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Hummer H2 Beadlocks

sled_dog

sled_dog

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Does anyone sell H2 Beadlock kits? I saw a custom set made on Pirate and in this months Peterson's they note the Skunkworks comp buggy is running a set. I'm going to 17" rims and I could pick up a set of H2s on Ebay for less than the steel rims Summit has. I'm sure the beadlock kits would be more, and of course need to be TIG welded but I don't see that as a bad thing if there is a weight savings.
 
I would like to do the same also. Talked to a few makers of the steel rings, but no dice yet.... :(
 
I really have no clue what the big deal about making a set of do it yourself aluminum beadlock rings is. Maybe the fact that yes its quite a bit more difficult to weld properly. But in theory it is just a ring of aluminum of a proper thickness with a bunch of holes, same as the steel one. Can you really tell me your laser cutter can cut steel and somehow can't manage aluminum???? I know for the smaller shops material costs may be a bit high to be making the rings but there has to be a shop out there doing it, I found a few but they all want you to buy the rims they have with the ring on already or send your rim to them. No kits.
 
sled_dog said:
I really have no clue what the big deal about making a set of do it yourself aluminum beadlock rings is. Maybe the fact that yes its quite a bit more difficult to weld properly. But in theory it is just a ring of aluminum of a proper thickness with a bunch of holes, same as the steel one. Can you really tell me your laser cutter can cut steel and somehow can't manage aluminum???? I know for the smaller shops material costs may be a bit high to be making the rings but there has to be a shop out there doing it, I found a few but they all want you to buy the rims they have with the ring on already or send your rim to them. No kits.
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One of the shops I really would like ot deal with on these is Kert at DIY4x.. His reaosning for not being able to do it at the time I asked him was because he wasn't set-up for aluminum at the time and he moved his shop.. So maybe once he gets situated he can do some kits for us... He was awesome to deal with on my disc brackets and diff ring. I htink the biggest thing is like you said, material costs....

What did the others want to charge you for the "kits" and to tig them up??
 
just talked to Dave at Skunkworks he is going to get back to me on the cost of rings. He doesn't carry the ones I saw in Peterson's as a stock thing but is checking with where he got them cut for me.
 
Which issue of Peterson's? Are they Wolf's for PBB? Or someone elses? These would be nice to have as the wheels are still somewhat cheap..
 
Not Wolf's these are on Skunkwork's competition crawler. he said he had them one off made for himself.
 
Well looks like I have a set of H2s lined up, just need to figure out a center cap setup and how much the rings will cost me.
 
not sure I would want to deal with them. I know I could get aluminum rings through the circle track circles my family runs in but circle track cars are all about lightweight. If they tag a wall their night is probably over anyway so they don't worry about a ring that can rub rocks from here till next tuesday. Those seems to be for similar racing not rock crawling. I will wait to see what Skunkworks comes back to me with.
 
I have been searching for a while for an inexpensive way to lock H2 wheels. The problem with the generic kits is the the diameter of the bolt circle is too large. Due the design of the wheel (tapers in from the bead quicker then most wheels), there isn't enough room for the bolts, and you would have to machine relief areas in the wheel, adding to the cost. Wolf corrected this with his design.

I have found a cheap place to cut the rings and weld them on for me, but I am waiting for steel and aluminum to come down a little. I ran a service call at a local Vocational Technical school, and spoke with the teacher in the machine shop. He agreed to let the students cut the rings for training, and thought the welding shop would do the same.

As far as durability, I have ran my 42" Iroks and H2 wheels on my Blazer on several hard trails, and have had no problems yet. I have beat the crap out of the beads, and they are doing just fine.

Alan, PM me the price you have for the wheels. I may be able to beat it.
 
Hopefully in the very near future I will be able to start playing around with some aluminum and see how it works out.

As for the laser it takes a whole bunch more wattage to cut aluminum than it does steel. The other problem is the heat reflection. Hard on lenses and most places just won't do it. yep, you can get aluminum with laser paper on it that helps reduce the reflection but still a big PIA.

One catch here for me to do something like this is I don't have a H2 wheel to get the dimensions off of. As somebody else pointed out they have a different taper to them. All aluminum wheels would have a different bolt circle diameter than steel due to the fact that the aluminum of the wheel is thicker there fore your bolt circle must be moved in further for the nuts to clear the wheel shell.

Another concern is the grade. What grade is the wheel? Are all aluminum wheels this grade? In my experience with aluminum welding is it sure is nice when you have all the same grades of material. Wheel, ring and filler rod. In the end it makes for much stronger bonding and cleaner welds. Some will say this isn't important or not that big of a deal but it is to me.
 
Kert,

I had asked you about this a while back. Take a look at this thread on PBB: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224777&page=1&pp=25

I really like Wolf's design, but I am sure that it could be modified. How do you know the grade of aluminum the wheels are made of? If you are really interested, I am willing to send you an H2 wheel to take a look at. Just let me know. I actually have as wheel here that is bent in a couple of places around the bead and I can't sell it anyway, but will be perfect for a beadlock.
 
hey sled its not what your thinking but there was a post here a few months a go about a softbeadlock insert.

it was a flat tube you put in you rim and then fill with air after tire install (need to drill a seconed valve hole)

and it work as a double bead lock, it was made by some company down under. let see if i can fint a link.
 
See the pink, thats a tube, the green is a non-streching material. you slide this inside the tire when you putting it on, put in a second valve stem (for the tube). Mount and inflate your tire, then blow up the tube, the green keeps the tube from expanding holding tube in and making buldge out holding both beads tight on the rim. Internal (pnematic (sp?)) beadlock. kert Bolden ran/runs them on his K5/jimmy, looks cool with the two valve stems, I like them because I'm lazy and dont want to mess with 100 some odd little bolts
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secondair.jpg



acording to the post greg72 runs them also.

I am just rying to figgure out how thry run with that big peice of tire missing:screwy::thinking:

post:http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113369&highlight=beadlock
 
No word from Skunkworks. I am sure I will mount my tires and run without beadlocks for a little bit but I want to know what it is going to cost me when the time comes. As for space between the ring and rim, what about Nutserts? Rockstomper steel units use Nutserts, I could see them working if they would stay in the aluminum ring.
 
I just rechecked that OMF site when I realized I was being dumb. OMF makes the Beadlocks Peterson's runs on their Toyota project. With the domes for the bolts. Quite a handy thing in my book. Interesting.
 
I think there are a quite a few companies out there using nutserts for their rings...

OMF is a very reputable company. They've been making beadlocks for many years.

Another company that sells 17" alum beadlocks is Champion. But you need to send you wheels to them and its about $174-$189 per 17" wheel...
 
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