What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Airing down on 16.5's

78SWB

78SWB

Money Pit
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
Posts
2,913
Reaction score
3,657
Location
Lincoln, Nebraska
I am running stock 8 lug 16.5 steelies on 36" TSL SX swampers and I am wondering what the lowest pressure, roughly, I could run without popping off the bead?
 
How wide are your tires?

I ran 37x13x16.5 boggers on 12" wheels and could air down to about 7 before i popped a bead
 
Im at work so I can't look and I don't remember for sure, but I think they're 13"?
 
I never go lower then 15 psi on 16.5 rims...I do lots of v notch trails.
 
That depends on your driving and terrain. I run about 8/10 psi R/F on the sand on my 36x14 TSL radials so far so good. However, just sitting there without moving one blew a bead at about 3 psi when I was letting all the air out of it once.
 
We took the Blazer to Sand Mountain, and ran the dunes.
On 36x12.5x16.5 TSL's, on 7x16.5 wheels, we ran @ 20psi.

I wouldn't go lower without beadlocks.

I can wheel rocks at 8psi, w/ my double-beadlock H1's, now.... :deal:
 
It will be mostly rocks. I think i'll do 15-20psi to play it safe.
 
With a standard 16.5 wheel I wouldnt go lower than about 15 psi.

however factory chevy 16.5 wheels have a safety bead plus they are narrow. I ran a set of 36" hummer tires on some factory 16.5s for a while with 5-10psi. Ran them pretty hard and never popped a bead, even had most of the weight of my rig pushing down on the sidewall of one tire and it didnt come off.

I finally got one of them to pop a bead when I did donuts with both rear tires completely flat.:D
 
air em down till your popping beads. Terrain, wheels, even the tires make a difference.

I wheel rocks mostly and had my 42s on a 16.5 chrome mod for a while.

Could do down to 10 without any problem at all.

Dunes I would run 12 but once again never blew a bead.

So air em down till you pop a bead reseat and add air:D
 
Just make sure to bring along a few cans of either. Get the good stuff with a high percentage of either. Not the ****ty dumbed down starting fluid.

Martin
 
Even number wheels have a much better rim seal than half numbers.
I never air down, because I don't go the same places you folks do. In the past, I have aired down car tires when running on beach sand, but my truck with 12.50s are wide enough to not need it.

Having said all that, I would hate to air down the 16.50s on my Ford. When they were new, the tires would rotate on the rims with full air pressure and not lose any air. Drove me and my tire guy crazy until we caught it.
He would balance them, I could drive around the corner a little hard, and they would be out of balance.

Finally had to break them down and put glue on the beads to roughen them up.
Then, one day I walked outside and noticed on of the tires had a nail and was a little low.
Went outside about an hour later, and the bead had popped just sitting there.

I really hate 16.5s. Especially since I had to weld a crack in one, and cannot find a replacement.
Don't want to change rim sizes because my tires are almost new.
 
Fordum said:
Even number wheels have a much better rim seal than half numbers.
I never air down, because I don't go the same places you folks do. In the past, I have aired down car tires when running on beach sand, but my truck with 12.50s are wide enough to not need it.

Having said all that, I would hate to air down the 16.50s on my Ford. When they were new, the tires would rotate on the rims with full air pressure and not lose any air. Drove me and my tire guy crazy until we caught it.
He would balance them, I could drive around the corner a little hard, and they would be out of balance.

Finally had to break them down and put glue on the beads to roughen them up.
Then, one day I walked outside and noticed on of the tires had a nail and was a little low.
Went outside about an hour later, and the bead had popped just sitting there.

I really hate 16.5s. Especially since I had to weld a crack in one, and cannot find a replacement.
Don't want to change rim sizes because my tires are almost new.
Click to expand...

Kind of my point, my 42s on 16.5s mine as well have been 15s, they held up just fine but I know guys who couldn't run less than 25 psi to prevent a tire from unseating. I even did a type of tractor pulling ( at a small 4x4 competition) with my 16.5s and I was way aired down and the rim and tire did not move in relation to each other.

Its more up to the rim tire combo my rims did have a very small safety bead but I have seen 16.5s with no safety bead at all.
 
I can't get my 16.5's off the rim with anything less then a tire machine and alot of cussin'.
 
even with a tire machine try getting a 16" tire off a 16.5 rim some dumb guy mixed up and mounted it on . :doah:
 
I had WAY more trouble with my rims spinning inside 16" Michelin XML's than I have ever had with any of my 16.5 tires. The one time I lost a 16.5" tire at Tuttle was when Joe aired it down to 8 psi to start the day, and we could hear it slowly leaking air all day. It finally popped off the bead at the end of the day, while trying to climb a difficult spot on the ledges. The only reason it popped the bead was because I was running inner tubes, and the wheel spun inside the tire, and it ripped the valve stem off of the tube.

Martin
 
jekquistk5 said:
I use to think that, but then I got it done with 3 harbor freight tire irons
Click to expand...

Been there, done that. tire irons, fork lift forks with weight on them, jumping up and down like an idiot. No dice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom