Beadlocks
Parts List :    Rock City - Set of 4 beadlocks with anti-coning rings

 
INTRODUCTION:  Through lots of work and money I had ended up with a crawl ratio around 75:1. The problem was that even at 12 psi I would spin out on bigger rocks. I had to hit everything in second (around 32:1). Any lower on the tire pressure and I’d be rolling tires off the rims all the time. The answer: Beadlocks.

I started looking at complete rims but they were a little pricey and would basically be the same as a kit without the work. So I decided on a kit, which is added to your existing steel wheels. I looked at several kits.

I ordered them from Rock City (Rob) (http://www.rockcityfab.com/ ).

Basic rings for four wheels without hardware is $220. Add hardware $245. Fancier outer rings and it goes to $295.
These are the inner rings. All the rings come bolted together

Here are the outers. I got a little ahead of myself and painted them without getting the raw look picture. This has been the downfall of several projects I meant to write up.

Here’s a close up. I sprung the extra $12 a wheel to get the pimp-daddy specials. These are not only going to help off road, but they look cool too. I painted these with Rustoleum bare metal primer and then some gloss yellow. I traced around these on some cardboard and made a couple templates so I can touch these up once they are mounted without getting yellow on my tires.

This is the bolts & anti-coning rings. He sends these USPS because it’s much cheaper. This is slower getting to you than the rings so relax. Basically, anything that will fit in this box is the same price regardless of weight.

Here is what’s in the box: All the bolts, washers, nylock nuts, instructions, and the anti-coning rings. The anti-coning rings are rolled pieces of steel that has to be tacked to the outer ring according to the instructions. I will stray from this a little but more on that later.

This is what I had to work with. American Racing wagon wheels, 15 x 8 with 3 ½ back spacing, 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern. Tires are 33 x 12.5-15 ProComp M/Ts.

Closer view. Notice the valve stem location. This will have to move.

Here we are, all 4 wheels in the trunk of my car heading to the welder at work and my skilled friend. A note here: I can weld OK. I have a stick welder and keep my Jeep together through various degrees of damage. These welds need to be air tight, smooth, and small as possible if I ever hope to balance this when I’m done. I have ground the paint off all concerned areas and cleaned everything up.
A close up of the valve stem area: This points straight at the inner bead and will be a pain to get to even with an angled valve stem. I will weld it up and move it.
A mock up: You can really see how the valve stem won’t work out.

I can’t get pictures of the welding steps. Work has a strict camera policy. Basically, we will follow the instructions. The valve stem holes will be welded up first because the ring will make it harder if it’s in the way. We put a piece of brass on the backside to make it easier to fill the hole. Next, place the ring inside the wheel and center it. Tack it in eight spots. Then weld in between the spots. We welded four increments on opposite sides to keep warping to a minimum. Then moved to the next wheel. Once we had all of them to this level we went back finished each wheel.

 
Well, I got ahead again. This is primed after welding. The anti-coning ring is a piece of 1/8” x ½” hot roll steel rolled into a circle (could be easily made and added to the cheap kit). The instructions wanted it welded on the outer ring but I can’t see why it makes a difference. I got sixteen 10mm socket head bolts and stuck them in every other hole. They are slightly larger than 3/8” (like .390) and the head is a little bigger in diameter. Then pushed the ring out to the bolt heads and tacked it good. You can use a vise grip to hold it to the bolts. Repeat all the way around. The anti-coning ring is longer than it needs to be so you’ll have to trim it. I used a 3”air cut-off tool. Basically work from the middle of the ring out to the ends. When you start getting close to the end make the cut. I jacked the anti-coning ring up on a bolt or something to get it off the rim some so I wouldn’t nick the inner ring on cut through. I then welded the ends together. I will caulk all this on both sides once it’s assembled to keep the water/mud out.
This is a close up of the anti-coning ring and the welds.
I ground the weld flat at the rim. There is a small gap between the rim and the ring prior to welding. This is where you want your wire pointed when you weld. Then, when it is ground flat you still have a good deep weld.
These two show the welded up hole and the new location. I put it in line with the old hole figuring the little blob of weld weigh would be offset by the new hole. The hole is 29/64”. Drill it out with a smaller drill (like 13/32”) and finish it with the 29/64”.
Once the paint dries it will be time for the valve stem.
I picked up the standard 1 ¼” long .453 dia. Vickers valve stems at the auto parts store. For the tire mounting stuff I make up a little soapy water solution to make the tires slide on better. It’s also useful for leak checking. Lube the valve stem up with a little and pull it thru with a pliers.
After cleaning the bead areas up on the tire soap the inner bead and slide it onto the rim. With the bead lock you don’t have to pry the outer bead onto the rim. Tire changes and repairs just got much simpler (except for the 32 bolts). I will caulk around the anti-coning ring and the inner ring. Then I’ll put a bead on the top if the anti-coning ring where it will meet the outer ring. This should seal the dirt and water.
Install the outer ring and the bolts. Hand start the nuts. Notice I forgot the flat washers, which are important if you don’t want to mess up the paint with the socket. Measure around the tire and outer bead to center everything prior to tightening. For torquing I’m going to play around with the air pressure regulator on my air compressor, a 3/8-air ratchet and a bolt through a dummy piece of metal until I get the 15-psi torque at stall (check it with a torque wrench). Ended up being 45 psi. This will speed up the 32 bolts per wheel torquing process. I will alternate across the wheel and then go around.
I’ll inflate to 20-25 psi or so to make sure I seat the bead on the backside. Then I’ll air down to around 10 psi or so and see how they work. And they look sweet too.
Impressions of the installation:

The anti-coning ring is a good thing. I went around once and the torque is right. I read a couple of installs were the anti-coning ring wasn’t used and torquing was a nightmare. As I said earlier, these could easily be made at a shop and added to a cheaper kit too. The air ratchet worked out well. It would have been torture by hand (128 bolts total).

The inner ring ID is smaller than it needs to be by an inch or so. Added weight with no value. The pimp daddy rings added a little too. I think I would consider weight more heavily if I did it again. The ID of both could be the highest point in the outer ring pattern.

I thought I was getting nut-zerks instead of nylock nuts. But the nuts weren’t that bad and they won’t strip out. Also easy to get if I need another one.

Be sure to really clean the tire beads. I had to remount one that was leaking there. It didn’t look that bad but I should have spent the time and clean them well.

Total bill of around $350 including paint, parts and freight.

 

If there are any questions/comments, please send to tratterman@mmm.com

 		  
Updates:

I took them out this weekend.  They worked great at 10 psi.  I don't think
I want to go much lower on air pressure with the ProComp 33s.  I managed to slip the bead on a rear one while trying to hammer over a rock.  Once I got home I took the air ratchet up to 90 psi (max) and gunned them all down. This was like 3/4 more turn on each bolt.  It should take care of any further issues.  It might be the ProComps bead area might not be as thick as other tires (Swampers) so more torque is needed.  With the anti-coning ring you aren't deflecting the outer ring so gun 'um down.
 

Beadlocks + spin balancer = angry Menieke technician.  After much effort, conventional balancing wasn't going to happen.  The outside bead is so much heavier than the inside .  I did a little on-line research and found that others had used BBs loose inside the tires to keep the shakes down.  Most used between 8 & 12 oz (weight, not fluid) in each tire.  My first thought was "BBs rust".  So I when with 12 oz of 7 1/2 shotgun shot in each tire which won't rust.  Smoothed it out nicely.   I was upgrading to some Swampers so adding it was easy.  If you were adding and not changing tires you could simply break the inside bead and pour them in.   By the way, I ran 6 psi in the 33 x 13.5 x 15 Super Swamper LTBs on my last trip with no slippage.  Talk about hooking up.
 

 

  
 
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