Beadlocks are a PITA

Bird

Bird

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Friend of mine was quoted $ 100 per tire to dismount/remount 37's on beadlock wheels.....i said bring em' over.
Well after several attempts with the help of youtube videos, we were unsuccessful.
Pulled my TJ up onto tire and used high-lift jack and couldn't break them.
I'm no longer a fan of beadlocks. Grrrrr
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I give you 11/10 for effort and ingenuity hehe but maybe that's why they charge 100 bucks per tire
 
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100 bucks each is about what I would charge to mount and dismount new tires on conventional bead locks. More if they have been in the rocks and we have to hammer a socket onto the bolts to get them off. Takes us about 4 hours and I'm going to ding you a bit for the PITA factor because I don't really like messing with them. That and you're going to supply new bolts and washers because I won't reuse any bead lock bolts.
 
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mrblaine said:
100 bucks each is about what I would charge to mount and dismount new tires on conventional bead locks. More if they have been in the rocks and we have to hammer a socket onto the bolts to get them off. Takes us about 4 hours and I'm going to ding you a bit for the PITA factor because I don't really like messing with them. That and you're going to supply new bolts and washers because I won't reuse any bead lock bolts.
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So I can’t help but ask, how do you remove beadlocks from a tire? The home grown method appears on be a high lift jack. The method we used on aev beadlocks was with a fork lift. Would love to know if there is a better way. :D
 
JamesAndTheSahara said:
So I can’t help but ask, how do you remove beadlocks from a tire? The home grown method appears on be a high lift jack. The method we used on aev beadlocks was with a fork lift. Would love to know if there is a better way. :D
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I have a set of Tyre Pliers and some tire spoons. I have had to use my Dodge Diesel and another rig to break down a set of Krawlers off of a set of Walker Evans though. I won't do that again. The TJ parked a front tire on one side, I drove up on the other side and had to drive back and forth to break the bead loose. Without the TJ, all it did was flip the tire and rim up. Needed weight on the other side to hold it down.
 
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Learned that on some aev bead locks I bought- mounting valves from Nampa and some wheel lube “whatever it’s called. And sat down with a five gallon bucket and a stool for the next 3 hours....sold them comeplete about 3 weeks later.. pain in the ass on the street.
 
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Chris said:
Haha, yep. Trust me, unless it's a dedicated trail rig, don't bother with deadlocks. They're an absolute nightmare for a daily driver.
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Some of them can be. I don't consider all of them to be that way. In fact, we're installing a set right now on a rig and the owner put them together himself with no issues. One of my all time favorites was a set of 16" Moabs that had been converted by either Champion or OMF. As long as you understand you have a maintenance item, they are just that, another maintenance item and not any more of a nightmare than any other.

If you want to deal with a nightmare, try running a 609 front axle. Want to change the oil? Brakes come off, locking hubs get disassembled, pull axles back on both sides, pull drive shaft, and then you get to wrestle a 75 lb third member off of 10 threaded studs. After you get that done and deal with the mess of the oil, then you get to scoop out another 1/2-1 quart that didn't drain because of the lip for the studs. 30 paper towels later, you get to clean off the gasket, put a new one on and wrestle the third back onto the studs and reverse everything just to be able to fill it back up with oil. If you run a Fab 9 Housing and a Tru Hi9 third, your drain pan better be able to hold at least 2 gallons.
 
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Jorge Bolivar said:
@mrblaine
Im looking to get new set of 17” rims and combine them with Coyote boltless beadlock system. As I do think you have deal with them before, are the tire mount and dismount a similar pain to the bolted beadlock system?
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I've known Harry since early 99 and in fact he is the reason we bought our first Jeep. He never quits trying to deliver a superior product. They can be a pain in the butt depending on rim selection but get them working and they are hard to beat.
 
I'll add that my Racelines haven't been much trouble. RT232 17x8.5. A shop that builds rock buggies mounted them and I drove it home (about 60 miles). I drove it a couple of weeks and the ring bolts needed a go-around with the torque wrench. They hold air and I check the torque on the ring bolts occasionally just to be sure. I don't drive it much though, maybe 1,500 miles a year.
 
DMise said:
I'll add that my Racelines haven't been much trouble. RT232 17x8.5. A shop that builds rock buggies mounted them and I drove it home (about 60 miles). I drove it a couple of weeks and the ring bolts needed a go-around with the torque wrench. They hold air and I check the torque on the ring bolts occasionally just to be sure. I don't drive it much though, maybe 1,500 miles a year.
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Let me save you from catastrophe and make you implicitly understand that you must NEVER check torque, tighten, install, or remove bead lock bolts when there is air in the tire. Phil Howell was doing just that and the bead lock ring and a full circle section of rim behind it blew off and almost cut both his arms off a few inches above the wrists. The bolts were slightly too long and were acting like little jacks to push the ring and threaded section of rim right behind the ring off. I have also seen bead locks with cracks starting in the same area and the owner still driving on them. Do not do that, you may die or kill a bus full of cheerleaders on their way to spring break. I'd rather you died than do that. ;)
 
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mrblaine said:
Let me save you from catastrophe and make you implicitly understand that you must NEVER check torque, tighten, install, or remove bead lock bolts when there is air in the tire. Phil Howell was doing just that and the bead lock ring and a full circle section of rim behind it blew off and almost cut both his arms on a few inches above the wrists. The bolts were slightly too long and were acting like little jacks to push the ring and threaded section of rim right behind the ring off. I have also seen bead locks with cracks starting in the same area and the owner still driving on them. Do not do that, you may die or kill a bus full of cheerleaders on their way to spring break. I'd rather you died than do that. ;)
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Woah! Noted.
 
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Chris said:
Haha, this is why I'd never, ever, ever, run beadlocks on a street driven vehicle. Way too much effort in my opinion.

Now if it was a dedicated trail rig, that would be different.
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This !! Plus many bead locks are illegal for road use. One of those laws rarely enforced and very inconsistent from state to state to province.

But definitely not for a street setup. Sort of like running nitro in a street racer.
 
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