By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

New Max is tearing up the ground too much. I don't care so much in the woods, but on the lawn areas near it it leaves tracks on each turn. Are there any less aggressive tires I could use? Love the Max, but it's a bit more damaging on the grass then I expected. The tires on it are 22inch rawhides.

Please Help!!

By Mark M (Mark2) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

LOL
Most poeple want more agressive thread on their tires. I guess the Runmamucks would work for you then. Less agressive than the rawhides. Me I want a more aggressive tire. The Runamucks are just way to wimpy on my Conquest.

Mark

By Fred Sowerwine, Montana's Max Dealer (Fred4dot) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, go to the 21" goodyear or the Nankang chevron. The real answer is that you don't need to fully brake and gas it to turn. stay off the throttle and make easy turns. a real easy solution is to buy some tubes, cut them and slip them over your tires - if you turn too hard, they will slip off. Learn how to drive your machine and you will be able to trun on the grass without tearing it all up. When you get less tread, you get less mud ability, less traction and less water speed.

By MaxRules (Brandon_price) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, the 22" Rawhides are very aggressive. You could get the Runamuk tires like most Argos have. They have very little tread and are good in water. RI also has a similar tire, it is a 21" and they recommend it when a soft foot print is desired. This tire is very cheap (low quality) but might be what you need.
Until you get different tires, I suggest you don't skid your Max on the lawn. Turn it like you would a car.

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Guys, thanks for the responses. I've tried to do gradual turns and on open areas, I can make course corrections at decent speed and thats fine. Whenever I turn into the woods or make a corner though, it just churns things up. I don't really need extreme mud ability, it's pretty dry here, only occasional mud, and even then it isn't that bad. On the traction issue, the rawhides are way overkill for my area as well. I could live with less traction and mud ability as long as it had better grass characteristics.

What could I expect to see with the goodyear or Nankang chevron? Or the Runamuck? Or with RI's version? Could I turn on grass without preparing it for seeding? I know these vehicles skid, so I know it won't be a no impact thing, but right now it's close to tilling the ground, and I just can't have that. I love the machine and want to keep it, but unless I can make the grass issue much better, I won't be able to. Your help is VERY appreciated!!!

Brandon, are the 21 inch tires you mention from RI the same ones I'd use with tracks? If so, then I need them anyway and that might be a very good thing.

Thanks all!

By Big Bob Hall on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris:

The expert (James Bond) forgot to tell you that the CARLSLE
CHEVRON may be the best tire for you

Bit more aggressive than the Goodyear but a VERY
high quality tire. I guess most of the experts have not
even bothered to use them. No RI does not sell them
but Richard along with others do.

Anybody who have been around ATV for years know that
the Chevrons give the best OVERALL performance.

I wish Richard would answer this board!

007 should have known

Big Bob Hall

By david berger (Davidrrrd) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

chris, the 21" rawhide II can be made smother by driving on pavement a bit till you have worn the lugs down to your likeing,

By Fred Sowerwine, Montana's Max Dealer (Fred4dot) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, If you are getting tracks anyhow (need the 21" goodyear rawhide for that), try them in your grass environment first. Then try putting the tubes over the tires (slit them down the inside middle- full circumberence of the tube and slip them on like an overboot) if you are still tearing things up too much. If that doesn't work, try the nankangs, but if you are on anything but lawn grass, the inner tubes on the outside will last about as long as your Nankang tires.

How much engine do you have and did you get all the info you needed about putting tracks on your machine?

By john on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris:

Nankangs are junk, get carisle or goodyears

John

By MaxRules (Brandon_price) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris I was talking about the Chevrons but if you are getting tracks, you would save money by getting the 21" Rawhides. The Rawhides have less tread than the IIIs you have but are very good in water and not so aggressive.
Allow me to quote the Max brochure for the less fortunate on this board:
"This tire is manufactured in Taiwan. It has a non-aggressive tread. It is a fragile tire with a relatively short life. It is recommended for use only where a very soft footprint is required. Cannot be used with tracks."
Best overall performance? Just what kind of terrain to do you drive on? These tires might be better than driving on rims, but they are very cheap tires.

MaxRules

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Fred's Question:
I've got a 20hp Max Buffalo truck. I think it should have lots of power for tracks, it's geared a little lower than the others. I'm not really sure what I need to do for tracks, but that's a secondary issue at the moment. Right now, I need to get the machine to be acceptable on grassy areas, and not rototil everything.

Everyone:
It sounds like the Carlisle Chevrons are the ones to get. I heard that they punchure easily though, is that an issue?

What type of area to I ride? I have two main areas, one is the woods and area around my house, it's wooded, hilly but not that demanding. The woods are surrounded by grassy areas that I want to keep grassy as much as possible. A less aggressive tire here is essential, no major difficulties in the area, so I think traction would be fine with the Chevrons.

The second area is heavily wooded and hilly, not overly demanding really except that there are many thorn trees in it. These thorns have put about 60 (not exagerating) holes into my old quad runner tires. I think the Rawhides are hard enough to deter most of these, but I doubt the Chevrons are. How well does the 'Green Slime' or other tire sealants work? (I suppose I could always keep the rawhides for this area only)

My immediate need is to correct the grass/dirt churning otherwise I won't be able to keep this wonderful machine. I'm a little worried that I may have to get rid of it. All advice is welcome guys, thanks for all the help! (Depressed and looking for hope)

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I forgot to ask about this inner tube solution. Does this really work? It seems like the cut tube wouldn't stay on worth beans. Have people had luck doing this? I'm running 22 inch rawhide III's, what size tube would I need for this? Thanks again.

By Fred Sowerwine, Montana's Max Dealer (Fred4dot) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, A couple of opinions here. Your problem is PSI on the ground. The Buffalo is very heavy for a skid steer (I know it is about the same weight as an argo 6x6; even less than the conquest and the other makes)and you are running the same tires that are the best for the Max II (in a nut shell, your empty Buffalo is 50% heavier than Brandon's Max II). You might weigh twice as much as he does and if you carry much in you cargo box, it is just that much heavier. Your best bet would be to have the bigger tires (25" goodyear rawhide III or 26" super terra grip and grind off the tread (either doing lots of turns on pavement as David suggested or with a knife and belt sander). Even if you run a bigger wider tire, whatever tread you have on the tire will scrape the grasss simply because of weight. Even with the tracks, there is about a 1/2 inch deep waffle pattern tread that will mark if your machine is heavy enough. What you need is as wide a tire as you can find with practically no tread

The inner tubes work, but don't stay on real well (I use the regular tube, 8x20, I think). I use them in the sand because the aggressive lugs dig holes pretty fast.

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I'm going to try the Carlisle Chevrons that many people have suggested, including Richard. They're still the 22 inch tires, but there is little tread on them. A farmer near here has them on his MaxIV and they seem to do pretty well. I know the Buffalo is a bit on the heavy side, so we'll see how much this helps. If it's still a problem, I'll have to see about larger tires and de-treading them maybe.

The Chevrons are probably pretty poor in winter aren't they? Should I keep the Rawhides for winter use? (I was going to sell them since they're new)

Thanks all.

By Fred Sowerwine, Montana's Max Dealer (Fred4dot) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, IMO, the chevrons will work as well in the snow for you as will the rawhide IIIs. Again, it is a PSI on the ground thing. You will bottom out with either tire and that is when you will not be able to go - it won't be traction. If it was traction on ice or something, with low tread chevron tires you can use regular chains, cable chains or make your own rope chains. The reason most max people don't use chains is that the lugs are deeper than the chain is and the chains hide in or between lugs making them of no effect. Also, most people use as big a tire as they can get on and the clearance of chains is a concern. Wouldn't be the case in your set up. Still, if you want to go in much snow, you will need tracks and with the buffalo, your payload will be pretty much just the driver (at least in my snow conditions of dry, fluffy powder).

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Fred, thanks for the info. Most of the snow here is usually somewhat wet and packable, so the tracks might work a little better than the loose dry stuff like you get. I wanted to go larger on the tires, but it was just the rawhides on the larger ones and I didn't want that. The clearance really isn't that bad though with 22's, at least for the non-winter months.

I think that people think that the Buffalo is a bit heavier than it is. It's definitely heavier, but not too bad. I copied the specs from the RI website...

MaxII ==> 670 lbs (230 lbs less than Buffalo)
MaxIV ==> 775 lbs (125 lbs less than Buffalo)
Buffalo ==> 900 lbs

By Pete Cagle (Petec) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris you can get cheverons in 25x12x9 for about $50 plus shipping

By Ford on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, I share your concern of ground damage. I use my Argo Conquest for work around the farm as well as for recreation. I currently run on runamuks and find that I am able to go anywhere I want (and that includes a lot of places I thought were impossible). I plan to attend the Humphrey ride to see if there is a better tire choice as I'm about due to replace. I have torn open 1 tire on a sharp stump and one on a rock but it didn't stop the 8X8. TREAD LIGHTLY

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Well, on the recommendation of lots of people, I'm putting on the Carlisle 22 inch Chevron's tomorrow. They're being mounted today and I'll install them tomorrow, I'll let you know how they work. I sure hope they help with the rototilling problem, if so I'll be overjoyed.

Ford, the runamucks you've got look like great tires, but they're a bit expensive. I talked to a few people who didn't recommend them on my Buffalo truck, they said I'd want the stronger sidewalls on the Carlisle. Probably due to my using it for work and landscaping stuff with some weight in it's bed. I'll let you know how they do.

By Ford on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Chris, please let me know how well the Carlisles perform. I'll certainly consider them next time if they're cheaper and have a stronger sidewall.
Thanks

By Chris on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Ford, The Carlisles are really helping. They have almost no tread when new, very widely spaced chevrons and smooth rubber between them. The center of the Chevron is the highest place, and even that is only about 1/2 the depth of the Rawhide3 lugs. I still cannot spin on a dime without plowing the dirt, but that's expected. I can now make gradual turns without leaving shredded grass behind. If I try and arc the turn somewhat, the ground damage is pretty minimal with the Carlisles, same turns dug up ground with the Rawhides. I have to do large arched turns to minimize ground damage, but it's possible, just make the beast less manouverable than a standard Quad, at least where ground impact is a concern.

On the sidewall issue... the sidewalls of the Carlisles are pretty strong. They surprised me at that. The Nanking or whatever they are are really thin and I don't think they'd hold up going over anything. I haven't seen the Runamucks up close, so I can't say anything about them. The Carlisles seem pretty strong though, nice thick walls and they seem to hold weight well.

By Ford on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks for the info Chris. I'll watch out for those. Maybe I'll see some in action at Humphrey.