By Bill Schmelzer on Unrecorded Date: Edit

This past weekend I used my Max II to give my 83 yr old mother-in-law and 86 yr old father-in-law rides in the woods. They were visiting from some distance away and both are quite disabled by arthritis. My fr-in-law has not been in my woods for many years due to the arthritis and emphysema. I pulled the Max up to my deck, about 21 inches high with no railing, and each was able to use the roll bar as a railing as they stepped off the deck and onto the Max and situated themselves. We went very slow to avoid any jostling that might be painful. My mother-in-law saw a deer and got a kick out of that. Both of them enjoyed their rides in the woods and thought the Max was a real hoot!
Accompanying them on their visit was another relative troubled by obesity and chronic emotional problems, and her Max ride was a therapeutic adventure that brightened her day as well.
A couple of college age nephews in the group took their first Max rides and took to it like every one else who posts on this board!
The look on all these folks faces after they Maxed-out was worth every penny the machine cost!


Bill Schmelzer, Wausau, WI

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Part of the reason I purchased my Max was to get me back into the woods again. I'm an avid hiker, or I was until arthritis made it extremely painful. My Max allows me to spend more time in the woods again. I had a 4 wheeler, just a basic low power model (cheap) that did the job well too, but whenever somebody saw it, immediately thought of the dirtbike crowd and it wasn't viewed favorably. People react much more favorably toward the Max, partially because that don't know what it is, and it doesn't carry with it the same reputation of a quad. The local farmers have been pretty open toward allowing it to cross their lands, something they didn't do with the Quad. For me, the Max enables me to enjoy the outdoors more again, gotta love it.

By Douglas MacCullagh (Dougmac) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

One reason I bought my Argo was to allow my wife to go into the woods. We even take it on our church retreats so we can hit the nature trails at the church camp. I love the looks on people's faces the first time they see us drive down past the canoe shack and into the lake!

By markm on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I took delivery on my first MAX (MAX IV with the 18hp and 26 tires) last weekend. I immediately got filled up with my kids and all their buddies and had a blast, though I'm still getting the feel for the tranny. That night reading the manuals, I noticed that the load capacity (it says 800 pounds on land and 500 on water) gets cut back by accessories. Buried further in the manual I found out that the 26" tires add about 150 pounds, the roll cage 80. When you add it up, you lose about 300 of the 800 pounds from basic accessories so with four adults of any size your over the limit. I got to wondering about how much it really can handle on land and in the water (which I have not tried yet but can't wait). Any one have a good idea about how much it can really handle? It seems like it would handle more weight but I don't want to overload the frame or anything else. What's the real story. I especially worry about the water, because it sounds like instead of 500, there's only about 200 to play with. Info much appreciated.

By ISAAC EISENMAN (Tropicjungleboy) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

hey markm: first congratulation on your new adquisition (max iv)...about weight versus wider/bigger tires is a tricky point of view...the reason is simple:

* on land the tire doensn't add weight to frame....and if you add extra "foot print area" as a matter of fact you get overall less psi over ground

* on water your cargo capacity increase due to extra boyancy ( more air area) on 12.00 x26 than the 11.00 x 22........

so you can be sure that extra wide/bigger tires on max iv is a bonus......at least you can use the 800/500 pounds over it...

bottom line is that wider tires bounces better!!!

By markm on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks for the response (and the congratulations). I kinda thought what you said about tires on land made sense - they're not weight on the frame and axles. Never thouught about the on water point though I guess I should have. Anyway, is that the main limiting factor on weight - the frame and axles? I guess I mean what's the weakest link or the lowest common denominator on weight capacity?

By Midwest atv's #1 in 2000 (Hustler) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Markm, RI has though limits because of insurance reasons. I have a Max IV with 25 hp and 26" tires and had four guys and 2 deer in the Max with are hunting gear and floated across water. We had well over 1000 #'s in the Max and made it ok. You and your family can ride the Max with no problems. Just have fun and enjoy.

By cmdr vogt on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Mark,
I have a 2000 Mdl Max 900-T w / "26 tires and a roll cage that wieghs 120 Lbs, I've taken it in many streams & ponds with 3 additional people and had no problems at all , the only difficulty I ever experianced (SP) was using it as a diving platform and that was not the fault of the machine.

You could not have purchased a better machine for the money !
Kyle "Cmdr Vogt" Vogt
Airborne-Six Paintball & 6x6 ATV's

By Oliver (Digipix) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Now that we've really changed topics on this thread, I have a question. Has anyone out there gone swimming with a Max Buffalo? How well do they swim? It's heavier, and the vents for the engine are lower... both bad things in the water. Any experience out there on how well they do? I haven't taken it in the water yet, don't want to go diving you know.

By markm on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks to cmdr vogt and midwest atvs for the responses on load capacity. I kinda thought it would be ok but I'll ride a lot easier having heard from some people with real live experience loading up the machine.