Beadlock Talk

[Wrightracing.net]

I don't see any benefits to those tires

They're cheap, fit on a cheap beadlocked rim, tough as nails, good for the kind of terrain I see (a little bit of everything all at once, plenty of things that will poke holes in tires) and come in sizes from ~29" to ~34"

I often drive in the native environment of a skid steer or small tractor. When in Rome, do as the Romans. I wouldn't specifically select them for go-fast in the desert if that was my primary purpose for the set of tires.

Sorry about the thread hijack.

No problem, tire selection for beadlocks is applicable.

Now for cheap beadlocks. Only if you can run them without recentering them or recentering them yourself. The Military Humvee beadlocks can be around $30 - $50 in the stock condition for 12 or 24 bolt. Because of the dangers and issues with 8 bolt beadlocks I would avoid them. 12 bolt should work well on a Bronco and in my case I will be putting them on a F350 that pulls trailers at freeway speeds with the tire pressure at 40 - 50 psi the 24 bolt is the best option without a huge increase in cost.

Recentered hummer wheels are about the same cost as aftermarket beadlocks but with one advantage, they are a true double inner and outer beadlock. Most commercially available beadlocks used in racing are only outer bealocks, which is just fine. The drawback of the military humvee wheels is that they are heavier than the racing beadlocks. A recentered humvee beadlock will run anywhere from $200 to $350 depending on the features you get, like the rock rings, PVC insert, paint/powder coating and runflats.

Mine were $250 each for 5 of them but they gave me a great deal on 5 new 100% tread BFG Baja TA 37"x12.50"x16.5 tire with shipping making it $1800 for the whole package. I did get the recentered wheels with inserts but did not get the rock ring, which if I have any issues which messing up beadlock bolts I will add them later.

So in the end the rims are not cheaper but in the future military take off tires will be. $150 - $200 for BFG Baja TA 37"x12.50"x16.5 versus $400+ for 37"x12.50"x17" on the commercial market for tires.

[robertcrav]

Be interesting to see tread life and how the tires will perform on the freeway...if you replace tires and wear parts twice as much due to added weight etc...then I don't see the benefit. Also if you do destroy a tire away from home how many tire shops still stock 16.5" tires??

[arse_sidewards]

Be interesting to see tread life and how the tires will perform on the freeway...if you replace tires and wear parts twice as much due to added weight etc...then I don't see the benefit. Also if you do destroy a tire away from home how many tire shops still stock 16.5" tires??

Seriously, go check out some agricultural tires, puncture issues are not exactly a problem with them.

Well like I said they're not a DOT tire and probably need to be half full of lead shot to balance out so they shouldn't be seeing many freeway miles (not gonna get into that subject here).

If I get a flat away from home then I put on the spare. If I absolutely need a tire then I can just buy a tire+rim at any junkyard. This is the same thing I'd do no matter what tire I'm running.

Or if I'm close to home and for some reason don't have a spare I'd just drive on it at low speed since that's what the rubber run-flat is for and if it's bad enough that I'm not patching it it's trash anyway.

They're made to go on a 6000lb+ piece of equipment that drives over all sorts of crap and literally drags the tires to steer. On a 5000lb truck they should last a very, very long time (especially in dirt-only service).

In a 31"-32" size I'm hoping they probably won't kill drive-train parts any faster than a 35 on the same rim. Jamming the bead lock into them is what I foresee the biggest problem with.

[robertcrav]

There's 2 different discussions...

David (WrightRacing) is talking about running the 37" Military Hummer take off tires... and you Arse_Sideways are talking about running 31-32" skid steer tires...

This is primarily a Go-Fast forum meaning desert/dune type terrain, so I don't see a benefit to running skid steer tires in that terrain, or on the highway ... I use my truck as a daily driver, so my truck sees more street than dirt... that's just my life at the moment.

Just my opinions which are worth nothing...so I hope it all works out the way you hope

[Pwerwagn]

I torque my bolts to 18ft lbs. I check em 50 miles later and never again now. I used to check them, never had a loose bolt. They get used hard too, I've ruined one toyo and a walker on 2 different occasions.

As far as the 16.5 skid steer tires, I tried em on a power wagon years ago when I was in the tire biz. Hated them in every way. They don't flex. They don't hook up. They are heavy as hell. The worse part was they made it feel like I had 100hp less from the weight, and I actually went down from a 35" BFG to a ~32.5" skid steer directional. Maybe your results will vary...but I'd never try it again. The truck was strictly offroad as well. Slow speed, pulling, rough terrain, etc.

[robertcrav]

Not sure if you two have seen these up for sale on Race Dezert

http://www.race-dezert.com/classifieds/ ... s&id=94251

[Wrightracing.net]

That is a good price on them. They would normally cost around $350 each new. My only issue is weight of those for the Bronco and the weight of 37's.

Still a good deal.

[Pwerwagn]

https://www.roguefab.com/product.php?id=167

I like those new rogue centers for h1's and the paired 24 bolt wheels.

[Wrightracing.net]

Those paired ones look cool. I got the evenly spaced 24 bolt beadlocks for my f350. I did not get the rock rings on mine, we will see if, I have an issue and may end up adding them later.

I wonder if there is any advantage to the paired 24 bolt wheels over the even spaced 24 bolt wheels or vice versa????

[Pwerwagn]

The paired spacing wheels are higher rated. They come with e range tires, even spaced come with d. I think the paired are rated for higher psi (65 vs 50 I think?) and I've heard the run more true. The 37" e range bfg's are the only e range 37 I've found rated as high as a 37" toyo.

[Wrightracing.net]

Yes, the D range are rated at 50 psi

Bfg baja TA's come in both D and E

I got the D load range for my truck

Manufacturer: BF Goodrich
Dimmensions: 37x12.5x16.5
Load Range: D
Tread Plies: 7 plies (4 polyester cord, 2 steel cord, 1 nylon cord)
Sidewall Plies: 4 plies (polyester cord)
Max Load: 3850lbs @ 50psi.
Rim Size: 16.5"

The nice thing about the D range is when you air down,
the tire will float better than E range. My F350 weights
7100lbs, which is almost half of the 14,000 lbs a military Humvee weights.

[arse_sidewards]

Not sure if you two have seen these up for sale on Race Dezert

Those are a great deal but they're more rim than I need. I'd buy them but they're on the other side of the country, have a rock ring I don't want and don't have the inserts I do want.

My F350 weights
7100lbs, which is almost half of the 14,000 lbs a military Humvee weights.

Damn.

Crew-cab + diesel + camper shell + toolbox?

[Pwerwagn]

The E's float just fine. You just air down a little more. My cummins weighs 8050 lbs, the toyos are 4300 lb rated. They spend a large portion of their life at 12 front and 8 rear at the lake. But when I tow heavy, I run 60 rear/55 front.

I haven't used the e range bfg's much yet on the Ramcharger, but I hope they work good. I've been trying to keep it light but I'm guessing it will still wind up 63-6800 or so in the end.

[Wrightracing.net]

Not sure if you two have seen these up for sale on Race Dezert

Those are a great deal but they're more rim than I need. I'd buy them but they're on the other side of the country, have a rock ring I don't want and don't have the inserts I do want.

My F350 weights
7100lbs, which is almost half of the 14,000 lbs a military Humvee weights.

Damn.

Crew-cab + diesel + camper shell + toolbox?

The 7100lbs is with a Diesel before the Beadlocks. Yes, they are heavy.

[Wrightracing.net]

Got my new beadlocks and 37's for the F350. I was surprised that they don't feel that much heavier than the 35's on oem rims, even though I know they are heavier. So many people made it sound like I was adding boat anchor's to all four wheels. Oh well, I like the quality and they are balanced already. So I am happy so far. I will give a long term review one day.