Swimming - reverse tread on the front tires?

[Bud]

I did a search, and only found one thread that obliquely spoke to the subject of reversing the tread on the front tires only.

I hunt in muddy duck marshes, and sometime struggle to climb out of the water. I was wondering if anyone had firsthand experience with reversing the front tires (chevrons pointing down) to climb better, but leaving the middle and rear tires for swimming (chevrons pointing up). I am considering this, but only if it does not kill the limited water speed that I have.

I have a Max II with 22" Rawhides IIIs, running about 2 psi.

Thanks,

Bud

[evil8x8]

I have Mudbuster tires on my Argo 8x8. I have the front four tires with the Vs pointing forward and the back four with the Vs pointing backward. I think Roger also has the tires on his Argo this way. My tires don't swim very fast to begin with but I have found that the tires really only provide decent propulsion when they are about half out of the water so having my front four tires with the Vs pointing forward doesn't really make a difference but it might be different on your MAX. I think Lance (liflod) was telling me he reversed the front tires on his MAX IV once and it really hurt his water speed.

[philipatmaxfour]

Dazed and confused

I I am considering this, but only if it does not kill the limited water speed that I have.

I have a Max II with 22" Rawhides IIIs, running about 2 psi.

Thanks,

Bud

Hi Bud, what seems to work for one guy, does not work for another. I don't think a tire turned around
is going to help much getting out and up the bank,but it's too easy to try it.Put the left front on the right and vice versa. 5 minutes, try it. Let us know what happens.

[liflod]

Evil is correct. On my Max IV , I reversed the front 2 tires and cut my water speed by half. With the slower water speed, I had more problems climbing out of the water even with the better traction of the tires.

[mudbug3]

For about a year now ,in the front of my Max IV, I,ve run two 26" Gator tires ( don,t swim ) facing with the treads forward for maximum traction in the mud , and in the middle and rear , I,ve run 26 " , Good year ,Terra tires, backwards for maximum water speed. With this tire combination , I still have pretty good water speed , even with a slight water current. About two months ago I switched to all Gator tires, with the tread pattern facing forwards , for the very best traction when driving in extreme mud conditions. I have found though , that using a "zip tie " to lock my throttle for best water speed , and then standing , rocking the tub side to side and using my roll bar for leverage , I can actually swim across a still pond , and still have fairly good water speed.

[philipatmaxfour]

Evil is correct. On my Max IV , I reversed the front 2 tires and cut my water speed by half. With the slower water speed, I had more problems climbing out of the water even with the better traction of the tires.

Hi Lance, It is crazy what works and what doesn't. On my 8 wheeler putting 4 Super Terra Grips on the back is just as fast in the water as using all 8. But mounting only two is no better than 8 rawhide 111s for water speed.On you tube ' argo playing in the ice....." I only have 4 of the terra grips.

[Roger S]

John Schwab has run all 6 of his maxII w/22" rawhides "backwards" for a couple years now. Maybe he'll drop by with a word. I'm guessing he did it so the tires would have a chance of cleaning out in the Haspin goo. Plus, you get to use the "other" side of the tread lugs usually not as worn. Don't know how it swims in open water.

[mudbug3]

( QUOTE ) " It is crazy what works and what doesn't. On my 8 wheeler putting 4 Super Terra Grips on the back is just as fast in the water as using all 8. But mounting only two is no better than 8 rawhide 111s for water speed "



philipatmaxfour ,

On my Max IV ,I ran all six Gator tires forward for maximum traction, ,but in the water ,with out rocking the tub,,foward momentum was just about nothing. I later found out that rocking the tub made a BIG difference in water propulsion. More of the tire came out of the water, to scoop the water. One weekend I decided to install two Good year Terra tires in the rear (backwards ) for better water speed, but left the Gators facing foward in the middle and front of my Max. For this water test I launched my Max IV off the bank thinking I,d have even more water speed ,but to my great surprise , the Max IV would hardly swim back to the bank. If I rocked the Max side to side with all Gator tires facing forwards , I could swim slowly across a pond,, but ,when I switched out the Gator tires on the rear with Terra tires facing backwards,, I could not swim no matter what I did.

[Bud]

I'll try it and report back.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Bud

[rdr]

I'll try it and report back.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Bud

when i first got my II my tires were facing wrong after the first time in the pond doing circles for 3o min trying to get out of the pond .the next morning they came off and were turned the right way no problems after that .i have noticed when leaving a pond if you will slow you tire speed down it will craw out a lot beter . than full tire speed. robbie

[Jeff t-boss]

I've found that no matter which way i put my tires on, I still have to watch the angle of the (pond) bank that I am exiting the water from. (I actually think that is the key to getting out of the water.) After all, there ins't much force pushing those two front tires into the bank to grab some dirt and pull. Also, I shift the weight I have in the boss to the rear so it noses up alittle. That helps alot too. I know that sometimes you won't find a bank with a good angle to exit on, but that's where the winch comes in handy. You don't have to go into full recovery mode; just a slight tug to get those front tires planted on some solid ground. Might sound like extra work, but that's part of the fun of 6x6'n. Just my two cents.

[brushcutter]

On my 950 hustler I turned the rear 2 rawhideIII's v down and had almost no water speed.Swapped them so that all 6 v's pointed up and swam fairly good.Rocking side to side helps greatly.Any one tried turning the middle 2 v's down with the rest up?

[Bud]

Update

It helps a tiny bit in climbing out of the pond, but hurts the water speed.

I put them back on the normal way. I am fabricating a mount for a trolling motor that will go on the roller fairlead plate of the winch to address my water speed issue. That project will likely not get wrapped up until April, because we have a bad cold front moving through here tomorrow that will probably keep the ponds frozen up until spring.

[philipatmaxfour]

( QUOTE ) " It is crazy what works and what doesn't. On my 8 wheeler putting 4 Super Terra Grips on the back is just as fast in the water as using all 8. But mounting only two is no better than 8 rawhide 111s for water speed "



philipatmaxfour ,

On my Max IV........ One weekend I decided to install two Good year Terra tires in the rear (backwards ) for better water speed, but left the Gators facing foward in the middle and front of my Max. For this water test I launched my Max IV off the bank thinking I,d have even more water speed ,but to my great surprise , I could hardly drive back to the bank. ............,, when I switched out the Gator tires on the rear with Terra tires , I could not swim no matter what I did.

Well Mudbug3, that settles one thing then-6 wheel or 8 wheel, just two super terra grips on the rear ,do not swim! Bit by bit we are learning together. Thanks for the post.

[Dennis Saskowski]

reverse tread

Bud,I have a max 4 with dico 26'', ran points down in different positions looking for maximum climbing out of mud holes without reduction in water speed(or at least not too noticable). Running points down middle location seems to work best. When climbing out of holes your front tires are in the air, back tires are still in the soup, middle tires are grabbing on a little firmer mud. In water middle tires really don't paddle that much because they are trying to grab back wash bubbles created from front and rear tires paddle actions.