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bead locking rims
- Thread starter sloth69mustang
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Like weezl posted, I would look at Staun Beadlocks. You can use them on whatever wheel you want. And, unlike most external beadlocks, the Staun is street legal, if that is important to you. The one you posted may be street legal, I just didn't read their site to know for sure.
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Yes I do, on my thumb drive. I have to find where my wife put it. We took some pics off the computer last month and I will look for it for ya!!!
yeah, 4wheelparts is terrible. ive had such bad luck with them. wouldnt recommend them to anyone.
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You can also get the simple 15x8 or 15x10 cragar soft 8's or something similar from 4 wheel parts or some other offroad place for about 50 a piece. Then go to somebody like crawlfab and get the beadlock kit to weld onto them. They work fantastic, easy to install and you can pick any design or even design your own. If you go that route however, a 15x8 will be more like a 15x9 since the bead is now on the outside. These are mine...
sloth69mustang
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You can also get the simple 15x8 or 15x10 cragar soft 8's or something similar from 4 wheel parts or some other offroad place for about 50 a piece. Then go to somebody like crawlfab and get the beadlock kit to weld onto them. They work fantastic, easy to install and you can pick any design or even design your own. If you go that route however, a 15x8 will be more like a 15x9 since the bead is now on the outside. These are mine...
see... this is more the style i want. i am not worried for it being street legal. i have never seen someone get pulled over for it in ohio. most people wouldnt even know what they are from looking at them. now as for crawlfab, i would assume they are online and i could send them stuff? i dont think there is anything here like that in ohio.
it's not a matter of them getting you a ticket or impounded, it's the fact that they aren't designed to spin @ 60mph, the g forces on a tire that size, at 60 mph are massive, this is why tires, rims, and even valve stems have a speed rating on them (for instance, z rated tires) the reason is under heavy g forces, things tend to disintegrate, and if that bead lock comes off at 60mph, is it A) a massive projectile B) going to make your tire fail massively C) going to make YOU 100% at fault for the accident that just happened and you civilly and criminally responsible for all damages and/or injuries/death or D) all of the above?
honestly dude, for what it's worth, and the safety on something like that, don't mess around, just do it the legal way... the non DOT bead locks are fine for massive torque off roading, because you aren't spinning them 1000000 times per second, you are putting lots of torque on them and there is accelerating g's but no centrifugal g's the most you are going to get accelerating wise is maybe 3-4g's MAX
i'll put tires that are legally too big on a truck, i'll put more lights on than are allowed, i'll make my exhaust sound like what ever the hell i want, but this isn't the same deal...
i worked this out long ago, but on a standard size car tire, the outside of the tire spinning at approx 30km/h i think was putting out 8 g's, so at 90km/h (about 55mph) you are looking at about 22 g's if my memory serves me correctly
to put THAT into perspective, not only is that equivelant to putting 22x the pull of gravity on something, (22g's) but because it's centrifugal, these 22g's are all working to pull each part outwards, away from the hub as hard as possible...
for the price difference, just get ones that are DOT approved, much safer, and shouldn't be much different in price, the staunt ones are DOT approved and work on ANY rim, much safer, and you aren't liable if anything DOES happen
honestly dude, for what it's worth, and the safety on something like that, don't mess around, just do it the legal way... the non DOT bead locks are fine for massive torque off roading, because you aren't spinning them 1000000 times per second, you are putting lots of torque on them and there is accelerating g's but no centrifugal g's the most you are going to get accelerating wise is maybe 3-4g's MAX
i'll put tires that are legally too big on a truck, i'll put more lights on than are allowed, i'll make my exhaust sound like what ever the hell i want, but this isn't the same deal...
i worked this out long ago, but on a standard size car tire, the outside of the tire spinning at approx 30km/h i think was putting out 8 g's, so at 90km/h (about 55mph) you are looking at about 22 g's if my memory serves me correctly
to put THAT into perspective, not only is that equivelant to putting 22x the pull of gravity on something, (22g's) but because it's centrifugal, these 22g's are all working to pull each part outwards, away from the hub as hard as possible...
for the price difference, just get ones that are DOT approved, much safer, and shouldn't be much different in price, the staunt ones are DOT approved and work on ANY rim, much safer, and you aren't liable if anything DOES happen
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Crawlfab is on the net and make some nice stuff. Not sure if they will weld them for you or not. I did mine myself. When I was looking for these, I looked at a bunch of different online companies, so there are quite a few out there. You might call around and see if they will weld them up. Rockstomper is another brand that comes to mind. If you have the cash, there are a few companies out there that make them too. You can even run Humvee wheels and have them recentered for a RBV bolt pattern too. This allows a double beadlock and the use of inexpensive military tires. Locally, I can get new 37's for around 100 a piece!
The downside of beadlocks however, you will have to mount them yourself, since most tire shops dont want to work with them. Either they are unfamiliar and/or because they are labor intensive (just think of the time for 32 bolts per wheel). Secondly, you will need to check the torque of the bolts regularly. I run the pinchlock nuts and install everything with a torque wrench. I have never had a loose one yet, but that doesnt mean it cant happen. And lastly, they are much heavier than stock. I am running 35" Goodyear MTR's with my beadlocks. The box of shipped beadlock rings was 62 lbs without hardware. So they are a real bear to change just from a weight persepective.
In the end, my rig does see highway use and ALOT of trail time. It is primarily a rock crawler... The beadlocks were a fantastic upgrade and were well worth thier time and hassle.
The downside of beadlocks however, you will have to mount them yourself, since most tire shops dont want to work with them. Either they are unfamiliar and/or because they are labor intensive (just think of the time for 32 bolts per wheel). Secondly, you will need to check the torque of the bolts regularly. I run the pinchlock nuts and install everything with a torque wrench. I have never had a loose one yet, but that doesnt mean it cant happen. And lastly, they are much heavier than stock. I am running 35" Goodyear MTR's with my beadlocks. The box of shipped beadlock rings was 62 lbs without hardware. So they are a real bear to change just from a weight persepective.
In the end, my rig does see highway use and ALOT of trail time. It is primarily a rock crawler... The beadlocks were a fantastic upgrade and were well worth thier time and hassle.
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If I saw illegal bead locks on the street I would report that person in a heartbeat. The lives of everyone else are more important than some dudes cool factor who is not "WORRIED" about killing people.
They arent difficult to mount yourself though. A medium prybar and some common sense gets the back side over the lip and then the front is cake except with alot more nutz (bolts I guess LOL)
We put Rockstomper bead locks on our jeep. you have to weld them on yourself but that makes it really inexpensive to buy. we drive it on the road all the time and no one has said anything yet. they work great. we air down to 4 lbs and could go more if we wanted.
here is a pic of them welded on before we painted them.
http://rockstomper.netfirms.com/shoppingcart/nfoscomm/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=95
thats the website. they are really good quality
http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Simple-Steel-Beadlock-_p_1605.html
it might have been ballistic bead locks. these are cheaper but you need to buy the bolts
here is a pic of them welded on before we painted them.
http://rockstomper.netfirms.com/shoppingcart/nfoscomm/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=95
thats the website. they are really good quality
http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Simple-Steel-Beadlock-_p_1605.html
it might have been ballistic bead locks. these are cheaper but you need to buy the bolts
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When looking at DIY beadlock kits, there are primarily two types. One that mounts flush with the outside of the wheel and then is welded around the outside edge. The Crawlfab's mount inside the front lip of the wheel. Then you fill the gap all around with weld. I found this type the easiest to weld with good penetration. 
Just your preference really...
Just your preference really...
the ones we got sit inside the outer lip. we welded it and smoothed it out with a polishing wheel to remove any burrs.
"The downside of beadlocks however, you will have to mount them yourself, since most tire shops dont want to work with them. "
mounting them your self is extremely easy since you only need to get one part of the tire over the lip instead of both. put a little bit of soapy water on the tire and put it on. put the other ring on and put all the bolts in and torque it down. seat the beads by filling with air(duh) and let them sit for a bit. mount. set air pressure. dah dah!
as for the bead lock falling off. why would it. it's perfectly centered so its really not experiencing any g's at all. just rotating. if it was off centered that would be completely different.
but even still there are 32 bolts with lock nuts and lock washers all torqued to 10lbs/ft. that 320lbs/ft in all. i don't think they are going anywhere.
personally i think they are road safe as long as you check them once in a while. general maintnance just like checking your tire pressure.
"The downside of beadlocks however, you will have to mount them yourself, since most tire shops dont want to work with them. "
mounting them your self is extremely easy since you only need to get one part of the tire over the lip instead of both. put a little bit of soapy water on the tire and put it on. put the other ring on and put all the bolts in and torque it down. seat the beads by filling with air(duh) and let them sit for a bit. mount. set air pressure. dah dah!
as for the bead lock falling off. why would it. it's perfectly centered so its really not experiencing any g's at all. just rotating. if it was off centered that would be completely different.
but even still there are 32 bolts with lock nuts and lock washers all torqued to 10lbs/ft. that 320lbs/ft in all. i don't think they are going anywhere.
personally i think they are road safe as long as you check them once in a while. general maintnance just like checking your tire pressure.
g forces are NOT the same thing as vibrations, and you don't add the torque of the bolts together, you don't say you tighten your wheels to 500 ft/lbs...
g forces still effect everything, regardless of balance and vibration...
g forces still effect everything, regardless of balance and vibration...
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