1.9 Swamp Dawgs!

[Metal Masher]

Well I needed something bigger than the Nylint tires I have on my metal truck but the 2.2's were just too big and I haven't seen anyone narrow up a set of swamp dawgs and keep the look of the tire so I figured I needed a challenge.

Here is how the stock tire looks next to the rim it will go on

Looking at what i had to do (and wondering what i was getting into) I figured I would need to remove 1/2" out of the middle and pie cut a complete section from one large lug to the next.

I had never glued up a tire like this so I practiced on an old school set of mashers

They turned out pretty good and I learned the value of scuffing all surfaces before gluing in the process.

Starting with a brand new set of tires I first evaluated how I was going to slice them. I realized that in order to keep the look i would need to make 4 cuts to remove 2 1/4" sections from the middle. With the foam still inside, I used some 1/4" fine line tape to mark the areas to cut.


Doing some research I noticed that most people are getting the best results by gutting the tire with a razer than scissors. knowing that I needed something firm to cut on that kept the contour of the tire so I came up with this

Just a few scraps of wood glued together and clamped to the table.

This allowed me to get a good solid place to cut the tire.


The point of no return!


It took some time, I actually made 2 passes the first just cutting through the lugs then the second cutting through the body. It turned out real well and was nice and strait



Here is all the pieces once cut


I dry fit them to see how it looked


The difference in width was amazing


Next was the pie cut. I went from the end of one big lug to the beginning of the next


Then I glued it together


Now I got the diameter I want


Here is how the one side looks on the rim


Then it was just a matter of gluing all the slices together


Here is the finished product beside the original tire



In all it turned out great! My only problem is the rim is actually to narrow


I think it looks Kind of goofy. it looks better with the one side off the rim



I'm not sure how i'm going to handle it just yet. I have an old set of touring car rims I could use to widen them but i don't know witch way to go in or out.

Either way I think it looks good on the truck with the spring-over.


Once i get the body and bumper trimmed I'll be set. Now all I got to do is 3 more! It only took me 2 hours to do this one!
I hope this helps anyone out there wanting to tackle this.

[IronOx]

looks good, i'll give ya bout tree fiddy for em.

[smokinubyrc]

I want em for my fj i want to leaf spring it becasue i like the look of em leafed i know they dont work that well but flex over real ness anyday I want to try my hand at nerrowing and you have a nice way to go off of this page is bookmarked now

[4stAir]

so this is why you havent come to comps yet... you are building sweet tires. let me know how these turn out and the over all diameter. i am looking for some scale 37's for my bruiser project.

[mxer611]

turned out good

[microgoat]

Nicely done

But the Mrs. would de-ball me if I tried that in her kitchen

[YoUnG_vErSiOn]

As far as your width problem goes, i have a solution for you. All you have to do is find a "donor" set of wheel, preferably made from a hard plastic, spin wheel on a drill press using an old stub-axle and hex mounted with a wheel nut. Then you simply use an exacto knife and cut in-front of the second lip so the piece you end up with has only the outer lip, and about 5mm of plastic lip. now all you gotta do is glue that to the front of your wheel and you just went from a 26mm wide wheel to a 31mm wide wheel. here's what it looks like:
my old high lift-hotworks rims were the donor wheels26mm-31mm
if that doesn't work for you, i think hpi sells 31mm versions of that wheel, another benefit to doing it yourself is that you can pick the width depending how much you cut off-BTW this also will add width to your truck if you glue the lip to the outside.

[SnailMail]

very nice!
so you cut out the strips, not the middle for that look, would the extra seams weaken the tire?

[1BadJeepBruiser]

Nicely done! The tires look great. Young_version rim tricks works nicely, I have scene quite a few other guys do that trick. Personally though, I like when the side wall sucks in close to the rim and is puffed out by the tread

-Mike

[sleek6mt]

wow awesome

[Eviltwin_52s]

Can you tell me the Height of the Swamp Dawgs after doing a Cut and Shut job on them?

[raul duke]

Nice write up on the dawgs. Kinda look like these that will soon be on my Rubi.

[bruce]

does the tire have any warping when gluing the pie cut and what kind of glue do you use

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by IronOx

looks good, i'll give ya bout tree fiddy for em.

If you're serious I'll gladly make a set of tires for $350!

Originally Posted by 4stAir

so this is why you haven't come to comps yet... you are building sweet tires. let me know how these turn out and the over all diameter. i am looking for some scale 37's for my bruiser project.

Actually I've been working on my 1:1 rig trying to get it done for the summer. I'll try to make it to the next one. If I'm lucky I'll have the truck running. I'm anxious to see how the body holds up after a day of competition! They actually measure 4 3/8 dia so they are more like 44's in 1/10 scale but the bruiser bodies are closer to 1/9 scale so they just might work

Originally Posted by microgoat

Nicely done

But the Mrs. would de-ball me if I tried that in her kitchen

Well I spend the winter making her a living room in the basement and my side has turned into the junk bin so i have to room to work right now. She really didn't have much say in the matter.

Originally Posted by SnailMail

very nice!
so you cut out the strips, not the middle for that look, would the extra seams weaken the tire?

Really weather you slice it once or twice you still need to glue it the same way. one is going to be just as strong as the other.

Originally Posted by 1BadJeepBruiser

Nicely done! The tires look great. Young_version rim tricks works nicely, I have scene quite a few other guys do that trick. Personally though, I like when the side wall sucks in close to the rim and is puffed out by the tread

-Mike

Yah there is a guy on scale 4x4 that widened a set of HPI rims like mine on the outside. I'll be doing mine that way.

Originally Posted by raul duke

Nice write up on the dawgs. Kinda look like these that will soon be on my Rubi.

Awesome! glad to see someone else tackle a project like this.

Originally Posted by bruce

does the tire have any warping when gluing the pie cut and what kind of glue do you use

As long as you keep the cut strait in line with the center of the tire you'll be fine. I use IC-2000 Black rubberised tire glue. It doesn't set instantly so it cives you a couple seconds to position things. I havn't tested the tires yet but it held real good on the mashers i did.

[4stAir]

yeah my 1:1 wont be done anytime soon, probably ever.
but i will be at the comps/gtg's with the little ones.

[mudplower]

cool that looks more beleivible in width

[Metal Masher]

Hay Keith, Here is how the tire looks under a bruiser body.


Personally I think it looks like a 37, or even a 39.5 I like it either way.

[4stAir]

it does look good... thats why i am building the bruiser, my 1:1 80 yota wont ever see the trail..

[Metal Masher]

Well I think I may have things figured out to make a metal Bruiser body. I just have one more thing to try first. If it works out I'll get you one so at least you'll have something to beat up if you don't get you're 1:1 on the trail

[4stAir]

that would be cool... i have bobbed bruiser body to finish along with an exo...
if i can find a mig welder i can use for awhile i could probably finish my 1:1 but not having a welder has put in the unlikely bracket.