Max Registry: Models, Builds & Photos

Where Max came from

Recreatives Industries put the Max into production in Buffalo, New York in 1970, in the thick of the six wheel amphibious ATV boom that also produced Argo, Attex, and Hustler. The company began as a subsidiary of W. R. Grace under Sid Wallace, and it outlasted nearly every rival. When the six wheeler market collapsed in the mid 1970s, Recreatives and Hustler Corporation bought the rights to the Borg-Warner T-20 skid steer transmission in December 1975, the gearbox most of the industry depended on. That move dried up the competition's driveline supply and left Recreatives as one of the few amphibious ATV builders still standing. The Buffalo plant turned out more than 20,000 machines before production there ended in 2013.

How a Max works

Every Max drives all six wheels through roller chain from a Borg-Warner designed T-20 skid steer transmission. Pulling a steering lever brakes the wheels on that side while the opposite side keeps driving, which lets the machine pivot in roughly its own length. In water the high density polyethylene hull floats and the spinning tires paddle the vehicle along at walking speed. There is no suspension on the classic machines. The low pressure tires do all the cushioning, which is why tire condition and correct pressure matter more here than on almost anything else you can drive.

Max II

The Max II is the compact two passenger model and the volume seller of the line. Engines changed with the eras. Kawasaki TA440 two stroke twins of 436 cc powered the machines of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later production switched to four stroke V twins such as the 20 hp Briggs and Stratton Vanguard. The chassis changed little across decades of production, so chains, sprockets, bearings, and transmission parts interchange across a long span of machines.

Max IV

The Max IV is the four passenger model. The hull is only about 10 inches longer than the Max II, but it is shaped to seat four adults with more flotation and more payload, rated at 1,305 pounds gross in the water including passengers and cargo. It uses the same T-20 transmission and chain drive as the Max II. Hunters and camp owners favor it because it hauls people and gear across swamp that stops a wheeled truck cold.

Buffalo Truck

The Buffalo Truck is the utility machine of the family, a two passenger 6x6 with a powered tilt bed rated to carry 1,000 pounds, which is why it gets billed as the first amphibious dump truck. It aims at farm, surveying, and industrial users rather than sport riders, and it shares the same hull construction, chain drive, and skid steer transmission as the passenger models.

The brand since Buffalo

The original factory stopped in 2013 and the line passed through several hands. Mudd-Ox of Shipshewana, Indiana built Max vehicles until 2016, then Agile Vehicle Technologies of Britain held the brand, tooling, and intellectual property from 2016 to 2021. New ownership bought it all in 2021, revived the Recreatives Industries name, and hauled the tooling from the old Buffalo plant to Bradenton, Florida in September 2023. The Max 2 is back in production there, with the Max 4 and Buffalo Truck slated to return as 2027 models. Parts support now runs through two channels, the factory and a long standing owner community that trades chains, sprockets, bearings, and T-20 transmission parts.