I am seriously considering purchasing a set of trail tires for my atv. Saturday, I went to Three Rivers WMA here in OK and managed to put roughly a 2" gash in the sidewall of my mudlite xl's. The gash wouldn't hold a patch so I considered myself lucky that I only had to drive about 5 miles back to the truck on a flat tire. Anyway, I have read that the Maxxis Bighorns have very strong sidewalls and are an excellent trail tire. Anybody have any experience with them? Also, what type of rims would be best? Steel or aluminum? ....and finally, should I go with 25" or 26" tires. I have an '06 400 auto. Any and all opinions are appreciated. Thanks.

toe

 

Personally I would go with 25", a couple things to think about. It is harder for the engine and other components to turn the taller tires. Another thing to consider is it really worth the extra money to only get 1/2" of ground clearance.

I am slowly learning a lesson. My rear tires have 1" tread depth, and in about 3 weeks I have broken 2 axles. I have an 03 400 auto. One axle broke because a rock got jammed in between the footbrake housing and the wheel and locked the wheel when I was in low range getting on it. The second broke today, I was going through a muddy hole in 2 wheel drive and the back was spinning some but still moving forward and when the rears hooked up good - wham there goes another axle. I don't know what the tire grabbed in that mud hole, but it surged forward and snapped the axle. I wasn't turning up a great deal of rpm's either. I came out of the mud hole with 1 wheel drive so it was not a really bad spot that I thought I would even need 4 wheel drive. It was the spinning and it was the the big bite that got it.

 

I have had good luck with dirt devils and kenda bearclaws. Both very tough. I'd stick with 25' tires for your machine. You already have good ground clearance. A taller tire will require more power to turn, more breaking force to stop, you will use more gas, and a taller tire in my experience has a taller sidewall that is more vulnerable to puncture and flats. My opinion in a nutshell.

 

toehous,

Just a thought but, why not put a patch on the inside of the tire so no dirt/water and gunk gets in there, maybe seal on the outside with silicone. Then put a 12 inch tube in the tire. These can be hard to find but they hace them for most lawn tractors at tire shops.

Last time I did this for a friend it saved him a bunch of $. I think it cost $25 and 1500 miles later its still going. We thought it would be a temporary fix.

I have 2 tires with tubes in them right now because the rims are so dinged up from rocks that they don't hold air very well.

I personally like the strength of the steel rim. I would not go larger than 26inch and only go with 26 inch if you can stay at the factory width of 8inch for front and 10 inch for the rear. Unless you have HD axles like gorilla and then you might go 2 inches wider for the front and rear.

I think the Maxxis Bighorns were designed as a UTV tire but I am not sure. Don't see why they would not work on an ATV though.

SJ

 

Hmmmm.....I am getting the impression that you guys think 25" tires would be best. What are your thoughts on steel vs. aluminum rims? FYI, I was able to get my tire fixed. My local tire shop fixed it right up. Great people.

toe

 

Personally I like steel, several reasons, if dinged up you can straighten quite a bit, use heat if needed. you can repaint them, you can always find someone willing to sell their's cheap because they bought alloy. And I like the heavier wheel especially with 6 ply tires, they don't bounce so much over smaller bumps and I feel that I want heavy tires and wheels to push down for good traction. (Similar principal as to the reason they fill tractor tires with fluid).

 

Im having a bad week on tires, you dont want to hear my input, the moderator would be talking to me soon LMAO

 

Thanks for the input. I really just want to get plain rims that are painted black. Where is a good source?

toe

 

ITP makes a delta series wheel which is steel and powder coated black. They are around 48.00 ea at kgmotorcycletires.com with free shipping. To reply on the tire issue I like a light tire so the performance does not suffer. I bought a set of 25x8-12 &25x10-12 Dirt Devil II's and really like them. They are 18 and 20 lbs and they perform well on hardpack as well as mud and rocks . They helped the handling alot on my 06 500.

Good Luck

 

I'm sure this is a fairly common question, but what is the bolt pattern and offset for the front and rear of an '06 400 auto?

toe