Miscellaneous DIY beadlocks

[Will]

Here we go. After building and running Kupe's beadlocks at Harlan last fall, I decided that would be the route I take with my wheels/tires. I run a 36" SX and they are stiff suckers that don't want to bulge at 10lbs of air pressure on non-beadlock wheels so something had to be done. Kupe was kind enough to trade me his steelies off of his street tires for my aluminum wheels that I ran the SXs on.

Here's what one set looks like before any fabbing takes place. You have one wheel, one inner ring and one outer ring.


The next step is the second biggest PIA of the whole process, grinding the powdercoat off of the wheels. If you don't get it completely clean, you're going to be hating life later on while welding. Don't ask how I know this. Oh, don't forget to pull the valve stem and clean the hole. There's now way to get to the stem to air up or down with it in this position. You have to weld up the hole and move it.

Time to fire this up.

Before you do, though, there's one little thing you have to do to make sure you have the inner ring centered. The easiest way to do this is place the inner ring on the cleaned wheel, put the outer ring on and line up the bolt holes. This will place the inner ring perfectly centered in the wheel as it's a little smaller in diameter.

Gently remove the outer ring so you don't move the inner ring.

Throw on a few tack welds to keep everything still. Now, evenly space some beads around the wheel so you don't heat warp it.

Closeup. Not too shabby.

Finish up the weld all the way around.

Now, break out the grinder and knock it smooth. I used a flapdisk to make it even smoother.

One thing I forgot to take a pic of was the redrilling of a hole for the new valvestem. It goes on the flat inside the wheel. It ends up very protected behind the outer ring. Here is the old hole all welded up.

Paint the wheel to make it pretty.

Muscle the inner bead of the tire over the outer lip of the wheel. You're getting close to being done.

Now comes the biggest PIA of the whole process. Put on the outer ring, put in the bolts and torque them to 10 lbs in a criss cross pattern. I had to make about 5 passes at this to get all of the bolts torqued properly. I'll upload the the end result pic in a second.


Paint it up to get it ready for the tire.

Finished. In this pic you can see where the valvestem was placed. It's in about the 2 o'clock position.



I want to give a special thanks to broncomania for providing me with a great set of beadlock rings for a great price. Look in the FS section for his deals.

[Jason]

Looks good!!! When are you gonna do mine...LOL!!!!

[Will]

Originally Posted by Jason

Looks good!!! When are you gonna do mine...LOL!!!!

The week before you wheel again. Probably in the year of 2012.

[noise]

Those look good Will! A quick ? though. While I completely understand what the beadlocks do, I'm wondering why most only put them on the outside of the rim? Does the inner bead hold better or flex(the tire) more , aired down?

[Will]

Most of the time, when you pop a bead, it's on the outside. Don't know why that is, but it is.

[noise]

Originally Posted by Will

Most of the time, when you pop a bead, it's on the outside. Don't know why that is, but it is.

Fair enough answer, was only curious. I've heard you guys talk about inner and outter rings and until now thought the the inner was on the inside(backside) of the rim and the outter was on ,well the outter. Nice write up and again....looking good!

[Joel]

Originally Posted by noise

Those look good Will! A quick ? though. While I completely understand what the beadlocks do, I'm wondering why most only put them on the outside of the rim? Does the inner bead hold better or flex(the tire) more , aired down?

You would also have to get the inner beadlock to fit over the brakes. You typically see people run Hummer beadlocks or Stauns for double beadlocks. If you get lucky you may actually see someone running Hutchinsons which are pretty much the same as the Hummer's but a lot more $$$$.

[RenegadeStang]

What are Hummer beadlocks? Do they have anything to do with the CTIS?

[Joel]

Originally Posted by RenegadeStang

What are Hummer beadlocks? Do they have anything to do with the CTIS?

No, nothing to do with CTIS.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129083

[RenegadeStang]

Originally Posted by Joel

No, nothing to do with CTIS.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129083

Ok, I think I get it.

[getstucksome]

Generally the inner lip is larger/goes further into the wheel. (Has a bigger shoulder would be another way of putting it?)

That's why the bead usually blows on the outer lip/bead

[OBX Fisherman]

Originally Posted by getstucksome

Generally the inner lip is larger/goes further into the wheel. (Has a bigger shoulder would be another way of putting it?)

That's why the bead usually blows on the outer lip/bead

X2, slightly different bead design between the inner and outer.

Nice write up, any idea how the tires balance with the rings?

[Will]

Originally Posted by OBX Fisherman

Nice write up, any idea how the tires balance with the rings?

With these tires? I dunno. The ones on Kupe's jeep run smooth on the road. His tires are 35" sticky Claws. I'm not really worried about how smooth they are. I usually trailer everywhere I go, with the exception of URE.

[brokeass4runner]

Very nice. Looks like they welded up nice. Lets see them on the Jeep.

I've seen that with some kits (depending on the gap) you can space the inner ring with 4 quarters/washers/etc.

[Will]

I'll put them on next week and put up a pic. I never thought of spacing the inner ring like that. Makes sense to do it that way though. Maybe I'll do it on the next set I do.

[broncomania]

looks good will. thanks for the awesome write up and helping promote my product.

[ParadisePWoffrD]

I cant see any of the pics at work, but did you end up needing an anti-coning ring on yours?

[Will]

Originally Posted by ParadisePWoffrD

I cant see any of the pics at work, but did you end up needing an anti-coning ring on yours?

Nah. They coned a little, but not as bad as I thought they would with the thick beads of the SX. It may have saved a little bolt torquing time, but that's probably it.

[butters]

looks good, still need to get some 15" rims for my POS weld on mud collectors. Just one question, what is that obomination of a drink doing on top your welder

[Will]

Originally Posted by butters

Just one question, what is that obomination of a drink doing on top your welder

That's diet Dew. You've probably never seen or tasted it. I'm just trying to avoid the diabeetus.

Here's the wheels and tires mounted on the heep, ready for Harlan next week.

[Harvest]

Originally Posted by Will

Here's the wheels and tires mounted on the heep, ready for Harlan next week.

Wow. Looks very different.

[Will]

Originally Posted by Harvest

Wow. Looks very different.

Less black and more bling. I'm probably not going to have any paint left on the rings by next sunday.

[brokeass4runner]

Makes the rest of the Jeep look kinda beat up.

[SD Boy]

looks good will,



what happened to your antenna?

[Jason]

Looks damn good!!!