School a new-b on H1 bead-locks...

[Jakemd98]

Ok well i'm not a new-b to the off-road world, but i am starting to get into some more involved up-grades that surpass the standard jeep bolt-ons. That is also why i am here, y'all do some sick nasty stuff to your rigs and I figured anything hard core that cant be answered on Jeepforum, pirate should know about.

right now i am in the middle of working out a deal to get some military 37's on H1's from a military mechanic.

My plan is to recenter to a 5x5.5 bolt pattern and roughly 4-3.75" BS. Also put rock rings on the outer ring as well. Anybody have any recommendations as to who to purchase from?

Also i would like to know weather to get an 8 bolt or 12 bolt:
which one is better and why, or does it make any difference? I may have options in choosing, are the 8 bolts old and 12 new (ie: 36" ran 8 and 37" ran 12?)

Next inserts:
is there any down side to running the stock H1 insert? or should i spring the extra money and get the inserts that you see here? http://www.stazworks.com/hummer.htm And are all H1's double bead-locks?

I am not that familiar with bead-locks, and would really like to get as much information about them as possible before diving into this project head first. From what i have gathered so far, there is an insert that sandwiches the bead between itself and the rim on the backside of the rim, then there is a outer ring that does the same on the front and that is bolted on with 8 or 12 bolts (depending). Please correct me if i am wrong, and are there any seals that need to be used?

Any information you can give would be appreciated greatly.

Thanks,
Jake

[gunsablazin]

search h1 beadlocks, there is a wealth of information available.

[Jakemd98]

Ok so what i could find, is the 12 bolt has a better sealing system and possibly a rubber insert rather than the magnesium... Being that i am looking at 37's i would assume that i would also be looking at a 12 bolt wheel. Which also is stronger. Now the one thing i could not find is information on the inserts... anybody have a good tech article that has information on these?

[ron b]

here's an article on hummer wheel chronology:
http://www.flashoffroad.com/features...htm#Chronology

and a maintenance article with drawings of the 2 piece steelie with a beadlock to show how it all goes together:
http://www.flashoffroad.com/Maintena...tirechange.htm

I think the newer 12 bolt 2 piece steelies are rated at 3800 lbs each...the older ones are rated a bit less (3400 lbs?). They have a max inflation of 50 psi or they'll start blowing the flange bolts/studs off. The older 8 bolt rims were for bias ply tires. There is a rubber o-ring between the 2 pieces to seal it.

The 2 rim pieces with all the lugs and flange bolts weighed 46 lbs, the beadlock was 15 lbs (full runflat/beadlock is 35 lbs) -- so 61 lbs + tire. That's why hummers can easily break halfshafts if you aren't careful...there's alot of weight spinning around out there!

rb

[stjames151]

Get some beat ones from ebay or the for sale forum here on pirate if you're just gonna recenter them anyways. The run flats are interchangeable and in my not very humble opinion, worthless. You can get flat pvc inserts from stazworks for pretty cheap and they work well. Steel "ladder or cage" inserts move too much if you drive on the highway. As for the wheel, the 8 bolt are for bias tires and not rated above 35psi. The 12 bolt are for radials and can go higher. I run radials on 8 bolts and have not had a problem, but I run low pressures and keep my spare flat so its easier to tie down. Try the sirch feature for easy stuff like this. Its your friend.

[mudskipper4x4]

I would suggest getting some 8 bolt h1s just because theyre cheaper. Also if you plan on just running offroad tires ie bias ply then the 12bolt ones arent needed. I also like the mag runflats with the runflat part cut down. The rubber ones are a pita to install imo. Just a suggestion though, I got 4 8bolt wheels and runflats for $100 and the guy met me within 2 miles of my house. Can't get that on ebay or anywhere else for that matter.

[smokenram]

I got 4 8bolt wheels and runflats for $100 and the guy met me within 2 miles of my house. Can't get that on ebay or anywhere else for that matter.

Thats because your lucky, I've been looking for about year and a half now to try and find a good deal on some!! Found some cheap ones, but they are not in the area!! And shipping would make them, well not a deal!! Most of the ones i found where in Texas! Seems like the closer to the east, the more the price is!

But i am also a newbe with these wheels, But not for long i hope. I found some this week that are about an hour away. And they are pretty cheap! They are the 12 bolt ones. So let me ask this, Everyone keeps saying "get the 8 bolts", Well if i found a deal on some 12's, is there any disadvange to them?? Is recentering the same?? How about rock rings?? Basically if price didn't matter, Is there any benifit to the 8's over the 12's?? Thanks

[LCAC_Man]

Originally Posted by smokenram

Basically if price didn't matter, Is there any benifit to the 8's over the 12's?? Thanks

No. The 12 bolt version have a much stronger outer lip (very prone to damage on 8 bolts). Additionally the sealing system is designed to work at higher pressures for radial tires. I would switch to 8 lug outers if I were you and buy some cromo axles, you can easily end up with a 120lbs wheel/tire combo. The stazworks double beadlock inserts work great.

[smokenram]

Cromo's?? I'm only running a 38in tire, surely dana 60/14bolt combo would hold up to the heavier wieght?? Wouldn't it?? How much lighter could i make them if i went with stazworks pvc inserts??

[stjames151]

The rubber inserts are listed at +25# and the pvc's weigh under 5#. Another big issue is how hard it is to get the full run-flats in and out of the tire. If you're running big tires, the run-flats aren't really that helpful. Also, the run-flats aren't that great on the trail unless you blow a tire in the middle of a really long obstacle that you couldn't change to a spare on. You're almost always better off just carrying a spare or two.

[yota_kid]

This kind of goes along with the OP's questions. Can you run H1's without inserts or are they what actually locks the bead? How I'm understanding it is that the insert clamps the tire bead between itself and the bead of the rim?

[yota_kid]

C'mon nothing?

[stjames151]

You understand the assembly correctly and yes you can run them without runflats, but its not even a fair choice. The 8 bolts don't have a safety bead and the only thing holding the tire on is air pressure. It will naturally pull away from the outer lip if the pressure drops too low, even if its not on the truck. I wouldn't dare running them below 18lbs anywhere. That's why most tire manufacturers are steering away from 16.5". You'd be much better off getting a set of 15", 16", or 17" steelies for an extra $10 each than go without the locks.

[LCAC_Man]

Originally Posted by smokenram

Cromo's?? I'm only running a 38in tire, surely dana 60/14bolt combo would hold up to the heavier wieght?? Wouldn't it?? How much lighter could i make them if i went with stazworks pvc inserts??

Original poster has D44 and 8.8 in his signature line. My 37" H1 setup is around110lbs. 35spline chromo stubs, cryo'd stock inners on my D60.

[R290]

The rubber run flats work great. They are a pain to put in 37" tires, but 38" are much easier. You need something in there or you don't have a beadlock rim. That's the whole idea of getting H1 rims is to have bead locks. So if you don't have inserts, get some! I got several flat tires last summer doing a hard core trail. I changed the first flat, but when I got the second flat, I was in trouble, but that was the least of the fixes that were needed. I made a call to get more spare tires from from the backyard. My bro got stuck bring them in. So I drove 10 miles on a flat and the rubber insert let me keep going, all tho slow we made it out.

The rim would have been toast without the rubber insert. I got 3 flat tires on that trip