Cowboy,
I was going to suggest we go out riding together some time if you live close to me. Unfortunately you don't. Just got home with the Titans. Wow, the picture didn't do them justice. They look like they would go good on a high performance John Deere! The 27" tire actually nets out at about 26 1/8". I was alittle disappointed about that. I measured the Griz for added ground clearence, and true to the numbers I gained about 9/16". The OEM Dunlops that it came with were a strong 25". I measured them before I took them in. I rode it around on the road alittle. At anything above 10mph they were fairly smooth. Below that they shook the brake levers! These things are seriously aggresive tires! I measured the tread depth. I couldn't believe it! It measured 1.313". Tomorrow I'll give them the mud test, and whatever else I can find. I can't wait!

 

Grizz:
Hey now, don't go counting me out just yet! I've got a buddy down in Portland who works for freightliner, and wants me to come down to visit. If I get a free weekend, I may do just that, and have to bring the 'Cat with me! My home town (where the 'Cat lives) is in the middle of the desert (Tri-Cities), so I have at least a two hour drive in any direction to ride. It's about 4 hours up to my property, so Portland would be a walk in the park-so to speak. Anyhow, I'll be sure to let you know if I get a chance to head down that way.

Keep us informed as to how the 589's perform! I'm curious to see what you think of them out on the trails and in the mud. Sorry to hear they didn't measure up to the true 27". I guess if you really wanted the extra clearance, you could add a lift. I'm affraid of damaging the cv joints too bad with a lift, so a few guys, including my dealer, have recommended installing a 3/8" spacer under the spring-between the spring and bracket. I guess under no load, it rides a hair rougher, but with a load on, you can't tell a difference. I'm under full load all the time, so I'll give it a shot, see what I think. Hopefully get some aluminum cut tomorrow, and maybe installed if I'm lucky.

I also need to get my logs stripped down for the log bed frame I'm building. Need to do that as soon as possible to allow the logs to dry out really well, so I can start cutting shaping. They were cut last October, but I just picked them up off the property last weekend. I'm sure they're as dry as they're going to get, but by stripping the bark off, it may help to get whatever moisture is left in them, out.

Oh, hey, what pressure are you running? Increasing the pressure will give you added heigth, but at the expense of a rougher ride. If you will be doing a lot of mud riding, that is the way to go though, increase the pressure to get a taller tire effect, which then cuts through the stuff better, allows for better traction.

Take care,

Mike

 

Well I went out today and gave the Titans the best all around test I could in under 8 hrs! Thats about exactly how long I rode! I went out and did a couple things I have never tried before. I got up to the riding area at about 3:00 PM and left at about 10:45 PM.
Let me start at the beginning. When I got up to where I usually ride I had a couple of places in mind. One was a spot I could no long make it through due to the fact that the ruts have gotten to deep. The other was a long steep hill that I crashed my Kodiak on. But I have made it up that hill on a couple of different occasions with my stock tires on the Griz. So I kind of had an idea of what to look for.
It rained a pretty good amount today. It wasn't anywhere near enough to fill up the major mud holes or for that matter even the minor ones. But it was enough to make a slippery surface in spots. On my way to the first hill I wanted to try, I came across a trail that was kind of fun. It was fairly steep but not too long, and had never been a problem in the past, wet or dry. So I put it in 4wheel low and started up the hill. The first thing that happened was I started to spin almost right away. So compared to my stock tires they broke traction alittle sooner. The cool thing about it was that even though I was spinning I was still moving forward. When the stock tires would start to spin it was pretty much over. I would have to back down the hill and try again alittle faster. But the Titans just kept pulling!
As I neared the top of the trail I came acrossed one of the short comings this tire has for the kind of riding that I do. Once in a rut and going forward the Titans pull nicely. But, they won't climb out of the ruts for sh*t. That was the first time today that I had the "pucker" factor kick in. Rather then climbing out of the rut like my stock tires would the Titans stayed in the ruts and I ended up having to ride up and over a large root just barely missing a stump in the process! A problem I experienced on several different occasions today. Alot of the riding I do is down full size 4x4 trails and some Bike trails. Plus alot of water ruts! Its rains alot here in the Pacific Northwest in the winter, and the water has to go somewhere. On its way there it makes some pretty nasty ruts! There are times when you have to ride the ruts for a short distance, then climb out to avoid obstacles. These tires weren't very well suited to climbing out of ruts! They also had a tendancy to slide easily in of camber situations.
When I got to the hill that I was shooting for I put'er in 4low and started up. The firt thing I noticed was I started spinning real soon. Again, I was still moving forward, but I was spinning while I was at it. Spinning sooner and faster then I would have been with my stock tires! About half way up it became apparent that giving it more gas wasn't doing me any good at all. So I backed off to a point where I was just barely giving it enough gas to keep moving forward. Thats when things started to hook up! At that point it plowed forward without spinning at all hardly. And continued all the way to the top. So clearly these tires had potential, I was just going to have to learn how to ride on them.
Once at the top of the trail, I followed it to the end and started for the trail that had the ruts that were too deep for me to get through. I had to ride about 3 miles down the gravel logging roads to get there. The Titans rode and handled really nice at speed. I maintained 50mph the entire way and It handled nice and road very well. At very slow speeds these tires will rattle your teeth on a hard surface.
Once I got to the second trail I wanted to try, I figured I would try it the hard way right off the bat. So I went to the bottom of this trail and started up. I made this trail originally about a year ago with my Kodiak. It goes up a spring fed creek then crosses a low swampy area and heads up the bank towards the main trail. After having been down the trail quite a few time myself plus all the other quads that have gone through it, the ruts had gotten too deep for me to make it going up any more. I can always make it through going down, but not up. The Titans walked right up that trail like they were on solid ground! And it wasn't all from the 9/16" clearence that I gained from the tires. When the ground is soft, these tires DIG in and get busy! After having made it up this trail once a turned around and did it again. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't. I walked right up that trail a second time, without hardly spinning a tire.
After having done all this and feeling pretty cocky, I though I would go down to a trail that I hadn't been to since last winter. It crosses a river, but in the winter when the water is high there is no way anyone could ever get across with a quad. But other then the rain we had today, it hasn't rained for a long time, so the river is pretty low. When I got there I looked at the trail and it looked like it wasn't more then a couple of feet deep, so I rode across. No Problem. So while I'm standing there feeling pretty proud of myself I notice that there is another spot further down stream where you could probably get a quad up the bank. So in I go. Pretty soon 2 feet became 3 feet became 4 feet! These Tires will really throw the water. So here I am basicaly swimming down the river to the other bank. At about this time I'm getting alittle scared. The griz doesn't have a manual shift tranny, and I was starting to get alittle nervous about getting water in the tranny.
Right about this time the front left tire hits a rock that I didn't see. The sun was setting across the river and I was essentially blind about what was under the surface. I jumped off the Griz and the engine stalled! I was in water that was up to my waist! So there I am, standing on the rock that threw me off the Griz trying to hold on so it won't float away. The current was fairly fast and I was loosing the battle. So I thought I would try and start it and see if I could walk it across the river on its own power. Luckily for me it start right up, and those Titans paddled across that river really nicely! As it turned out I got lucky and no water got in the tranny, and I rode back to my truck and drank a beer to calm down alittle. I would love to say that this was all planned and I had fun doing it. But it wasn't, and I was a nervous wreck when it was all over! I'm just glad that when I hit that rock it didn't roll the Griz over. Thats why I jumped off. I thought i was going to roll!
Bottom line on the Titans? I love them. I'm going to have to alter the way I ride alittle to realize the full potential of these tires. They cleaned really nice. I didn't have to get much wheel speed for them to clean and dig. And man will they throw a rooster tail! They also seemed to pull as well in reverse as they did going forward. Thats pretty good for a directional tire! I haven't ridden on any other tire besides the stock tires that came on my Kodiak and my Griz. So I can't say how well the Titans compare to any of the other after market tires. All I can say is that I was pleased. I think they were worth it!

 

Grizz:
Thanks for the post, great review! While a little unnerving it may have been, forgive me if I say this, but it sounded like you still had a great time! Sounds like you handled that tricky situation well, and ended up doing fine. Glad to hear the 589's are working for you. You brought up another point I had been wondering about, and that was how the larger, more aggressive tires would compare at slipping to the stockes. I would have assumed the stock tires to slip much sooner than the larger meats, though I guess with a smaller amount of actual surface are on the ground, the larger ones would break free quicker. Anyway, nice job, hope they continue to please you!

Mike

 

01 Grizz-good detailed post. I found that with the 589 and the 28" Outlaws, the tires don't need as much throttle imput as other tires, to work the best. I know you see a lot of people going full throttle at every mudhole, but that is not always the best thing to do.

The Titan 589 does not have a snappy name and I guess they may have to rename, but it gets respect for its performance.

The cost is less than the other tires it is compared to, but that is not brought up very often. It is a great value for $$ vs results.

 

When I look back at the day it seems like I should have had alot of fun. And to a certain extent I did. But I can't honestly say that I had a steady hand again untill this morning! I went out and did some riding again today. It was alot funner! I had an idea about how I should ride on these tires and things went alot smoother as well as more productive! I was able to go through some mud holes that I was to chicken to try until now. I made it through two of those and had to winch myself out of one. But I can honestly say I had a good time doing it. The one thing that has to be said about these tires is only give them enough gas to keep the quad moving. If you do it that way these tires will take you places you never thought you could have made before. If you hammer time these tires, they will still keep you moving forward, but not with alot of confidence. One nice thing about these tires is that even if your not spinning you still leave a loose dirt trail. So if your in the middle of about 15 different trails, and you don't know for sure which trail is the right one back. Just follow the broken dirt, that will be your trail!