FBX -> 3dsMax problem

Hey everyone, I'm having an odd problem i haven't seen on these Forums before. First, 3DSMax 2013, FBX v2012, Unity 4.0

When I load an .fbx file from the Mecanim tutorial into Unity and play the preview window, there is a little 'axis' gizmo attached to the character. see image:

It follows him for every frame. When I load this file into 3dsMax, then export it, whenever i preview that new file in Unity, the little gizmo is floating in space (and, you guessed it) the animation wont work in my blendtree.

any help is greatly appreciated; this is really frustrating :)

thanks in advance!

[2]: /storage/temp/7113-fbx-1.png