During my time with my new 37x14.00x17 Bias Iroks and my 17x8 wheels, I realized that my old thought process was nil and void with 17” wheels… I used to run a wide tire on a narrow wheel as a “poor man’s beadlock”. This seemed to work well for me until this tire combo. I loved the traction the Iroks gave me, but you could tell that they wanted to be at a lower pressure and I lost a couple beads while playing.
The solution came when someone on another 4x4 forum that I frequent decided to start laser cutting DIY Beadlock rings. He was CAD designing them with whatever you wanted and selling the rings for a really good deal. I couldn’t stand it and asked him to cook up the design I’ve been wanting to run forever. Here is a pic of the CAD drawing that he sent me:
After I saw that, I knew that I had to have them! So I sold a few things and shuffled my budget a bit and ordered a set for my 17” wheels. If you don’t remember them, this is what they looked like when I bought them:
I’m sorry that I don’t have many build pics, but I was on a short time frame to get these done. I ended up buying all of the hardware, paint and silicon a little at a time and waited til I had a stretch to get them done. Here is the inner ring welded, smoothed and painted onto the wheel:
A pic of my redneck paint booth with the outer rings hanging:
Mock-up of what it will look like. The grade 8 hardware just set in for looks:
And how she looks on the 80:
This shot shows how much wider the tire looks with the extra inch of wheel. Because the tire is now bolted onto the face of the wheel, it makes the width more like 17x9 with the backspacing staying the same. I think it looks much meaner!
So there ya go! By the time you factor in all of the extra stuff (hardware, special valve stems, etc.) and your time, it’s probably cheaper just to buy some beadlocks. But then they wouldn’t have my screen name on them and I wouldn’t have the satifaction of knowing I welded them up myself! That coolness is worth it all in my opinion! I will get a full side shot when she is out of the shop…
The solution came when someone on another 4x4 forum that I frequent decided to start laser cutting DIY Beadlock rings. He was CAD designing them with whatever you wanted and selling the rings for a really good deal. I couldn’t stand it and asked him to cook up the design I’ve been wanting to run forever. Here is a pic of the CAD drawing that he sent me:
After I saw that, I knew that I had to have them! So I sold a few things and shuffled my budget a bit and ordered a set for my 17” wheels. If you don’t remember them, this is what they looked like when I bought them:
I’m sorry that I don’t have many build pics, but I was on a short time frame to get these done. I ended up buying all of the hardware, paint and silicon a little at a time and waited til I had a stretch to get them done. Here is the inner ring welded, smoothed and painted onto the wheel:
A pic of my redneck paint booth with the outer rings hanging:
Mock-up of what it will look like. The grade 8 hardware just set in for looks:
And how she looks on the 80:
This shot shows how much wider the tire looks with the extra inch of wheel. Because the tire is now bolted onto the face of the wheel, it makes the width more like 17x9 with the backspacing staying the same. I think it looks much meaner!
So there ya go! By the time you factor in all of the extra stuff (hardware, special valve stems, etc.) and your time, it’s probably cheaper just to buy some beadlocks. But then they wouldn’t have my screen name on them and I wouldn’t have the satifaction of knowing I welded them up myself! That coolness is worth it all in my opinion! I will get a full side shot when she is out of the shop…
way cool!
!
