[[email protected]]

Hey, got a question... not that I'm gonna hold anybody to their answers here, but just lookin' for an idea of demand.

We just got these in for 15" steel wheels; they're 1/4", 32-bolt, and not too awfully expensive. They're also set up so that you can weld 'em on to existing wheels without machining the wheel at all, if you want about a 2" wider (all outside) wheel--I made a set of 15x10's into 15x12's that way, really cheap-n-easy. Much cheaper than a set of custom 15x12 beadlock wheels, anyway, 'specially since I already had 15x10's and wanted to put 44's on 'em.

Now the magic number... the 15's are $75 a lock as a you-weld-it kit. The same thing, for a 16 or a 16.5, would be about the same, but just for giggles, since it's a little more material, let's guesstimate it at $80 apiece, for the same thing, to fit a 16 or 16.5 wheel.

And the magic question... I can't get these made in batches less than ten wheels' worth. Is it worth getting a batch made up of rings to fit 16's or 16.5's?

 

[fcfred]

are you saying that you can get some 16.5 inch beadlocks?
just want to make sure i'm not mistaken, as i have heard it was not posssible
what gives?

 

[[email protected]]

Originally posted by fcfred:
<STRONG>are you saying that you can get some 16.5 inch beadlocks?
just want to make sure i'm not mistaken, as i have heard it was not posssible
what gives?</STRONG>

Get, yes. It's an in-house design, and the 15's that we've already got, are pretty content.

It is possible to get 16.5's made; we have these contract-built by a CNC plasma shop nearby. So we can get just about anything, but they don't even want to deal with quantities that take up less than a full sheet of steel. I don't have any idea on how expensive 16.5 wheels are; so far, we're doing beadlocks only, and can get wheels if you want wheels outright with locks already on, or we can supply beadlock "kits" to DIY.

The "impossible 16.5" may be the inner bead (it's not possible to use a bolt-style *inner* beadlock on anything with wheel-mounted brakes, typically) so this doesn't do anything about the inner bead. Just the outer.

 

[Ben W]

Have you considered a counterbore for the bolt heads so they are more flush rather than sticking out?

 

[I Lean]

According to his page here: http://www.rockstomper.com , they're available with button-head or countersunk-head bolts for an additional cost.

<STRONG>"32 bolt for excellent durability--standard is hex head bolts; we can supply button head bolts for $10 extra per beadlock, or flush head (countersunk!) bolts for an extra $20 per lock."

</STRONG>

 

[Ben W]

Originally posted by fcfred:
<STRONG>are you saying that you can get some 16.5 inch beadlocks?
just want to make sure i'm not mistaken, as i have heard it was not posssible
what gives?</STRONG>

Fred have you been asleep? BIGFECK announced a couple weeks ago that he is selling 16.5 beadlocks

Trailready has also had 16.5 beadlocks for quite awhile. Both of them are much more expensive than what Scott is talking about though.

[ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: BenW ]

 

[ColdNorth]

So those useless 16.5x9.75 wheels just became 16.5x11.75?? Sweet. Kinda makes me wish I'd bought those 6 38.5x16x16.5 Swampers for $400. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[Scoutaholic]

Just a heads up. 16.5" wheels don't have a inner safety bead. If you weld bead locks onto your wheels make sure and weld in a safety bead to the inner bead before you air them down.
OK on another subject, how do I get a set? <IMG SRC="smilies/bounce2.gif" border="0">

 

[[email protected]]

Originally posted by Scoutaholic:
<STRONG>Just a heads up. 16.5" wheels don't have a inner safety bead. If you weld bead locks onto your wheels make sure and weld in a safety bead to the inner bead before you air them down.</STRONG>

This is correct, and what I was attempting to clarify for Fred with my earlier reply. I guess I wasn't clear though. Anyway, yes, there's no safety inner bead on 16.5's; Bigfeck's beadlock wheel design, solves that by adding a safety bead. Ours does not; especially so when the beadlock rings are sold primarily as a DIY kit (how I'd personally prefer to sell 'em) where you weld 'em to your wheels, and we never even see (or sell) wheels at all, just beadlocks.

<STRONG>OK on another subject, how do I get a set? <IMG SRC="smilies/bounce2.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

We don't have 16.5 beadlocks yet... I'll get 'em quoted at the plasma place tomorrow, and see what it'll take to make it happen. Sounds like there's enough interest to be worthwhile.

And yes, ColdNorthJonny, you can make 16.5x9.75's into 16.5x11.75's, or close to it. Since normal wheels are measured outer bead seat area to outer seat area, and beadlocks have a non-fixed outer seat area, seating the tire on the inner surface of the bead instead, there's some variance in final wheel width, depending on how thick the bead is. The wheels (this may sound really silly, but it's true) end up "wider" with Swampers, than with, say, General Grabbers, because the Swamper bead is thicker, so the inner surface seats, but the outer surface dictates how wide the wheel is.

BenW, full beadlock wheels are more expensive because they give you a wheel as well; these are *just* beadlocks. If we install 'em onto wheels we provide, it ends up being around $125-140ish a wheel, depending on the cost of the wheels. Basically, we're not a wheel shop, so we'd rather not sell 'em that way--we can't get deals on wheels, so we can't make much on 'em either. Not and get 'em out at a fair price, anyway. But if you can't (or would rather not) weld... we will.

This setup also allows a few other options; since you can use narrow wheels and make wide ones out of 'em, you can buy $25/each 15x8's (well, so far, anyway) and make roughly 15x10's out of 'em... or use 15x10's and get 15x12's. Saves a bunch-o-cash on wheels, since there's no need to start with a really wide wheel. If you want to keep the same width wheels you've got, we can machine 'em down to put the bead seat back where it belongs, but that's not what we normally do--it's a lot of work, isn't any stronger, and by the time you get all that done, it's a cost wash on just buying new (narrower) steel wheels.

 

[64rovr]

how much for a set of 5 rims with beadlocks already on em? 15x8

oh yeah and i know im a newbie, so here i'll <IMG SRC="smilies/thefinger.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/thefinger.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/thefinger.gif" border="0"> myself!

thanks

[ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: the kid in the hall ]

 

[DRM]

I am interested in 16.5" beadlocks... A firm price would be nice too Scott <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

 

[camo]

i see alot of people asking about 16.5 beadlocks. a inexpensive diy kit would be cool

 

[SMP K5]

This could be the best thing since sliced bread. You can sign me up for a set of 16.5's. <IMG SRC="smilies/smokin.gif" border="0">

[ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: SMP K5 ]

 

[convertiyota]

Are you going to write-up some instructions for welding them on?? What all is involved??

 

[[email protected]]

Originally posted by SMP K5:
<STRONG>This could be the best thing since sliced bread. You can sign me up for a set of 16.5's. <IMG SRC="smilies/smokin.gif" border="0"> </STRONG>

OK, guys... just got off the phone with the plasma house... price is the *same* for 16's or 16.5's, as it is for 15's. There's enough dead space between the 15's when they're laid out on a sheet of steel, that I have enough room to "biggen" them by an inch and change, and not affect the cost. So, consider this a firm price: $75 per lock kit, as a you-weld-it setup. That's inner-n-outer rings, plus the hardware to assemble it all. You'd need four (or five, if you prefer to lock your spare) of those to do a whole vehicle, and you'd need to supply wheels, welder, and a fair bit of patience (it takes about a half hour to just tighten all those frickin' bolts! <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> ) but we can do 'em for that. $85/kit gets you button head bolts:

and $95/kit gets you countersunk flat heads (sorry, no pic online right now).
And we can have 'em shipping by mid-next-week.

 

[DRM]

Scott - I have an endless supply of the button head bolts and washers - would there possibly be a price break on just supplying the rings?

If not, I understand, but that is a lot of bolts to have to package with eash set <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

 

[[email protected]]

Originally posted by Convertiyota:
<STRONG>Are you going to write-up some instructions for welding them on?? What all is involved??</STRONG>

Hmm... I suppose I oughta...

1. Take off the tire. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
2. Clean the outer lip of the wheel--dirt, rust, paint, anything that's on there, that'll contaminate a weld. If that lip isn't straight, you're gonna have a tough time putting locks on--if it's bad enough to where the lock doesn't sit cleanly on it, scrap the wheel--they're not that expensive.
3. Center up the lock on the wheel lip--they're the same OD, so you can do this by finger-feel, it's really easy.
4. Tack the ring onto the wheel. I use a star pattern, one side, opposite side, then just like tightening wheel bolts, put a tack in every 3-4 inches.
5. Weld all the way around, make sure you get a good hole-less weld. MIG (or TIG) preferred--much easier to do cleanly.
6. Let it cool, and put the tire back on.

Now, with this formula, you've just widened your wheels by about 2"--if that's a good thing, you're set. If that's not a good thing, then it's more like:
1. Get wheels that are 2" narrower than what you actually want, but have the right backspacing.
And the rest of the steps are the same.

Or... if you don't want to do any of that... you'll need to cut your wheels. PITA enough to where I personally think, just get new ones, they're not that expensive.

As for a set of five 15x8's with locks on 'em and all... it'd depend on the wheel price--if the wheels are really expensive, the lock setups will be too. If you supply the wheels, we'll put the locks on the outside of 'em for $100 apiece, parts-n-labor; if we supply the wheels, the wheel price would be added onto that. If we have to cut the wheels to do the locks (we can do it, but don't like to) it'd be $125 per, plus wheels.

 

[[email protected]]

Originally posted by DRM:
<STRONG>Scott - I have an endless supply of the button head bolts and washers - would there possibly be a price break on just supplying the rings?

If not, I understand, but that is a lot of bolts to have to package with eash set <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

Yes, David, you can get a better deal if you don't get bolts... it'd be $69 per with no bolts or washers, just nuts. (they're insert-style nuts--I'm guessing you don't happen to have those--if you do, the price can come down a little more)

And yes, it's a whole lotta bolts. You save shipping too... that many bolts weighs almost ten pounds. They're not cheap, though--not the high-end allen-head stuff anyway. That's why they're at a premium price.

 

[DRM]

That's great Scott - thanks for working with us.. I like that in a business <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

 

[convertiyota]

Originally posted by [email protected]:
<STRONG>Hmm... I suppose I oughta...
</STRONG>

Thanks <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">