6x6 Ride at the 2014 Texas Mud Nationals!

[Model Citizen]

[Mike]

I asked Mike about embedding videos on the forum here instead of just links, but until then here is my video of the endurance challenge.

The short answer right now is that you have to remove the "s" from the URL so that it is "http://ww...." instead of "https://ww...."

[mudbug3]

Did any of you guys watch the atv free style event?

[mudbug3]

Thanks Mike for this tip.

[mightymaxIV]

I had a great time at mud nationals,it was everything that I was expecting, and way more! It was nice to put a face with some of the forum members,and made a bunch of new friends.
We could go pretty much anywhere on the park we wanted,and some of the most fun was putting the aatvs to the test, pulling out the side by sides. The first poor soul we pulled out was this kid who got stuck the day before,and it took us the better part of an hour,and I believe we had four argos pulling in tandem to get him out.A lot of these guys who get stuck end up spending the entire night with their ride so it doesn't get vandleized. There should be some great video posted of this.I took a great pic of this kid right after we got him out.His unit was all busted up,nothing that 5 or 6 grand wouldn't fix however.
The only disapointment that I had was that one of my batteries died on my gopro, and I missed a lot of video time.However,maxrules had me covered,as we spent a lot of time in the same argo. He had the ultimate camcorder that was so tiny he had it around his neck,and the batterie lasted forever.










Here is the first of a few video clips:

Man I would loved to be there with my tracked MaxIV, it would have been nice to have a Max in the mix.
I recognize at least four of those six wheelers, one was the former vampire tired Bigfoot of Kathy and her husband, the other a regular Argo that was driven by Mike when I purchased my Argo and was purchased by Kathy and her husband when they saw what a capable machine it was. One was Lee's old 650 Frontier, the same Frontier I battled with the Max in Half the mud holes Georgia, and the other is Lee's 650 Frontier with the 30 horse Generec engine, the same machine that Lee Drove at the Big Nasty,competing against my 650 Frontier HD and the Tracked HD of Mudbug, we had some real battles at Big Nasty. Since Noel was driving that Generec powered machine I am assuming that Noel purchased the best 6x6 I have ever seen, 3.3 transmission and a 30 horse Generec that will not over heat like the Briggs engines and had better control in most situations and gearing so low that Lee never went into low range in some awful mud.

Congratulations Noel, you scored big on that one!!!!

[foxvalley]

Dan, just plan on next year,it would be awesome to have your max there in the mix.

http://youtu.be/0RZiwus6m9E

[foxvalley]

YouTube[/url]http://youtu.be/JodajBBkQjM

[mightymaxIV]

Here you go Fox Valley,

[mightymaxIV]

And again Foxvalley

[mudbug3]

Here you go Fox Valley,

I really liked the vantage point of this video.

[mudbug3]

Watching these two side by sides driving through the muddy trails at the atv mud nationals shows the short turning radius these machines have when compared to our skid steer machines. Notice how both of them avoided all of the bad mud holes too.

[MaxRules]

Here is a video of the sand pit on Friday afternoon. It was already getting crowded and people were showing off.

[mightymaxIV]

Thanks for the video Max Rules, I noticed there weren't any quads following you into the mud lanes toward the end of the video. All very nice machines but did the 8x8 HDI have any advantages over the 6x6 Argos in deep mud????? I have run with a number of tracked 6x6's but other then Mudbugs tracked Mudd Ox I haven't had the chance to see an HDI with Tracks.

[Noel Woods]

The tracked HDI does have an advantage over a 6x6 in that the longer wheelbase allows for additional traction, as well as providing more balance and stability. I noted several times that the HDI slid over very challenging obstacles without high centering. The HDI had 3 occupants as well, and that allowed the machine to be rocked very easily over the deep rut style obstacles. 8x8 means there are two additional tires that the Adair tracks wrap around too.

The HDI also has the benefit of the more advanced Admiral transmission. My two Argos have the 3.3 gearing and do very well in all conditions, the Admiral has the advantage of the servos doing all the work and lets the driver concentrate on the driving as opposed to powering or unpowering one side or another.

[mightymaxIV]

The tracked HDI does have an advantage over a 6x6 in that the longer wheelbase allows for additional traction, as well as providing more balance and stability. I noted several times that the HDI slid over very challenging obstacles without high centering. The HDI had 3 occupants as well, and that allowed the machine to be rocked very easily over the deep rut style obstacles. 8x8 means there are two additional tires that the Adair tracks wrap around too.

The HDI also has the benefit of the more advanced Admiral transmission. My two Argos have the 3.3 gearing and do very well in all conditions, the Admiral has the advantage of the servos doing all the work and lets the driver concentrate on the driving as opposed to powering or unpowering one side or another.

Noel, thanks for the comments. I also love the sound of the water cooled engine in the HDI,but I have noticed that under certain trail and swamp conditions it is very advantageous to have the low 3.3 transmission to be able to completely lock down one side to get over a root or tree stump under the water, under these conditions some times the admiral transmission will push you where you really don't want to go. I have also noted that in the water being able to lock down one side will give you an advantage when you are trying to get a better line in a mud lane with high centers, trees and roots. I understand that you can use the low range in the Admiral to counter rotate under these conditions but I still like the lock down ability of the old transmission, I wish Mike or Bud or anyone else who has been around both types of 8x8s in extreme conditions would comment on this.