Available now in Australia, the Mudd-Ox 8×8. Mudd-Ox excel in the delivery of extreme off-road mobility, making light of the most demanding of roles in the most challenging of terrains whilst offering the ultimate in control, usability, safety and performance. Mudd-Ox capabilities include:

Power

Power is supplied by either Briggs & Stratton Vanguard, Kohler Command, or Kawasaki twin-cylinder engines ranging from 480cc to 745cc, with petrol or diesel options available, all are covered by a two-year manufacturer warranty. Warranty and service work on the engines can be performed at any of thousands of authorized service centers across the U.S. and the world.

Agility

Our Amphibious All Terrain Vehicles are a uniquely flexible class; they can carry up to eight passengers contained safely and comfortably within the body of the vehicle, protected from environmental extremes … they can do this on land, on water and on those more challenging terrains that are neither one nor the other – swamp, marsh, bogland, mud flats, the littoral, deep powder snow, places that man, nor boat, nor land vehicle can safely go.

Features

Standard features on all models include: Amphibious capability, electric start, CVT or hydrostatic transmission, headlights and tail-lights. Mudd-Ox variants sport a 10 gallon tank, supporting extremes of endurance in the more fuel-efficient turbo-diesel configurations, along with Hydrostatic transmission offering finger tip precision control without the need for gears.

Hydrostatic Transmission

Hydrostatic transmission offers fundamental benefits over mechanical transmission.  These translate directly into precision, simplicity and agility of control and are of considerable benefit in complex demanding environments, offering:

• High power transmission in a compact size
• Low inertia and rapid control response
• Efficient operation over a wide range of torque-to-speed ratios
• Precise control of speed (even in reverse) regardless of load, within design limits
• Maintains selected speed accurately against driving or braking loads
• Can transmit power to multiple locations, even if position and orientation changes
• Tolerates stalls without damage even under full load, and with low power loss
• No creep at zero speed
• Faster response than mechanical or electro-mechanical transmissions of comparable rating
• Efficient, effective dynamic braking

The pumps and drives are immensely durable, we expect and routinely achieve thousands of hours from our machines employed in the most demanding of  industrial environments.  Well looked after, these hydrostatic units will simply go on and on.

Mudd-Ox hydrostatic systems have been developed to deal with the most demanding of extreme-use conditions and have been proven in the most challenging of environments. This highly capable drive technology is exclusively available from Mudd-Ox; our  hydrostatic models – the GT and XL.  It offers the following:

• The Ultimate in Handling and Safe Control – Mudd-Ox Hydrostatics deliver precision in the control of power, drive and traction, assuring exact control even in the harshest of environments. There is no loss of traction or torque when steering and extremes of gradient are handled seamlessly; forwards or in reverse.
• Control Simplicity – Regulated engine speed with torquey engines and no requirement for gear changes – no distractions.
• Zero Turning Radius – fully independent port and starboard control of drive.  The ability to contra-rotate port and starboard wheel-sets allows Mudd-Ox to rotate on the spot on land or in water.
• Ride Quality – superior ride quality from matched hydrostatics, body, chassis and our own Vendetta tyre.

The principle underlying our hydrostatic drives is illustrated in the schematic below.  The engine drives a pump which provides hydraulic power to left and right drives, these are completely independent of each other and the direction and speed of rotation of each is controlled by the respective steering lever.  As the left lever is moved forward the left set of wheels rotate more quickly at a speed that exactly matches the degree of movement, as the lever is pulled backwards the wheels slow.  As the lever passes backwards through the neutral point the respective wheels change direction and rotate in reverse. Once again, the speed is exactly matched to stick movement.

Gentle, fingertip control can be achieved for very precise movement, torque is applied exactly in accordance with control input and the high capacity drives can convey massive amounts of power as required – offering both power and precision without compromise to either. By moving one lever forward and the other backwards the wheels on one side can be made to rotate in the opposite direction to the other.  This provides a stunning level of precisie positional and manoeuvre control, for instance the machine can easily be made to rotate about its centre point.  This degree of precision cannot be achieved using conventional skid steering, which brakes the wheels on one side and causes the vehicle to ‘skid’ around the braked wheelset.  This type of control also reduces wear and tear on tyres and transmission.

Ground Clearance

Clever chassis and transmission design allows us to achieve a central belly clearance of 12″ (30.48 cm) on 26″ Vendettas – far better than other Amphibious All Terrain Vehicles (AATVs) such as Argo and in a completely different class compared to Utility Task Vehicles (UTVs). Ground clearance is important since it reduces the risk of bellying out in soft, sucking mud or of becoming stuck when crossing rugged, irregular terrain (boulders, stumps etc), a particular concern when significant obstacles are submerged or encountered when negotiating blind ridges.  Such obstacles are not simply a threat to mobility, but present a real opportunity to cause damage or endanger occupants when travelling at speed.

Excellent ground clearance was a core design objective for good reason.  Achieving it requires careful trade-off to maintain displacement volumes for flotation, stability and internal load space.

Kick-Up – Front and Rear Wheel-Sets

Look carefully from the side and you may get the impression that the front and rear wheel-stations sit slightly higher than the middle pairs.

They do, only slightly, but just enough.  This design feature has two purposes, firstly it improves the stability and approach performance  when encountering steep or step obstacles, secondly, when travelling on firm ground it marginally reduces the amount of drag on front and rear tyre sets, significantly improving steering responsiveness and reducing drag-wear on the tyres.

Track Clearance

Tracks are an important mobility enhancement for certain types of terrain and we have designed in the ability to fit them more easily, without the need to compromise on tyre size.

If you compare the current generation Mudd-Ox to its predecessor – or pretty much any other machine – you may also notice that the gap between the top of the tyre and the body shell has increased, it has … not by much, but by precisely enough to allow you to run tracks on the 26″ Vendetta tyre.  Switching to a smaller tyre size in order to fit tracks has never been a very good idea.  Now there’s no need to.

Roll Over Protection

That solid-looking roll bar … is just that, and it comes as standard on all Mudd-Ox.  Mudd-Ox roll over protection systems are chassis mounted, not simply bolted to the body shell, whilst smaller, lighter machines employed in less demanding environments may get away with such solutions we do not regard safety as being a compromise worth taking.  Our safety provisions set the benchmark in medium to high range machines.  Whilst we set and claim the highest standards with some pride, the shortcomings of other machines in this area do not give us any satisfaction.

So, what are the compromises?  Not many at all; it costs a little more to build, it was harder to design and that’s about it.  In terms of advantages though, we achieve a stiffer, stronger structure, we have an additional ‘hard point’ able to support all manner of uses, such as winch, jib or rack mounting.  Indeed it is strong enough – as you would expect – to support the full weight of the machine, and then some.  Emergency helicopter underslung lift using only a strop – not a problem – you can lift the machine from the roll bar … if you wish. And of course you can fold it for transportation or to access … small places.

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