By bigred on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Hi all. I just found this forum and it is very informative, kudos. I will be acquiring a used Argo Conquest in the next few months and I would appreciate your opinions on the best tire setup. The machine currently has the stock Goodyear Runamuck tires, which are good for water usage and light mud, but seriously lack traction for deep mud riding. I have the opportunity of getting 8 Goodyear Rawhide III tires in the 22" size at dealer cost. These tires seem to have a more aggressive tread than the stockers, but I think I'd like a little more aggressive tire for the front and back axles. What do you experts think of running 4 Rawhide III's on the middle axles, and running 4 of either Maxxis Sur Traks (2 ply mud tire), Titan Realtors (4 ply mud tire with reversible full bar tread) or ITP Blackwaters (6 ply mud tire) on the front and rear axles?

The Rawhides would provide good forward thrust for water riding, and the ATV mud tires would provide great traction in mud and for climbing in and out of steep banks. Right now I am leaning toward the Sur traks because of the 2 ply rating, which would provide a softer ride and lighter weight for less stress on the drivetrain. Have any of you ever run a similar setup, and if so, what was the result in mud riding compared to stock? Any drivetrain reliability problems?

What about this setup? Running tracks on the middle axles, and Rawhide III's on the front and rear axles. It seems to me this would provide great flotation in deep mud and awesome traction. I hope you experts can provide some input for me. I thank you for your time.

By shane forsythe (Shanefor1) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

big red,
don't use 6ply as thair to hard without suspension and might bend an axle.

any how 6ply will give a roughride.

other stuff like best grip, i don't know but it's all here for searching.
shane

By david berger (Davidrrrd) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

ALL I CAN SAY IS IT IS A VERRY BAD IDEA TO MIX TIRE SIZES, THE ACTUIAL OUTSIDE DIAMITER IS DIFERENT AND THEY ARE LINKED TOGETHER WITH CHAIN DRIVE.

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Yeah the "rolling diameter", the actual radius from the axle to the ground on a loaded tire needs to be close, at least on hard surface. Otherwise lots of drivetrain stress and tire scrub.

You can mix tires, but the advertised tire size may be nowhere near actual size. The 25" bigfoot tires are 24.1 according to specs. I saw a Kenda 25x12x9 spec at 23.3" tall. The rawhide III's you're looking at are slightly shorter than the runamuks.

A set of eight bigfoot wheels and tires, have a 1/4 inch shaved off the crowns, and bolt them on.

The Realtor is interesting looking. Titan makes a Tru Power agricultural tire. Troy, (posts as Midwest here) has a set of 25 or 26"s on his max4 on k-rims. It is a mud slinging machine, and they swim well, too. Titan makes it in a 23". What keeps me from having them already is it's a 12" wheel on the 23" tire. That means a very short sidewall, you lose a lot of suspension travel.

By Mike Longest on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Roger

The best 26" tire and 12" rims I found were
the ones Richard Clark has, 26" Rawhude pattern,
but BIG lugs, big tire low price, I love them on my MAX IV.

Mike Longest

By bigred on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks for the replies guys. Roger Smith, are you saying I could actually bolt on Bigfoot tires on my future Conquest? What do you mean by "have a 1/4 inch shaved off the crown"? Boy, I'm going back and forth between tires here. I wish I had experience with Argo tires so I could have a better idea of what I'm getting into. Thanks guys, keep the info coming.

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Bigred, I havn't done it, but Jon Hoath and I were sitting around the fire talking about it. I'm sure we aren't the first.

The response and conquest axles are on 24" centers. So the tire has to be less than 24" tall. The goodyear specs on the 25x12x9 bigfoot rawhideIII tire is 24.1" tall. They make tire cutting machines to true out of round tires. The rawhide tire is rounded (crowned) instead of flat all the way across the tread. So you could cut some off the center of the tread; the outer area of the tire is all ready under 24" dia.

You would end up with very little clearance between tires, like a 1/4 inch. How that would work in mud and water, I can't say. The argo factory tracks wouldn't fit the big rawhides or clear the body. Maybe Matt's bigfoot rubber tracks would.

I'm not crazy about the bigfoot tires and wheels, you can't run them low psi without losing a bead, and the sidewalls seem to rim pinch puncture easily. If you behaved yourself and didn't ride like some of us, it might be fine.

I have a response and have been looking on the 'net for a while for another set of wheels/tires, scratching my head. The runamuks were fine, till I started going to these organized rides, where the goal seems to be: find the nastiest mudhole, get in the middle of it, and see if you can make, sometimes snail paced progress out of it.

Another thing I've thought about is tire chains on the runamuks.

By RickMoMoBigfoot on Unrecorded Date: Edit

bigfoot tires can run with low pressure if you put tubes in them.I was knocking them off the beads all the time. I thought it was me hitting the areas hard and crazy.Well who knows? I put tubes in all my tires and not a problem yet.And i'm hitting them spots harder and crazier that ever.Rick

By barryhh3f on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Axe spacing: I was wondering why the 8 wheelers didn’t have Rawhides on them like my Bigfoot. I do however have 21 inch Rawhide IIIs on my Max IV, they should work OK on the Response. Just have to find the right wheels to go with the tires.

By bigred on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Roger Smith and company, I've done a lot more research and have found some interesting options. Here are the tires I've looked at tonight as possible replacements for my future Conquest.

Maxxis Mudbug 23x11x10 (actual o.d. / 23.2")
Greenball Mudshark 25x12x9 (actual o.d. / 23.3")
Greenball Gator 24x11x10 (actual o.d. / 23.8")
Greenball Gator 23x10x10 (actual o.d. / 23.1")
Kenda Bearclaw 24x11x10 (actual o.d. / 23.2")

Be aware that these specs are straight from the various manufacturers' websites, so their accuracy is suspect. All tires are 6 ply except for the Greenball Mudsharks which are 4 ply. It seems obvious to me that the Greenball Mudsharks would be the ultimate tire for a Conquest or similar Argo. First, the rim is only 1 inch taller than stock; since the tire is roughly 1 inch taller than stock Runamuks, this adds up to the same sidewall height, meaning equivalent suspension travel. Also, because the tire is 4 ply instead of 6 ply, if you air down the tires to around 2 pounds, you should get a decent ride which shouldn't be too harsh. The only negative I can see is that these may not be the best tires for water travel, but I'm just guessing from the tread design I see. The fact that a 25" tire is measured at 23.3" makes me kind of leary, so I will contact Greenball directly to verify that this info is true. If I'm satisfied with their answer, I may order 2 Mudsharks along with two Bigfoot rims to see if they'll fit on a Conquest. What do you think about this Roger, or anyone else for that matter? I'm pretty excited about this, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress. Thanks again guys.

By david berger (Davidrrrd) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

barry previous models of 8x8 had low clearence between top of tires and body, not near enoph for the bigger tires, now with the avenger it is posable to add the bigger tires, we have sean odg testing a bigfoot like 8x8 for a few years now and it ran ok, we wondered why they had not introd that model? but prehaps they were testing out some of the avenger technolagy with it,
anyway bigfoot models as well as this prototype have a 2 part lower hull for extra hight, it is what alowed the bigger tires, the reguler 8x8's up til now canot use bigger tires,

By bigkodiak on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Bigred
The weight of a 4 ply tire is also lighter than a 6 ply thereby not as much power is needed to turn them.
Russ

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I dunno, as I've only looked, not bought. I'd say about what you did, the mudshark probably won't swim, might need tubes for low pressure if they're as bad as rawhides on argo wheels. Should be great in mud. No ones mentioned the usual warnings about running atv tires on a skid steer machine. Just for the record, most of them bite instead of slipping when you slide them sideways during steering. If you were used to throwing it into a sideways slide at full speed with the runamuks, you'd roll it with the mudsharks. The Gator tread would be a good bet for swimming, IMO, but I see it's 6 ply and shorter in the 9".

Have you shopped for 10" wheels? I havn't found any.

Rick, how low psi have you run your tubes? It's time to go riding, bud.

By David Keeso (Argomag) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Dave berger, Don't know if you knew this or not (I just found out recently too) but in an old, old manual I have for one of Dad's previous ARGOs, (the ARGO I/C) they had an alternate tire option listed. It was like the rawhides (with a different name) but not the ones on the bigfoot, more like on the max atvs. They fit on with enough space between the top of the tires and lower body fine. I have seen a few pictures of older ARGOs with better tires on them and as long as the ARGO body isn't warped (as many of the old 8x8s were,) they should work alright.

By RickMoMoBigfoot on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Roger, There's 1.5 lbs. in them now .I don't pay to much atention of air in tires.Just got tired of knocking bead off tires.I haven't had any trouble sence putting in tubes.Knocked the bead around alittle but not off the tires, the tubes are keeping them on.I ran a lot of air when I first put them in. And it never move the bead area.Rick

By C. Herb on Unrecorded Date: Edit

We have a 94' Conquest. This hunting season, I put 22" rawhide III's on it and they work fantastic.

By david berger (Davidrrrd) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

ok then theres hope for thouse brave soles who dare to try bigger tires, but be for warned small space between body and tire invites damage if axles get out of whak even just a little, i bend them often and even with the space available on a max II my rawhide III tires have rubed a bad thin spot above the center tires on bothe sides of my machine,

By Roger Smith on Unrecorded Date: Edit

There's plenty of room on the 8 wheelers that I've seen, they fit tracks.. that adds 2 or more inches to the diameter, so you'd rub tires together before you hit the body with taller tires.