DIY weld-on beadlock kits...Nutserts, nylocs, and other ideas

[Zeus33rd]

I'm ready to order one of Cybrfire's weld on beadlock kit's. I'm pondering hardware choices now. Nutserts are gay as far as I'm concerned, so thier out. I want to weld nut's to the back side of the inner ring. Would be stronger than the nutserts, be easier to put together than the conventional nut- You need two wrenches. And we all know lock nuts are clumsy and a pain in the ass anyways. Initially I thought I'd use ny-locs, then relaized that welding them would melt the nylon out. Another option would be the staked grade 8 lock nuts. McMaster Carr has several different styles of staked all steel lock nuts....I'm thinkin it would be pretty damn sweet. I'll post some pictures when I get it put together.

 

[cybrfire]

Steel lock nuts would be cool tacked on. wouldn't take much to hold them in place.

 

[surpip]

jsut keep in mind that like every lock nut, they have a llife span, and wont continue to lock after a bolt has been run thurough them a few times.

Im shure you knew that just wanted to share

 

[79Stomper]

I used NYLOCS on my set of Kerts beadlocks. Is a PITA asfter a few times of mounting and dismounting but after bout 3 or 4 you have it down to an art. I ended up using Grade 8 bolts washers and used grade 5 nyloc nuts.

 

[captaininsano]

Welding the nuts will mess up the heat treating and make them weak. I don't think I would weld the nuts on bead locks if it were me. I'd go with Nylocks.

 

[Triaged]

Personally I would ask if I could get the rings with the bolt holes undersized (on the inner ring) and tap the rings out. If you ever mess up the threads then would be the time to worry about longer bolts and nuts on the back side. The only reason they don't do this on the DIY kits is because it would up the price by a HUGE ammount for them to tap them out! If you are doing the tapping yourself it would actually be cheeper because you wouldn't need to buy nuts and you would be using shorter bolts (which are cheeper then longer ones).

 

[Zeus33rd]

Personally I would ask if I could get the rings with the bolt holes undersized (on the inner ring) and tap the rings out. If you ever mess up the threads then would be the time to worry about longer bolts and nuts on the back side. The only reason they don't do this on the DIY kits is because it would up the price by a HUGE ammount for them to tap them out! If you are doing the tapping yourself it would actually be cheeper because you wouldn't need to buy nuts and you would be using shorter bolts (which are cheeper then longer ones).

That sounds interesting, but it seems to me that thread engagement would be lacking if you tapped yourself. The rings are only 1/4" thick and mild steel right? I think I'd rather use an alloy/grade 8 bolt- Not really THAT much more thread engagement, but ALOT more strength.

Welding the nuts will mess up the heat treating and make them weak. I don't think I would weld the nuts on bead locks if it were me. I'd go with Nylocks.

A welded grade 8 nut is still stronger than an unwelded grade 5.

 

[ntsqd]

snip.....
A welded grade 8 nut is still stronger than an unwelded grade 5.

I wouldn't count on it.

If you want more thread length use a Time-sert.
If you want ultra-bling use captive Jet-Nuts. Coast Fab sells them.

 

[Triaged]

That sounds interesting, but it seems to me that thread engagement would be lacking if you tapped yourself. The rings are only 1/4" thick and mild steel right? I think I'd rather use an alloy/grade 8 bolt- Not really THAT much more thread engagement, but ALOT more strength.

The difference in strength won't be as big as you think. My bet is that you would still break the bolts first (because of bending and shear loads) before you FUBAR the threads in the lock if you are using course thread bolts...hell many beadlocked aluminum wheels are tapped from the factory. I bet the nuts you were planning on using are about 1/4" thick too. Remember that the torque on the bolts you will be using will be a lot less then the rated torque of the bolts because you are only clamping rubber.

Also don't forget how hard it would be to repair a nut welded on the back side. If they are tapped out you just drill it out and toss a nut on the back if you strip the threads out.

 

[TruckNutzDude]

The difference in strength won't be as big as you think. My bet is that you would still break the bolts first (because of bending and shear loads) before you FUBAR the threads in the lock if you are using course thread bolts...hell many beadlocked aluminum wheels are tapped from the factory. I bet the nuts you were planning on using are about 1/4" thick too. Remember that the torque on the bolts you will be using will be a lot less then the rated torque of the bolts because you are only clamping rubber.

Also don't forget how hard it would be to repair a nut welded on the back side. If they are tapped out you just drill it out and toss a nut on the back if you strip the threads out.

I kind of like the idea of tapping the inside ring on the bead lock. As stated, if you strip it (unlikely) you can drill it out and use a nut in it's place. I think grade eight bolts are overkill, I'd still use them, but they are only clamping rubber and there are usually enough of them to share the torque load. Nutserts would be about the same as tapping the bead lock ring anyways... right?

 

[Zeus33rd]

I wonder how long it would take to tap 128 holes...

I wouldn't count on it.

Why wouldn't you count on it?

 

[thebigdaddyof2]

IMO, I believe you would be crazy to run anything but a nylock nut.
I would never want ANY chance of ANY of the bolts backing off.

I put together a set of Rockstomper weld-on beadlocks with nylock nuts (going on) 3 years ago.
I have never dismounted a tire since.

After numerous highway trips (before the trailer) to the trail @ 65mph and serious, offroad abuse, I have yet to have even one complaint.

OK, I would complain about the balancing issues...they dont! I never bothered to balance them because I dont care enough to. I just take the shakes and the shimmies as part of the game.

 

[Zeus33rd]

I bet the nuts you were planning on using are about 1/4" thick too.

I planned on using a centerlock style all steel lock nut. McMaster Carr part# 90636A049. It's .328" tall. I'm not going to weld all the way around the nut, just a couple tacks. If for whatever reason I need to remove them, a couple wacks with a chisel and a hammer will pop them off. I'll post up reuslts when I do this.

 

[Zeus33rd]

Nylocks aren't the only lock nut style. I agree, not using a lock nut of some kind would be retarded. I've always liked the all steel lock nuts more than the nylocks. You can weld on them and they still lock. If one was going to tap the holes, you could run a lock washer or maybe a hex flange bolt with a serrated flange.

 

[jarheadk5]

If one was going to tap the holes, you could run a lock washer or maybe a hex flange bolt with a serrated flange.

Or use a plain nut (with some blue Loctite) behind the tapped holes, to act as a jam nut...

 

[Mudzer]

I have nutserts on my home built beadlocks and they work fine. I can tell you this - after mounting and dismounting 3 sets of tires since I have had them, I sure think they are fine. I would hate to have to hold a wrench on each of these.

Nice thing about nutserts - I can reinstall a new one without problems. If you strip out a nut that is welded on, have fun getting to it and replacing it once your beadlock rings are in place.

How Gay is that?

 

[ntsqd]

I wonder how long it would take to tap 128 holes...



Why wouldn't you count on it?

B/c the weld heat will either partly or fully destroy any heat treat in the nut.

If you do use Grade C (aka "Stover" or "crimp" nuts) use a little anti-seize on the bolt threads. They're really intended to be a one-time use only (like Nylox are), and they'll bunger up the bolt threads more often than not. The anti-seize allows repeated assembly-disassembly w/o killing either set of threads and doesn't appear to significantly reduce the locking strength. As a bonus the bolts won't rust to the nuts.