Hustler 950 swim with GBC Gators?

[ezryder]

I've been looking at tires for my Hustler 950 and looked at so many in the past couple of week that my head is swimming (pun intended).
Price is the driving force here, and I thought I had it narrowed down to 22x12-8 GBC Gators. The reasoning behind this is that I can keep my stock 8" rims and not have to buy new, and as you know, selection in 8" is VERY limited. This seemed like the best option.
BUT after reading some comments on here that "they don't swim at all" I'm second guessing myself. If I'm not mistaken, I saw someone running these tires on a Hustler 950 and they DID swim. If I can find a good mud tire that swims even slowly then I'll be happy, and I don't want to go with a smaller tire than I'm currently running.
I realize that tires perform differently on diffrent machines. I need feedback on these specific tires on this specific machine. Is anyone running these on a 950?

Sorry, Mike if I started this in the wrong place, but this is a Hustler specific question. Wasn't sure
Thanks for any info.

[fmints]

I think that those Gators will do fine on your 950! I have Maxxis Mudbugs on my 980 Tall tub and I swim,, very slowly, but i swim. If you look in the Hustler Gallery, ex member Shane Kearney has a Hustler in there that has the mudbugs on them that is close to the size that you want. They look sweet, perform very well in the mud as well. I love the tire actually. I dont know of the the pricing of them in your size, but I caught a sweet deal for $110 per tire to my front door for 26x12x12s. I hope that I helped.

[brushcutter]

Hey Fred glad you made the round trip safely, you are right about Shane's Mudbugs. Those came off the 950 I sold him, along with the 980 they are shown on. EZ, if you are going to shell out some cash for new tires anyway, do yourself a gigantic favor and get a set of bead lock rims as well, you will be glad you did! I initially ran 22" RHIIIs on the 950 and it would not swim at all. I added a full body angle band and a heavy brushguard with warn 3k winch, plus a few other things. All together the combined weight contributed to the machine setting very low in the water and it didn't swim at all. Then I found a set of 25X12X9 Bugs, which would swim only slightly better, but after adding them the difference in mud was drastic. The original hustler rims would not hold the RH tires and coming home with unseated tires full of mud, leaves and water was a regular occurrence. So I learned the best way to clean that out was a shop vac. I traded the 22"RH to Matt O for a set of his 9" beadlock rims, which was the best use I ever found for the Rawhides, (not a RH fan)! Now, those rims Matt traded me held the mudbugs as though they were welded in place, I actually pulled the valve cores and let all the air out of the tires and ran them through the same terrain that I had run the other setup for over 2 weeks and NEVER popped a bead loose. I can't say enough GOOD things about Matt's bead weld rims! Also I'm of the impression that the sprocket bump under the bottom of the hustler tub is equal to an anchor, so: don't add any weight to your 950 that you don't absolutely need and don't expect to break any speed records if you do...

[ezryder]

Feelin' better about the Gators. Wonder if anyone has tried to smooth out the bump on bottom of the Hustler to make it more aerodynamic? (waterdynamic?)

[brushcutter]

Yes, and it didn't go too well. One needs to be able to heat a large area to about 300+ degrees(I think) and have a mold of sorts to shape it. Maybe 3 or 4 people working with heat guns could get it there and shape it, but it has to stay in position while cooling. Also, you will have to leave the sprocket area at the outer sides unmoved or the sprockets will cut through the hull.

[ezryder]

Wonder if a guy could cut a piece to attach to the bottom and the hump-sort of a ramp, to flow the water more smoothly over the hump? Sort of the same principle that the big rigs use to flow air around the square front of semi trailers.

[brushcutter]

I'm no hydro engineer, but I don't think anything short of smoothing it out would help. If you do manage to figure out how to smooth the middle out, be sure and post a how to video, because there have been a lot of Hustler maniacs who wished it were gone. Here is some reading for you, the thread title pretty much says it all... http://www.6x6world.com/forums/hustl...=annoying+bump

[ezryder]

OK- I'll soon be able to answer my own question in the title of this thread. GBC Gators were dropped off yesterday and they are being mounted today.

I assume the Gators will swim best if mounted opposite conventional ATV direction? (ie. the point of the "V" pointed to the rear of the machine at the top)?
Any of you experienced Gator owners chime in here?

22x11-8

Best deal I could find on 'em was $88.64 ea, free shipping, no tax. If anyone knows a better price--don't tell me. :-)

Oh yea
-also noticed when taking wheels off that someone has spaced the wheels away from the hubs with an extra nut. Is there a reason for this, or has someone done this due to oversize tire rubbing the tub issue in the past? Rubbing won't be an issue with the 22x11-8 gators. I'm inclined to mount the wheels flush to the hubs if there is no reason for the nut spacers.

Be next week before I can try them in the water. As soon as I do, I'll post an update.

[brushcutter]

Curious... would you by chance gotten this machine from Shane Kearney?

[ezryder]

No, but it came from his neck of the woods and I think he might have owned it at one time, from what I've learned on here.

[ezryder]

I can now post a educated reply to my own question. A Hustler 950 WILL swim with 22x11-8 GBC Gators!
Finally--I have some forward motion and some left/right control. Seems to swim pretty good actually.

Now to get it watertight. Crossed my buddy's small pond and took on a couple gallons of water. Nothing the bilge pump can't handle, but bearings, and flange seals are next on the list.
I'm a happy camper though. At least I can now cross the crick confidently, and have the tires to pull me out the other side.

I do notice the 6-ply tires ride worse than my 2-ply tires. That's to be expected, and I'm running about 2 1/2 lbs. Gonna try 1 lb and see how that does next trip.

Also can't turn around in my yard anymore as these tires pull up chunks. And it Does turn a little harder, especially at slow speeds.

[ezryder]

Little update--the Gators WILL lose a bead at 0lbs. Found out the hard way. Wasn't really running 0lbs, I was running about 1 1/2 lbs and I had a bead leak on one front tire that put it at 0. I was trying to get a decent ride out of the Gators, they do ride pretty stiff. Anyway-went down steep creekbank and when I hit bottom of the dry creekbed the right front lost its bead seal.
Wish I'd taken Brushcutters advice now and ordered new wheels from Matt when I ordered new tires, I'd be running 25" Gators now on 9" rims.
Anyway--new wheels are ordered from Matt. Hopefully that will resolve the problem.

Gotta say, I'm pretty impressed that Matt had the time to personally IM me and make me a deal on the wheels, even in the middle of this big business transaction he has on the table. Definatly a class act! Thank You Matt!

[brushcutter]

HOOOEEEE! you gonna love dem Oxloks!

[ezryder]

They're sittin' in the garage. Gonna get em changed over Monday. Then comes the TEST.

[ezryder]

Well got the tires mounted on the new wheels. Haven't had a chance to ride yet. Kinda apprehensive. My guy at the tire shop said the tires didn't seem to mount any different than my old wheels. I thought that when he aired them up, the bead would seal with a POP! Alas---no pop.