Want Some Bigger Tires for the Rhino

I want to put some new tires on my mildly modded Rhino 700. I feel like I have the power to turn some bigger treads in a way that would be satisfactory to me, but at the same time I am not wanting to grenade my entire drivetrain in the process. A broken axle here or there is not that big of a deal. I'm trying to stay away from broken diffs, through-shafts, and middle drive gears as these are major breakage, big ticket ka-pows!

I ride trails and love cruising the sandy creek bottoms and random water holes; I also like to hit some mud but am not a hardcore mud rider where I hit every mud hole like I used to. I like to ride fast when I get the chance but my average speed is about 5MPH. I am the kind of guy who will plant the gas to the floor to spin some sand or mud for the camera.

I am pretty confident that I can fit up to a 30" tire without having to adjust my shocks and have a 3" catvos lift. I am thinking about the 30" Zillas because of their light weight, maybe even the 30" Bighorns. Any suggestions?"

The ones You had on it before were awesome !!!!!

^^x2 !!

Firefighter wrote:

The ones You had on it before were awesome !!!!!

scottwv wrote:

^^x2 !!

To be honest, I was not impressed with the 27" Radial Outlaws. They have a shallow tread, run short, and were pretty heavy for what you got. I have also owned a set of 28" Radial Outlaws and liked them. They have deeper tread and didn't seem to run as short as the 27s to their stated size. I am looking at the 30x10x14 Radial Outlaws but they weigh about 45lbs. By the time you put a rim in that tire, you are looking at over 60lbs per corner. I like the Radial Outlaw flat profile, smooth ride, and the long wearing tread compound; the weight is what I don't know if I am willing to sacrifice.

I'm hearing that the 30" Bighorns are also pretty lightand run only a little short. Has anyone heard more details or have a link to a more detailed write-up about the big Bighorns? I like my 26" Bighorns, but I want more traction and a bit more ground clearance. All I can find is that the 30x10x14 Bighorn weights about 30-31lbs per tire

I am also considering the skinny-wide 30" Zilla setup. I have run 26" Zillas before with good results. I like their light weight and deep tread. They would be only marginally heavier than what I have now. The price on the Zillas is also the best that I can find.

I just am doing some research and trying to find what is going to be the best for me.

Dang 30'' tires are gonna rob all that bottom end power you just gained,but you will gain some ground clearance.good luck

RedRhino64 wrote:

Dang 30'' tires are gonna rob all that bottom end power you just gained,but you will gain some ground clearance.good luck

True, I'll lose some bottom end. That's why I did all the mods in the first place. I wanted more power to turn the bigger tires easier. That's also why I am concerned about weight. It's harder to accelerate 60lbs than it is 45lbs.

These last 6 months with the 26" tires has been fun bombing around trails and hauling the mail. It's just not the majority of my riding. I miss going hood deep in the water. I'm not hitting the huge holes that the Outlaws and Silverbacks and Terminators are literally paddling through, but I am in deeper than average stuff.

You should be good if your just wanting to go deep in mud holes,but if you go with big 30'' tires your gonna need to go lighter on your weights to keep them turning good in the mud..might have to drop down to 14 grams.

I have 16g od's and i have no problem spinning my 29.5 terminators...... which are the same weight as the outlaw radial 30's.

Our stock bike was only running a gold spring with stock clutches with 30" outlaw radials and was our best bike in our group for going thru anything...... And was till it went over the head rest deep for 30 mins..... Yea, its broke....

28" tires will do well in just about every situation...... And i do feel a difference in power from my 28's to my 29.5's. You will be able to turn any tire you toss under there with ease. You just need to decide which one you wanna go with

I was hoping the banchee would chime in. That dude knows more about muddin in a Rhino than I could forget. What tire in the 28-30" range would you suggest?

I do not like a zilla tire....... I never seen a bike pull thru anything with Zillas on it...... I know they light but they dont have very deep thread... and they dont clean out well.... who ever says they do LIED........

i know the outlaw radials are heavy, but those are my favorite out of the bunch if you want a radial.... I have a set of MOTO EFX 28's that i use for around the house and road riding..... I have about 300 miles on them from everyday use and they dont look worn out yet....

The mudlite xxl in 30's are also a decent tire. Deep thread and work well all around.....

The issue here is that a 30" tire is made for the mud period.... Its not a trail tire or a riding tire.... Its strickly a mud tire... For what i seen you do Chris, id go 28's and in a radial all terrain.... the MOTO bighorn copy ones, bighorn tires, or outlaw radials....... also, the outlaw 2's in 28's pull pretty hard but dont have that smooth of a ride... Like i said Chris, you cant have a tire for all terrain cause they wont please you all the time........

If you want just a set of tires to mud ride, go all out and get the 30's but if you want a multi purpose tire, go 28's....... Hope that helps buddy.... Oh, the reason i am running terminators is cause i got a REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY good deal on them.... they dont ride worth a crap but they my mud tires only.....

If I was to go with a big set for sloppy slow riding, I would have to go with 30" mudlites. I had good luck with the 26 mudlite XLs on the 450. Yeah, I did not, and could not run as hard as I do the 700, but I did run it hard as I could when riding with rzrs and never hurt them other than treadwear. They do wear fast, but they are cheap and go good. I've heard the Zillas wear twice as long and are a little tougher than Mudlites. If I were going big, I would go light as I could.

What I just posted would be what I would do if I were going to have two sets of wheels/tires. If I were going to go big and run them all the time, it would have to be bigger Bighorns, or something similar in a radial even if they are heavy.

I have thought about running something big in the winter and early spring, and swapping back when it's not so muddy and snowy.

I did all the work to my moter/ clutch/wet clutch for later going with 30" tires .I have been looking a lot at different tires an like the zillas because of the weight, I'm thinking the lighter rotating mass the better this is first I heard they don't clean out so I will keep studying on this I'm in no hurry to spend more $$$$ now.

I've owned the Zillas before and run them on my Grizzly 550, but only in the smaller 26" size. The 26s did have the same tread depth as the 30s, however.

I liked them for trail riding, and for mild mud they were ok in my area. Forget about peanut butter mud with them. They clean out better than a Bighorn, but that's not exactly a compliment as the Bighorns immediately clog in sticky mud and slid a lot.

I can't speak for banchee there in Louisiana, but I suspect that his mud is kinda like here on the Texas coast - high clay and sand content. This makes for a heavy, thick, sticky mud. It sticks to your tires and your machine and is hard to wash off. You can drive through a river and chunks the size of your fist will still be stuck between the spokes of your wheels and packed up between your motor and your skid plate.

Fortunately where I ride there is usually a hard bottom to this mud, although it may be too deep to do any good and you still end up stuck. I've found there are two approaches to making it through this kind of mud in a Rhino:

1) run the big, wide, deep lugged tires to paddle through the slop. The tires with cupped tread bars like Outlaws and Silverbacks and Monsters are supreme. Just the tire rotating generally cleans the tread out enough for a fresh bite. They don't need to be spun fast. In fact, spinning these tires fast is sometimes detrimental and results in four deep holes. On my Grizzly, I'd want to spin the tires just fast enough to where I couldn't count the treads as the tire rotated. That seemed to "pull" the best. That was the best bet and approach for me making a hole that would otherwise be far to deep and soupy.

2) run the tall, skinny, shallower lugged tires and try to find the bottom and then "bull" your way through a hole by using lots of wheel speed. This is what works and your only chance when you run tires like Bighorns and Zillas and Mud Lites. You might notice that if you try to "creep" through a muddy spot with these tires- they load up and spin. If you give it a little gas, they just spin faster like a glazed donut. But if you floorboard the gas and have enough power to really and literally spin the shit out the tires, you will start moving along. Unfortunately, no amount of spinning is going to make these tires hook up when you have no bottom and your frame is dug in. Additionally, these tires won't pull you out of rut like an Outlaw because they don't have an inch or more of tread wrapping down the sidewall to grab a rut. It truly is amazing to see a fully locked bike claw its way out of a 2 foot rut using just the side tread when the skid plate is dragging the whole way.

Obviously, my Rhino is taking the latter approach as I don't find myself in the deep, bottomless peanut butter like I used to ride. But I do still find a fair bit of mud and actually seek out the mud, especially after dark when the party starts. I've surprised a few guys on Highlifter who think you need an Outlaw to do anything in the mud beyond pavement riding. Ground clearance and power go a long way, even with something so mild like a 26" Bighorn. Like I said I got zero chance in the big mud holes but I'm not exactly stuck cruising the camp parking lot, either.

That's why I'm looking at the bigger all-terrain tires. You get the great ground clearance of the awesome mud tires, but enjoy less weight , and better hard pack manners of the smaller trail tires. The drawbacks would be the increased center of gravity and decreased gearing advantage of a shorter, strictly trail tire. It's sort of like a jack of all trades, master of none.

I might regret this, but oh well. LoL! The tire market seems to be moving in this general direction with the introduction of bigger, milder tread tires like the 32" Roctane, 30" Bighorn, and 30" Dominator. Of course mud tires are getting bigger, too. Did you know they make a 34" Terminator? Wowza! And while the 32" Silverback has been around a while, it is a fail-safe bad boy in the mud. And who can forget the 32.5" Black Mamba that weighs around 70lbs before you even put it on a rim!

Nonetheless, I am really trying to put my thinking cap on when it comes to tires. At this date, I'm real close to flipping a coin between the 30" Zillas and Bighorns. haha!

Thanks for letting me talk this out! Others feel free to pipe in about what works for your area. What works in your area might be totally different than my area.

I avoid the big holes. I'm not a mudder anymore. Once apon a time I had a 500 zuk quadrunner with 27 Vampires and hit the worst stuff I could find. Got tired of the tooth shattering ride and poor handling real quick, and decided that the mud pits were not what I enjoyed most, it was avg trail riding with good power getting to the ground.

The only complaints I have with Bighorns is how bad they slide side to side. If it weren't for that, I think they would be the best tire ever for my kind of riding. I really like what I've heard and seen about the Pitbulls, but hate the thought of the price and weight.

Good luck with your choice. I can't wait to see the pics of them mounted up.

thanks for the input Chris I think I will go with the 30" zilla when I get new tires

I finally made up my mind on tires.
I picked the 30x10x14 Maxxis Bighorns. The Bighorns are common in smaller sizes, 25-26", and they are among the top of the pack for all around performance. I have been thoroughly impressed with my 26x9x12 Bighorns. I stuck with the Bighorns just upping the size substantially. There are no Yamaha Rhinos with the bigger Bighorns [that sounds funny!].

When I get them in and mounted, I'll let you guys know. And once I get to ride, I'll give a good write up about power, traction, and the whole nine yards.

Oh yeah, the rims are a little unconventional too! I went with 14x6 No Limits Octane. I customized them pretty good. I'm hoping it all turns out!

Sounds great,can't wait to see them!!

Chris H, I hope i don't sound like I'm in love with you, But i really enjoy your write ups you have put a lot of thought into things,Write them well and have some good info,you post good and bad to figure out the good bad and ugly of a situation, way to go and keep it up

KJrhino wrote:

Chris H, I hope i don't sound like I'm in love with you, But i really enjoy your write ups you have put a lot of thought into things,Write them well and have some good info,you post good and bad to figure out the good bad and ugly of a situation, way to go and keep it up

LoL!!! Thanks.

I like to know how stuff works and why it doesn't work or why it does work. When I got into the Rhino scene, the Yamaha Rhino and many of these mods were already well established and plenty of guys have already done a cam, a winch, a sheave, a big bore, etc. But not too many of those guys wrote much (if anything) about how it all turned out, or if it didn't turn out too good. Sometimes, tech has progressed and we've learned since then. We can now tune an engine mod with a lot more accuracy now with the 3D MSD than we could in 2008 for example. Plus, with great people like JBS who didn't just walk away from the Rhino after the advent of the RZR and other later SxS's, new Yamaha Rhino tech is steadily trickling down the pipeline. We benefit from that. What might have been impossible in 2008 when the fuel injected Rhino debuted might be very possible today in 2013. Likewise, what might have been all the rage 5 years ago might now be hardly worth our time.

But as with any write up, I can only report my findings. What you may experience may be different. What I think would be acceptable for power, speed, traction, handling might be different from the next guy.

We will see how these 30" Bighorns pan out. Disclaimer: I went through four sets of tires in one year on my Grizzly. I am kinda picky when it comes to tires, so rest assured I'll give my honest opinion when I get these big Bighorns mounted up.

I was sure id get banned a creeper for that.. I totally agree i bought my rhino probably 4 months ago and it all started from there Hooked up with James when I was trying to ditch my bronco clutch and i like reading peoples honest opinions not a sales pitch about mods I am picky as well and want to know how things are and why, anyways good job and keep er up I will be looking to replace these mudlites soon and certain subjects always catch my eye.

Things have been moving beyond slow with my new tires and wheels. I ordered the 30x10x14 Maxxis Bighorns through ATVOutfitters but for some reason, they still don't have me a set of tires. Evidentially, they are having the tires drop shipped directly from Maxxis but somewhere my tires got lost. LAME!

Anyway, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of my wheels.



Pics do not do these things justice. They are powder coated metallic silver and have machined accents. I went with the 14x6" size for all four.

Those are some sweet ass wheels.... No one in our group has them... yet!!!!!

Ok, getting back to tires. We have about 20 sxs's in our group from rzr's, rhinos, canam's, t-rex's....... All running something different from mudlites to terminators, outlaw2's to outlaw radials and so on.....

The height is important to help with the ground clearence to get thru the already torn up ruts... I am finding that im now high centering more with my taller tires cause the holes are so warn out and the rhino has no articulation with the itty bitty a arms....

As far as tire selection, you can pretty much use any tire, you just have to lean how to drive with that tire.... Not saying that an all terrian tire with go thru what we call "Pancake batter mud" but it will do good stayin the in light stuff..

OVER POWERING a tire is the way 90% of riders get stuck..... I know for a fact once the Budlight is in my system..... Those agressive tires will dig a hole before you know it.... Light pops of the throttle or slow rolling the tires evough to toss the excess mud out the lugs to find new stuff it the ticket. Now dont get me wrong, there are the always fun "HOLD MY BEER" moments that require a video camera, but those wil never die...

Driving in that nasty stuff that seems like you should have stayed on the bank for is what you have to learn to do. Making the machine tilt, turn, and grab side wall is all part of riding in those holes....

Just remember chris, the bighorn is an all terrian tire... so if you get stuck , i want pics lol..... Ill try and post up some pics of our ride next weekend to show you how Louisiana gets dirty......

That is good stuff right there, Eric!

You are 100% right about over powering. Too many guys turn the tires way too fast. It is my guilty pleasure and sin. Hahaha! That's why I'm always the one stuck in river with Recon 250s going around me. LoL! I'm busy making a movie!

In all seriousness, that is a good point about not always hitting every hole WFO.

in need some 30...lol