Mudd-Ox and Max II video,s at river run atv park

[mudbug3]

Noel and I went to river run ,atv park on december 5th ,and had a really great time rding and exploring new trails. We got lucky and found several trails that connected with each other and continued for about three miles. The video,s that I,m posting are of the low areas of the park that always hold plenty of water for months when ever it rains. The mud underneath the water in these mud holes was the consistancy of puddin. It was soooooo soft! I had to pull Noel,s Max II with my Mudd-ox several times because the mud was just too soft to drive through with tires. Noel,s Max II has 25 inch mudbug tires on it, and they are really agggressive, but in this kind of mud , you really need tracks. In some spots I had to pull Noel forward because his Max II could,nt follow my Mudd-Ox with 14 3/4 inches of ground clearance , and this caused Noel,s Max II to get high centered. The weight of my Mudd-Ox with the tracks on it also made some really deep rutts underneath the water, and this really made it hard for Noel to pick an alterante line to drive out of several mud holes as he followed me in his Max II. I,m still waiting for Matt to send me some 2 inch bearing extensions to make my Mudd-Ox more trail friendly.

[Noel Woods]

That's correct. Even aggressive tires on a light and powerful machine had difficulty in the ooze. Those river bottoms stay wet and its the worst kind of mud, blue clay/gumbo. Tires pack up quickly and don't self clean. The tracks however have cleats that are just far enough apart that they did self clean. When the video is up I want everybody to review the mud holes closely. David and I hit the same spots with our two machines. The Mudd Ox with the Adair tracks take the traction ability of an AATV up several notches. The tracks give the traction and the inverted vee bottom on the Mudd Ox presents no place to high center.
Its a great technical combination that affords traction and tractive ability when the limits of adhesion are reached. On some of the video I was amazed to see the tracks on the Mudd Ox covered up the the upper grousers above the tire line, yet the machine kept moving and mud never stopped it. Watch for the path in the mud pits and how the mud and water backfilled the path of the Mudd Ox a moment or so after the machine moved over the terrain and keep in mind that slop was two feet thick.

[mightymaxIV]

Very impressive David. I am impressed but the mudding ability of that machine and impressed by the fact that it went straight from a mud hole to a hill climb. tires would have needed a moment to clean out. I also noticed that the tracks lift the front end in some cases making the mud seem less deep than it really is

Now I have a question? The last hole that you were in, is that the suicide hole that stuck you MaxIV for 1/2 hour? That was indeed a bad hole and the Mudd Ox made it look like child's play.

[bilimrl1]

Dave,
You look like you guys had the run of the place and could ride all day with out the worries of quads running behind you and burying up and needing pulled out. Well, having someone to show how deep the holes actually could have been would have been the icing on the cake for those videos. Even Noel's machine floats in time of need. The tracked machines make it almost to easy to walk through those holes. The noise from tracks trying to walk off were very obvious. I wish Kathy and i could have made it down there with you on this trip. It's a must, you have to bring that machine to MUD NATIONALS 2011 and run around with us for a few days. Videos with the tracked machines and the quads battling for the deepest, muddiest, baddest holes will be awesome for posting on this site.

[Roger S]

Videos don't always show how tough things are, but I can tell non tracked aatv's could have spent all day there, playing/winching in that goo.

[Obsessed]

nice driving Dave...looked like beautiful weather (compaired to up here) wish we could have been there...loved the way you guys stirred the pudding up for the next bunch of unsuspecting quads that might come through...if Noel's awsome 6x6 had trouble in that mud, i hope those guys pack a lunch cause they might be there all night trying to get a couple of their big 4x4's out of there....

Noel, either way your Max is a beast in my book....your comments about ground clearance and traction make a lot of sense, but i still gotta wonder what the same set-up on the ultralight, T-20, max II would do in that mud hole???

thanks for sharing the fun videos, kinda makes missing another good ride a little less painful :-)

keep it fun!

[Roger S]

What I saw that made me wish I was there.. was fallen leaves!! That makes for some great powwerslide fun if you find an area big enough for it. I'll try to come down over the winter, if you guys can brave the 50 degree east texas temps

[mudbug3]

Roger

That new riding aread that Noel and I found would be perfect for you. Its wide open with lots of leaves ,and the trees are spaced far enough apart to power slide.

[mightymaxIV]

Which of these videos is the suicide hole?

[mudbug3]

Dan

With the lower water levels in these mud holes, and over two years since I,ve been to this particular place in the park, I,m not sure if we even found the suicide hole. One big cicular mud hole that we both drove through was called the ' devil,s pit. ' This mud hole had a sign by it. I don,t know if there is a circular mud hole called the suicide hole. Maybe people just call it that? This big circular mud hole that had the really soft mud in it, was very similar to the sucide hole. I went to youtube and found a video that Scott posted that has the sucide hole in it. When the video counter reaches 3:16 you,ll see my Max IV stuck, and me shoving and pushing my Max IV trying to keep it moving forward.

[mudbug3]

I made a comparison video of Noel,s Max II with 25 " inch Mudbug tires on it with my Mudd-Ox with Adair tracks on it both driving through the very same mud holes. Noel,s Max II with its lighter over all weight and wider flat bottom tub, is superior to my Mudd-Ox with its V bototm tub in deep water. Noel,s Max II with 25" inch Mudbugs tires on it will almost clear a gallion milk jug. It has almost 10 inches of ground clearance. My Mudd-Ox with the Adair tracks on it has 14 3/4 inches of ground clearance. Where Noel has the advantage in deep water, my Mudd-Ox with its V bottom tub , plus the added ground clearance, has the advantage in soft deep mud.

[mudbug3]

As I get the time to I,ll be adding some more video,s of Noel,s Max II with the 25 inch Mudbug tires on it. Wildtexasranger installed the 13 tooth output shafts that Whipper made for Noel,s T-20 on his Max II, and with the red spring on the clutch added to this, Noel told me that its made a BIG difference in low end grunt.

[mudbug3]

This is a video of Noel,s Max II and my Mudd-Ox with the Adair tracks driving through the very same mud holes. I understand that this is not a valid comparison of a wheeled machine vs a tracked machine, but considering that Noel,s Max II has almost 10 inches of ground clearance , and it was also the best performing amphib with tires at river run park, this video shows how bad the mud really was in some places !

[mightymaxIV]

The Joy of wheels

Wow! Noel's Mudbug equipped maxII is impressive, but any one can see he had to work to get through the same holes. Anyone who really wants to see the difference should go back and watch all the river run video. The tracked machines drove around the wheeled machines all day. Robert and his wife were so impressed with the Argo Bigfoot with tracks they bought it. One of the videos I posted had Roberts wife driving that Bigfoot through a nasty mud section like it was a Sunday walk while the wheeled machines couldn't move or struggled in the same hole. Another video had Robert Driving that Bigfoot through a mud lane that gave all the wheeled vehicles fits (ask Roger). The other big difference was the tracked vehicles pulled out of every hole while the wheeled vehicles struggled. I can tell you now there are about twenty quad riders at the Rocky creek trail who watched my Argo go through every Mud pit and hole that no one else would try and do it with ease. They are believers now.
You can't replace wheels for sport riding or running up and down trails, they are fun, and nothing will ever replace the joy of watching a MaxII speed up and down the trails, or watching Rogers Argo Haul across an open section intimidating the quads. But for mud, or soupy mud, or mud with water on top nothing beats a machine with a set of Adair tracks.

Enjoy the machine you have and what it will do. Every time you get something you have to give something up. You have chose what is important to you and the type of riding you do.

[mudbug3]

more video,s of the december river run atv park ride