Hauling Amphibious Vehicles

I've had many questions recently on how to haul a Max or Argo amphibious vehicle and if they will fit in a pick-up bed. Maximum Off-Road delivers vehicles in a Ford F-250 short bed truck.

All amphibious vehicles are easily transported in a truck bed simply by raising the ATV above the truck's fender wells. I use a wooden pallet (as seen below) to allow the ATV to sit level and stable over the fender wells. Two pallets work great with a short bed truck and tail gate down, or simply use one pallet with two 2x6" boards to cover the rest of the ATV's length and close the tail gate. This works great on a full bed truck hauling any ATV or a short bed truck hauling the Max II.

The Ford short bed is 6.9' long, Chevy is 6.6', and Dodge is 6.3'. The Ford's 6.9' bed is the shortest possible bed to close the tail gate hauling a Max II. I use aluminum ATV loading ramps to drive the ATV into the bed. These are bi-fold ramps with the hinge removed to allow them to sit wider.

Use safety straps on the ramps to the truck bumper so the ATV doesn't kick them out when loading.

A fully equiped 27hp Max IV fits easily in the truck bed. It sits on two pallets and is backed in so the rear tires touch the front of the truck bed to help secure the Max. Two large 10,000 pound ratchet straps are always used to keep our ATVs safely in place.

The Argo Bigfoot is loaded the same way. Argo's engine is in the front of the ATV so it rides best by driving it in forward. This Argo has a winch on the front and still has lots of room. Even the big Argo Avenger 8x8 can be loaded like this.

Here is my own personal Max II returning home after one wild Deepwater ride! It's covered in mud and rides very well with the tail gate closed. Backing the Max into the truck bed allows for this perfect fit.

Here are four new Maxs after picking them up at the factory in Buffalo, New York. It's a 20' trailer that is 82" wide. The Max IVs barely make width clearance when loaded sideways but they ride well.

This is our very first trip to the Max factory and we are parked right outside their front door. Here we had only a 16' trailer so one Max II was loaded in the truck bed.