i was watching trucks and extreme 4x4 and all that on tv a while back and on one of the shows, they mounted their front tires backwards to assist in reverse.

question: has anyone ever done this to their 4-wheeler?

does it wear the tires more?

is it worth it or will i even notice a difference?

thanks, Chris.

 

ive been told that a directional tire (bogger, mt claw, ground hawg) mounted backwards doesnt do good on the road. I think it was somthing to do with heating up or somthing. One magazine did a write up one time about if you are running boggers or somthing directional which way you should mount your spare. and they come up with somthing about how most people offroad have flats on the passenger side because they can watch the driverside obsticales better. kinda made since. and said that if you did mount one backwards it wouldnt hurt to run it slow on the road if you HAD to. but also on extreme 4x4 the cheep jeep ( which i think you were talking about) was trailered vechicle so that might go along with running one backward since they werent driving it on the road.

 

i know the directional tires on a ATV dont do anything at all in reverse, esp in wet or uphill conditions. theres no weight on the back end to keep traction. a low gear, moving weight back, or 4 wheel drive on a ATV is all you can do.

as for the spare thing, having one tire that was mounted backwards, or even if it were bald, should get you home, or to a place you can patch/plug. this should be the case unless you are in the middle of some reallly tough trails.

 

alrighty...thanks for the advice.
chris

 

Actually....my 'wheeler gets better traction in reverse (while in 4wd) than it does going forward

 

Mine digs more in reverse... LOL... If you're almsot stuck and just barely moving forward, pin it in reverse, and you'll be high centered quicker than you can say high center.....

 

try it in 2wd, maybe going down a slight hill. you will not move a inch, except maybe down. i had to use 4wd on my kodiak, cause i was going down a hill on the trail, couldnt go around a downed tree, and was being stupid and got too close to turn-around. in 2wd the back tires just dug.