904_runner

Hey guys i looked around and am considering buying/making some bead locks.

As of now i have two sets of steel wheels. one for my DD tires and the other for my wheeling set. The wheeling set are 36" tsl sx's on a 15x8" wheel. i recently got them balanced and then went wheeling and aird down to 5psi and they spun on the rims. They are no longer balanced. besides with the 36's at 5-6psi they don't budge much at all. so i want to drop them down lower but am in fear of blowing a bead. so i want to get some beadlocks

Anyways i am in a machine shop class at the college i go to and the teacher is wanting us to create our own projects. It just started and i have the whole semester to make a project or many projects. I was thinking of just making a similar design to the rocksomper ones just a generic ring with the holes for the bolts.

I think this would get me a good oportunity to make a good project that i would really use. Anyways with the DIY beadlocks like the rock stomper ones is it just two rings per wheel. Only on the outside lip? If this is the case can you still throw a bead on the inside of the wheel????

ANy input on this would be great. Im just debating on ordering them or making my own. I could pick up some steel plating and make my own rings on a mill.

Let me hear you opinions...



here is the link im looking at...
http://www.rockstomper.com/catalog/wheels/beadlocks.htm



Here is the writeup i was looking at...........
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/beadlocks/index.html

xcmountain80

Yes if the wheel is locked on the outside the inside can still come off. I think the only ones that don't are a military type and the pneumatic type Staun makes. But for the sake of a class project make some bead locked wheels. I don't know how many companies sell kits but imagine a few do.

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/...k-_p_1605.html

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...R-Hummer_Rims/

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...-kit-p-12.html

Aaron

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Making the rings is the easy part, even welding them on is simple.

Putting all the bolts in and torqueing everything properly takes FOREVER!

904_runner

Lol yea ihave looked at that.

My question is. If i just make the rings like the other companies and weld them on.
Will that provide a bit of protection from the bead popping off? or should i weld some rings on the inside and outside of each wheel.

904_runner

Okay another question i have is would it be cheaper to make the rings or buy them?

Ballistic fab has them for just under 40 a rim, not including bolts. I think i could make them cheaper, i just don't know how much the steel would cost.

scuba

Ill bet it would be cheaper to make. Think of the shipping price, on top of 160/200 if you go all 5.

904_runner

I only have 4 rims!

Yea, plus its a project..

4rnr

I run DIY beadlocks. And if I had to do it again I would have bought allieds steelies. But since its a school project go for it. If you make them then make sure you have some precision tools!. I think that once you have cut 8 rings out of 1/4" steel, and drilled hundreds of holes in them (they have to match up perfectly) That you will happily pay 200$ for perfect rings.

Do not worry about locking the inner bead. I guarentee you wont break it. I have never seen it happen. (in person) I run 1 psi in my rockers and I couldnt imagine blowing an inner.

I like ruffstuff. Dan absolutly kicks ass and stands behind his products!!!!

If you do make your own dont buy into the more bolts=better. To a certain point its true but above 18-24 on a 15" rim it doesnt matter. My beadlocks have 39 f'ing bolts/rim!!!!

Oh and as fro tourqing down the bolts. I did the whole tourque to 13 ft lbs a bunch of times. Now I just crank them down untill the rings are about 1/8" apart. If you do want to tourque them properly, then I strongly suggest investing in an electric drill that you can set the tourque, and NUT SERTS!!!! are your friend.

those are my suggestions

904_runner

Well It would be on a mill, and there is a ton of tools in the shop.

I just need a project and i think that would be worth my time to make. Otherwise the only thing i thought of were shift knobs, and i don't want one.

Do you have any pictures of it.

Do you have measurements of the rings? What is the length between the outer diameter and the inner? Basically do you have any measurements of the actual locks???

Does it just have to be enought to seat around the lip of the rim and then enough room to bolt up to?

xcmountain80

Another idea would be to buy a set and copy, mimic, or make your own off those or better. Though I don't know how you would make them better than what they already are.

Aaron

904_runner

Yea i was thinking about ordering one set of rings for 40 dollars measureing them and then welding them on a spare rim or something.

It would probably help too because ive never seen a set in person.

4rnr

I will get you all the measurements you need, when I get home. The measurements are very easy and not worth buing a ring to copy them. The difficulty is making a perfect circle.

There are 2 rings/rim, one welds to the bead, and the tire sits on that ring, the other ring sits on top of the tire and gets bolted to the inner ring. The ID of the 2 rings are equal. The OD of the outer ring is larger than the OD of the inner ring. The OD of the inner ring is equal to the ID of the bead lip minus about 1/8". I will get you the measurements of outer rings OD and ID and the "on center" bolt distance from the ID. And I will get you the thickness of the steel (either 3/16'' or 1/4") that will be all the measurements you will need. It will take time, but is definaly doable. Just invest in a good compass.

Depending on how many bolts you want then you can determine the distance between the bolts (i.e. 18 bolts = 1 bolt/20*)

Here is a pic of it all done

904_runner

Oh That would be Awesome!

Im not sure what tools they have in the machine shop class im taking at the college.

They have like 8 mills with turn tables. 40 cranks of the wheel = 1 revolution, or something like that so i think it should be fairly easy to make sure the bolts are the same on each ring.

From what i have seen the DIY kits use 1/4" steel so that is what i was shooting for.

what im debating about is making the outter rings like yours or doing something like this.

4rnr

The wider the rings (smaller ID) the more mud will get packed in them. The 40turns=1 rev idea is good as long as on turn on the wheel can be determined EXACTLY!!! Otherwise you will have a nighmare. a tiny mistake on one hole will echo exponentially throughout the following holes. And as long as the table on the mill can hold material that large. If it can it might be a good idea to load the inner and outer rings at the same time to ensure the correct bolt allignment, and then just keep those two togeather. The makers of these rings use CNC laser cutting machines, so that should give you an idea how precice you must be.

If it were me I would get a protrator and measure out every 15* (24 bolts). than draw a line from the center point through each 15* point to the on center bolt measurement. And use that as a master drawing. for all of the rings. that way if you make a mistake the mistke is on all rings and wont matter.

If the shop has a plasma cutter you can make a plasma cutting compass and zip out rings in no time.

904_runner

Anything that can be made on a cnc can be made on a mill. The only difference is time...

That is what my instructor says, he is also a very intelligent and is very helpful, i am sure he can walk me through most of it/if not all.

I have a whole semester to make something. thats about 15 weeks left. meeting 2 days a week for 4 hours. And lately we have just been leaving super early because we don't have projects we care about making. This is something i would like to do.......

dark_fairytales

one tip i recommend, using airsoft bb's to balance your tires. If you need info. on the subject just do a google search.

I have 35" on allied beadlocks with 8 ounces of bb's per tire and they ride as smooth as an old Cadillac. I am totally done with weights that come off and have to re balance as the tire wares down, you will be vary impressed.

you need about one ounce for every 4.25" of tire height

good luck sounds like a fun project

904_runner

Okay thanks. i was thinking about the bb's....

xcmountain80

Hope it works for you I had them in a set of 33's with no luck it actually made it worse. But I've heard 35" and up is the magic number.


Aaron

904_runner

idk. they are only a wheeling set. Mine are soo unbalanced between 30-45 mph it shakes the truck/steering wheel violently.

SO i got the tires balanced and it helped. perfect smooth for the most part.
Then i went wheeling aired down to 6psi and spun the tires on the wheels i think. they are SOOOO unbalanced now

xcmountain80

At that point anything might help another option while not super cost effective and heck you could probably make these too was the centramatic wheel balancers.

Aaron