I checked what wheels the 06 Sportsman 500 would use if it was Aluminum. I already have Aluminum on the 05 Sportsman 800. Front wheels on both machines were the same and rear wheels were both the same. I did also get the lug nuts and the wheel studs that were for Aluminum. I wasn't sure either why the Aluminum torque was different but that wasn't as important as knowing the torque was raised.

Yes I knew the tires would be wider or at least the footprint would be but wasn't sure what the final effect was after inflation. I know the tires aren't straight down so there is a bulge so wasn't sure how much more room it would be. Again, what I didn't know was whether the final width would be increased by 2 inches only or maybe 3 or 4 inches because of the sidewall bulge. That is about all I could figure out. The installer telling me that the tie rods might not fit was worrying to me. If it didn't fit, I wasn't sure what to do about it since the spacers would definitely add another 2 inches to each machine so that would be a total of 4 inches with 2 machines AT LEAST.

 

Okay, I gotcha. They should fit but you won't know for sure until you get them mounted. Spacers would make it too wide to fit down most of the trails I ride. One trail that doesn't get maintained is getting tighter every year and at 48" wide I hit a stump almost every time. It's hard to zigzag around them when they're on both sides. We can take the road around it now but I like to check it out at least once a year. My friend goes down it too sometimes if I don't. There's a lot of good oak firewood back in there and if anything good is down on or near the trail we cut it up and haul it out. We clear the trail no matter what kind of trees fall on it but we leave pines and birches out there next to the trail. If your tires just don't quite clear the tie-rods you can put some washers behind the wheels to shim them out. It would have to be really close to fitting before I did that, but I'd rather do that than use spacers unless they started making them a lot smaller like 1/4" thick.

 

Anyone know who makes good spacers for my older vehicles?

 

(2) 1/4" aluminum wheel spacer, 4 x 156 spacing, Polaris Ranger Predator Sportsman RZR ATV UTV Yamaha Kawasaki
Can you use 2 of them to make a half if need be?

Also do you need to do front AND back or just front if needed?

TIA

 

You shouldn't need to do anything to the back but there's a lot of variation between tires of the same size. It's another one of those try it and see situations but some other people didn't have a problem. I've seen a bunch of 1" spacers but I didn't know anyone made spacers that small. That would be a lot better than shimming the wheels out with washers. I think you're be better with 1/2" spacers if you need them than 2 of the 1/4". I doubt you would need 1/2" spacers anyway but with all the variation in tires you never know.

 

I would prefer to use a half inch one but so far, either it is the 1/4 and 2 of them to make a 1/2 or you go with a 1 inch adapter with it's own studs. I suppose going 1 inch out means 2 inches overall and that means 4 inches for the 2 machines so maybe it might work but if not, I would have to go 1 inch out and an extra of 2 inches overall which is 1/2 inch spacer total or is my math wrong?

So do you know of a 1/2 inch spacer?

 

Also, do you have to do the back or just leave it alone and just do fronts?

 

Anyone know if you have to do both front and back or just fronts? Is that for looks or is there some handling reason?

 

Changing to 1.73 inch studs and using 1/4 inch spacers. I have a 48 inch width and half inch of tire each side and 1 inch spacers gives 3 inches for a total of 51 inches.

My trailer bed gives 50 and some change so I have to take off the 2 inch spacers and use a pair of 1/4 inch spacers to make the tire to tie rod clearance. That should add a half inch on each side and with a half inch of extra tire, I should be having 1 total inch on each side of the machine making a total of 50 inches width.

Anything I missed? Final measurements will be done when I have another 4 spacers to do the rear but all comments are welcome.