Hi,
I am new to the board. I own an Artic Cat 05 250 2 wheel drive and have posted my pics of the customizations that I have made for it.
I have a question. I would like to change the tire size. My dealer informed me that I should not put tire any larger than the Artic Cat 300. It has Carlyle 23/8/12 on the front and 24/9/12 in the rear. These were the stock tires.
I am considering 24/9/12 on the front and replacing the back with 25/10/12, Mudlites. Any ideas or suggestions? What would be the best size for my machine? Thanks in advance for the help.
Sincerely,
Sandlapper

 

i wouldn't go any bigger then 24's in the front and 25's in the back or that poor 250 will have no more power left and you will get about 5 miles per gallon. if i were you i would consider sticking with the stock size i dunno if that half of inch of ground clearance is gonna justify the power loss in your books. and welcome to the forum i hope you can find some helpful advice

 

I agree with weez. Bigger tires are just going to bog you down. I'm afraid to put bigger tires on our 400's for just that same reason. Ya gotta have the big bores to slap on those cool looking mud rippers (drat!). [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

You can go with a 24" front and a 25" rear and you will be just fine. We ran 25" Carlisle turfbusters back in the 80's (cause Wal Mart had them cheap) on Honda 250's, Yamaha 225's & 200's, and never though one way or the other about it. And I think those were 25x12" on the rear too. My honda 300 still has the same 25x12's on it that its had for over 10 years (doesn't get ridden much). It does have a brand new set of 24" dirt devils on the front though, and pulls everything just fine.

Go to Highlifter and check their tire specs to see the weight of all the tires you are considering in different sizes (if they carry them at least). The weight is what will eat you up, but most 25" tires aren't that bad unless you were going with a Vampire or something extreme. On your fronts, look for something in a 24x8". Don't want to go too wide to keep the weight down, and mainly to maintain easy steering.

If it was me and I had your 250 and was getting a set of tires, I'd probably do some kind of weird combo with a different rear than front. Probably something in a 25x12 in the rear with a more aggressive trail tread (the mudlights you are looking at would probably be a good choice), and the front would be a 24x8" with something with good trail tread but not a mud tire by any means (possibly a dirt devil, or bear claw, titan 489, or anything in that size that wouldn't weight much, but would give good turning traction and would wear ok).

I like the dirt devil fronts I have on that old Honda. I wouldn't put dirt devils in the rear, but thats just because I don't like their tread design for a rear tire on a 2wd. Something with more lateral traction bars like a Mudlite seems like it would work better, and I would definitely go with a 12" wide tire in the rear for added traction seeing that its 2wd. The width probably wouldn't help you in snow, but I doubt thats a major problem in South Carolina. It will put more tire surface to the ground and help you out in muddy condtions and stuff like that.

It sounds like bullcrap, but I once had a little ditch part of a trail near the house (only about 4-5ft up and out) that I could go up easier on my 2wd honda with the wide rears than I could with my old 4wd AC 500 with titan 495's (horrible tire). I could ease up it on the honda and spin my way to the top. The heavier AC, even with 4wd would ease up, then break traction with the limited slip crap 4wd and just sit and spin. Only way to get it up was to gun the throttle. It was really a wierd deal that I attributed to the lighter weight and wider rear tires on the Honda. This was kind of a shale/clay/mud spot and this only really happened if it was wet outside.

 

Welcome to the forum.

The mudlites are a lightweight 6-ply tire, and since your bike is a 2wd. I would think the 25/10/12 will be a good choice for the rear. I ran the mudlites on a 4x4 Rancher I had. The Rancher was a 350 and came stock with 24" tires, and I ran 26" mudlites all the way around it, and I'm sure there was a little power loss, but I never noticed it. That mudlite is a good all around tire.

 

Thanks for the advice.See My pics of my custom self made flip cultivator/harrow and trailer.
Is the reasion i wood like change the tire size. I use my Artic cat 250 hunting & job's at home.

May god bless you and yours.
Sandlapper

 

I had an 02 250 2x4 and put 25's front and back worked great with the bigger tire's

 

i have 25" 589's on my 250.