SRK, I am running mine at .026 as well. Gannon recommended setting them between .026 and .028. I think the plug comes at .035 by default but that is too big of a gap from what I was told. I have not tried .022 but .026 seems to be working fine.
You might want to experiment yourself but I suggest set them to something under .030 but I am not sure if this has anything to do with your problem.
I agree with PATMAX, if you plan on keeping the Max, you might want to look into having a spare set of used carbs at hand even just for troubleshooting purposes.
I have a total of 8 white hair, 6 due to issues with girlfriends, 2 due to Max issues.
:bang head:
One troubleshooting tip that served me well with computers seem to help with motorcycles as well: when a problem surfaces, always start by examining the last changes that occurred or you have made.
Well I'm gonna try moving the coil around today and see if the problem follows it and I'm also gonna tighten the gap. If the coil is trashed I need to pick up another set quick but I'm not gonna hold Gannon to it because I was running the gap too wide (Guess I shoulda read the directions) and I noticed after I installed them that they were arcing to the head a little bit on the metal part just above the boot so I wrapped the metal part of the coil that was arcing to the head with black electrical tape, maybe I was stressing the coils too much by running too wide of a gap? As far as going to the last change goes, I diid so much over the winter that it's basically impossible, stretched the swingarm, solid mounts, ported the heads, valve job, relashed the valves, hd oiling kit, and the list goes on.... I kinda went apeshit... LOL