Hustler 950 swim with GBC Gators?

[Mike]

He may not have gotten the tires over the bead of the wheel. I have seen them mount and not be completely over the bead rolled in the wheel even though they appear to be. You should test them before you put them on your machine. Take the cores out of the valve stem to let all of the air out of the tires. If the tires didn't pop fully over the bead, they will slide back off the wheel. If they mounted correctly, they will stay on the wheel. You should be able to tell without too much trouble. That will save you from debeading a tire on the machine.

[brushcutter]

Indeed, Mike, there will be a gap between the tire and rim. When the Mudbugs seated I was in my truck, about 50 yds from the tire store with the windows up and still heard the first one pop into place. Kinda scared me, I thought they had blowed my tire up! EZ, did you by chance check to see what the seating pressure was, 25x12x9 Mudbugs were 36 psi. I think the Rawhide IIIs were 18, quite a difference.

[ezryder]

Been gone camping all last weekend, and gotta work all this weekend. Hopefully I'll get to try it out Monday or Tuesday next week. I haven't done anything with it yet except mount the wheels/tires back on the machine. I'll double check the seal at 0lbs when I can.

[brushcutter]

EZ, have you gotten to try them out yet?

[ezryder]

Nope. Hopefully Monday. Supposed to go riding with a buddy Monday depending on what the weather does. Pulled it out of the shed and parked it in the garage this morning so I can double check the beads before I go.

[ezryder]

OK, still haven't had it in the woods so still on the fence about if the new wheels made any difference. It was in the 50's here Monday, so I went riding on the Harley all day since it is probably the last all day ride of the year for that.

I did, however, pull the valve stems and let all air out and checked beads. They appear to be seated properly. and to be sure I socked 50lbs of air in them before deflating to 2 1/2lbs pressure. Never heard anything, so I'm assuming they were seated fine.

May be another week or so now before I can get it on any trails, but I'll post more feedback after I do.

[ezryder]

FINALLY! Got a day off and went trail riding for half a day. I'm pleased to say I rode over the same terrain I did before and never broke a bead. Running about 2lbs in the Gators. Through woods trails, up and down creek banks, swimming, rocks. New wheels/tires did great! BUT, I did discover that in a wet/sandy creek bottom the Gators will dig and bottom the tub in an instant.

Had to be pulled once by my buddy after bottoming the tub in wet sand that his Max had just gone over with his Rawhide tires. The sand bar was actually underwater and I swam up on it before I knew it was there. Once it bottomed, I was done. Nothing to get traction on, just water and sand.
But overall, I'm pleased with the setup.

[ezryder]

6x6 So IL style

Playin--More pics posted in my Gallery. This 4x4 pit had ruts about waist deep. Bottomed tub, but made it through eventually with no help.