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30 Posts
Hello all,
I've decided to upgrade the tires on my '07 Sportsman 500 to the Kenda HTR Bearclaws, and I see there may be a clearance issue in the front. My stock tires are only 6.5" wide (nominally 26x8x12), and the 26x9x12 Bearclaws are 8.5". With the stockers, there is only about 1" of clearance between the sidewall of the tire and the suspension, so it looks like if the new tire fits there will be zero clearance. I have the Polaris alloy wheels with the longer stock studs on the machine.
So I thought I might be able to get away with 1/4" thick spacers, as I don't really want to use the 1" ones for several reasons. The problem is, even with the thin spacers I will not have enough thread engagement on the wheel studs. As it is now, there is 3/8" thread engagement - which I might assume is the minimum required. I seem to recall the rule of thumb that you want at least one bolt diameter for safe thread engagement. So now I am considering longer studs, but the longest ones I can find are 1.5" overall length - barely any longer than the stockers (which I think are 1.38"). That means unless I can find longer studs that I would be stuck with 1" spacers.
Another way to go would be steel wheels; since these are thinner I would expect I could use the 1/4" spacers and have enough stud length. I could also go to an aftermarket 7" wide wheel to better fit the wide tire.
I'd be interested to hear how any of you have solved this problem without using either a 1" spacer or going to expensive alloy wheels. I'd rather not change the geometry of the frontend too much if I can help it.
Thanks.
Doug
I've decided to upgrade the tires on my '07 Sportsman 500 to the Kenda HTR Bearclaws, and I see there may be a clearance issue in the front. My stock tires are only 6.5" wide (nominally 26x8x12), and the 26x9x12 Bearclaws are 8.5". With the stockers, there is only about 1" of clearance between the sidewall of the tire and the suspension, so it looks like if the new tire fits there will be zero clearance. I have the Polaris alloy wheels with the longer stock studs on the machine.
So I thought I might be able to get away with 1/4" thick spacers, as I don't really want to use the 1" ones for several reasons. The problem is, even with the thin spacers I will not have enough thread engagement on the wheel studs. As it is now, there is 3/8" thread engagement - which I might assume is the minimum required. I seem to recall the rule of thumb that you want at least one bolt diameter for safe thread engagement. So now I am considering longer studs, but the longest ones I can find are 1.5" overall length - barely any longer than the stockers (which I think are 1.38"). That means unless I can find longer studs that I would be stuck with 1" spacers.
Another way to go would be steel wheels; since these are thinner I would expect I could use the 1/4" spacers and have enough stud length. I could also go to an aftermarket 7" wide wheel to better fit the wide tire.
I'd be interested to hear how any of you have solved this problem without using either a 1" spacer or going to expensive alloy wheels. I'd rather not change the geometry of the frontend too much if I can help it.
Thanks.
Doug