25.   This week my new Argo tires finally arrived and I had them mounted Thursday, unfortunately not in time for yesterday's stuck ATV rescue mission! LoL As OEM Argo tires are crazy expensive I went with these Duro 243's, I picked up 3 brand new OEM 8" steel wheels to replace the worst 3 original wheels and reused 3 of the decent Grey wheels. I'm still undecided on what colour all 6 wheels will end up!

24.   With new tires installed and torqued I left the house for a 3 hour shakedown run to work out any bugs that may pop up with this build.

23.

22.

21.

20.   The Argo seems to be running well, I played with the air idle mixture setting throughout the run but its still not perfect, I may have to re-read the manual for the correct adjustment procedure.

19.   The tires bite really well providing great traction but still skid steer with ease which is important when choosing an aftermarket tire for an Argo.

18.

17.

16.   This hill climb is very steep in person especially near the top, but I took my time and walked the machine up over the hill with ease. Since I was working the machine harder than normal at low speed in low range I took off the hood to provide some extra cooling for the engine.

15.

14.

13.  The key to hill climbing on any ATV is to be smooth on the throttle, don't stop and pick your line carefully.

12.

11.

10.

9.

8.

7.   The turning radius of these old machines, particularly the 6x6 is incredible. The longest drag mark is from the outside rear tire, these machines will literally turn on a dime.

6.   A little more mini hill climb action!

5.

4.   I did manage to get the beast stuck going slow in some particularly slimy mud but my newly rebuilt WARN winch had me out with ease.

3.

2.

1.   All in all it was an excellent shakedown ride and I'm happy to say project Argo is ready for Moose Hunting season!

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith