Finally, new bigger tires

March 19, 2009

I got supprised the yesterday when my wife bought me four 31x10.5x15 Mickey Thompson Baja Claw tires for my Trooper for my birthday. I'm going to put them on 10 wide rims. This should give them a full look which I like. I'm having to adapt the wheels from 6 bolt to 4 bolt but thats not too hard except that the 4 holes are right at the edge of the center hole so I'll be machining a round 3/8" thick plates to go on after the wheel to guarntee a good clamp type 6" dia. washer over the works. Putting the tires on 10" wide rims created a problem to get the beads to the wheel edges so I could get air into it. Nothing worked so I figured it was time to try something I never did befor. Spray a volital flamable liquid into it and explode it. Starting out with a very small dose and working the injected quanity up, it finally went bang and the tire was seated. My wife just shook her head and said I'm leaving. Can't wait to get them on and try them out. Needless to say rocmoc is probably to blame. Everything he had to say about bigger tires sounded really good. Thanks rocmoc. I guess I'll now have to begin thinking new fenders. Thats ok though because I like designing things. My wife is starting to call my Trooper a money pit. With the big tires others are going to mistake it for a log skidder.

I'll do pics soon. Should have it ready for the weekend, knock on wood. I'm also going to now be 67" wide. Starting to think about desiging a planetary gear hub which would go at each of the 4 wheels. It would allow normal 1 to 1 gearing as now, and then by pulling a pin at each of the 4 wheels, we could get maybe a 3 to 1 gearing for rock crawling. This would give lots of easy to control power even with big tires for slow obstical nagivating while not adding any extra stress to the drive train. There would actually be a lot less stress when in low range. Don't hold your breath though, I add to my project list way faster then I can actually do them. The idea does have me excited.

Kinarfi, I'm still working on organizing the subjects in the threads. Work on it a little each nite. Finally on the last page.

Lenny

rocmoc · March 19, 2009

I'm changing my name to protect the innocent, LOL! I can't wait to hear your first ride/trip report. Good luck and remember to check the clearnce between the front tire & firewall when turning.

newbieguy aka rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

ksimpsy · March 19, 2009

Sounds awesome. I have thought about some sort of reducer planetary system also or a multiplier but i was thinking of putting them inline with the drive shaft my problem is i have no idea how to make something like that so i would have to look at what is already out there. another idea i had was to get new ring and pinion gears cut. I haven't looked into any of this either, one thing at a time eh?.

Kevin

Kinarfi · March 19, 2009

Sounds like you might need power steering or an electrical power assist system and a can of ether starting fluid added to your machine now. Sound awesome, I was planning to check my rig out today, but I guess I'm gearing up to go to Moab with my son Friday, can't take the trooper because they don't allow ATV/OHVs in the park. Got my street legal license plate yesterday, $103, and the people that did the inspection are trooper people too, Utah Diesel Center here in P.G., and they commented about how solid my steering was, because of the shim I put in and said they had turboed theirs and what if difference. Looking forward to your photos.

Kinarfi

March 21, 2009

Well, I took my first ride today. Rocmoc was right, it's a lot nicer. The gearing is more friendly. I can still run fairly slow in 4th and still lug a climb ok at slower speeds. Low gear is still strong enough to go up a vertical wall as long as your a little above idle, may 1500-1800 RPM's. Like rocmoc said, you can run out each gear better. Before, gears would wind out quickly, now I can use the engines torque better and It does have half way decent torque. I headed out to a pretty tough climbs. The best one was a hill we have all seen. It was about 20 feet high with a telephone pole on the 10 diameter flat top. In other words, the ground was graded down around the pole but the pole wasn't moved so it was left on a pointed mound. Before the bigger tires, I would get to a certain point and even though I would start to spin the tires, It was still climbing but skidding around made me stop for fear of getting sideways. The new tires just didn't spin and kept a solid hookup with the ground, thus I confidently kept going and only stopped at the top ridge which I would have high centered on. It climbs a lot better which says a lot for a machine that climbs with the best of them stock. It all said, I'm not going back. I like the bigger tires and am going to stay with them.

I've include some pics. The first 2 show what I did to the rims to help keep the tires from spinning on the wheels. I used a 5/8" fine tap in an electric drill to sort of tap my way around the rims seat area. Going over it a couple of times gave a nice tractioned surface that didn't cause any leaks at the beads. I'm currently running 8# in my front tires and 10# in the rear. This gives me a slight bulging of the tire at the ground area which is what I want. Not only for softening the ride but to better form over obsticles. The following pictures show the Trooper with the big tires. You'll get to see my ugly face and connect it to the one writing about all this foolishness. Check out the underside clearance. The one picture showing the rear right side has the wheels turned as far as I can go for now. I'll turn farther once I move back the corners of the firewall.

Lenny

rocmoc · March 21, 2009

Koool! It is always good when great minds agree!

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

ksimpsy · March 21, 2009

wow that looks good! did you say you were going to cut the floor boards and outside corners back? because i have been looking at doing that so i could put 31 x 12.5 r15 tires on.

any how, nice.

Kevin

March 21, 2009

wow that looks good! did you say you were going to cut the floor boards and outside corners back? because i have been looking at doing that so i could put 31 x 12.5 r15 tires on.
any how, nice.

Kevin

ksimpsy, The outside corners of the floorboards and the revelant frame work needs to be altered. I'll be doing this next week and I'll take pics. One thing I was concerned with is the width of my tires. Rocmoc also has 31' tires but I don't beleive as wide as my 10.5 or at least not mounted on as wide of rim. The wider the tires, the harder it is to turn and the more bumps kick the steering wheel back at you. Myself, I don't think I would want to go to 12.5s. With as much traction as I'm getting with my 10.5s coupled with good fox suspension, I don't think we have the power to handle any more hookup. I think IMHO that 12.5s would just add width and steering difficulty without adding any benifit. Now, when I go to paddle tires, they will be 13.00s 15s but I don't need to turn sharp on sand nor does sand have the kind of bumps that kick the wheel. I will now be looking at power steering and probably larger ball joints on the ends of my steering bars. My 10.5s kick the wheel pretty hard.

Lenny

ksimpsy · March 21, 2009

Hey Lenny, the only reason i want the 12.5's is for flotation in mud and muskegg. i almost have my power steering kit done so im not worried about hard turning. as for the bumps kicking the wheel a steering damper would take care of that for you.

Kevin

March 21, 2009

Ksimpsy, I'm sorry, I was thinking as if everyone rides on firmer ground. The stuff your riding in probably can use all the floation you can get. I'll be looking to do power steering and your sujestion of a steering dampener is good. I didn't think of that. Also anxious to see how your power steering works out. Seems like everything is a chain reaction. I put big tires on and now I need power steering and a steering dampener. Thats not all, now my Trooper won't fit betweenthe fenders on my newly built custom trailer. I going to have to cut the axel and lengthen it and move the fenders out about 3" on each side.

Lenny

rocmoc · March 21, 2009

I agree the 10.5 are the max I would go. Flotation isn't a problem ANYMORE! I share the same concern that sooner or later too much traction is going to start tearing things apart. I adjusted my A-arms forward a little and used a LARGE hammer to get the required clearance.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

ksimpsy · March 21, 2009

too bad about the trailer Lenny. I sorta did the same I started last winter building a trailer for my Rhino almost got it done then i found the trooper and just had to have it. so of course i now need to stretch my trailer out 3 feet. arrggg.

Kinarfi · March 23, 2009

Ksimpsy, I'm sorry, I was thinking as if everyone rides on firmer ground. The stuff your riding in probably can use all the floation you can get. I'll be looking to do power steering and your sujestion of a steering dampener is good. I didn't think of that. Also anxious to see how your power steering works out. Seems like everything is a chain reaction. I put big tires on and now I need power steering and a steering dampener. Thats not all, now my Trooper won't fit betweenthe fenders on my newly built custom trailer. I going to have to cut the axel and lengthen it and move the fenders out about 3" on each side.
Lenny

Yea, too bad about the trailer, You should probably start over on a new one, of coarse you can give me the old one that my Trooper will fit perfectly since I didn't change the size of my tires. Just kidding, one of my next projects it to set my trailer up for camping on.