I'd like some input from those who are or have run beadlocks on their Rovers, specifically relating to maintenance and safety on-road. I usually drive 5-10 hours to a trail, and enjoy driving my rig around town. Positives? Negatives? Are they worth it? I don't have problems rolling a bead so much as just denting the snot out of the steel wheels I've got(kind of an exaggeration, but the small dents become noticeable at speed on road). Also, what brands have you had success with?

Johnathan

If you drive that long to a trail I would forget about beadlocks, unless you tow them in a trailer behind you and change them when you get there. You can't balance a beadlock rim and in most states they are not street legal. Since you are bolting the outer bead to the rim it is sometimes hard to get the tire perfectly centered therefore you will have tire hop as you go down the road.

I have the Allied 32 bolt beadlocks. I drove them(with 37" boggers) about 5 hours each way to the Rubicon and back home with no problems. I did re torque the bolts during the trail and after; before the drive home. I had also driven them around town for about 100 miles and retorqued before the trip.
For long drives I think you would be better off to stick with your radial tires and standard wheels.
or get a trailer:D

36 bolt beadlocks (MRT steel ones) front and 32 bolt Allied rears. They are balanced and can be for those that think they cannot be???? I retorque them every time I drive. However they have not needed tightening at all. But to be on the safe side I do. I drive my vehicle everywhere as well as many other heavy non Land Rover vehicles do. You are fine driving them as a daily driver with the proper maintence. Obviously trailer is the best option, but go allied and you will be fine with proper care.

Way

36 bolt alluminium MRTs 35 12.5 15 thornbirds. They balanced fine but it took a while to do it. I ran for 1 year with this setup on my daily driver. torqued them about once a month. no problems...On the trail, sometimes i bend the rims but i just hammer them back, because of this, they dont balance so well anymore. Now they are just for the trail.

just a though....if it were true that you cant balance beadlocks, you could just use that Equal tire balancing powder...

equal - Exactly.

As far as "street legal", not really too sure how many state police would really know the difference.

/mike

Who said you can't balance them? Why would a bead lock cause a problem with balancing? I've balanced my Champion's with 36x14.50 and 37x12.50 swampers, and now 37x12.50 MTR's and all balanced to zero. They are not D.O.T approved, but this does not mean they're illegal. It means they haven't gone through the approval process. I've NEVER heard of anyone getting a ticket for having them. I've been pulled over a few times for other things, and one cop even commented about how he liked my wheels. Here's a blurb from the Champion website:

"Our Beadlock wheels center the tire with a shoulder machined on the rim to insure tire-to-rim trueness and balance. Our drag race conversions have gone well over 300 MPH withstanding over 6,000 horsepower on Top Fuel and Funny Cars"

Some wheels do not have this shoulder and a wobble can occur, but this is not an issue with most quality wheels.

That's all I have to say about that.

HEAD

Tis, if you're really just looking for something more dent resistant you should check out the wheels Carey Steiner had out in Moab. They looked like beadlocks and had an extremely thick outer bead lip that looked almost indestructable. You can probably find her through the SoCal land rover club or Greg Jevne I'm sure knows how to get a hold of her.

I don't know how comfortable I would be driving my beadlocks on highway a lot. The main thing to consider is that over time the bolts fatigue and eventually fail. This is why they say if you find one broken bolt you must replace all of them because it's a sign that they have fatigued. The MRTs have been improved recently and have jumped in price a lot. They now use 3/8" bolts on the 36 bolt model which should last quite a while without fatiguing.

Thanks Kyle!

heard several bad things about equal. Yeah it's great to use in your truck if you never change tire pressure but I have heard that it'll fly out your tire when you air down. I know that at one point doug was using it in his tires so I guess he would be a better source, but if you start loosing it or it gets wet then it doesn't work so well. It's great stuff though I've heard if you just put it in your tires and leave them at the same pressure, so just run trail pressure all the time :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

-ben

Ben, when Equal is installed in your tires, you are supposed to install their valve stems as well. They are equipped with special filters to prevent the Equal from coming out when airing down, and should be supplied when the product is purchased.

I have the Equal and stems waiting for when I get my Michelins, but I know several people that use it and always air down on the trails. The only comment I have heard is sometimes you have to initally put air in to clear the screen before you air down, but no product should be lost when airing down. Sounds like your friend didn't get the proper valve stems installed.