I had and early talk with Santa and was informed that I MAY be able to get my Christmas present early in order to enjoy it during hunting season.
I just sent a quote request to Matt @ ATV Outfitters asking him to give me a quote on some ITP MudLite XL's and his favorite choice of black Al wheels (PoPo is camo, so shiny wheels are not an option).
Q&A time:
- is the black paint on Alumium wheels reasonably durable?
- I want/need to stay on the lower cost end. Any recommendations?
- Am I just wasting my $$ getting Al wheels?

I have a set of the black Vision wheels with Big Horns mounted on them. If you're interested in the rims or the set, let me know, I'll let them go for a good price. I just don't want to have to ship them. I can pass through New Roads on the way to the camp if you want to see them. Let me warn you, it will increase your rear track by almost 3", but almost all aftermarket wheels are going to add at least 2". If you look at the pic in the photo section, it's the wheels and tires in that picture. And yes, I will separate them if you want.

Hey Cajun, thx for the offer. But, I would not need the big horns for the same reason that you are willing to sell. As far as the visions, those are one of the wheels I was considering.
BUT...I am looking to purchase tires off the net due to not being able to find anybody locally who does not want to really screw me. I stopped by a local tire shop that some buddies recommended as 'best around' this afternoon and they quoted me >$30/tire more than Matt's prices. I will gladly pay a little more to support the local guys, but not if they are blatantly trying to screw me over.
I would be very interested in your vision wheels if I knew someone in this area who would/could mount tires bought elsewhere. I may need to ask around to see if there's anyone like that around (doubtful?). Maybe WallyWorld?

Dumb qustion time...where is the photo section you refer to?

The Polaris Pic Thread. Here's a link. It's on the first page toward the bottom of the page. Front's are 12x7, rears are 12x8.

Dang those look good Cajun!
Sure wish I knew some S. LA folks who could swear to me that those horns would do better in the La gumbo mud than the stock PXT's.
Anybody?

quote:

Originally posted by geauxtiger:
I had and early talk with Santa and was informed that I MAY be able to get my Christmas present early in order to enjoy it during hunting season.
I just sent a quote request to Matt @ ATV Outfitters asking him to give me a quote on some ITP MudLite XL's and his favorite choice of black Al wheels (PoPo is camo, so shiny wheels are not an option).
Q&A time:
- is the black paint on Alumium wheels reasonably durable?
- I want/need to stay on the lower cost end. Any recommendations?
- Am I just wasting my $$ getting Al wheels?

I have some black ITP rims, don't know if they are aluminum. But I have hit a rock pretty good and it held up really well.
On the top of my right front rim is the ding from the rock.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JohnsWoodshop,

quote:

Originally posted by geauxtiger:
Dang those look good Cajun!
Sure wish I knew some S. LA folks who could swear to me that those horns would do better in the La gumbo mud than the stock PXT's.
Anybody?

I don't know how the mud in LA compares with NC, but my horns are as equally comparitive to mudlite xtr's. I have had them in some almost peanut butter situations and they did as well as my buddies 800 with 27" xtr's. They will by far out perform the stock pxt's in any terrain.

Thx for the vote of confidence Mr Pope. I read lots of similar comments across several discussion sites.
Cajun and I are meeting up this weekend to make the exchange.
Looking forward to trying them out in some La gumbo mud!

Got my extended lug studs in the mail this week. Going to huntin' camp in a little while to put out some Bambi candy, then bring my PoPo home to do the wheel/tire swap Thanksgiving morning while mom is cooking the turkey.
My question for the day...
Does anybody have a neat trick for removing the old bolts other than spraying on some penetrating lube, screwing on a nut to flush with the top of the threads, then gently banging away with a hammer?
Any advice would be appreciated. Got to do the job tomorrow AM and have it ready to take back to the woods for 5:00AM Friday.

@ work we get into sticky situations with bolts/nuts/pins/etc... The penetrating oil we use is Whitmore's Thread Loosener.

Might want to use a piece of plastic, wood, or rubber as a hitting surface against the nut/stud, in case sometime down the road you want to switch back. Lesser chance of damaging the studs surface.

A note on Whitmores, long story somewhat short. Had a stuck almost ceased bolt. After soaking and soaking again & walking away, over about 30 minutes the weight of the 3/4 inch drive ratchet turned that bolt loose. It was a what in the heck happened. Nobody touched that thing. Maybe it knew a torch was close by and gave up its hold.

Thanks Kenny!
Yeah, was planning to use a scrap piece of wood and/or rubber blow hammer to protect the threads.
Got PB Blaster in the shop, but will look for that Whitmore stuff in the future.

A little heat with the PB Blaster and you'd be amazed how things that won't budge suddenly loosen. I don't think they'll be that tough. They make big rubber mallets too. They just don't deliver the same blow as steel, but they minimize damage.

Got PoPo home from woods this PM, a little later than I had hoped. Tomorrow AM, going to tackle replacing lugs bolts all the way around, plus do an oil change...all before turkey is served.
Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon thru Saturday.
Looking forward to trying out those well traveled, yet brand new VoodDoo/Cajun/Geauxtiger horns on muddy S. La hunting club trails this weekend!

Rains on the way. You should be able to tell if they're worthy or not.

Holy cow, me likes these tires!
Until I get to the woods tomorrow, can only ride up and down the street at the house (yard is wet). But, wow, what a smooth ride and great responsiveness to steering input. Theses things track great. Got an extra inch or so of ground clearance to boot.
Some installation notes:
No problem knocking out the old studs. 4-5 gentle whacks with a hammer and they came right out.
-No problem with installation of new, longer studs in back. Seated the new studs by simply threading an OEM nut on (it has a handy captured washer), then tightening until the new stud heads were seated. Removed OEM nut and repeated with next stud and so on.
-In front, had to lossen up the brake disks to get an extra ~1/8" of clearance to get the new studs inserted from behing the hubs. Not a big deal. Extra 10 min of installation time per tire is all.
- What is the recommended torque setting for Al wheels? I heard somewhere that you need to be careful to not over torque. I set the fronts at 35 ft-lbs as a first guess, but could not do the back due to not having a 1/2" socket extension long enough to reach the deep recess of the rear wheels. Just did the backs by 'feel'. Will redo later. Is 35 OK? Too much? Too little? Makes no difference?
- New tires are 26/10/12 and 26/12/12 (vs 9 and 11 widths on OEM's). Will have to visit Matt @ ATV outfitters to invest in a set of fender flares; got ~2" of tire outside of fenders in back and fronts are right on the edge.

I did the 35 ft lbs also. I took along the torque wrench on 2 rides. In my case they were right on when I checked them in the middle and end of each ride. Torque wrench is hanging back on the wall. I too have the 26" Bighorn's.

Keeny, will be carrying my wrench to the camp this weekend also. With the rears extending so far past the fenders, looks like I better drive 'tucked in tight' this weekend, else I'll get a steady spray of mud with the rain we're getting today here in Lousyanna.

If I recall, the service manual indicates a torque spec of 90 ft. lbs. for aluminum wheels, if I'm not mistaken. I'm still not believing that is correct. For a 3/8 stud I wouldn't use more than 40 ft. lbs. and I'd check them periodically. Putting a little moly grease on the taper on the lug nut will decrease some of the friction while tighening. I can't get real excited about heading to the camp as warm as it is and with the rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

I'm not excited about a wet day tomorrow either. If it weren't for my son whose dying to go, I would stay home where it's nice and dry. The bucks are not running and they're are staying nocturnal right now anyway. Not much reason to go.