15x14" Wheels Too Wide?

[mikey_d05]

This spring I'm gonna ask Kert from Diy 4x4 to weld some of his beadlocks onto my current rims, which are 15x12. Since the bead will now sit outside the lip, this will essentially make the rims 15x14. The outside bead will be locked so I'm obviously not worried about that coming off, but I'm thinking the inside bead will be way more prone to coming off the rim. My tires are 39.5x18x15 boggers.

I don't want to hear from people telling me the recommended rim is 15x12 and I'll die if I don't abide by it. Is there anybody who's blown an inner bead on the trail? How many of you are running wide rims compared to your tires and air down with them? If I would have had some foresight I would have ordered 15x8's or 15x10's but I've got 15x12's. Besides, if I make 'em into 15x14's that'd match 44's perfectly.

 

[M-1028]

I'm running 15x12 eaton beadlocks on 38.5X14.5X15 SX's. It says on the side wall of the tires, recomends 15X10. I run very low pressures and have never had a problem. I say go for it

 

[sapper]

These are 15x12's with DIY locks

 

[cybrfire]

This spring I'm gonna ask Kert from Diy 4x4 to weld some of his beadlocks onto my current rims, which are 15x12. Since the bead will now sit outside the lip, this will essentially make the rims 15x14.

Not quite that much wider. More like a 15x13 at the most. You should be OKay.

 

[jrpeebles]

I have friends that run 14" wide rims with 39" boggers with no trouble at all.

 

[79Stomper]

These are 15x12's with DIY locks

And last time I ran it on the trail I dropped the pressure down to 8 or so psi and had no problems with the inner bead. Plus I had a truck on each end snatching me sideways to get the broken vehicle off the trail. Didn't lose a bead once.

 

[BOWTIE]

i ran 15X14s with 39s a few years ago. most of the time i ran them at about 6-8 psi on the trails. i had no problems with beads popping but i felt that the tire would squat a bit too much. i sold those and when with 12s and there was a difference with the tire height. much better.

 

[mikey_d05]

Not quite that much wider. More like a 15x13 at the most. You should be OKay.

Doh, forgot Mig welding was done with the inside the lip style ring so you don't have the additional thickness of the ring plus the lip.

Thanks for your input everyone.

 

[PsychoticDeadGuy]

cant you also get beadlocks for the inside bead also? if it was really a problem.

 

[mikey_d05]

I could run a set of double beadlocks but they're $250+ per rim, and if nobody's having problems with blowing the inside bead, I'll just stop worrying about it. I don't think there are any available beadlocks that have clamping rings on both sides, and even if there were I couldn't run them because I use 15" rims on a Dana 60.

 

[cybrfire]

cant you also get beadlocks for the inside bead also? if it was really a problem.

Brake clearance prevents the traditional style weld on beadlock from being used on the inner bead.

There are tricks you can use though!!

 

[PsychoticDeadGuy]

what about those screws that drag racers use?

 

[mikey_d05]

Drag racing rim screws are used to prevent the tires from spinning on the rim circumferentially (is that a word?) If you mount them traditionally they would just rip apart the bead when it got pushed off the rim. Some of the members of my club have had some success running huge aggressive screws in that fashion but one of them had a bead blow on a run this summer and the tire is now unusable. One alternative I've seen people on Pirate run is using screws on the inner diameter of the rim pointing outwards. Seems to work well but once again won't work with my brake combo. If blowing inner beads is that big of a problem (which I doubt it will be) I'll go to a narrower rim or double beadlocks. At any rate, Kert's locks are way more economical than any other options and also protect the edge of the rim from being bent and the valve stems from being torn apart which is a huge bonus in my book.

One trick I've seen is using a small implement tire to hold the inside bead but I'd have to look into that further before I pass judgement on it.

 

[cybrfire]

When you bring your rims down to put the locks on I'll set you up with another little trick that works pretty nicely!!

 

[mikey_d05]

When you bring your rims down to put the locks on I'll set you up with another little trick that works pretty nicely!!

Good deal, does this trick requre the tires to be present?

 

[cybrfire]

Just one. For reference, and photos!

 

[6.2Blazer]

From my experience it's pretty rare to blow an inner bead. However, the main issue with running wider rims is that it beats the heck out of the edge of the rim and shoves dirt, rocks, sticks in between the rim and tire (though that's not much of a problem with locks).