my scrambler has 25 inch realters on the back, and the stock 23" goodyear trackers on the front,
i thought since on the gear ratio thing, it wouldnt work when in 4x4, and it would screw up the quad, well,
no funny sounds, and excellent traction, i have never got stuck in anything, and when i put it in 4x4 and go up a gravel pile you can feel the traction instantly compared to 2x4 slippage, so, i dont think the tire size matters on the scram, it is a 1995 also, and there is no power sapped from my quad,
i can do big wheelies with it from a stand still, or from a roll start, i tow'd my freinds out of the mud a few times from the big rear rack bar, i do decent jumps, not past my ability, and it powers up hills , and over anything i ask it to, the only mods it has, well, look at my signiture,
now,... my crazy ideas,....
the rear realters are in great shape, and the rims are good, the front tires are at about 30-50% tracion, and the rims are bent,
Now, before i tell you my idea, keep in mind that i do not want to loose 4x4 power/trackion and i dont want the quad to be tippy either on sidehills, or going up them,
i wanted to restore the original gear ratio by putting 26 x 8 x 12 (the last one is rim hieght right?) jackels, good year rawhide's, or good year tracker run flats (not the sissy ones) ..... do you think this is a safe/good idea? or should i keep the fronts at 23 inch? im getting new rims also, what should i do with the fronts,? 23/24/25/26 ??????????

 

well?

 

Some guys were running 25 inch front and rear on there Scrambler 500's. Bigger than that and you will definately sap power, handling, and stability and add wear to your quad plus added weight. Even my Xplorer sucks with 26 inch tires. Handles like crap and I lost a lot of power. The bigger tires will most likely rub on big bumps a bit easier. I wanted to do this last year but chickened out and prefered the sporty aspect of smaller tires. 25 front, 25 rear...

Just my opinion! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Why do you want to run 26" tires up front, with 25" in the rear? Or, do you mean put 26" all around? Another thing to consider is the whole gear ratio/tire size thing. Yes, tire size and gear ratio does matter with 4wd. As you know, some atv's use a smaller front, with a taller rear, say maybe 23" up front, and 24" in the back, and if you increase tire size, you'll want to keep this same ratio-say go to a 24" up front, and put a 25" in the rear. A 2" difference seems a little much, but if that's what it is, then that's what it is-it must be fine. I would not go putting a 26" tire up front though, and still keep the 25" in the rear-that's just asking for trouble. I'm confused what you mean by-
"I want to restore the stock gear ratio by putting 26x8x12...on the front" (yes, that 12" number is the wheel diameter BTW).

If you want to run 26" tires up front-you're jumping 3" in overall tire heigth. To keep the same ratio front to back, you'll then need to run a 28" tire in the rear (same 3" taller), otherwise something will give.

Think of it this way-in four wheel drive trucks, Jeeps, whatever, you have the stock rig, with stock tires. Yeah it drives great on the highway and does alright off-road, but when you really want to go four wheeling, you simply need more traction. So, off you go to buy a new lift kit for the truck, and replace the stock 31" tires with a set of 38" swampers or something of that nature. If that is all you do-just add the lift and 7" larger tires, do you think it will now be an awesome 4x4? Sure it might look good, but I highly doubt you'll be very impressed with it's off-road capabilities. You've now asked that stock engine/transmission and transfer case to deliver power to the axles containing the STOCK gears, which were designed to turn the stock 31" tires. Sure the engine has the power and the tranny and T-case can do the job, hell, the stock 3.07 gears can still turn the tires, but set to climbing hills or running deep mud, you'll quickly find it doesn't have near the power (gearing) it needs to adequately turn the tires. And, out on the highway, it will take you a hell of a lot longer to get up to speed-overall, your "nice looking" truck is basically just that-nice looking. Without changing the gearing in the diff's (both front and rear), you won't have near the performance.

Catch my point with atv's? Granted, you did mention you wanted to maintain the same power and performance basically, not making it too tippy, so this is an over-exaggeration, but you get the point. Now, as for the gear ratio thing, think of that same 4x4 truck, with the same gears, though making it look screwy as some people do, putting larger tires in the rear, with smaller ones up front. (I still don't see how anybody considers that attractive) Anyway, for some crazy reason, people do this to two wheel drive pickups. Do this to a 4wd, you'll be OK as long as you DO NOT put it in four wheel drive. It goes back to that whole gear ratio thing-stock tires/gears, compared to taller tires, thus requiring numerically higher gears (lower ratio) to turn them at the same ratio the stock truck would turn the stock tires, and the same performance level. (which if properly done will be an awesome mudding machine) Anyway, why can't you put that truck in 4wd, simply because the front tires are smaller than the rears? Gearing. You're now asking the engine/transmission/T-case to send the same amount of power to the differentials to turn the tires. With larger tires in the rear, being what only runs in 2wd, you'll be OK. The minute you put it in 4wd, you are now asking the T-Case to send power to both differentials with the same ratio, only containing different tire sizes. The smaller tires up front will turn a hell of a lot more revolutions per mile than the larger rears will. How then can the T-Case do this with the stock gearing? It can't-something WILL break. Unless you change the gears up front and maintain that identical ratio from front to rear with the desired tire size, you will break something. Now, in slippery surfaces such as mud, gravel, etc., you might be OK temporarily, as the front tires can "slip" enough to turn at the same speed as the larger rears, but I sure as hell wouldn't chance it.

Translate that to quads, same damn thing. If you really want to run 26" tires up front, and the 25" tires in the rear, you will have to re-gear the differentials accordingly to compensate.

Now, my ways may not be particularly antiquated to the subjet material at hand (your Scrambler), but I highly doubt they came stock with 26" tires up front and 25" in the rear. If they did, then go ahead and disregard this entire post-my ignorance of the scramblers in general. However, as to your "crazy" ideas pertaining to this subject, I forewarn you do need to be careful. What might "look cool", or be some crazy new thing, could seriously screw up the performance and driveablilty of your quad. And yes, a taller tire up front with smaller in the rear will be more prone to tip over backwards while going up steep hills. As for the sidehill thing, I wouldn't worry about that too much, unless you did go and put 28" tires under that thing.

As for the power sappage thing on your quad, are those the stock size tires front and rear? If they are larger than stock, how do you know it didn't sap any power from the machine, as you bought it in it's current condition wihout riding it before the mods were done? It appears from your signature that it is slightly modded to provide more power than a stock machine, and thus should have plenty of power to turn larger tires. Though, when compared to a stock machine with stock tires, I'm guessing there would be a slight noticeable drop in performance-at least somewhere in the rpm range.

My suggestion would be to go ahead with the new wheels if you want/need them. As for tires, I'd definately keep the same ratio you have now (the 2" difference). If you want 26" tires, put them on the rear, with a 24" up front. If you're keeping the 25" tires that are on it now, replace the fronts with your preference (SP?) of any 23" tire-thus keeping the same ratio front to back. Doing so will not screw anything up on your machine as you are not risking anything, such as trying to run a much taller tire up front-and being smaller in the rear.

Anyway, sorry for the length, but I'd really hate to see you do something that could possibly break your new machine! My 'Cat has been down for a little over a week now because I blew out the ball joints, and cv assembly. Finally fixed her all up, but let me tell ya-a broken quad really sucks!

Best of luck to ya,

Mike

 

i see....
i thought 26 inch in the front was overkill, if not dangerous, the front would have giant, taller tires then the rear, bad for steep hills, which i already am not fond of, what about 24, or 25's in the front? and 7-9 inches wide, preferably 7, that would keep my handleing nice, and more traction, ill probably go with 24's,
any other ideas?
do you think the jackels/rawhides/trackers are good front tires?

 

what i meant by restoring gear ratio, is the stock scramblers have 22's in the back, and 23's in the front, mine has the 23's in front, and 25 inch realters in the back, i wanted to keep the original ratio by putting 26's up front 22:23 = 25:26 , right now, it has 25 rear and 23 front, i dont know if that was the difference in the 95's, but the new ones have 22 rear 23 front, now, when in AWD on my quad, i can ride it around and feel nothing different then in 2wd, hear nothing different, ect. i go up hills, mud, gravel, ect. you can feel the awd working in the sloppy stuff,
i ride in 2x4 90% of the time......
if the rear tires where shot, id go ahead and buy 24 rear, and 25 fronts, but they are in 98% traction left, and im not replacing them..........
i dont want my quad to break.......and i like the clearance it has now, ........... but i need new fronts and rims withen the next few months.....

 

Man, sorry for the EXTRA long post, got side track, didn't realize how long it was! OOPS! My buddy had an old International Scout he had done some work too. Had 31" tires on it, but wanted 35's. He just couldn't wait another week for the money to get the complete set, so he bought two, put them on the rear, left the 31's up front. He was fine in 2wd, but then decided to go out wheeling one night, threw it in 4wd, a little while later-nothing, he was dead-blown T-case. And, those aren't exactly easy to come by for an older Scout!

Anyway, I see what you mean now. Best of Luck with the decision, hope everything works out for ya. I know exactly what you mean about ground clearance-that's very important to me as well.

Take care,

Mike

 

i was feeling instant traction going up those gravel mounds......
i was thinking it might have that sensor bullcrap....
but...
maybe its because of the 3 INCH DIFFERENCE in the rear tires then stock, for some reason that is picked up as slippage, and it turns the fronts.........................
???????????????????????????????????
would it be safer to run 24's in the front then the 23's?

 

how could i tell if it was screwing up the gearbox?
what should i look for?

 

The term is gear wind up.

GEE Cowboy, I thought I got long winded and a bit off subject at times. LOL!

If you want to keep the 25's in the back then I would recommend that you put at least 25's on the front. You won't lose any more power than you already have since the taller tires are already on the rear drives. OK, maybe a little more for the added turning weight, but that's all. Your "new" gear ratio is already set now. I agree with cowboy that you should balance out the tires a little more. 25 or 26's should be fine I would think.

I would kinda like this on mine for ground (rock) clearance. 25's on the front will raise the machine 1 inch in front (1/2 the diameter). I doubt you will notice too much diff in tippy. A bit, but a week or so you'll be used to it. Then when those tires wear out, you can tell us your opinion then.

Do you carry a spare belt?