25" tires on a Max II

[Tom]

Well,that's a bummer!Hope the spacer's do the trick for you.

[Mike]

Its not a big deal, just a little unexpected. I was speaking with member egoperf since he has used the same wheel tire combo on his two Max IIs. Just in case anyone else is looking to do the same I will share what he told me. One of his Max IIs has splined axles. They are about 1/2 inch shorter than the stock solid axles so he needed wheel spacers for those to gain enough side clearance. He made some for it that were 1/2 inch.

On his stock solid axle Max II he didnt need the spacers and had 3/4 inch clearance.

So Im not sure what the difference is between his solid axle Max II and my solid axle Max II but mine is too close. The tires are just barely too close in two small places behind each wheel. I thought about remolding the body in just a little but decided just to get the spacers instead.

[Mike]

I finally got to test the 25" Rawhide III tires out at Busco and they did great. Having that little bit of extra ground clearance really made a huge difference. Finally I could go through the same things McCoy's Argo Bigfoot did without getting high centered. That was really my main complaint of the Max II with 22" tires. Jennifer did manage to get it stuck once but in her (and the Max's) defense the mud was pretty nasty on that part of the trail.

I felt that the ride was slightly better with that little bit of extra rubber (25" tires on 9" wheels compared to 22" tires on 8" wheels) but it did feel like it swayed back and forth a little more perhaps also caused by having more rubber? It was mainly noticeable on hard surfaces where I could feel the tires rolling under the Max a little more during turns than normal. At high speeds the max also seemed to swing back and forth a little more when I hit a bump. I'm being very picky here though. It definitely wasn't a problem or something that would make me take them back off. I'm just trying to note everything that I noticed. I was running the tires at 2 PSI so perhaps experimenting with the air pressure would help a little too.

I couldn't tell a difference in water speed. I just haven't ridden in quite a while due to my work schedule so I couldn't really tell a difference just by the feel of things.

The only thing that was a negative for me came from having to use the wheel spacers so that the tires would fit. They made the Max 2" wider overall. I have gotten very used to the width of the Max and I could squeeze through areas that were pretty tight. The very first trail we took last weekend, I went flying down a trail between two trees and abruptly came to a stop because I no longer fit. At the time I wasn't thinking about being wider until I hit the trees. From then on out it wasn't a problem though as my first lesson stuck in my head the rest of the weekend.

Finally, if anyone else is looking to do the same thing and you end up having to use spacers, the tires will probably throw more water and mud up onto the max and into the engine compartment vents. Before I got the 25" tires I had already made some body length mudflaps to keep mud, water, dirt, etc from the 22" tires from flying into the max. Anything to keep it cleaner. So they ended up really helping out when I had to space the 25" tires out further from the body, so I didn't notice a difference myself.

Just wanted to share my experience from my first ride with the tires. If you are considering doing this I would definitely recommend it. There is a huge difference in performance. Just be aware if you have a smaller motor you will lose some power. Going from 22" tires to 25" tires would effectively raise your gear ratio by 12%. So, I guess you could look at it like this, if you had an 18HP motor it would now perform as it were a 16HP.

[wildtexasranger]

Great post Mike, I didn't notice it or maybe I missed it but if your running the GREEN spring on the trans clutch change it out with a RED spring it will help alot with your power gain back on your lows to mids we have found out. Just figured Id pass that on to who ever might need this info.

[JOHNMcDANIEL0322]

gah i would love to have 25s on my max II but its a 95 and has the outer exhaust system

[wildtexasranger]

John, you will have to call RI for the inner muffler system in order to run the 25's.So you can still do it with no prob.

[mark m.]

gah i would love to have 25s on my max II but its a 95 and has the outer exhaust system

Not a problem. Mines a '93 with outer exhaust and the 25s fit. It's a little close but I don't put more than 2 psi in them.

[thebuggyman1]

gah i would love to have 25s on my max II but its a 95 and has the outer exhaust system

I have an inner exhaust kit, new, never installed, P.M. me if you are interested.

[JOHNMcDANIEL0322]

well thats good to know and that may be an option i might go with since you say it works with the outer exhaust. im not sure how to PM on here haha. do they make the rawhides like what came on my max originally in 25s, because it seems like none of the tires will swim like rawhides.

[AdrenalineJunky]

ANy updates on this 25" max II mod? I'm told muffler and tub sides should clear w/no spacers, just a little heat to upper area over front 4.....? This is for the rawhideIII 25" on 9" rim.

[hydromike]

Just a side note (and it's mentioned further up in this thread) that there are significant clearance issues on Max IIs when you run the easily-found 25x11.50x9" Rawhide IIIs. Despite what several ebay auctions (and other sources) claim, the differences between these tires are a lot more substantial than being a "half inch narrower" than the 25x12.00x9" Rawhide IIIs. The 11.50 inch variety are *substantially* taller. At equal PSI, I measured my 11.50" tires as being a full 1.5 to 2 inches taller than the 12.00" wide tires. I'm running the 12.00's on the Attex eight wheeler, and have a set of the 11.50" tires for the Max 8x8 project, and they're drastically different.

I just wanted to make sure folks are aware of this, since the 11.50 inch tires are easy to find, and I think that's what most folks will pull the trigger on. Some of the 11.50" wide Rawhide III tires approach 26" in height at equal psi.... They're quite variable from tire to tire.

[Noel Woods]

[QUOTE=hydromike;92334]Just a side note (and it's mentioned further up in this thread) that there are significant clearance issues on Max IIs when you run the easily-found 25x11.50x9" Rawhide IIIs. Despite what several ebay auctions (and other sources) claim, the differences between these tires are a lot more substantial than being a "half inch narrower" than the 25x12.00x9" Rawhide IIIs. The 11.50 inch variety are *substantially* taller. At equal PSI, I measured my 11.50" tires as being a full 1.5 to 2 inches taller than the 12.00" wide tires. I'm running the 12.00's on the Attex eight wheeler, and have a set of the 11.50" tires for the Max 8x8 project, and they're drastically different.

You are exactly right. The Federal Government regulates automobile tires via their Uniform Tire Quality Act. The caveat here is that any tires that have the N.H.S. label (not for hiway speeds) are exhempt from that regulation. Most ATVs use N.H.S. tires, and they vary greatly. I've measured every tire I have (Mud Bug, Frontier, Goodyear Rawhide and Terra, and Gator. You would think that if you bought six or eight tires at a time and they were all the same manufacturer that they would be the same size. There is so much variance in atv tires that none are exactly the same, some of the tires I have at the same psi vary by up to 3/4 inch in diameter and thats a bunch. What I do is pair off similar sized tires on each side to compensate and that tends to work well.

[swamp max 2]

Where did you get the gator tires...what size ..and #