By oncecoot on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I have a 2001 argo responce with 18 horse briggs. Has anyone swaped a 23 horse briggs? Are there any differences besides no recoil start? Was the money worth the power? And is it a easy swap? Thanks, Oncecoot.

By Timothy Schotanus (Mudbuster) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I have seen a 23hp in an 8 wheeler. Be careful as it is a bigger block. You can get performance parts for the engine you have that just might surprise you by how much power you can get out of it. I have a modified briggs engine in my max feel free to e-mail me with questions or look up matt435 on here somewhere as he has a modified 20hp in his bigfoot

By David Keeso (Argomag) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I think that an engine upgrade in any argo is an improvement. I havn't driven a new ARGO lately, but I know mine is 18 hp and its a Magnum. For a 8x8, 18 just isn't enough under certain conditions such as with tracks. I think that 23 hp will give you more power, speed and also the engine is probably a bit better. I have no expriance with briggs, but they are used in almost every machine you see, so they must be pretty good.

By argomike on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Oncecoot,
I just took delivery of a new Vangaurd2 with a 23 hp B&S Vanguard. The Argo dealer here acutally thinks outside of "the box" and does engine swaps on new machines for a good price. Let me clear up a couple of things that have already been mis-stated about this engine/swap. The 23 HP Vanguard DOES have a recoil back up starter. The only thing the dealer had to do differently to the machine was change the weights on the clutch. I can't remember what he changed them to or if it was more or less weight.
The 23 HP B&S has a oil cooler, which may help keep HP loss through heat down a bit.
The bad part is that I have not had any time to take this machine out yet and get a feel for the difference in power from my old 1997' 16 HP Vangaurd2 I sold a year ago.
I am putting some 25" Rawhides on it this week and I hope to take it out this weekend (maybe). It should have plenty of grunt. This thing has 5 more HP than a Bigfoot and weighs about 150# less.
I think the big test is going to be next winter when I use it with tracks. I'll keep you posted.

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

The Vanguard will weigh more with rawhides.. think the runamucks are 13lbs and 25" RWIII's are 25 lbs. The extra layer skid plate.. and axle extensions, I guess would be most of the weight difference.

By argoguru on Unrecorded Date: Edit

argomike,
Just out of curiosity, does your dealer still do warranty work on your vanguard 2 after he voided to warranty on that engine swap? Just wondering.
I put the 23 in my bigfoot after my warrany was up. Big torque difference on the low end, but no more speed. He had to go to different exhaust flanges also.
You are also going to find your idler chains are going to stretch alot quicker with more hp, and if you go to bigger tires. good luck.

P.s. You will need the brake cooling fan in warm weather if you put bigger tires on, My buddy lost his on a ride on his van 2 with bigger tires. Food for thought.

By argomike on Unrecorded Date: Edit

argoguru,
Now that you mention it I think he did say he had to do a little something different to the exhaust.
Thanks for the ifo on the cooling fan, I didn't know the bigger tires made that big of difference on the brakes. My old Vanguard never had a hint of brake fade, but the largest tire I could run were the 22x11x8 rawhides.
My dealer said that he would cover the warranty.
Have you run tracks with the 23 hp?

By argoguru on Unrecorded Date: Edit

argomike,
I have run my standard tracks with the 23 and that is were you can see the biggest difference with the 5 extra hp.

By mike martindale (Wetsu) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

wouldn't the bigger tires give him just a bit more speed,but take away from the low end torque?now i'm not sure about these 6wheelers,but from my hot rod days gone past.you could put the biggest engine in the smallest car,but if you didn't also build up or,change the transmission,or redo the rear end,no pun intended.but you were basicly just spinning your wheels.what i'm trying to say is;if you upgrade the engine and keep the same tranny,won't you keep the same out put to the axles?i know you 'l be putting more power to the trans,but it still will be the same gearing as with the 18 horse.which is why" i think" you didn't notice any change in speed.i may be talking through my hat,like i said i haven't done any modifications to my bigfoot and was just wondering if this would hold true for 6's.all of my 6wheeling "knowledge" has come from just 1 bigfoot,and what i have gotten from this post,and from face to face with other owners.

By argoguru on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Mike,
You are right about gearing, no change their, no speed difference, you will just get up to speed a little quicker with more hp. going to bigger, more aggressive tires you might pick up a little speed, but it will probably take longer to get to top speed. The fastest stock machine I have seen was a bone stock vanguard 11 argo with the 16 hp. and the gov. set at 4500 rpms at humphrey. that machine passed every other machine quite quickly. It had the runnamuck tires, they weigh next to nothing, and are the easiest tire for the machine due to very little tread. their was several bigfoots, max 11 and 1Vs in a race down the road for the fire hall, and needless to say we all ate that machines dust.

By mike martindale (Wetsu) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

man i would have liked to have seen that.a buddy of mine has a vanguardII and his is also quite quick.he can run rings around my bigfoot in a race,but i can still out pull him.so if i change the governer just a little i could actually get to top speed quicker?i don't nessecerally want to go faster, but i do want to get there in as little time as possible. i think 23mph is plenty fast for an old,fat guy that don't heal like he used to.

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I played around with my stuff and and like it a lot better. Hooked throttle direct and shortened the amount of twist. I was happy to see the Argo clutches are adjustable/tweakable. I added a shim to increase the drive clutch's travel, now it pushes the belt out another 1/4", that = a higher top gear without affecting the low end gearing.

The driven clutch has 6 index slots for a spring that affects the rate at which the clutch opens up, ie how fast the clutch system can go from low to high. It is torque sensitive, and balances engine speed vs vehicle load. Anyway, I had a really low geared situation which took unnecessarily long to gear up.. I moved the spring from #2 hole to 5. That made the clutch system move from low to high quicker. It also affects the rate at which it "downshifts" under load. I backed it off to #4 because of this.

I have the GU trans which is lower geared than the MU( the code is stamped on the top of the trans), and I have short tires, so what worked for me might be different for a bigfoot with the MU and 25 tires. Now I get "through the gears" quicker without the engine all revved up and no place to go. That is, under a light load on the flats. If climbing, it still stays geared down and plenty of power.

I'm getting pretty quick with changing the spring setting, I carry the snap ring pliers and if we get bored, we'll play with your clutch, Mike

By RickMoMoBigfoot on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Roger,Are you deepwater muddin this weekend? I'm leaving fri. after i get home from work.Won't get to the camp until late fri. early,early sat. morn.But i'll be there.If your there i would like to look at doing something like that to mine.Rick

By mike martindale (Wetsu) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

i think i got the throttle part taken care of when we at deepwater last time,you know when mine finally broke WHILE ME AND DAVE were up to our hoohaas in the middle of that mudhole.and then i had to drive us back with my thumb.any way when i put the new throttle cable and throttle on i adjusted it to when i hit the gas....i go. and have full throttle with less travel.do i need to bring the spot light? cause if we get bored it will most likely be very dark.we'll see how it goes.

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Yeah Rick, late friday or early Sat for me, too. Bring your tapes. Your camcorder has rca video out jack like a phono plug?.. the projector takes rca or s-video.

By RickMoMoBigfoot on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Roger,I got my ride footages on vhs and sence theres eletric I'll bring my vcr and rca jacks,extenion cord and video cam. .See i recorded on some of my 8mm tapes like kids school play,b-day ect...8mm has tons of good footage but i'm sure all is on vhs.Rick