Big Tires that Swim Great!!??

[highrollinmopars]

I need some tires for my two Hustler Bigfoots. I would like a 26 or 27 at least 12" wide. The next problem is that I primarily swim with these machines. I have access to about 12,000 acres of ponds, swamp, and property bordering rivers and my Hustlers are the only thing I have that will get me around where I want to go. I have a set of the original 26" terra tires one of my 980s and I am satisfied with there swimming performance but they lack traction in mud and I have a very hard time coming out of the water and going up a bank with them. I would love a set of 26" Super Swamper ASX but of course there not available right now unless I can find a used set. What would you guys do? I had looked into maybe some 27x12x12 regular Super Swamper Vampires but Im not sure how well they will swim compared to a ASX. If anybody has seen Jpswifts youtube video with his asx swampers on his Hustler Bigfoot it looks like it swims very well. I would like to have performance similar to his machine. What have you guys tried that swims well and is available in a size of 26" and up? Whats the next best thing now that the ASX Vampires are unavailable.??

[Stonewall]

I think that the ASX tires will probably be available soon, Interco's website lists a good number of blem tires in the 26x9x12 size, so the 26x13x12's should be soon to follow.

I can't speak for the swimming ability, but I have a set of 27x12x11 TSL Vampires on my Big Red, and they are the best set of tires I've ever bought.

[Obsessed]

Great looking big red...we got one almost identical...fun to ride wheelies on...lol

[jpswift1]

The Vampire ASX's are the hands down best overall tire for the mud and the water. The next best tire for mud would be the regular Vampires, and the fastest tire in the water, but not the best in the mud would be the stock Goodyear Super Terra Grips, which are stock on the Max IV, Super Swamp Fox, Hustler 980, etc.

[mudbug3]

I talked to a sales rep at Hydro Traxx about which tire swam the best , since the High Lifter Outlaw tire and the Good year Rawhide tire were both used on the machines that they sold. The sales rep told me that he had sold Hydro Traxx machines with weed sprayers on them for treating excess vegetation that grew around the edges of lakes. When given a choice between the Good year rawhide tire and the High Lifter Outlaw tire ,people always chose the Outlaw tire because they said it had better water speed and performed a lot better in the mud than the Good year rawhide tire.

Because the Hydro Traxx and Mudd Ox are able to counter rotate, they are able to use an Outlaw tire. But, for other amphibious machines that skid steer to change directions ,the outlaw tire is the absolute wrong choice in a tire. I have seen the Interco Vampire TSL and the Interco Aqau tire on Hustler 6x6's in the water, and the new Aqau tire swam as good as or better than the Vampire TSL. The Aqua tire also climbed up river and creek banks much better because it did'nt dig down as fast or get you stuck
as quick as the Vampire TSL tire.

Tim at Adair Argo sales has the very best price on the new Interco Aqau tire. You might have to wait a while until the Interco ASX becomes available again.

[mudbug3]

I talked to a sales rep at Hydro Traxx about which tire swam the best , since the High Lifter Outlaw tire and the Good year Rawhide tire were both used on the machines that they sold. The sales rep told me that he had sold Hydro Traxx machines with weed sprayers on them for treating the excess vegetation that grew around the edges of the area lakes. When given a choice between the Good year rawhide tire and the High Lifter Outlaw tire people always chose the Outlaw tire because it had better water speed and performed better in the mud than the Good year rawhide tire.

But, the Hydro traxx can counter rotate and most other amphibious machines skid steer to change direction. With that being said ,the Outlaw tire would be the absolute wrong choice for a skid steer machine.

Another good atv mud tire that we have tried that performs better in the mud and swim about equal to or better than the Interco Vampire tire in the water, is the Interco Aqua tire.

The is a video showing how well the Aqua tire swims in the water.

The last video is with the Interco Vampire TSL's on a Hustler 950 crossing the Sabine river in Texas

[highrollinmopars]

Thanks for the post and the videos mudbug. Have you seen the aqua torq's on a Hustler 980 yet? I wonder if they would still swim well being that they would probably sit deeper in the water than on a 950? Your making them sound better and better. I wish they came in a 26 or 27 for 12" wheels. How do they ride compared to a vampire or my stock goodyear terra 26's?

[highrollinmopars]

I think that the ASX tires will probably be available soon, Interco's website lists a good number of blem tires in the 26x9x12 size, so the 26x13x12's should be soon to follow.

I can't speak for the swimming ability, but I have a set of 27x12x11 TSL Vampires on my Big Red, and they are the best set of tires I've ever bought.

I have a set of 26" vampires on my 600 Grizzly and love them. The only tire I liked better was the Itp Mud Lites in 30" because they rode like a dream.

[mudbug3]

Thanks for the post and the videos mudbug. Have you seen the aqua torq's on a Hustler 980 yet? I wonder if they would still swim well being that they would probably sit deeper in the water than on a 950? Your making them sound better and better. I wish they came in a 26 or 27 for 12" wheels. How do they ride compared to a vampire or my stock goodyear terra 26's?

The Aqua Torque tires ride better than the Terra tires I'd say! I would also say that they ride equal to a 6-ply Mudbug tire. When we had our amphib group ride at River Run atv park, we had 5 psi in all of the tires. This was based on the combined weight of the passenger and driver. The Aqua tires did'nt swim too well with this much weight in the tub, but I had 3.5 psi in my Terra tires that are on my Max IV , and with the combined weight of three people in the tub, my Terra tires hardly swam either. lol. We ran out of time at the end of the day, but I did get to watch 9 yr old JR drive the 980 into a deep pond and the Aqua Torque tires swam about 1.7 mph. The Aqua tires also skid steer easier that the ASX tires do. Interco designed the Aqua tire for skid steer machines. They wanted this tire to provide good skid steering, outstanding traction, and clean out well. The Interco Vampire, and ASX tire were designed for atv's not skid steer machines.

Even if you could buy the ASX tires now for your Hustler 980 , your water speed would'nt be as fast as jpswift1's Hustler 980. Members on the forum with deep tub Hustler 980's will tell you that the ASX tires swm faster on the shorter 980 tubs.

[highrollinmopars]

Thats interesting. I thought Jp and I had the exact same tub? Do we not? Good info keep it coming guys.

[smog]

and here is one on the stock goodyear terra on a max iv

video not embedded so the video start at 185 seconds... and yes, the people are speaking French

Argo - Terrebonne mai 2011 - YouTube

It's not all about the tire brand or model, some tires do better under a machine but are not so great under another.

[mudbug3]

Thats interesting. I thought Jp and I had the exact same tub? Do we not? Good info keep it coming guys.

I thought that you had a deep tub Hustler 980, but if the clearance above all your tires looks the same as jpswift1's Hustler 980 then your water speed will be the same as his with the same kind of tires. The deep tub Hustler 980's were able to run tracks over the 26" inch tires ,and with about 4 inches of tub clearance. The deep tub Hustler's would be awesome with some Adair tracks.

[smog]

The deep tub Hustler 980's were able to run tracks over the 26" inch tires ,and with about 4 inches of tub clearance.

any picture of this ?

[jpswift1]

Mudbug is absolutely correct about the tall tub 980 fitting the tracks. The shorter tub 980, which I have swims VERY well with the Vampire ASX's, but I've heard that some of the guys with the taller tub 980's and ASX's, that their machine doesn't swim that well. I'm guessing because the shorter tub 980 keeps the water from being thrown forward as much, making it swim faster.

[mudbug3]

jpswift1

My theory is this:

On the Hustler 980 that is'nt the deep tub model ,it has the curved parts of the lower tub closer over the front and rear tires. When the tires are spinning the curved part of the tub helps better to channel the water downward and this helps increase the tires floation slightly out of the water. This is my theory about why your Hustler 980 perfroms much better in the water than the deeper tub 980's.