By Lazerman (Lazerman) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Sorry guys, I'm not use to this discussion board thing yet, I think I put my question in the wrong place the first time so here goes again.

I need some advice. I've got a 1998 Max II with the Rawhide III tires. I want as soft a ride as possible because of a bad back. The guy I bought the machine from said his brother has a Max with the same tires and runs no air at all in them and has no trouble with them coming off the rim. I've been running 1.5 Lb. with no problems so far. I think I've read somewhere on this site that the newer Max’s have a locking type rim is this true?
I would also like to say I think this is a great site and appreciate it being here. I've learned a lot from it and, it played a large part in helping me chose, which machine to purchase.
So a big thanks to all!

By pete6x6 on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Laz,

I would assume you could get away with that if the tires have a hard enough outer wall otherwise they will fail. You can use sheet metal screws to hold the bead on the rim which you can get from your local hardware store.

By Lazerman (Lazerman) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Pete
What about the current 1.5 lb pressure I'm
running? Think that's enough to keep the tire
on the rim?

Brad

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

Brad, With the new K-rim, you can run very low pressure relatively safely. I wouldn't go to 0 PSI, but 1 or 1.5 should be OK. The thing to be careful of is: with low PSI in your tires, if you go over a log or rock, you will ding your rim. How much weight you have in your machine and what happens when you have the whole machine on one tire is what you should be aware of. Most likely you would only break a bead, but something sharp could cut your tire. The sidewalls of skid steer tires are designed to be flexible. Some tires for other uses have very stiff sidewalls and even low pressure does not soften the ride.

By MaxRules (Brandon_price) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

One PSI is best for most types of riding. If you go in a creek or area with lots of rocks you have to be careful the rocks don't hit the rims. Bends on the edge of the rim doesn't hurt it, just doesn't look as good. Mine has a few battle wounds but it is an ATV, not a Vette!
I once aired my tires up to the suggested 3.5 PSI. I could hardly stand to ride it. It was so rough it felt like I was riding over rocks with steel tires. Aired them down to 1 PSI and it is like I just installed a whole new suspension system.
Soft tires also protect your axles. I was idling through the woods at about 10mph yesterday on a trail I am always on just listening to the purr of my big bad Briggs. I wasn't watching the trail for just one second and a tree jumped out in front of me. It was about 5" in diameter. It moved the machine to the side and picked me up out of the seat. All I could think of was the $130+ damage I just did when the wheel hooked the tree. After backing up and checking it over I couldn't believe the axle was NOT bent! This was even an El Cheapo hallow axle. Must have been the very low pressure tire that took the hit.

MaxRules

By Lazerman (Lazerman) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks to both you guys for the advice.
How much will one of those Rawhide's set
me back if I happen to damage one?

By pete6x6 on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Lazerman,

Yes 1psi should be fine. But like the above posts the lower the pressure you can ding the rims.

By Ron W (Rgw) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

I've heard of a special low pressure tire gauge available somewhere. Does anyone know where I can get one? Ron

By david berger (Davidrrrd) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

ron, do you have a wallmart near you, thay have a variety, and i got mine there, it's a 1/2 lb - 20 lbs i keep mine betwean 2 1/2 - 3 lbs, good luck

By Gord Young on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Be careful not to buy a cheap low pressure tire guage. I bought one and always wondered why my tires were hard riding at 2.5 psi.
Later on during the summer a friend had a goood quality dial guage and I used ot to discover that I was putting anywhere from 2.2 to 4.6 psi in the tires. The point is that a cheap guage will not give reliable readings. Spend good money on a good guage.
ARGO recommends that you should inflate between 2.5 and 4 psig. You will find that higher pressures are only necessary when you have a fully loaded machine. Lower pressures than 2.5 leads to the risk of the tires coming down off of the bead when going through rougher terrain. I find personally that 2.5 gives me a nice balance with 2 riders; and 2.25 - 2.5 when by myself. Lower than that and I would be suspicious of the guage readings or perhaps only restrict the ARGO to less demanding terrain and aviod rocky inclines where tire bead retention is more important.

One other consideration is tire selection. Runamuk tires ride much softer than RawhideIII tires.
Good Luck!

By Ron W (Rgw) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Gord, do you know the brand name of that or another good quality tire gauge?