I can't decide whether to get pure mud tires like Goodyear Mudrunners or Titan 589's for the snow rather than Dirt Devils which look like they will work well and are cheaper. (long sentence)

Anyone have experience with the Dirt Devils in the snow??
How much have you gone through and how well??


Anyone know if large lug pure mud tires dig too much for snow, or just right??

Thanks.

 

Dirt Devil Owners?

 

Jeff-
Can't help ya with the Dirt Devil bit, but to answer this question:

"Anyone know if large lug pure mud tires dig too much for snow, or just right??"

Take a look at the link below, click on "snow pics", you'll see my '00 500 Auto 'Cat running 27x9.75x12 Bi-Claws up front, with 27x12x12 Tri-Claws in the rear. You can't tell very well from the pic's but that snow is over 2' deep, and I had to tow the suburban up the hill (again, you can't really tell there is a hill, but it is actually long, and fairly steep for a main road). I've been in snow at or over 3' deep, as when I stepped off my 'Cat, I fell in up to my waist. If it wasn't for the 'Claws, there is no way I'd have been able to do that. They tend to pull you up on top, even though you're resting on your skidplate, and just digging through the snow, they tend to "pull" you through it somehow. The going is slow in the really deep stuff, but once you make a trail and get going over it a couple times, it turns into a road of sorts, you can really get moving down it-you have to be careful though, as when you start going faster, you are running on "rails" of sorts, as the tires fit in their ruts, if you round a corner to fast, you will literally fly off the machine, while it stays right in the tracks if you hit it hard. Course, that's kind of fun too, when you go flying through the air off your machine, then land in a snowbank. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

The other thing is I wouldn't exactly consider the "mudrunners" a more "pure mud tire" as opposed to the 589's. The 589's have won a few shootouts in the 25" size, and have been claimed as having the "feel of a larger 27" tire when in the mud. I am just guessing here, but I would think the mud runners would ride a hair smoother than the 589's, due to the extra wide spacing on the "v's" on the 589's. While they do cross the centerline well, the "v" is spaced pretty wide, so you feel that space as an "up/down" movement when riding at low speeds. I think the mud runners would ride a hair smoother, as they cross in a different manner, providing not so much a distance in lug spacing. After riding a machine with 589's, I did notice my 'Claws rode a little smoother than the 589's on hardpack, just assuming the mudrunners to be the same way.

This is just my opinion, but I would consider all the above mentioned tires "great all around tires" rather than "pure mud tires". Even my 'Claws, while they are considered a "mud tire", I think they do so well in all other areas, they should really be named an "aggressive all terrain", or something like that anyway. To me, the real "pure mud tires" are the Outlaws, and Vamps of course-the huge lugs with no centerline that beat the hell ouf of you on hardpack and trails, but really tear stuff up in the deep. Tires you'd normally run ONLY in mud. Whereas the above mentioned tires are good pretty much everywhere.

So, to answer your question in a round about way, yes, the heavier lugged "mud" tires do very well in the deep snow, as you can see from my pictures there. They do dig, but in a way as to "pull" you through more than digging strait down. I don't know what kind of skid plate you've got on your prairie, but as long as you've got a full-length for the most part, get yourself some good, more aggressive type tread tires-any of the above mentioned-and you should do just fine in pretty much all terrain. If you do run mud quite a bit, I will mention that my 'Claws do have the advantage here compared to the others-they do very well in the mud, and have had an easier time as opposed to the rest. Not to contradict myself here, but they are a great mud tire that has excellent trail characteristics-does that make better sense? Sorry to sound so confusing here. Anyway, though I can't help with the dirt devils, I hope that helps a little with the others, or at least gives you an idea of what to look for, or not for anyway.

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to respond in detail. I appreciate it. The claws look so outragous I was concerned that they would be real rough on hard pack. Do they ride good on trails? Thanks.

 

Hey no problem man, glad to be of help! Yeah, the 'Claws do look outrageous-you won't believe it, but the pictures really don't do them justice-they look absolutely AWESOME sitting on your quad! In all honesty, I am amazed at how well they handle trails and hardpack. At speeds of say 3mph and less on hardpack or paved roads, you can feel the huge lugs a little, but it's nothing that really rough's you up or anything. Above those speeds, they smooth out really well, you'll never even know you're on such a huge lugged aggressive tire. Like I said, I can't believe how smooth they are when you're cruising gravel roads or on hardpack-you honestly can't tell they're mud tires! Basically anything above 4-5mph and up, they're great on the hardpack. On trails, the ground is usually soft enough that even 1-3mph you don't even notice the lugs. Rock crawling is fun too, but you really can't judge a tire on "lug smoothness" in the rocks because you're doing so much slow, technical work over hugely varying terrain-well, all rocks, but I mean crawling over all the boulders and such, there is so much technical work being done anyway, you don't even notice the tires. Get them out in the mud though, look out cause there's no slowing you down then, they really rip it up!

The only real word of warning I can give you about these tires is you have to be careful trying to slide around like you would on the stock tires. With the stock 489's, I could sit normally on the 'Cat, be cruising around and kick the back end loose in turns and such. Not so with the 'Claws-I tried that once sitting the way I normally would, ended up getting thrown from the Cat! So, if you want to do that kind of thing, you have to lean hard into the turn now and give it gas to break them loose before you can slide around-they are so aggressive that they really hook up, and when they do, it's NOW, not OK, whenever you get the machine ready and the stock tires can catch up, if that makes any sense. Your prairie probably has enough more power that it won't be quite so noticeable, but that is the one and only thing I can say to watch out for-they hook up RIGHT NOW, so you're off and moving immediately, and she goes where you turn it whether you are hanging on or not!

As far as power loss goes, I did notice a very slight decrease in high range while going up hill. In low range, no difference at all. Again, your prairie might have enough more power that it won't make any real difference for you, I don't know. I did a little tranny mod, thanks to Minehunter, which has since removed that problem-I can now increase speed going up hill in high range and have actually gained power due to the way it engages now, but that is a different story.

Oh, the other thing worth mentioning is that the 'Claws are "true to size", and are actually taller than claimed heigth. This is not true with most tires-they are usually smaller by anywhere from 1/2"-1" in any direction. My 27" 'Claws actually measure 27 1/4" at recommended psi. The traction gain is incredible, and the ground clearance gain is awesome as well.

Anyway, sorry for the length, but hope that is what you were looking for. Again, Best of Luck with the decision, tire choices are almost harder than quad choices!

Mike

 

Thanks Mike for the info. I am mostly interested in finding a snow tire, and by the pictures on your site these tires pull well. I used Realters last year on the 400ex. I was happy with them, but once the snow started accumulating it just dug as soon as it had even the smallest amount of resistance.

 

Jeff:
What Mike said about the claws is right on. I ride a lot of snow in winter here in the Yukon, as well as mud, hardpack, rocks, etc. They do pull really well in all conditions. On hardpack skidoo trails, get off the gas quick if you do stop going forward (rarely) or they will dig straight down in a hurry . In soft snow you can just keep spinning until it finds traction and it will usually keep you moving. These are awesome tires!
They are a bit more work to steer at really slow speeds in bumpy, technical terrain, but they smooth out pretty good at speed.
One thing I noticed when I first put them on was the handling was terrible. The quad would bump-steer all over the trail. I had to replace some sloppy bushings and tie rod ends, and adjusted the toe-in. Now it handles almost as good as stock.