I'm not talking about water mud, I'm talking about real thick mud, the stuff that you can throw against a wall and it doesn't fall off, sticky stuff. This is how I broke my rear right axle shaft, bad mud. Automatics are great for big tires because its always in the right gear and it will most likely spin not just turn big tires. I don't know what mud your brother drives in but I find it hard to believe it can spin them in 3rd gear unless the mud is only like 6 inches deep. I'm talking 2 feet deep mud! I run outlaws on my 500i. 26x10x12 on the front and 26x12x12 on the rear. Take a look in my sig for pictures, you will see what I drive in. My friends Honda Rancher almost has a problem every trip out, either he drowns it or ahhh he drowns it....hehe. Then I drive through where he went and laugh.