Max Machine Worx, Havasu

[SHAKEN Not Stirred]

Week after week I read stories posted here about boat builders, service centers and parts manufactures that don't know the meaning of customer service anymore. They appear to not care or are unwilling to stand behind their product. The crap they try to pull on us is humiliating to say the least and they see no problem with it. I am tired of broken promises and missed deadlines. Just tell me to my face that you have no intention of having it done in time and that you just don't care......The honesty would be refreshing!!
With that said, I feel the need to speak out about the guy's at Max Machine Worx in Havasu. Aaron, Jason & Dean are the Shit !!!! They are good guy's who stand behind a great product.
I first met them last year while I was putting my new motor package together. I told Aaron what I was building and what I expected it to do. He looked me right in the eye without hesitation and said "No problem dude.....We'll take care of you". When is the last time someone said that to you are you felt that they really meant it !!!
Aaron then took the time to give me drive 101. As "PlayDeep" said during his post about Max in 2002, "Aaron spent over an hour showing us around his shop while he explained what causes drives to fail and giving advice on how to keep a drive together. The most eye opening part of our tour was seeing all of the specialty drive builders(i.e.IMCO,Teague,Merc XR)parts side by side. You can see difference in shaft size,bearings,carriers etc".
Aaron did the same with me and as I've told many people since then that, "I went with these guy's as they are so passionate about what they do". I also read posts by "RiverRacerX", "Jrocket", "Faster", Bohica" & "WilderThanU54", before I decided to go with Max. All of these guy's had a similar feeling or experience when dealing with Max. I have personally watched these guys work their butt's off to get us and our families back out in the water.
So......when I heard a slight clicking sound coming from my drive a couple weeks ago I was a bit concerned. I had about 30 hours on my new motor & drive and when I pulled the lower oil plug and and found a bunch of shit on it.....I was concerned.
I dropped the drive off at Max and told Aaron what I had found and told him to give me a call and let me know how much it was going to cost. Again, Aaron said "No problem dude.....We'll take care of you". Well, in Havasu, or anywhere else, this could mean anything. So Aaron called me within a few days and let me know that Jason went through the entire drive and that one of the teeth on the lower gear set was missing and another looked bad as well. This lower XR set was one of the only things that we had re-used while building up this Bravo drive. I was a little disappointed.
I had to wait another few days for them to get in a new lower gear set that they have been developing. So I went back last Friday with my boat in tow and sat and watched while Aaron sweat his butt off putting my drive back on. When he was done I asked what I owed him.
"Dude.....I told you I'd take care of you...Just bring it back in about 10 hours so I can look at it again".
So.....All of you other guy's out there that keep taking our money better look out.......Guys like Aaron at Max Machine & Aaron at Absolute Speed & Marine have figured out what you have forgotten.........CUSTOMER SERVICE!
I'll get off my soap box now.....
CJG
:cool:

[LHC30Victory]

I hear ya about not being able to trust certain folks. It is refreshing to hear that there are still people who take pride in their work and stand behind it without the attitude of some of the "big boys."
Note to self: check out these guys when work needs to be done.

[gmocnik]

i have said it before and will take any opportunity to recommend these guys. Not only do they build bulletproof drives, they have provided service beyond the call of duty for me.
it has been my experience that most of the other "service" shops in havasu have forgotten how to treat a customer or potential customer...
gm

[PHX ATC]

Get back on your soap box and preach some more.
I like to hear stories about good customer service.
I've seen them in action and they are the best! :cool:

[havasuready]

I am glad to hear that there are still some "good" shops left in Havasu. I have had very similar experiences with Aaron at ABSOLUTE SPEED AND MARINE. He went as far as to give me his home and cell # so and when I hopped in by boat to find the starter was out he met me at the shop on a Sunday night to put a new one in and since I had just got my boat out of his shop for something totally unrelated he didn't charge me a dime to put it in. It sounds like there is still a couple shops that "get it". Screw the ones that want to just take our money

[beach gomer]

So Chris
Does this mean you are getting rid of the 22' Citation.You do look good in it.

[SHAKEN Not Stirred]

Hey Chip....
No...I'm keeping the 22 so that you guys think your fast.....
Hey....I had that thing up to almost 60....
That's faster than Tracy lets Eric go!!!
Man....I just left Pfaff and they were just finishing up on Mike Bobbit's 40' Skater.....
That thing is SICK.....
Anyone else going to SCOPE poker run in LOng Beach this weekend ??
CJG

[SHAKEN Not Stirred]

So...
It's been about a month since I started this post and I wanted to provide an update for two reasons.....
First....To again praise the boys at Max Machnie for the great customer service and commitment to keeping us out on the water.
Second....To let everyone know about a potential problem when using an aftermarket drive oil reservoir.
"Me and my Drive.....Part2"
Well...As I stated a month ago.....the Max boys got me back out on the water and all looked good.... At the end of the day I noticed that I had drive oil running down the back of my transom....Not just a bit....ALOT.... I know it looks like more than it is, but I bet it was about a quart.... :confused:
I called Aaron at Max and told him that my reservoir was puking oil and he told me to bring it back..... They went through the whold drive again and everything looked sweet... I went back out the next weekend to give her a run.....
Still PUKING oil down the transom..... :(
I added some oil and the did a bit of subjective testing.....Everything was OK until I got to about 4000 RPM, then the fluid level would start to rise in the reservoir......At about 5100 RPM....it puked out of the reservoir cap.
The only thing it could be was heat/friction building up in the drive and causing it to back up...... :squiggle:
Well.....Not so....After the Max boys tore the drive down again.....just to make sure....everything was great......we started to question the drive oil reservoir & hose.....I put the new billet reservoir and braded line with AN fittings on when the new motor was installed..... :frown:
The thought was that maybe the larger diameter hose from the reservoir was causing a problem.....Then I spoke to Aaron at Absolute Speed & Marine and he thought that maybe the drive oil reservoir was the problem, as the Merc units have a check valve in the cap to stop the level from rising.... :idea:
I then spoke to Dean at Max and he also had the same idea..... So I called the manufacturer of the reservoir and funny thing........Of all the units the have sold, I was only the second person to call with the problem.....
Seems they fould out that they needed a check valve in the cap, just like Merc.... :smile:
They FedEx'd me a proto-type cap and last weekend I ran her hard up to about 5200 RPM without an issue. Seems that I didn't have the problem from the beginning cause' I wasn't pushing the new motor as hard ...... :D
Sooooooo...... Thank's again Max Machine Worx for going above and beyond.
CJG
:cool:

[Keith E. Sayre]

About 3 weeks ago we finished building a beautiful Top Cat II deckboat for
a repeat customer named Lee Crisell from Huntington Beach. It had a new
Max Machine outdrive and standoff box in behind a Paul Pfaff built 1250HP
quad rotor fire breather! With about 30 minutes on the boat and motor and
drive, the drive breaks and it also tore up the u Joints and the stand off box.
They hadn't even got above 3,000 rpms and there's a huge problem.
The boys at Max Machine Works said that it was some little $3 bolt that broke that only breaks in rare cases and usually when someone shifts it with
over 1000 rpm going through it. Lee and Mike and Jody from Conquest let
them know that they had all been on the boat and that noone had shifted it
funny and that was the last conversation that was had about it. No bad feelings, no accusations, just done! They fixed the drive and the gimbal and
the standoff box and the ujoints and didn't give an attitude or anything
out of line. I say hats off to the boys at Max Machine Works. They took
a particularly unpleasant experience and turned it into a positive.
More companies should learn from this good example!
Keith Sayre
Conquest Boats
Lake Havasu City
928-680-1400

[That Guy]

Chris....thanks for the great story. Good customer service is very hard to find. Also, thanks for the great time at the Regatta. See you guys out there soon.

[Froggystyle]

I heard about these guys from Spencer Low Jr, a freind of mine who's Dad parents own Fox's in Parker. He recommended them highly, and I think I can attest that if anyone ever does an outdrive in the Revolution, these guys are going to be the ones working on them.
Thanks for the good words Chris.

[Whipped Caliber]

Max's Machine Worx is the best!!! I'm running 1,021hp on mine, and happy with them!!!

[Stealth Marine]

What a pleasure it is to find a company that has such happy satisfied customers out there. It seems ALL TOO rare in this industry!!

[faster]

I'll Keep Sayn it. Aaron and Jason take care of their customers. I've been one for three years. I'll go back.
Keep up the good work MMW

[FastTimmy]

It's good to see someone take the time to tell a story about a good experience!!!
Thanks :D

[SHAKEN Not Stirred]

Good.....I'm glad you guy's feel the same way !!!!!!
CJG
:D

[HP350SC]

You guys did all the typing so I'll post a pic. :)