmaster

[Roger S]

I would be furious if i paid 17+ grand and when i got it home it needs immediate upgrades

you mean like an argo avenger tearing up axle bearings and chains from poor designed chain adjusters, or a poor designed hand brake that wouldn't stop the vehicle? Even after years in production, my response wasn't built right.. I had to fix many things the factory flubbed up.