balancing beadlocks?

[Mattman]

Got a set of beadlocks with 33in Silverstones as an off road only pretty much setup.

Does everyone get them balanced?

[mudlva]

No

[Ashohman]

good luck hahaha

[derk]

if there offroad only nope theres no need, if your using them on the road to get offroad you'll probably find you need to get them balanced, its not uncommon to end up with up to 1/2 a kilo of led per rim with that type of tyre on a beadlock

[Trundle]

Ahh but you can , you get these balancing balls , (tiny little lead balls that go inside the tyre )
Few of the boys are running them on simexes on bead locks they work well

[churchill]

Another way I have heard of and will do to mine is to use antifreeze. I was going to put 1l in each tyre. Will tell you how it goes.

[Mattman]

How does the anti freeze work?

[Crash bandicoot]

How does the anti freeze work?

When the grass ya just drove starts dying, ya know ya got a puncture.

[Big]

How does the anti freeze work?

When the grass ya just drove starts dying, ya know ya got a puncture.

lol

[mudlva]

I wouldnt use anti freeze as it is supper slippery. You will end up having the inside bead getting pushed off all the time if you run tubeless and it could still end up turning onnthe locked side as it relies on friction to stop it turning.

If you are running tubes and you end up ripping a valve or get a puncture then the antifreeze will spill out creating a further ongoing problem.

Re those lead beads wonder what the life of the tubes would be running them inside the tube. Tubeless no issue

[Mattman]

I am going to run tubes

[derk]

if you run tubes make sure you get yourself some vulcanising patches and a bit of practise pulling the rings off the beadlocks it all varies tyre to tyre but you'll find if your letting your tyres down nice and soft (ie well under 10 psi) like you can with a beadlock you'll get a lot of rubbing and friction between the tube and tyre case resulting in lots of little holes and all the air making a run for freedom drill your valve holes out to 16mm and stick some tubeless dump valves in them and the endless flat tyre problem goes away

edit, weld up the existing valve holes in the rim and drill some new 16mm ones further in to protect the valves from getting hooked up and ripped out on shit

[Mattman]

Are you saying run tubeless with dump valves Derk?

[mudlva]

Im looking at going tubeless when the buggy is finally finished.
Imho the rubber used in tube manufacture seems to be a lot lower quality than the old tubes that are 15yrs plus in age. Even the "bobcat" tubes are a lot thinner.
The tyre shops all say thr tubes are the same etc etc but the newer tubes seem to break down faster.

Rant over.

It could also be that we are now expecting alot more and now also running the air preasure alot lower could be whats killing the tubes as well

[derk]

Are you saying run tubeless with dump valves Derk?

by all means try the tubes out if they are already in there mate but you tend to find the amount of friction and rubbing through tubes even with $$heavy duty TR218A tractor dump valve tubes$$ starts becoming a bit tedious

[skid]

Im looking at going tubeless when the buggy is finally finished.
Imho the rubber used in tube manufacture seems to be a lot lower quality than the old tubes that are 15yrs plus in age. Even the "bobcat" tubes are a lot thinner.
The tyre shops all say thr tubes are the same etc etc but the newer tubes seem to break down faster.

Rant over.

It could also be that we are now expecting alot more and now also running the air preasure alot lower could be whats killing the tubes as well

come to my tyre shop. We say the same thing dude. Have started running bigger tubes in trucks etc

ie; 7.50 R16 tyre now gets an 8.25 R16 tube

have less comebacks for punctures now


Now for the tubes vs tubeless debate...................

dirt gets in tyre and rubs between tyre and tube and ...... boom , flat tyre

dirt gets in beads on tubeless tyres and ........ boom , flat tyre

Cant win either way

Majority of trials guys run tubeless now

[DieselBoy]

Arguably easier to fix stuff on the trail with a tubless set up.

You can fix the average puncture well enough with plugs on the trail with out having to remove the tyre from rim. You can carry an inner tube with you incase its a real mess and you cant plug the leak.

Dirt in bead can be cleaned out and the tyre reseated on the bead with minimum fuss with a tie down and a good compressor.

There's no rubbing through of the tube to worry about with grit inside the tyre after re-inflating from a day at low pressures.

Just my experience

[Mattman]

How well do beadlocks seal for running tubeless?

I am experienced with breaking a bead and cleaning and reseating. That's why I have gone to beadlocks.

I assumed most people ran tubes cos beadlocks didn't seal as well.

[derk]

how well the rims seal usually depends on who welded them up sometimes you get a few porous welds but a bit of silicon usually takes care of that, when I fit tyres to a beadlock rim I always give the beads a liberal dosing of mums washing up liquid (sunlite or Palmolive its over to your preference but that eco dolphin shit is rubbish ) it lubes the tyre to let the bead pull up easily and seat properly as you tighten the ring up, after everythings been finished and pumped up the washing up liquid drys out into a gummy resin and glues the shit out of the bead onto the rim they don't leak after that, I do the same to the inside bead as well

[Mattman]

Thanks for all the info

[mudlva]

How well do beadlocks seal for running tubeless?

I am experienced with breaking a bead and cleaning and reseating. That's why I have gone to beadlocks.

I assumed most people ran tubes cos beadlocks didn't seal as well.

Used to ran tubes cause thats just what ya did. A lot of guys didnt have beadlocks and it was a eay of running lower preasure.
Now that a lot more are running beadlocks more people are quarrying on why we are still using tubes

[Mattman]

What torque are people using on the ring bolts and is thread locker needed?

Cheers
Matt

[churchill]

You can buy bead sealer, I used this and I had a beadlock remain inflated in the garage for two years. Dunno what it would be like in real use though.

[mudlva]

What torque are people using on the ring bolts and is thread locker needed?

Cheers
Matt

the idea is to tighten up all the bolts in a progressive rotation pattern, as they are only m6 bolts and a steel inner bead that is drilled and taped, dont go crazy with the spanner.
i normally nip up the bolts then go around the rim 4 to 5 times tightening each bolt a quarter to half turn until they are all firm.

dont use lock tight as that will just stuff the threads up when you remove the bolts.

i have never needed them but a mate fits a m6 nut over the protruding thread and nips that up once the bolt were set as a precaution, just a thought to mention it if you are unsure, but again ive never had a bolt come loose let alone 32 of the little buggers

[4WDbits]

If you're using a steel rim modified to be a beadlock, then the torque setting will be stamped on the wheel somewhere. For certifiable steel beadlocks with 6mm plate and M6 bolts it is about 9nm.

I've been running beadlocks without tubes for years, solved all the problems relating to tube punctures, tyre movement, muck ...

I use balancing beads in the current beadlocks, if you're going to do over about 55kph anywhere (on or off road) then balancing makes a big different. It is an added expense and I never used to bother, but once I did balance them (and it makes a big difference) I always will.

[jeffw]

Pop in and see the guys and Waikanae Tyre and Lube, they'll get ya sorted

[Mattman]

Tempted to ditch the tubes and try tubeless. I have dumpvalves on my tubes at the moment, where can you get tubeless dump valves?

[jeffw]

Any tyre shop can get the dump valves

[zukmeista]

Or 4wdbits has them:
http://www.4wdbits.co.nz/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=1332

[Mattman]

Thanks for all the tips and advice. Tubes in for now. Got a repair kit and have ordered some tubeless dump valves. Also got spare bolts and nuts for the rings.