New found grip!

I have been experimenting with different tire setups with the BFT tires i just recently bought. Right when i took them out of the packaging, i took out the foams, put them on some rims and took them for a spin. Turned out they were too soft and screwed up the trucks balence on slopes, having it roll over, and i kept slammng the rims on rollovers, not good.

I didnt want to put the foams back in, just to lazy to take the tires back off the rims, stuff them back up etc... so, i decided to experiment with tire pressure. First i tried having a negative pressure by simply pressing down on the tire while taping up the 2 tiny wholes, thus creating a constant flat spot on the tires for a bigger footprint. This turned out to be better than the floppy no foam no air tires, but i still didnt think they were working to their full pontential.

After some thought, i decided to try taping up the wholes WITHOUT pressing the tires, so the tire pressure inside the tire was the same as outside. I was shocked at the results. I had so much grip i was able to get in areas that i couldnt get close to before. The tires still flexed around the rocks, but the tire pressure kept it from going to far and hitting the rims, and they were stable, so i didnt roll over as much.

Im not sure on how they compare to cut up foams, but if you have a set of BFT tires without foams and uncut, just try taping up the wholes in the rims and give them a try. Its very simple and worked very well for me. Im not sure how much of a difference it would make when you're at different parts of the county, seeing how this was based off of the air pressure in Iowa, so for u colorado people, you might have to add some air. I strongly suggest trying it!

[Phantez]

Sorry, i wasnt logged in, that was me, if an administater can change the name on it for me that would be great, i cant edit the post

[Plays_with_Toys]

Y'know, I don't know if you crawlers could use it, but a trick for traction at my local track is to wash off the dirt on the tire, then spray undiluted "simple green" all over the tire, and let it dry. I usually stacked my tires while they were drying to give me more space in the pits. Once they were dry, you could pick the top tire up and the rest would come up with it. They are STICKY after that, but in a good way.

[DirkDigler]

I am assuming that you glued the tires on the wheels?
If not, during hard crawling, the bead of tire will most likely separate from the wheel, allowing air to fluctuate. Correct?

[Lunatic]

i would think he did glue the tires. the tires on my dirt demon came glued with out foam. i tried covering the wholes as he did. some of the tires, two of them actually, when pushing down on them, a little, you can feel some air leaking out.

the other two seem to be completly sealed because no air leaks.

unless his tires are nice an snug on the wheel, but as you stated during hard crawling, the bead would still seperate.

[Phantez]

actually, no, my tires are not glued to the rims, but i have absolutly no air leaking out even durning hard crawling. THey are VERY snug to the rims. If you have trouble with air leaking out, you could try to find out where its comming out by simply putting the tire under water and squeeze the air out of the tire. Where the bubbles come out is where the whole is, then you can seal them up

I just thought of some thing why not use helium? The truck will be lighter and have better floatation over mud. You would have to be careful taking the tires off for fixes though at least outside anyway.

[Mnster]

That was me above whats up with this guest log in stuff?

[Lunatic]

i dont think making a truck lighter at the wheels is a good idea for crawling.

[Phantez]

and i dont think the helium would be able to lift up the heavy tire because there is very limited air space inside the tire

[SR5Dave]

I've been running sealed tires for a while now, I have found they work pretty good. If you run higher pressures, you can get the tires to grow about 1-2" and narrow up some.

im converting my t maxx in to a e maxx for rock crawling but i rc a t4 also the simple green helps the tires from drying out but for traction i us motor cleaner and it works!!!! but drys out the tires faster so us simple green after you run

[CJ-7]

Phantez, in your first post you said us people in colorado might have to inflate the tires a little more. well, thats not true. even though the barometric pressure is lower up here, that doesnt mean our tire pressure in our cars is different. if we do what you did up here the pressure inside the tire would be the same as the ambient pressure around us. so there would be no difference in altitude. you could be atop a mountain in the himilayans and do the same with your tires and it will make no difference. as for setting them up at one place, and going to a different altitude, thats another story.

[FireFighter]

I took a set of rims, used an intertube patch kit, glued the patch to the unwanted holes, let dry. took a drill bit and made a bigger hole for a valve stem out of a childs inflatable ball. glued the valve stem into the tire. mounted the tire on the rim, glued both sides extreamly well. then using a basketball needle and pump air up a set of LST's. You can play with the air pressure, but with 3 pumps of air the tire will inflate to the size of Jumbo Kongs. It is neat to see. You can use less air and the tires will still conform to a rock. PM me if anybody wants any specific info

[psn]

Perhaps you could insert a small tube from a go-ped type scooter (they're pretty small) and drill a larger hole for the stem, then there would be almost limitless 'tuning' possibilities

[psn]

with beadlock wheels

[toomuchmoney]

I run my moabs glues and sealed. the way I air them up is by holding my truck over my stove burners(fire hazard i know i hold it about a foot over) so it heats up the air which in turn expands the tire. But it didn't work all that well. The best results i have found is just the air it holds on its own. Does anyone else have a wife that lets them have a rock garden in there living room?