Offroad-Express

Who on here uses Beadlocks,I was looking at getting a set made up for my 4WD so I could safely run lower tyre pressures on the sand.

Anybody use them?

Any pros or cons?

Any help appreciated...

Secondair beads are the way, they are like a second tube that is pumped to 80psi or so that keeps both beads locked. bout 250 each and road legal, no modded rim.

http://www.secondair.com/index.htm

You.ve got to be joking about those second airs. We have a couple of sets in the club and they are nothing but hassles. Hard to get the bloody air out of them most of the time when the bead lock tube moves and covers the main tyre valve. Both sets still let dirt in around the bead when running low pressures. Not really low pressures either. only around 10 to 15psi. When you do get a puncture its a bloody nightmare to strip the bloody things. Have you had any of these problems JAFA. You do need to drill an extra hole in each rim for extra valve. If you have been running tractor tubes previously this means you have some holes to fill in to get back to a smaller valve diameter.

Three of us run the mechanical beadlocks on our trucks. I've run mine down to 4psi and had great results. Easy to strip and repair in the bush too. Just carry a battery drill as your wrist get a little tired.

G

Oh and cheaper too. Between $90 and $250 a rim depending on how much finishing work you want done and whether you supply your own rims.



Believe it or not the tyres haven't fallen off the inside of the rim either. Ruins your ground clearnace though.

G

Hi George,
Yer I have heard a few people have had issues with their secondairs, but I have never myself. Now i aint been as low as 4psi with them either, but 8 is as low as i go. I spoke to the guys at Big Balls Offroad about some of the probs people had in oz when I fitted mine, and came up with some precautions when installing them.
1- I glued the secondair to the rim with F2 to stop any movement (cleaned the rim with rubbing alchohol before glueing it)
2- I used some foam strips from one of those blue camp mats, glued them to the two little pads that go either side of the normal valve, and also made them longer to come up into the main area of the tyre to help with getting air in and out. Also made sure these wher not far from the valve so the gap has not dissappeared when you pump the secondair up.
3- I run them@80psi rather than the 45 the book says

I havn't had a flat or had dirt in the bead with mine at all, mind you I only had them for 6 months or so before I pulled my truck to bits...

Them some really good tips. I was gonna say your bead pressure was a lot higher than reccomended. Will pass on your info to club members.

Cheers for that.

G

Hi there guy's I'm just wondering if there is any info around about making bead locks to fit rims, i'm an engineer and a friend of mine and i have been talking about it. Any advice would be great!! Thanks very much.

Hiya Mumad,
http://www.lvvta.org.nz/Wheels&Tyres.pdf
page 10 tells ya the legal requirements

Hey thanks for that Jafa, i'll have a look

Hi D1HARD. Ring Brian Howatt (sp) an engineer in Lower Hutt, he does an excellent job, can be certified too. I supplied rims and he charged about $80 per rim to beadlok. Ran 35"Simexes at 5psi on a V8 cruiser and never had a problem. Now have a Zuk with 33's and B/loks. Brilliant.

apex wrote:Ring Brian Howatt (sp) an engineer in Lower Hutt, he does an excellent job, can be certified too.

Has anyone actually certified his beadlocks? According to the LVVTA spec you need 36 bolts (one every 10 degrees), but his are only 24 bolt. I talked to him about this, and he said certifiers in welly were OK, but wasn't sure about auckland...

I also know a guy who had a Howatt one come apart on the southern motorway in ak. I asked Brian about this too, and he was pretty open and said he had a problem with the supplier of the cap screws at one stage.

I know of or have heard of these people making beadlocks:

- Swages Engineering auckland. $200 ready to bolt on. 36 bolt. These guys wrote the LVVTA standard.
- Howatt engineering ~ $90 24 bolt, unpainted.
- Mark Walford engineering Napier. ~$200, dunno what you get.
- Some guy in palmy??

Anyone know of any others?

Ben

A mate has Brians Beadloks certified on his Rangy (in Wgtn) so they can be done. I would assume that he can put in as many cap scews as you need for certification.

I asked Brian if he could put in 36, but he said no.

Ben

I have 2 sets of rims beadlocked with Brian Howarts system and both have been certified here in Wellington.

I run 35" tyres on both sets for the last few years. Yes Brian did have a problem with some screws from a supplier and I was involved in them braking while 4wd down South, driving to Haast from Ross at night.
Brian repaid me fully for ALL costs I was involved in without a question (including another set of statndard rims)

Now thats customer service.

Good on him for fronting and making the problem his not yours to get fixed.

Heath

Yeah that is good. It can take years to build a good reputation and 30 seconds to blow it all away. Obviously he likes his reputation

Mike