I've not tried the weld-on stuff, but know folks who love them...sealing can be tuff tho...
I've had two sets of Allied's and really liked them...but the ring would get beaten and rusty (no surprise)...and tightening 32 bolts sucked...
I've now got TrailReady's....one set is a steel rim with the wide alum ring. The ring looks terrible...the wide alum gets scared quickly and is wide enough to 'hide' the clean rim underneath...my 37" Rockers are on these.
The set on the rig now are 17x9 TrailReady Alum rims with the thin alum ring. BIG fan....skinny ring makes it easier to clean out and while the ring is scarred, it's narrow enough to not hide the bling rims.
I'd do these again...no question...only bad part was the $$, but they DO look sharp
I never thought I would like the DIY Rockstomper beadlocks, but just bought some used ones with some 38.5 SX's.
They have the wider ring, (which I would have never chosen) but I have loved them the first few times out. I don't have to worry about breaking valve stems, and to say I have scraped most of the paint off of them is an understatement. I love the way I can use them to slide up and down rocks and not have to worry about rocks getting wedged inside of the wheel.
The wheels on them are steel, didn't even clean them, so I don't have the problem Woody had with the wide rings. I need to repaint the rings as they are yellow and look like doo doo. They actually help hide the cruddy wheels.
They haven't lost any air since I got them and aired them up, and the PO must have never tightened the bolts as they were LOOSE. Got them torqued and still no air loss. Like Woody said, tightening all those bolts does suck. Took about 10 times of going around each one to get them at the right torque. Don't know what size the bolts on the others are, but Rockstomper said on his sight that others use smaller bolts. The bolts are 3/8". Mine have the Nylocks, if I ever get bored, or if they loosen up much, I will put normal locknuts on them. I do like the nuts on back versus the threadserts.
Can't say anything for the other brands, but my goal when $$ comes flying my way is to get some of the lighter aluminum ones. The SX's and wheels weigh in at 135 pounds a piece. My aluminum wheels and 35" Boggers were 99 pounds a piece. Trail Ready and Allied will probably be on the top of my list.
Consider Stazworks dual beadlocks. They're worth a look. They're ridiculously strong, but a bit on the heavy side.
I have 1 ton axles, but you can get a 6 bolt pattern... or whatever you want. They have a number of options including whatever cut-out patterns you want to do. They do different kinds of rim reinforcements and you can get the center section pressed which makes it so that it'll clear larger brakes.
I have custom weld-on beadlocks on my 17x8 steel rims and 37x14x17 bias Iroks. I am very happy with them, but I think the ultimate set-up would be a steel rim with a rock ring and Staun internal beadlocks.
I have no experience with beadlocks but... I bought the Allied Rockathons in 17x9.5 because they were economical ($200.00 ea. for beadlocks!), they were steel and powdercoated (not a fan of bling), and I was/am sucked into the belief that more bolts=more equal torque/pressure on tire bead. That being said 32 bolts to torque was a pita. Allied instructions says each bolt will need to be torqued 3 times...I found this to be very conservative. I have not moved the truck since I mounted them but they havn't lost any pressure either...and I think they look pretty slick.
My H1's are pretty bada$$ but heavy. I would do them again if I could get a good deal on the wheels and shipping. Otherwise, I may end up finding some aluminum wheels and doing weld-on beadlocks to save some weight.
These are actually for a customers 40 that is SOA and still on 40 axles.
It looks like that for the cost of me building him a DIY lock (wheels, locks, labor) he can get the sweet TR alloys ~$300. The steel 18 bolt MRW wheels are about ~225 and the cheapest option looks like it would be buying wheels and Stauns. ~$200.
These are actually for a customers 40 that is SOA and still on 40 axles.
It looks like that for the cost of me building him a DIY lock (wheels, locks, labor) he can get the sweet TR alloys ~$300. The steel 18 bolt MRW wheels are about ~225 and the cheapest option looks like it would be buying wheels and Stauns. ~$200.
