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Biz73

What front tires for my Bear Hawk?

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I got a Bear Hawk setup from Ebay. The tires on it were "slicks" that had little bumps where there used to be spikes. I got new rear tires for it, but I jumped the gun and ended up with the wrong front tires. I got some Mad Fighter tires that have a 2" inner diameter, problem is, I need something with a 1.75" inner diameter.Anyone know what will work?

bearhawk001.jpg

Thanks in advance for your help

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I don't think any other tyres fit Bear Hawk wheels, your best bet is probably DT02 front wheels or similar and appropriate tyres for those.

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The front tyres are # 53048 , they do come up . I got some for £8 GBP + P+P , a good deal I think

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I can't seem to find those tires in the USA, so I will have to find a wheel that is compatible with available tires. Any ideas on cheap alternatives that will work with my mad fighter front wheels and wide stud spike tires that I just put on the rear?

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OK before I write this I maybe wrong it been its been a while since I've seen the Bear Hawk..Although I have owned a few...

The Vanquish and the Egress I BELIEVE have the same tires in the Rear...with the real high profile spikes...The fronts maybe the same also...If I am wrong one reply will suffice :rolleyes: ....

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Do the astute lightweight front wheels run the same tyres as the Bear Hawk? I think they are 1.9's?

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I just did a search for this exact topic about two weeks ago, so there are a couple of (very) old threads out there. From memory, I think the Mad Cap, and one other old 2wd buggy shared front tires with this model.

Bottom line though - they are all discontinued chassis models and hard to find tires now for any price. Not impossible, but ... difficult.

I thought about trying some old Traxxas Bandit spikes but I think they are going to be a bit sloppy. I remember using a set on DT-02 wheels once and they were a bit too narrow and a real stretch in diameter, but I don't think they were so small as to fit the Bear Hawk front wheels. But maybe. If I run across a set cheap I might try it.

I gave up and bought a set of Carson premounts because they work well and look good. I've also just used DT-01 and DT-02 wheel/tire combos, but my main concern is the rear spikes get burned down on hard pack dirt and asphalt where I run, and the fronts, well ... they were just born to understeer and die. The Carsons just work better.

I was hoping to find some Imex, or Schumachers or something still available, but so far no luck. Interested to see if there are any great sources or ideas from other folks though.

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According to the guide books, these are the cars (directly) compatible with 53048 Front Stud Spike Tyre Set :

- Falcon

- Striker

- Sonic Fighter

- Grasshopper II

- Astute

- Madcap

- Saint Dragon

- Bear Hawk

I would then expect any of the original tyres of these cars to fit the Bear Hawk rims...

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You could search for Madcap or Mata Ray and along those lines

OR :-

I found these in France - seem cheap

http://www.rcteam.fr/pneus/5163-tamiya-pneus-spire-spike-avant-2wd-53048-4950344530489.html

Ha ha ha. I tried to order from that site and while the tires are cheap, shipping was not. 34.99 Euros to USA via UPS 2-day shipping was the ONLY option. They have 2 pairs of tires left. Someone that lives closer to France can get them.

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I looked at those too, I just couldn't decide if they would work or not. They look promising but ... I just wasn't sure. Post your thoughts once you get them and let us know how they work!!

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I looked at those too, I just couldn't decide if they would work or not. They look promising but ... I just wasn't sure. Post your thoughts once you get them and let us know how they work!!

Ordered them last night. I'll post what I learn, hopefully this weekend if they arrive on Sat.

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I'm not even sure if my BH has the OG wheels. I'm seeing them with white wheels, and mine are grey. Maybe you guys can tell.

Kinda slipped while taking pic, but right about 2" for the front wheel.

BHfrontwheel.jpg

A pic of Mad Fighter tires slipping right over the wheel.

tireoverrim2.jpg

Somehow this is the only pic I took of the front tire. it says Tamiya Supper Gripper 45-74-20-03 if that helps.

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Will these work on my setup?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-54338-2WD-Off-Road-Dish-Front-Wheels-Black-60-19-/121340102720?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c406f0840

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-54339-Off-Road-Dish-Rear-Wheels-Black-60-29-/131188550816?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e8b726ca0

If so, I could use the front wheels with the tires I already got, part #9805552. I'll just switch the rear wheels when the tires I have wear out. I hope these will work, this is getting to be a pain in the rear.

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Those wheels will work on the Bear Hawk. As you say, you can use your current new tires on the front and perhaps get some square spike tires for the new rear wheels when the time comes.

Although Tamiya are using millimeters for their tire/wheel sizes, many manufacturers are still Imperial. The new wheels you are looking at are 2.16" front and rear. (although at 60mm, that equates to 2.4" :huh: so maybe I have things wrong, although I don't know of a so called 2.4" wheel on a tenth scale buggy).

The Bear Hawk used 2" at the back and a narrow 1.9" up front. Tamiya only made two tire types for this size wheel - ribbed or spiked. Dutch_RC's post above is correct with regards to which models shared this size of wheel and tire.

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Thanks Fruitfly, I think I will get those so that I have something I will be able to get tires for.

And yes, my ignorant American *** should be using the metric system...but then I wouldn't be ignorant ;)

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Just to confirm, yes, those are the original grey front wheels for the Bear Hawk. Never seen white ones on the Bear Hawk, but can't vouch for any of the other 2wd buggies.

All of the 2.0" tires I tried slipped right over the BH wheels just like in your photos above.

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For your inspiration, this is what a DT-02 with Super Fighter GR wheels & tires would look like with a Bear Hawk bodyshell on top:

th_SAM_2975_zpsd701bef8.jpg th_SAM_2977_zps90c9a5bc.jpg th_SAM_2972_zps01afd4c5.jpg th_SAM_2974_zpsf99655db.jpg

With these SFGR wheels, you're also able to stretch the Carson All-Terrain 2WD buggy tires over them, if you can get the tire sets seperately instead of preglued to Carson wheels.

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That looks good and I've got skads of those wheels/tires just laying about waiting to be used. I put some Carson premounts on one of my Bear Hawks and really like them, but I think I'll put some of the Star Dish whites on the other and just quit fiddling about with the stock wheels. Never really liked them all that much anyway, and the taller tires work better too. Nice suggestion! Thanks for the pics.

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The Bear Hawk used 2" at the back and a narrow 1.9" up front. Tamiya only made two tire types for this size wheel - ribbed or spiked.

I didn't realise all models had either one of these fitted. Good to know. :y:

Definitely agree on using DT-02 wheels. Outer diameter of the wheel is then pretty much the same.

So no pinion issues to consider...

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I got these yesterday:

newbearhawkwheels1.jpg

newbearhawkwheels2.jpg

The problem is, the front wheels are too wide for the tires I had gotten before. All the little purchases for this and my other car are adding up, at this point I'm going to run it as is. I'll get a set of tires for the black rims sometime.

To answer my original question for the next person doing a search, there are none. Take those OG wheels and burn them. Start over with a fresh pair of wheels and tires, and have fun. Don't waste your time chasing rainbows ;)

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I received the A-Main order earlier this week with the Schumacher 2.0" tires (fronts and rears).

On Madcap wheels (black dish), which are exactly the same size and shape as the Bear Hawk wheels (only the colors are different), I think it *is* possible to use the Schumacher tires for both front and rears.

The rears fit very well as-is, so I will not discuss them in much detail here.

The fronts can fit, although it is not ideal. By that I mean the wheels and tires are designed differently, but it just so happens that it could work if the tire is glued to the wheel.

Let me show you.

Here are the Madcap wheels. These are very used and in poor condition, but work fine for this purpose.

Note: All measurements are approximate.

IMG_2343_crop_edit.jpg

Here is the Schumacher front tire:

IMG_2345_edit.jpg

Note the two measurements here. The white arrows show the width of the inner bead of the tire. It is 6mm wide. The rear tires have the same 6mm wide bead as well, which fits perfectly into the rear wheel bead groove. The width of the bead recess of the Madcap front wheel is only 4mm - too narrow to fit.

The blue arrows show the total width of both beads with the tire in its normal "relaxed" state. This measurement is around 20mm. The rubber is very soft and can be easily squeezed together so that the two beads are closer to each other, narrowing the air gap between them. Thus, it is possible for the beads to fit in the 16mm space between the outer edges of the Madcap front wheel. These front tires are a lot wider than the original Madcap front tires. The width of these front tires is close to or the same as other 4WD front tires, even though these are marketed as 2WD fronts.

Amazingly, the diameter of the tire at the bead is a perfect match to the diameter of the wheel at the upper lip, above the bead groove, where the width of the front wheel is around 16mm.

So, although the tire bead will not fit into the wheel bead groove, it's perfectly OK because 1) the diameter of the tire is too large to fit into the groove; and 2) the tire bead is too wide to fit into the groove anyway.

Here is the front tire mounted to the front wheel:

Front tire (face):

IMG_2351.jpg

Front tire (back):

IMG_2349.jpg

Rear tire (face):

IMG_2350.jpg

I didn't take a back shot of the rear tire.

To be perfectly clear here: The front tire fits the front wheel with NO play, meaning that the wheel is sufficiently large enough in diameter to slightly stretch the tire bead all the way around. The wheel does NOT rattle around in the tire like a loose fitting wheel would do.

It feels really good, all things considered. Using CA glue, I think it would be possible to glue the front tire to the front wheel and have a strong enough bond even though the contact area between the two parts is not very wide.

If the front wheel bead grooves were filled in with plastic or some other material that could provide a level surface for the front tire bead to rest on, then the fit would be even better and the glue around the bead would have more surface area to adhere.

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The front wheels I got are different from yours, mine don't have the outer ridge. The front ones have 60/19 and the rear 60/29, does this refer to wheel size? Any part numbers of Tamiya tires that will work?

Also, is tire glue required?

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Hi Biz, the black wheels you just bought are 2.2" wheels and are not the same as Madcap (or Bear Hawk) wheels (as you discovered). The wheels you bought are 60mm in diameter (hence the 60) and 19mm wide and 29mm wide, respectively.

Those wheels are designed for tires that are 60mm in diameter (2.2") at the bead. It's a very standard size.

I'm talking about fitting tires to the original wheels in my post, which is what you were originally looking for. Your gray wheels.

The original Madcap front tires are marked "45-74-20-03" which means 45mm bead diameter, 74mm total outer diameter, 20mm wide and I don't know what the "03" means.

So the front tires were designed for 45mm wheels, which is what the Madcap front wheels are when measured inside the bead groove. It's a really small size and NOBODY makes tires that fit them exactly, except Tamiya with #53048.

At the top of the bead groove on the front wheel it is 50mm in diameter, which is a match to the approx. 50mm inner bead diameter of the Schumacher front tire. That's why it fits, though not perfectly as I showed.

Take a look at your gray front wheels and you'll see that they are exactly the same as my black front wheels. Only the color is different.

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