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25" tires on a Hawkeye 300 4x4?

31K views 55 replies 10 participants last post by  sandman20  
#1 ·
I'm looking for some tires with some meat on them. I use my Hawkeye 300 for trails mud and snow. But I'm having trouble finding 23" tires with meat or 24" tires for that matter. I've heard people mention that they've had 25" tires on the Hawkeye's. I want to know what, if any, mods needed to be done to get the 25" tires to fit.

If anyone can direct me towards 24" tires that have 3/4" or close tread depth and come in 8x12/10x12 respectively that would be greatly appreaciated.

I don't want to over tax the quad more than I have too. but with the riding I do I need some meat on them.
 
#3 ·
STI black diamond.

Saw a 300 at lake Murray last weekend with 25 inch mud lites...no idea what he had to do to make them work.

Sean
 
#5 ·
boburk,

do the STI black diamonds come in all three sizes? 23" 24" and 25". I would prefer the 24" but will stick with the 23" if I have too. The quad is slow enough as it is, It doesn't need to be any slower.
 
#6 ·
I haven't got them yet for my 300. Keep breaking other stuff, so have not been able to afford them yet. Anyhow, heard they run small, so planned on getting the 23s to keep it close to stock.

The ATR version has 8 and 10 wide in 23s, 24s, and 25s.

Sean
 
#7 ·
after looking on STI's website the ATR only comes it 24x8x12 no 24x10x12 they've got 24x10x11, but not 24x10x12. looks like 23"s or 25"s it is then....

How much do you lose by going up to the 25"s though. I'm not a little guy so I don't want to lose any more power as it's already slow enough....
 
#10 ·
How much do you lose by going up to the 25"s though. I'm not a little guy so I don't want to lose any more power as it's already slow enough....
I only road it once, and it was with the 25s and it was pretty sluggish. I know that my wife's Suzuki Ozark 250 is peppier. I don't know what it feels like with stock sized tires on it. I was surprised that it had no low-range, it felt like it would have trouble pulling big hills geared the way it is.
 
#8 ·
If you go 25" tires...then you'll need a clutch kit to get some of that low end power back...IMHO.

Good luck...


biz
:)
 
#9 ·
yeah, I posted about a clutch kit for the Hawkeye 300 as I haven't be able to find one online. but no responses yet.
 
#14 ·
No clutch kits for the Hawkeyes/sportsman 300-400 mid size. all you can do is remove a pair of opposing weights to get back some of the low end. But I didn't notice any significant loss of power when I went to the 25" tires. The tires themselves make the engine work less to get over stuff because they aren't spinning as much.
 
#20 ·
the 300 will probably be a bit on the big side for an 8 year old. I've got an 11 year old that is still to small to take it out of the trails. I'll let him ride it around the house and on the dirt road. but I wouldn't trust him with it on a trail. Not yet at least.
 
#21 ·
You should see her drive my 550 lol. She is tall and can touch the floorboards on the 550, but it is to fast. It doesn't matter if I get her a 300 or a 50, she will NOT be riding without my supervision. Honestly I can't go any smaller because we love to mud ride and 300 is about the smallest I can find in a 4X4. Only one smaller I know of is the old Yamaha Timberwolf, and I really don't want one of those because it has no auto tranny, is solid axle, and is full time 4x4 with no type of front locker. I let her mud ride the 550 (with me riding on it with her) and she loves it, so I want her bike to have everything mine does that makes it awesome in the woods. The 300 is the smallest bike that has all those.
 
#22 ·
so long as she's strong enough to handle a days ride on the larger machine that would be fine. My concern with my 11 yr old is fatigue and reaction time. that, and I don't have another machine for me to ride... Yet.
 
#24 ·
For what your looking for the 300 is THE only thing on the market.
 
#25 ·
I'm not a huge mud runner. and I have yet to really put the new tires to the test, but the one hole I ended up in with the stockers I got stuck in so that's really no indication of the machine's mud capabilities. Just clarification that the stock tires suck. There is a light mud run behind my house. Nothing real deep, but with the stockers there was a lot of spinning tires and weight shifting and such. With the STI Black Diamonds I just crawl right though/over at half throttle with no issues at all. Tires are going to make or break her in the mud.
 
#26 ·
^Agreed

Its all in the design of the tire tread. The stock tread depth of my 500 was basically the same as the bearclaws that replaced them, so for me it was a lateral move. With the design of the bearclaws the traction difference is night and day in favor of the bearclaws.
 
#27 ·
on the tire note, I would recommend the black diamond XTR's for her bike in 25" (you're not going to get any bigger on it without modification to both the suspension and the clutch. Neither of which you can do after market for the Hawkeye. You'd have to do a one off custom modification.

I've got the ATR's and love them so far as previously stated.
 
#28 ·
Thorshammer are the xtr's fairly light? The Carliles on my wifes rig are heavy...while I'm not going to change them out anytime soon I can't say i'd recommend them.
 
#29 · (Edited)
it's all about perspective. they are 6 ply tires with 1 1/8" tall lugs so if you're comparing them to the stock tires no. they were lighter or comparable to the Big horns. the 25 " Xtrs are 22.7 and 26.2 lbs respectively. The ATR's what I went with are 21.2 and 23.2 lbs respectively. The big horns (not the 2.0) are 23.6 and 27.8. The big horn 2.0s are 18.4 and 22.7. So they are lighter than the Bighorns but heavier than the Bighorn 2.0's. all weights are in 25"x8" front 25"x10" Rear

The stock fronts are 13.6 lbs and the stock rears are 17.8 lbs so all are Heavy when Compared to the stock tires.
 
#30 ·
Comparing to her mud wolfs. Ok they are lighter than the Mud Wolfs. The fronts are 24.4lbs and the rears are 28.8lbs on the wolfs.
 
#31 ·
Will put another option on the table. They arn't popular but they are a great tire. I have 26" AMS Slingshot XT for my ride. The 9" front is 22.95 lbs. The tread is 1.25" and they are DOT approved. They also come in 25's