I bought some new 26" ITP 589s and put them on my stock wheels (03 SP 700). I have a few questions for you experts...

1. On the front, with 1/4" wheel spacers, I only get about 1/4" inch of clearance between the tire sidewall and the tie-rod end. Will this be enough clearance? Technically, the tire should not flex on the topside of the wheel and "shouldn't" ever touch. Will this be enough clearance?

2. The rubber boot on my steering tie-rod is torn. I understand this boot keeps crud out of my ball joints but will I be OK without it? If I get a new one, it will only get torn again.

3. One of the front tires wobbles a bit at high speeds (side to side not out of balance) The wheel seems to track true. Could it simply be mounted to the wheel crooked? I guess there's always the chance of it being defective.

A 1" spacer from Highlifter (I think it's highlifter) would solve all my problems but would put added stress on everything due to the offset.

Any advice from similar situations would be greatly appreciated.

 

The wobble is from your wheel being bent and dented most likely. When I had my stockers the back wheels wobbled and the front left was out of balance at high speed on hard surfaces.

 

As I mentioned, the weels are fine.

 

Hello heres what my Polaris guy told me on the tie rod end.. Don't worry about it to much they go out anyway because they are not sealed... You can put some grease in there but that attracts dirt... So your call there ( I left mine dry) As for your wheel spacers I have a set of the high lifter alum spacers and they are great!! They make the quad much more stable and when you feel them you will see that they are not that heavy... I wondered the same thing about the stress on the parts and all I can say is that I have had no problems yet... ( I have even jumped mine a few times in the snow) Those are my experinces...

 

i have itps 26 589s on my o4 sp600, no clearence problems at all when useing itps c series alum wheels, i also added a highlifter lift kit for ground clearence, these tires are great!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

get a new boot from experence things will wear out faster not haveing the grease to cool down the bearings

 

Thanks for all the replys guys. Oh and Polaris500HO4x4, it's only the boot over the my tie rod end so there's no heat there. And I think I'll actually have enough clearance to get my rubber boot back in there properly.

 

i ment heat from the moving parts friction but maybe i miss understood your question sorry

 

I just had to replace a tie rod end. Here is what happened to me. I noticed a slight wobble developing at high speeds. I put my 4 wheeler up on a jack and did the horizontal and vertical “wobble” test. It had some side to side (horizontal) play. It was coming from the outer tie rod end. I took the wheel/tire off and the boot looked good at first glance like it had every time I pressure wash it…..but it wasn’t. The boot developed a small tear that I didn’t see. I do some mud riding and it evidently got packed. By the time I found it, the rubber boot was solid as a rock. The mud had caked in it so bad it felt like concrete. Had I removed the boot, I think it would have lasted much longer with only routine pressure washing after muddy rides (not to mention that the replacement boot is only 10 bucks).

Moral of my story…..If you have a tear in the tie rod boot, replace it or remove it to prevent accelerated wear. Just my 2 cents.

 

I run 26" MudBugs on my 01 Sp on ITP C series rims. The rears are fine with no adjustments needed but the fronts had to have a single washer behind the rim to give 1/8" clearance from the tie-rod-end. 1/8" is not much but so far so good. As for the boot on the tie-rod-end I packed mine with grease, I ride in a lot of mud and dusty trails with 2300 miles on it so far and they are just starting to show signs of wear. Injecting grease into the boot keeps out water, mud and dust. It works for me.