Stability in water

[dukes80]

Im curious if anyone has some type of extra support on their 6x6s when floating. I float mine from time to time. Im not crazy about how low it sits in water. Any suggestions? Ive got a Max IV

[JoeMeg]

Here are a few ideas.

,,,

[shot410ga]

Keene Gold Mining Equipment has a variety of small pontoons that would work. Check them out.

[andymaga]

this might sound silly to some people but if the rims are offset a fair bit you can cut Styrofoam to fit snug inside the rim.. I did it on the back of my terra jet. I managed to stack 3 pieces of 2 inch and I noticed it helped keep the back end out of the water when driving up and out of steep water holes

[andymaga]

IMG-20130726-00488.jpg

[trevorakm1]

Now there is an idea. Wheels are turning in my head, I wonder if this foam idea can be put to used to help raise the back end of my bigfoot in the water while running tracks to help gain some speed. I hear from others and believe it true that it is the rear wheels raised higher out of the water that actually gives the bulk of the propulsion. I was thinking of carrying a boat bumper that I could tie to the rear of the vehicle just to attempt this same concept. An insert of some sort that can stay in place most of the time would be ideal. The 8x8's seem to actually swim with the adair tracks quite well and they seem to sit higher up in the back end. I have till summer to come up with some idea to start testing. Durability will be the hard part. thanks andymaga.

[andymaga]

to help hold the foam in I used a small piece of puck board and some long lag bolts, figured it would help hold the 3 pieces of foam together and it seemed to work. hard to see in the picture but I didn't use a very big piece of puck board so I plan on making a new piece that will just fit inside the rim to protect the styrfoam from chipping. I made the Styrofoam a very tight fit in the rim so id never be able to pull them out with breaking them but since I never need to take the back tires off its not a huge deal for me. overall they held up very well even with the foam exposed to sticks and rocks

[JohnF]

this might sound silly to some people ...

Well, they're just missing out...
What if we formalized the idea and made a blow molded foam filled shell that fit in there snug and bolted on from the back through the grease hole of an Argo wheel?
Or it stuck in like a tight hub cap?
Or we clamp some sort of on/off fixture between the wheel and lug nuts so that we can take them off/put them on from the outside?

[trevorakm1]

welcome aboard the idea John.

[andymaga]

my original idea was to find a couple nuts to fit the wheel studs and weld some ready rod to the nuts and use that to clamp everything in but the nuts on the terra jet don't leave any threads exposed to thread another nut on. maybe an argo is different

[wfo]

you can probably use a DZUS fastener from the outside, welding may be involved for a tab on wheel so DZUS can be installed
i use them on GOLIATH..
D4 - DZUS® Standard-Line Quarter-Turn Fasteners - Southco

[andymaga]

those look like they would work nicely. heard afew horror stories of welding on rims with the tires still on them so if anyone tries it id remove the valve stem first