looking for feedback on wheel and tire size. I have a 04 sportsman 700 with the oem 25x12 tires,and would like to upgrade to 26x12 or maybe 27x14?

I do light trail riding on hills and rolling timber, but use the sporty for working around the farm mostly. I would like more ground clearnace but would the taller wheels/tires make it less stable?

thanks for any feedback.

 

it would make it a little slower to get up to speed and take mmore power to turrn them

 

clearance wise you could go up to 27" w/out any issues. you will need low range more if your working it when using the 27" tires. swap lites are good all around tire. 26" tires are stock on the newer models and the xp's come w/ the 14" rims.

 

Thanks for the help,it sounds like if I combine a 26" tire w/ a 12 or 14" wheel, that would give me the best all around performance I'm wanting!

Thanks.

 

I,m not a big fan of 14" rims, low profile tires on a the street may help handling and look cool but with off road, the more tire cushioning the better. Id go with 26" or 27" tires but keep the 12" rims, even 10" and 12" rims get dented up enough it must be worst with 14s.

Id make a mess of these rims in a week on the rocky trails around here.LOL

 

Great pic, thanks for the advice. I do some mild trail riding mostly in rolling timber some pretty steep, very little mud (I don't like to clean my 4x4.) Most of the time I'm using it to spray fields (summer) or plow snow (winter) thats why I'm leaning towards the 26x14 combo!

 

The only other thing you want to watch is the clearance between the tie rod ends and the tires if you go with a wider tire. It can be close.

 

I don't think you'll get anything wider than a 8" on the front without spacers (stock spec wheel offset anyway). I have 27" mudbugs all 'round on my 800 and I actually think it's geared better now. Before it was reving too much IMO.