Well the weather has finally gotten warm enough to enjoyably get out and ride ! SUnday after Easter 2013.
Went to Big Maple Farms in Oxford...Not a huge place but big enough to get stuck in a mud hole and hafta get winched out (dang pudding like mud , lol) ride some BIG hills, and generally have a good day. It was sunny and about 65 degrees...Real nice after this long cold winter.

Hope others got a chance to have and enjoy a nice weekend !

Kinda second guessing the choice of upsizing the 550xp's tires from 26's to 28's but not gonna get down on myself too much. the mud was thick and deep...and the sides were almost 1 foot above the surface of the mud, which itself was 2 feet deep and thick as pudding. so it gave the impression of a lot of lost torque and horsepower..I knew I would sacrifice some bu unsure of how much I would lose going that big...and is 28's too big? I guess as the season progresses I will find out.

But overall a great day !

 

Did you re-clutch for the bigger tires?

 

no, no reclutching...maybe I need to though.

 

I,m not big on the re clutching. On easy low roll resistant trails a 550 is going to turn 28 tires. Heck you can push it in neutral on those conditions.

When you come to high resistant roll and load conditions like thick mud, Rocky, hilly trail sections and pulling or pushing a plow or trailer, you will be going slow enought that you might as well be in low range anyways.

a 400 in low range will turn 28" tires or snap a axle or CV while trying well before a belt slips or motor runs out of wheel turning power.

 

10-4 Thats how I figgered it...If it is looking "iffy" hills, mud, etc. then its going in low range...flat cruising 'at speed" then its High range. But low is the workign gear fer sure...I am hoping I didn't go too aggressive on tire size...and I am not disappointed yet...the mud was pretty darn thick and I will need more "research" to fully determine all its capabilities with the new shoes.

 

Here is the 550xp with its new "muddy" 28" Zilla tires.

It was a good day...these might have been taken pretty much right after I had gotten pulled from the clutches of the wicked, downhill, mudhole.

I am happy with the looks of them. The quad has no lift kit and they only rubbed a tiny bit under certain conditions...and when I tried to make them rub or figured "ah, under this articulation it's gonna rub" they didn't. so they don't make any contact for 99.9% of the time...and when they did it was a minor and "barely rubbed" thing.