Just to update this thread and give it some closure.
We purchased a set of 43” sx’s from goforth Tire. Scott was easy to work with and had them to us in under a week.
His distributor has warehouses in hickory, raleigh, and greenville, Nc. Luckily we were working in greenville that week, and he was able to ship them for free to the greenville warehouse through the distributor at no cost.
We paid $2760 for the set.
After getting them installed and taking the buggy to Harlan for fall crawl, what a difference.
My dads buggy went awesome. He did middle rock garden, valve stem, grape vine, mason jar, lions den, little Jagger, cream puff, and then finally broke on pony hill. There are several other trails he ran that I’m forgetting.
He broke the axle shaft flange bolts on the rear sterling on pony hill. Sheared off all 8. Easy fix. We are thinking they loosened up over the weekend, as we had checked them when we installed the tires the week before. While fixing them, we found they were a little short, and replaced with 1/2” Long grade 8 flange Head bolts.
As far as his sx stickys, they were amazing. As others have said in this thread, the huge lugs grab traction is the craziest spots.
The extra clearance of the 43s was great over my 39” reds. A lot of spots we could run the same lines, a couple I would diff out and have to move slightly, when he could drive straight through.
I didn’t see any spots on rock where the sx’s give up any traction to the reds honestly.
I do think they work a tad better than trepadors. Having a group with reds treps and sx’s, it’s neat to see the differences on the same obstacles on the same day, but each rig is slightly different also.
If I felt I have the motor and drivetrain to hold up to the 43s, I’d sell my reds and get a set tomorrow.
For my jeep with a 4.7/ax-15/d300, the weight savings with the reds is much easier on the drivetrain and I feel like it wouldn’t hold up to the massive 43s.
In my dads buggy with the 502/t400/atlas with plenty of power and strength, the 43s are perfect. But I will say they are massive.
As far as the internet saying reds suck on the dirt, I think they are full of crap.
The only thing I have noticed is that they require more wheel speed to clean out in mud and dirt. That is it. On trails I have ran before, I could pull second gear with my sx’s to clean them out and claw up muddy dirt climbs. The same places with the red labels now require 3rd gear.
Due to the drastic weight reduction going to reds(380 lbs total) pulling 3rd gear on the climbs is just as easy as second gear was before.
Once you get them spinning, and clean out they work just as well if not better in the dirt and loose stuff.
I think they just get a bad rap for clogging up and not cleaning out when people are used to crawling and don’t spin them to clean them out. Swappers just clean out at a lower rpm.
As far as on rock, on hardcore obstacles, I used to use 3rd gear low range with my dot sx2s to get enough wheel speed and traction to make the obstacle. It felt like abuse to the jeep but it worked, and when it didn’t I knew it was time to pull cable.
Now with the reds, 1st and 2nd gear is all I use on the same obstacles. It’s amazing being. Able to actually crawl obstacles and the Tires hold a specific line you are shooting for.
When wheel speed is needed, 2nd gear is all it takes, and the reds go to work.
I keep my reds at 10-12 psi, which keeps the sidewalls alive, and keeps the same ground clearance and rolling radius as my dot 42s were at 4 psi.
I’ve heard the treps need 4-6 psi to work well, and I would lose ground clearance with the 40” treps over the 39” reds.
I don’t think anyone can go wrong with any of the big 3 stickies on the market today, reds treps or sx’s.
I think that if you are in the market for 42s/43s and that price range the swamper wins over the Trep.
If you are in the market for 39/40” Tire, I think the reds win due to price and weight.
If you have the drivetrain strength and power to wheel with the 43s, you won’t be disappointed with them lol.