I got a 01 AC 500, I am wondering what size the wheels are, I know they are 12in in diameter but how wide? Anybody know? Also, I am concidering the Titan 589M/T's as a replacement and want to use the stock rims, I am looking at 26x12x12 rear and 26x9x12 front. Will these bad boys fit?

 

I posted a talk with Rhett(Titan Tires) about the AC500 and 589MT's. He said that he and a CAT dealer put the tires you mentioned on a 01 AC500 and the dealer was convinced they would not rub when the suspension was fully compressed , on the stock rims and with no lift. The stock rims were 12"/6.5". Remember this is what Rhett at Titan said. I am sure that one of the "Young Guns" on the board could catch enough air to test this statement and see if it is true. I have ordered the 26"/9"/12" tires for the AC500 I am picking up in late April and I will follow up when I have some actual experience. As far as the jumping and airborne test if it does happen it will be by pure accident that it would take place! Then follwed by the usually Holy S#!*.

 

DakotaCat:
Yeah, Buckfever is right, the wheels are 6.5" wide. As far as the tires fitting on the wheels-no problem at all. You could fit 28"x12's on there if you wanted too, without worrying about having to buy new rims. I'm running 27"x12"x12" Tri Claws on the rear of my 'Cat on the stock rims, with no troubles at all. As far as the heigth is concerned, Arctic Cat put a 26" tire on their 500's in '99 I believe, so if they will use that as a "stock" tire, I feel pretty confident saying your 26" 589's will not rub. Again, with my 27" 'Claws, the only place I get an even SLIGHT rub is on the heat shield for the muffler. At full articulation and while hitting a bump, the tires will scrape the mud off the heat shield, that is all, they don't touch anywhere else.

As for the "air" test, you might want to talk to Boner-he's got a few pics of some pretty big air on his huge 'Cat, and would be able to tell you for sure what might bottom out or rub-hell, with 6' of air, somethings got to touch somewhere! Heh heh heh.

Hope that helps,

Mike

 

i posted somewhere else here that my stock 25s hit the fenders when i, shall we say, leap over some things. they also rub ever so slightly the front shocks when i get a little exuberant with the gas and some heavy, fast turning. nothing i worry about too much. i think i'm going with the 9x27 589m/t fronts and the 11x27 rears as soon as i kill these. i think these are pretty good for stockers.

 

The stock tires will rub if you bottom out both rear shocks at the same time. It don't matter if you are getting 6ft of air or if you are riding a wheelie with 500 lbs on your rear rack. Now if you bottom out only one shock at a time(the most any of will do) then it will only rub the heat sheild.

I would go for the 26" sizes, my 27" claws never rubed untill I got front spacers. Then the extra leverage the spacers had on the shocks made them rub.

About your wheel sizes, you MIGHT have 12x8s. It's VERY easy to tell. For one, the size of your wheels are stamped on the inside of the center of the wheel. And on the 12x8" versions they have a very noticable hump that sticks out about 2" on the inside of the center section. I don't think the 2001 models have 12x8" wheels, but it's possible.

IF you have a 2000 Arctic Cat brochure look at the AC 500 on page 2. It has 12x6.5" rear wheels. Now look on page5 at the AC500a in the bottom corner. It has 12x8" rear wheels, as does the AC500 on page 7 and AC 400 2wd on page9.