ymarianne
Member
I live on steep terrain and was wondering if anyone has loaded tires? I have a gator xuv. Probably make it too heavy and slow it down?
I live on steep terrain and was wondering if anyone has loaded tires? I have a gator xuv. Probably make it too heavy and slow it down?
It will certainly make it more stable in slow going on side slope, but yes it will slow it down. More importantly, since those vehicles have a suspension, the addition of the significant unsprung weight will affect handling a good deal as speed and bumps increase. Better to add some steel or lead to the bottom of the chassis.
larry
Yeah.Keep in mind that the tires are an active part of the suspension, at 14 psi, they have to have flex and compliance for traction and comfort. Filling them will diminish the traction and hurt the ability of the suspension to adapt to rough conditions.
If you're trying to lower your center of gravity to increase stability on steep terrain, maybe adding weight in the center, under the skid plate, would help. You could add a heavy steel plate and it would be sprung weight which would be better.
IMHO, YMMV.
etc.
It's a long story and I'm not telling it tonight. For off road (and on road) stuff that needs to go fast it's called "Sprung Weight" and "Unsprung Weight". Weight in the tires for things that go slow is a very good thing. Weight in the tires for things that go fast is a very bad thing.