Fawkin beadlock problems, part II

Okay, went to mount my brand new tires on my beadlocks last night and got as far as my first one, filled it up with air and sure enough the fawker leaks.

this is what I did.

got the tire on, tightened some of the bolts enough to fill with air to seat the rear bead, let the air down to 10 or so pounds to keep the form of the tire, proceded to tighten the bolts to 14 ft. lbs (I went with this number cuz I feel that my lock nuts create a certain amount of drag which will give me false torque readings on my bolts), went around a million times to get them all the same and then aired up to 25 psi and I heard air leaking, proceded to drink a few more beers and leave the leaking tire on the floor till tonight.

possable problems that I feel could be the reason

the beadlocks that I bought are the weld on's, the guy that makes them works at the badlands in the shop, he welds on an aprox 1/4" 'anticoning' ring on the inside of the inner ring, (I'll take pix's and post later), the purpose of this is to prevent the outter ring from coning (duh - anticoning), I'm thinking that with this on there it's preventing my outter ring from properly clamping down on the bead, thus allowing it to leak.

I like the 'idea' of the anticoning ring, but should I remove them and see what happens? I think so, they're stich welded on so it wouldn't be a big deal to remove them.

Please help me.

soapy water?

soapy water?

Beezil said:

soapy water?

soapy water?

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yep, lots o' soapy water.

I'd try the soapy water and see exactly where the leak or leaks are. It might be that the tire is not sealing for another reason or that the low torque is not making enough pressure? Are you sure the tire is seated on the inner part of the bead lock? Is the ring and rim clean? I had a rim leaking and soem dirt was between the bead and the tire.

Ghost said:

I'd try the soapy water and see exactly where the leak or leaks are. It might be that the tire is not sealing for another reason or that the low torque is not making enough pressure? Are you sure the tire is seated on the inner part of the bead lock? Is the ring and rim clean? I had a rim leaking and soem dirt was between the bead and the tire.

Click to expand...

can't see the tire bead with the 'anticoning' ring.

used soap.

cleaned the 'bead'.

it can't be seated wrong, no place to go other than the right place.

I don't think that is so unusual, unless they are all doing it. I rarely put all four on without something leaking. Cleaning everything and using soapy water usually works, but one time I had a real stubborn one, I think I pulled it apart four times to finally get it to seal. I ended up putting tire patch glue around the bead before putting the ring on and that worked.

Here's a pic of the anticone ring, could this be the problem, or if I remove it may I have an easier job sealing the bead???

My theory on the anti coning- I prefer for the outer ring to cone, it puts more pressure on the very inside edge of the bead thus hopefully creating a better seal. Not that I own a set, but I've done so much frickin' research on 'em I feel like I do. Of course, if he's making the outer rings out of 1/8" you probably need the ring, 3/16" or above I think you can get away with it.

I haven't measured the outter ring, but I know that they're at least 3/16" or heavier. I'm going to remove the anti ring and see what happens, at least on one wheel, all else fails, I can just weld it back on.

In place of the anticoning ring, I was thinking of using a 'V' fan belt in there to help keep the mud/small rocks out, but then again that would trap mud in there, but then again how would it get in there? but how does it get into everything else that's 'sealed' up on my Jeep. No belt either, final answer.

I doubt that it'll help, but when I put mine together I didn't air them at all until the ring was torqued. Then I aired them up to pop the rear bead into place. I wonder if the front bead is moving & getting pinched when you torque it with air in the tire?

14 ft/lbs doesn't seem like enough. It took forever going round and round on my hummer beadlocks to get them snug and tight. I didn't use a torque wrench, but I am pretty sure it's around 40-50 ft/lbs. One of them wasn't torqued as much as the others and it leaked in a couple of days, retorqued and it;s been fine since.

I have always been skeptical of the weld on beadlocks because it takes a steady exact hand to make sure there are no leaks around it.

SeanP

Silicone is your friend....I had problems too with my Trail Ready bead locks, silicone sealant resolved that 100%...not one bit of air leak.

XJguy

On my allied beadlocks, I used a little soapy water on the beads, pushed them on the rim, tightened all the bolts, and the aired it up to seat the other bead. They all hold air for about 30 days before they are flat. Thats good enough for me.

SeanP, 14-16 lbs is all that is needed for regular beadlocks. Hummer rims are different though.

Hear, hear. I run Eaton beadlocks. And I've got the same thing. Last about a month or so before they get low. Just pump them back up a bit every couple of weeks. It's good to go. Although I like that silicone idea too. Haven't done that yet. Should try it when I mount my new tires...

SewerBoss said:

SeanP, 14-16 lbs is all that is needed for regular beadlocks. Hummer rims are different though.

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Good to know, thanks.

Locking both beads on the hummer rim is huge piece of mind when I wheel in my garage.

I would be wary of using silicone. I can imagine that if you ever take the tire off the rim, when you put it back on there will be a bunch of remaining silicone detritus that may make the problem worse. I would rough up the inside of the tire bead with sandpaper and use a bunch of dish soap. Also if you are really concerned, submerge the tire in water and find the leaks.

SeanP

SeanP said:

Good to know, thanks.

Locking both beads on the hummer rim is huge piece of mind when I wheel in my garage.

I would be wary of using silicone. I can imagine that if you ever take the tire off the rim, when you put it back on there will be a bunch of remaining silicone detritus that may make the problem worse. I would rough up the inside of the tire bead with sandpaper and use a bunch of dish soap. Also if you are really concerned, submerge the tire in water and find the leaks.

SeanP

Click to expand...

I can speak form experience that the silicone comes off with the greatest facility if you need to remove the tire. I have mounted two sets of tires on mine and have not had even the slightest difficulty. The silicone comes off as a single rope. I have not lost any air at all in my tires, amazing I know, even Im amazed..its been inflated for a year now!

XJguy

removed the anticoning rings, fixed a few leaking welds and life is getting better.

she's almost ready to be moved out of the garage so I can park my burb and Ang's Jeep in out of the snow. I hate scrapin windows.

thanks for the input everybody.

My Champion beadlocks are torqued to 10 ft lbs, according to the instructions. No leakdown of air in any of the tires. I did learn a couple of things, though. Always put them back together with new bolts, and re-torque them periodically. When re-using the old bolts I ended up snapping quite a few of them, haven't snapped one since I started using new bolts each time.