Thread: Internal Bead Locks

Originally Posted by BreakingBad

on a few occasions many many years ago i had 235/85 bfg's on boost alloys without beadlocks and i got crap in the beads after aggressive driving in ruts and sliding down into ruts. on both occasions it was a rear tyre and i hadn't lowered tyre pressures so they were >=40psi (i was new to 4WDing)




If you use tubes and you get stuff in the bead the stuff will work its way into the wheel and rub on the tube until it wears a hole in the tube. is that the niggly leak you are referring to?

Anyway, from my experiences and what you've said i'm thinking that the forces applied to tyres by aggressive driving in ruts might be the major factor and if the force is great enough the bead will get stuff in it no matter what. having said that it seems logical that using tubes for this type of driving will give you more time before the tyre goes flat?

I had good success with tubes, if you hole a tube it's ruined, tubes don't form slow leaks with tubes I had no leaks, I then went internals, I would get crap in the bead almost every outing, so always a slow leak, both front and rear, without tubes or beadlocks I'd forever roll tyres off

If playing that seriously I'd just go externals straight up
Now I run radials on reversed rims, but the driving is alot more sedate

Originally Posted by wagoo

Not that anyone would do it except for one bloke who shall remain nameless, but external weld on beadlocks cannot be fitted to standard 110/defender or reversed Disco steel rims. The Defender rims are reversed from the factory and because of the wide outer bead section it is impossible to lever the tyre over the rim flange in order for it to be sandwiched between the flange and the bolt on beadlock ring.
The reversed rims are less likely to pop a bead anyway, as the gradual 'ramp' of the wider outer section usually allows the tyre bead to slide back into place.
Internals? Between me and my mates we have tried them on 3 different vehicles and hate them. The problem is that no matter how carefull you are in squaring and centreing the tube and fabric tube sleeve, in order to fit the outer bead of the tyre over the rim flange you have to push a section of the tyres bead into the 'well' of the rim.This then tends to uncentre the beadlocks sleeve. Once the tyre is fitted and you begin to inflate it, there is no way of really knowing if the sleeve is centred as the tube pushes the sleeves beaded edge against the tyre bead. In many cases it doesn't centre and a portion of the tube 'bubbles' out between the sleeve and the rim and gets chafed away in use. The beaded edge of the sleeve will usually centre itself over the 'ramp' on the wider bead side of the rim but their is a sudden transition from 'well' to bead seat on the other narrow side.
I used to use drag racing bead screws, 16 per wheel at a dollar each with good results,But they are also illegal for road use. Now I use nothing except for safety lipped 7'' rims and haven't ever popped a bead on my Simex ET/ Interco Q78 combination, despite regularly running pressures in the 2-6 psi region on knarly twisty conditions. I use tubes but glue the valve stems to the rim so that if I get a puncture, the tyre deflates slowly or not at all just like with a tubeless arrangement.

Bill.

Obviously externals with reversed rims don't work

I have reversed rims now, but as I say, I'm doing girly stuff, even then I don't get much chance

The internals would suffice if your not into fast stuff, everything I was doing was maximum horsepower fast smashing into ruts etc, not huge wheel travel slow stuff

Could always go speeway style, just silicon the tyres to the rims