How hard do you ride?
 

Just turned over 1400 miles on my 6 month old Carter GTR 250! My boy is 11 and has autism and down syndrome. We put on custom rims and road tires and pretty much cruise up and down the dirt roads of southeast Indiana. Bathed it in mud a half dozen different times at local ORV parks. We ride about an hour or more 3-4 times a week. Many of our rural roads are not much more than glorified farm lanes. The highlight of our summer trips was a mountain lion that we saw walk across the road in front of us in deep corn country about 10 miles from home. Nearly peed my pants when I saw it.
Guess he was feasting on deer. 2 weeks later the Indiana DNR confirmed that at least 1 mountain lion is now residing in southern Indiana. So now my buddies don't think we are so crazy...

Had to put new wheel bearings on the front and put a new chain on. Got a good deal from our local motorcylce shop for a O-ring chain. Ordered a waterproof case to mount the iPhone to the dash for our tunes and a Malossi clutch and variator kit from ********* Power sports as my fall project. Can't wait to try out the buggy in snow.

go to the auto parts store get a wheel bearing packer it hooks to your grease gun if you
have greasable wheel bearings

Just an opinion- I've found O-ring chains tend to have a shorter life span than a standard chain, and the cost is alot more. The O-ring does slow down the lube slinging better but still has to be lubed just as often. Doesn't sound like you're abusing the buggy even though you have quite a few miles on it in a relatively short time. Nice to know you're enjoying your buggy and your son has the opportunity to share in that - the mountain lion sighting is awsome since without the hobby of a buggy it wouldn't have occured. I lube/grease my wheel bearing every 10-20 hours and hit every thing else with lube also. Good luck with your mod's. My wife can't wait either to run out and do donuts in the snow!