Hey, im possibly looking into buying a honda rancher AT. I want to trade out the tires for bighorns. Bighorns dont come in stock size that the rancher has. Would the Rancher rims fit 25-8-12 front and 25-10-12 tires and be able to turn them fine. Thanks. P.S. The terracross tires would also be an option. Anybody know of good prices for either of these tires.

 

yes you will have to get wheels as well if you go to 25,s in a radial tire, the best radial tire in 25,s is duro powergrip sold at rocky mt atv online, exactly the same as a bighorn accept half the price, i have ran these tires on my 2007 sra 420 rancher, made the bike better in everyway imaginable accept i lost oh about 3 percent of my bottom end power, not enough to notice. but theres not to many tires made that fit hondas weird stock rims.

 

My experience with putting big tires on the little Rancher has been negative. Usually all that you will really achieve is to turn a sweet handline machine into a clunker!

I ran ITP Blackwaters (predecessor to the MidLite) back in the day, then switched to ITP Holeshot ATR's. The ATR's weren't terrible, but they resulted in a lot of bumpsteer, the steering would fight me when in 4wd (like when you have lockers), and handling became more sluggish.

If you "genuinely" need big tires...should have gotten a bigger machine!!!

 

The rancher should be able to handle 25" tires, if not not much odds really. Upgrade to 12" rims all around which will open up your selection of tires dramatically.

I'm on my 2nd set of 27" tires on my Foreman 450 which came with 25's stock.

 

Everybody seems to always obsess about the tire height, obviously thinking about the potential for a taller tire to raise the effective gearing. But.....also don't forget the increased WEIGHT of a bigger tires (especially tires with big meaty tread)!

Because big tires are heavier, it will take even more horsepower to get that weight rolling....and it will also take more braking to get that weight stopped! One place you can potentially save some weight is rims (alloy vs steel), but it will cost $$$ and they will be more fragile than steel.

An analogy from bicycling is the saying: "Adding a pound on the wheel is like adding 10 pounds on the frame".

 

Bighorns do handle well, they are very tough, and they do great in loose rock and other dry loamy conditions.

I wouldn't go bigger than 25 for the reason Reconranger mentioned.

Weight wise, you might consider the Bighorn 2.0. A little shorter lugs, and a weight saving over the orignial bighorn.

TerraCross would also be an excellent all condition radial.

Rocky Mtn generally has good prices.

I think the 25" wheels from Foremans fit the solid rear axle Rancher, but I'm not sure about the IRS AT. (I'm not too big on spending $$$ for blingy wheels on a machine intended to be bashed off rocks)

 

I have an 09 Rancher AT and I was also wondering about wheel and tire upgrades in the near future. But, its such a nice riding/handling quad right now that I dont want to screw that up. So, Im not so sure now. I dont mind the factory 24's except that its hard to find a good selection of tires in those funky sizes! I'll have to keep looking....

 

Rocky mountain atv has the Duro Buffalo and Carlisle 489 in 24" sizes.
The Duro is a 6 ply and the Carlisle is a 3 ply.
Free shipping over $99.00.

 

25" tires are not concidered big its more like 24" are concidered small, Honda put cheap 2 ply 24" tires on the Rancher to save production cost. There 350 Foremans from the late 80s had 25" tires stock. I put 25" tires on my 250 2wd 1986 Moto4 without a problem with it.

The 376cc Suzuki eiger/KQ comes with 25" stock also the 346cc Yamaha Briun/Grizzly and Kawaski Prairie 360. But a 420cc will have trouble with them?

 

I think basically Honda wanted the Rancher to be a sporty handling machine, so they opted for light tires with low rolling resistance, and a low center of gravity...