Looking for feedback

[4PLAYZJ]

I have sold my spare set of tires & now have a spare set of rims that I have decided to experiment with.  I am looking to to set them up for some kind of bead lock system.  I dont want to run staun because of the cost/pain in a$$ factor.  I have been thinking of installing some weld on beadlock kits.  The one other idea that I came across on the net that I thought was clever was using raised welds in the inside of where the tire bead sits.  Large enough to help hold the bead in place but still be able to seat the bead when installing.  Though this was clever because it is not visable & I think it could add a lot of support when aired down. 

I am also wondering about the safety factor of weld on kits for highway use.  I know it is not approved by Transport Canada but lets face it most of our rigs are not "approved" either if you follow the exact letter of the law.

[esi]

If you're going to weld on the rim you might as well weld on a set of beadlocks.  Since you're welding to the rim they rims wouldn't  really be legal anyways.  If you kno a pipeline welder with a pipe roller and a wirefeed. the rim could be clamped to the roller and set to roll at the perfect speed to make the weld uniform and probably alot safer than some of the beat to crap aluminum rims that are on the road legally.
And with all the fake beadlocks on the road do you think anyone(police/RCs) would harass you about them. Insurance company could be another story if you got into an accident and the rims were the cause of it.

[hps4evr]

i ran regular rims with 33" tires for a long while. airing up and down with no issues wheeling. lowest was 8 psi. i never lost a bead. i say if you have the rims, welder and some time to kill then go for it. it will be a major PITA to mount and dis-mount tires. but if you grind the weld and make a nice bead then i bet it would work pretty good. not to mention you can do inside and outside beads. most rims come with this allready on the outside bead area, i believe its called a safety bead. 16.5" rims did not have safety beads, they needed air pressure to hold the tires on. but welding a bigger bead in would help things out. check the thickness of the tires bead as well. give you a good idea where to place the weld. apparently newer tires are going to thicker beads. maybe even buff the tire bead to give it a better chance of seating on and off.
good luck.

[Bnine]

I've done 3 or 4 sets of weld ons. I would only recommend use of them on a trailered rig. They get so out of balance, they will shred a front end in short order if you run them on the road.

For experimenting, I'd just do that inner bead, I've heard of that too, and be curious to see how it works.

[4PLAYZJ]

Think that I will try the innerbead.  I normally air down to 8 psi, but would like to get down to 4 or so without trouble.

I will take some pics while I do it  and put togethre a writup after testing it.

[Zombie]

take a look at land rover wheels if you can. they will give you a good idea what kind of size you can have for a bead.
as long as it is not a sharp change in height, they should slide ok.
just make sure they are smooth.

[morerpmfred]

There are several threads on pirate about how the poster put in 7/8 self taping screws in the rim every two inch's or so and the purpose was to prevent the bead from slipping of. You could not use pitbull tires on it cause the sidewall was to flexible nor could you use ar rims as the safety bead and area where you would put the screws in would go in at an angle. Contreversal but this may be an option as well.
When you go to the pirate web site click on the tech page and then on th search link hit diy beadlocks

[hps4evr]

using screws to hold the beads to the wheels was a hot rod trick. i saw that years ago and thought it not too bright. im thinkin they could leak air. but, im sure plenty have used this idea and it worked fine. but it must depend on screw size, rim design and tire design.

[morerpmfred]

The screws do not go into the bead like the hot rodders did , but rather screw in where the safty bead is and act like a super size safty bead. inch worm sells a kit to do this. Yea I know it is controversal.