ColoradoMike
Well-Known Member
Holy shite!! Okay, so please briefly help an ignorant non-mechanic (thatās me): I got a Jlur Xtreme Recon for the factory package of 35s plus lift plus gears. It comes with ābeadlock-CAPABLE ā wheels. I have left the stock KO2s on there and after reading this thread, I will never go bead-lock, because I am not this committed.I have run BLs off and on over the years and my last set I put on 88,XXX miles . IMO IF you are a serious rock crawler you need BLs if want to play at the 7+ rated trails and you do it often.
I run Walker Evans BLs. With Grade 8
As for why that ring came off in the OP could be several reasons: Bad or poor qualty wheel with to much improper and abusive handling. Failure to replace bolts on a regular basis. OVER TORQUING the bolts/NOT using a Torque wrench. Made in China. When he went to set the bead he had already torqued down the bead, tire did not want to set and he pumped up the psi and he pumped up the psi and he pumped up the psi and it took the BL with it when it exploded. I do see an explosion might have taken place by the looks of the tire/wheel/bead lock in the FOTO.
A torque wrench is critical at times and BLs are one of them. I been using them since the 60s and at one time I worked in a Zero Defect environment and we torqued everything. What is it like to work in a ZD enviro? For one every day, you draw and turn in at the end of the day your torque wrenches. WHY? They are calibrated every single day, you have 2 sets as a result. Then there is the inspection. Well, you never work longer than about 15 min. You have a job card and it specifies which bolts, what torque, and a diagram of the location. You torque down and call an Inspector, who has his own torque wrench and inspects 100% of your work. He then calls in another inspector who inspects the workpiece at a not less than 50% and his job card will tell him which are the most critical that must be passed and then his option to inspect level 2 bolts. It was interesting work, take a break anytime you felt like it, no rush to finish. You will NEVER have a job with higher stress so they want to keep you happy and focused.
Here is how I do it:
The tire is on the wheel.
I mount the wheels and tires on the Jeep and begin to torque the Bead Ring down. Walker Evans calls for 20 ft-lbs and I use a different system to torque down than I do for removal. I start out by installing a bolt in every other hole and then I GENTLY-finger tight, snug it up. I then install the other bolts and do same.
I now watch the gap between the BR and the rim and I go around cranking each bolt down, every other one, then each one I skipped. I turn my torque wrench about 1ā2 turn each time until I get my first click. Then I proceed to do every bolt in order until each clicks. Then I go around one more time to confirm my first click. As you can guess, it is slow and takes about 10 or so cycles to get it finally torqued down. I use this method for several reasons. Yes it's about a 2 + hr job just for the torquing of the bolts.
ā¢ 1) All of the bolts are quite close together,
ā¢ 2) Because the ring itself is much softer than the wheel one has to be careful not to distort the ring which using the criss-cross method can easily do,
ā¢ 3) This method allows a very fine yet slow torque method that ensures the bolts do not come loose.
ā¢ 4) I do this once or twice a year depending upon how much I am wheeling. Every year I replace all my bolts with gold-zinc grade 8. WHY? Corrosion and the bolt heads take a real beating in the rocks
ā¢ 5) I put my bolts in semi-dry. I use a clean white towel with a spray, NOT wet, barely damp of WD 40. NOTE I power-washed my wheels and removed minor scratches the day before, leaving my wheels in the sun to dry.
SO, if I have these beadlock-capable wheels but I never go with beadlock tires, do I have to worry about all this super-careful torque shite and replacing bolts etc.? Or can I ātrustā the dude at Discount to rotate and eventually replace/mount my tires the same as if I did not have the XR beadlock-capable wheels? I donāt want to have to babysit the mechanic.
I know some will say you shouldnāt trust the discount guy regardless and thatās fine, but my question is Do I have to be more careful/pay more attention because I got the beadlock-capable wheels stock with the XR?
Thanks-
Sponsored
). But why does everyone think bead locks are not DOT approved? Because they need maintenance? Because they work as good as traditional mounted tires?
