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question about bead lock mechanics

colbystephens

colbystephens

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ok, so i was at discount tire asking the dude how beadlocks work and he proceeded to describe to me that you take a really expensive wheel which has holes in it and then put screws thru the rubber above the bead. i said ok, i get that, heard of it done before and whatever. so then i ask him, then how do weld on beadlocks differ? he says to me that weld on beadlocks are just for looks. i didn't say it to him, but i know that's BS. so how does it work?
 
Are you asking how beadlocks work, or how weld ons work?

Either way, on a stock rim, the beads of the tire go inside the rim, then air pressure presses against them from the inside. The problem with this is that as the tire pressure drops (airing down) the weight of the truck over comes the pressure that is pushing againt the tire from the inside...then woosh, you have busted a bead.

Beadlocks use a ring (flat plate) and nuts and bolts to hold the bead of the tire to the rim.

Google search and you will probably come up with a bunch of pictuers.

Weld-on's work the same way, its just that you are welding the inner plate (the one that the outside plate bolts to) to the rim.

I suck at explaing things!!!

Rob
 
colbystephens said:
ok, but why would he say that weld on bead locks are fake?
Click to expand...
Because he is a dumb@ss and know's nothing about beadlocks . You should never ask any counter monkey at 4wheel parts anything :haha: . They will just confuse you or pi$$ you off . I think there are a few vendors on here that sell beadlock wheels and Kurt @ DIY4X makes some pretty cool weld on kit's to make your existing wheels into beadlocks . Keep in mind that beadlocks are not really street legal .
 
cause hes obviously talking out of his ass, much like many people. I had a guy at 4wheel parts tell me that people that actually GO offroading know that procomp springs are the best springs. :haha: what an ass, I laughed in his face and walked out.
 
Sounds like he is describing screwing the tire to the bead not a bead lock just rim screws mostly for keeping the tire from rotating on a drag car
 
But what keeps the inside from comming apart with just the outside locked?...I know I'm a dumb-ass but I'm missing some basic tire tech 101 here.

By the way, those are the best documented pics I've seen of how bead locks work.
 
i asked the same question of the tire dude and he said that pretty much any off-camber situation puts the weight of the vehicle on the outside bead - makes sense. so no real need to lock the inside.
 
The inside is usually not locked but some wheels are "double locked" in a normal beadlock manor.

The better and way cool dude way right now is to use Staun internal beadlocks. These are a small tough innertube that presses both beads out at the same time.
They also allow for you to drive on a flat tire for a short distance as they act like a really small tire inside of the big tire.

If I was to get beadlocks today i would buy regular wheels and get Stauns.
 
colbystephens said:
i asked the same question of the tire dude and he said that pretty much any off-camber situation puts the weight of the vehicle on the outside bead - makes sense. so no real need to lock the inside.
Click to expand...

Correct. The vast majority of the time the outside bead of the tire will see most of the forces. Not just in off camber situations, but turning and other conditons also. I have personally debeaded one of my tires at least 4-5 times and it's always the outside bead that goes. I have also seen numerous others on the trail that debeaded and again it's always, and only, the outside. Granted you can debead the inner bead under just the right circumstance, but it does not happen very often. Most of the people I have heard about that lost an inner bead also lost the outer bead......I'm guessing it's because the outer bead went first and a little bit of tire spinning will then cause the inner bead to go also.
 
Unfortunatly discount is an anti bead lock company. It has to do with some leagal matters and the old split rim style wheels. A bead lock is considered a split wheel and we therefore don't work on them. As a result the counter lackies don't get any knowledge of them. You have to get lucky and find somebody that works there and has done outside reasearch (like me) to get specific questions answered. It sucks that there isn't enough understanding about it.
 
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