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Features
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32 bolt system built extra strong for up to 44" tires @32
PSI
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Lock ring FITS the tire bead accurately: centers the
tire PROPERLY
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Rolled edge on lock ring won't cut sidewall if pinched against a
rock
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Rolled edge on lock ring protects bolts from damage on
rocks
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Frequently
Asked Questions
QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS? DISCUSSION?
call Toll Free
888-898-4331
or
All other steel outer beadlock rings we have seen have been cut
from flat steel plate. Some are formed with a certain amount of
contour, others are dead flat. In order to be strong, and adequately
stiff, they need to be made from thick steel. But when they make
them from thick steel, they cannot form them to properly fit a tire
bead. They act like a square jaw vise clamping a soft, non square
object: They squish it out of shape. Our lock ring is formed using
$20,000 worth of tooling (maybe why others don't do it this way?) so
we can get the shape our engineers said was correct. It is built
like a part on an aircraft, where strength is derived from properly
engineered form, rather than sheer mass. And because it has a
properly engineered form: It clamps the bead of the tire firmly
against the inner lock flange, centered, round undistorted.
See Illustration
Why our beadlocks DON'T LEAK
when beadlocks are known to leak?
If the lock ring is not formed to match the shape of the bead
(see above) , it squishes the bead of the tire into an irregular
shape. This then leads to leaks. Also, 16 large bolts are just as strong as 32 smaller ones, but
they will not distribute the clamping force as evenly. When tire
pressure is raised, it begins to flex the lock ring out in the area
between bolts - it does not have to move much! - and an air leak
results. If the tires are well mounted on our wheels, and the bolts
torqued down correctly, they do not leak.
See Illustration
If the lock ring is not formed to match the shape of the bead
(see above) , it will be difficult to center, and squishes the
bead of the tire into an irregular shape: Not necessarily ROUND. If
it is not CENTERED and not ROUND, even if it balances, it will still
vibrate on the road!
See Illustration
High Impact beadlocks center the tire in a manner similar
to a conventional wheel. On a conventional wheel, the bead of the
tire is forced outward over a specifically shaped bead mating
surface. The shape of this surface centers kind of like forcing a
cone in a circular hole. Our outer lock rings have the same correct
shape to mate up to the bead surface of the tire. When you tighten
down the outer lock ring, as long as you tighten the bolts on a
crossover pattern in stages, it pulls into the bead area of the tire
straight and just like the cone into the circle, accurately
centering the tire. Most beadlocks use a flat or only roughly formed
lock ring that will not do this. Others use a lip on the inner lock
ring a centering guide. While this does work as a guide, the
tire is not designed to center from this soft inner surface and can
still be moved around on it.
Once you have installed the tire on our wheel as described
above, (full data is in the instruction
sheet) it will be properly centered and will balance easily (at
least if the TIRE is not seriously out of kilter).
Many have observed that our lock rings are formed of thinner
steel than the flat plate variety. That is on purpose. By forming
the lock ring in an engineered shape, it is actually stronger than a
plain flat plate that is 1/4" or more thick. And 1/4"
thick steel cannot be formed to properly fit the bead of a tire.
Bottom line: We do offer replacement lock rings, After 1 year of
over 1000 wheels out there on the rocks, we had needed to replace
exactly ONE lock ring. Is it strong enough?
Yes. The rolled edge of the
lock ring acts as a shield, a sort of guard rail that is designed to
take the scraping against the rocks, keeping the rocks away from the
bolts.
See Illustration
A "Beadlock" is a device which clamps the tire bead
in place using mechanical force rather than air pressure. It holds the bead firmly in place even at extremely
low air pressure.
See Illustration
Modern tubeless tires depend on air pressure inside
to keep the bead of the tire firmly seated against the bead area of
the wheel. This is the only way they will hold air. When a tire has
32 psi of air in it, that is 32 pounds of force for every square
inch of sidewall surface that is levering the tire bead against the
wheel bead surface. That is why the beads do not usually fail when
you are driving a car, even driving hard.
For any off
road activity much more demanding than a forest service trail, it is
necessary to lower the air pressure to allow the tire to flatten
some and achieve wider tire contact
area. In many cases, the lower the air pressure, the better this
works. But if you lower the pressure too far, the pressure that is
holding the bead of the tire sealed against the wheel becomes less
than the forces trying to push the tire off the bead, and presto:
You blow off a bead and have a flat. This can happen at the worst
time. Visualize: You are climbing up a rocky ledge and are a bit
sideways. The weight of the vehicle pushes the bead off your
aired-down left rear tire. Suddenly, the air rushes out, the tire
folds under, and loses all its grip. The vehicle goes sideways, and
you get a chance to test your roll cage.
Check out the features pointed
out above. And buy ones manufactured as a complete wheel. A beadlock
is typically made by taking a conventional wheel, cut off the bead
lip, weld on a beadlock ring. While this works, if it is not done
properly, straight and true, with flawless welds, your wheel can
fail. And if it is going to fail, it will likely fail when you are
in a precarious position putting heavy stress on it. Avoid this
danger.
High Impact Beadlocks are manufactured
entirely start-to finish by Allied Wheel Corporation in their
340,000 square foot Garden Grove, California plant. Built with
stringent quality control, they are the proven way to go.
Grade 8 bolts are used in mounting the lock ring because the will withstand the greatest amount of
pulling force. Grade 8 bolts, However, are brittle, and do not like
side loads. If they are resting cocked against the lock ring, the
forces pulling on the bolts have considerable side load, weakening
the overall load carrying ability dramatically. Check out some other
beadlock designs, you might see an example of this.
See Illustration
Our
"Rockathon" style beadlock wheel is not DOT approved.
They are certainly well built and obviously stronger than most OEM
wheels.
They just don't pass the definition as the bureaucrats have written
it. If you really need a DOT certified wheel, we have THESE
available
Ours
balance up and drive just fine. We have driven them from California
to Colorado and Utah and back. We have had no problems. As for the
strict definition "are they legal?" this is a question for
a lawyer. I dunno. I hear lots of opinions, they don’t all agree.
Many people use them on the street. The DOT is a federal
organization. Different states may have to be safer and stronger
than factory DOT wheels. The problem is that the DOT has never
written a specification for them to comply with, so they cannot
"rubber stamp" them. Different states have different laws
on whether you are required to comply with DOT approval, and on what
parts. For liability reasons, I cannot legally endorse the use of
beadlock wheels on the street.
16.5” wheels simply cannot be properly locked
in the manner that works well on 15” and 17 Inch wheels. This is
due to the design of the bead area. On 15” and 17” wheels, the
bead pushes out onto a shaped surface. The tire has a soft lip that
presses down on the inside diameter of the wheel. This inside diameter
extends
in about 1” on one side, and about 2.5” on the other side (The
“large bell” of the wheel). This area, along with a raised area
formed into it is called the “safety bead”. It helps keep the
tire on the wheel even at lower tire pressures. That means
that if we put a lock on the outside, the inside bead can still move
in 2.5” (with the Large bell on the inside) before the bead will
fully blow. Since most of the forces which unseat a bead are on the
outside, it is practical to beadlock 15 and 17” wheels. On a 16.5,
however, the design is such that if the bead is moved off the inside
bead area at all, you will blow the bead. There is no “safety
bead” area. It relies entirely on air pressure to keep the bead
seated. I have seen companies that will beadlock a 16.5, but
they are fooling themselves (or somebody). Unless they lock both the
inside and the outside, it will blow the inside bead way too easy.
It is also not usually practical to put a lock on the inside, as it
will not clear the brakes or steering in most cases.
Yes, it can be done. The
brakes on axles were never intended to fit a 15” wheel, and some
grinding of the caliper or clearancing on the drums is usually
needed. Nothing drastic, however, We offer a special center with
more dish than usual, and have optimized the profile of the wheel
shell to absolutely maximize the clearance available for these
brakes. As a result, only minimal grinding will be needed. These
brakes were designed to slow down a 1 Ton pickup pulling s big horse
trailer or something, the bulky iron parts were meant for these
kinds of heat loads. With a Jeep or Bronco, or mud truck that
won’t be towing a million pounds, they will never see these heat
loads. They can easily be ground down without compromising strength
or durability in this type of application.
The center holes on our
wheels are standardized. by bolt pattern
5 on 4-1/2 =
3.3" dia
5 on 4-3/4 =
3.3" dia
5 on
5 = 3.3" dia
5 on 5-1/2 =
4.25" dia
6 on 5-1/2 =
4.25" dia
8 on 6-1/2 =
4.25" dia
All of our wheels are
manufactured for us by Allied wheel corporation in their 360,000
square foot facility in Garden Grove, California. These are the real
thing, not some garage-shop operation.
QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS? DISCUSSION?
call Toll Free
888-898-4331
or
High Impact
Marketing, Incorporated
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