Baystate Jeepers

Check out the Bassett Racing DOT wheels... They locate the valve stem so it is in the center of the wheel (not the best description) between the bead mounting surfaces so it is protected... The Stauns valve stems can probably be located in a similar way.

I'd suggest bead balancing, but that is probably a bad idea with the Stauns....

JW

My Allied racing Bead locks work great for me The valve stem is closer to the inside of the rim with a short stem I will be hard to rip1 up My 17 inch were around 200 A 15 inch is about 160 hear is a link http://www.tellico4x4.com/index.php/cPa ... /5a/page/1

They are Very strong wheel I have not bent 1 since august running 4 psi or lower

Baseshakers wrote:so i'm leaning towards the stauns. i'm also thinking about valve stem protection. anyone ever welded pipe on to protect the valve stems? I'd like to protect both the tire's valve stem and the staun's. also, if i weld on a rim protector will sticky weights still work well enough to balance the rims?

I'd worry about heat distortion on the rim. Welding a piece of pipe to be strong enough to afford any protection would take a lot of heat.

I would weld a piece of tOOB to the rim over the stem, not pipe, but you will add a huge amount of weight to try and counter balance with stick on's.

The weld on bead lock kits for steel wheels are typically stitch welded with a MIG to avoid leaks. If you go this route, I wouldn't even bother balancing. Also, the typical maximum pressure for beadlock wheel/tires (non-Staun) is around 25psi. My 38x15.5's are mounted on steel 15x10's and are not balanced. I don't have any unusual vibes or bump steer.

so lou says i shouldn't worry about valve stem protection. he also said to look at 16" and 17" rims as they are generally rated for a higher load, so they should be correspondingly stronger. (worried about bending at the bead). trouble is, i am having trouble finding spec for load ratings. anyone have the street lock rims? it looks like the bead edge might be stronger, but it's hard to tell from the picture.

Ryan : How many rims have you seen bent ? The old tried and true white wagon wheel rim cost an average of 40.00 , so go buy ten of them and dont worry ! Just get rattle cans and have fun. I turned mine into beadlocks for 35.00 a wheel. I also redrilled the rim next to the spokes for the valve stem and to fill the hole at the bead i used a rubber stem and pulled it through backward after filling it with silicone. FjR68

Run a narrower wheel... If you get a 12.50" wide tire, run 8" wheels (instead of 10"). You get better bead retention and the sidewall protects the wheel better at lower pressures.

JW

i don't care about bending rims, except that they leak like crazy once they are bent. before i had my tires remounted i had to top them off every day, which sucked as a daily driver! i put a lot of miles on my jeep, so i really want a setup that will last.

so how about rim width and backspacing? i presume that 8" would be preferred, though the toyos want an 8.5-11" with 10" preferred. what is the appropriate backspacing? i would rather have the tires stick out a bit then be rubbing on control arms, frame, etc.

I used to use an 8" wheel with a 10.5" tire... I had tons of problems... Krap got under the beads constantly, I bent the edges of the wheels, the tires leaked air around the bead, and a couple times I lost the bead seats entirely and had to swap the tire and then reseat the beads (after scooping out the muddy krap). Since I switched to a 7" wheel I've had very few issues and all of them have been minor (knock on wood).

Backspacing can be tricky... If you run a 33x12.50 tire now and they don't rub my best guess would be that if you jump to a 35x12.50 you'd want ~1" less backspacing than you've got now (e.g. if you have 4.5" now, you'd want 3" or 3.5"). Others may know better from first hand experience though.

I'd definitely stick to an 8" or 8.5" wheel width.

My Marsh Racing steel wheels were Dom's originally. The beads on these things are still perfect and as tough as I am on wheels I can guarantee that Dom is much harder on them. These rims are twice the thickness of similar American Racing wheels.

so the marsh wheels definitively look good. i'm also looking at the pro comp street lock as they have an extra ring welded to the rim to protect the edge, which is exactly what i want. problem is they only go up to a 16". what is everyone's thought on a 15" versus 16" versus 17" rim for 35s?

I prefer to have more sidewall than less, but as the tires get bigger and you have more sidewall the tire can flex on the street more when driving normally so it may not ride as well (or just be softer). 15" or 16" should be fine... 17" could work, but I'd probably go with a 16" if I could.

I haven't looked for a while but 17" wheels usually cost a lot more than 15"/16" wheels... I think the tire price goes up too, because they aren't as common.

JW

so i'm looking at 16x8 streetlocks with 3.75" backspacing. thoughts? anything i should be worried about?

:rant: I think the Pro Comp wheels are junk, no offense intended. The street lock rings bend and the bolts break. If I were you I would buy either the Marsh wheels or the Basset wheels with Stauns and be done with it instead of trying gimmicky things like street lock rings or welding extra metal onto cheap wheels. I've bent pro comp, rock crawler, and American racing wheels far too easily. I think that they are all made in the same Chinese factory by 9 year old children and squirted with lead paint. I don't know much about the Basset wheels aside from the fact that they have a good reputation and I know that my Marsh wheels are twice as thick as the three afore mentioned glam consumer wheels and take a beating. I've seen you wheel, don't reinvent the wheel (sorry about the pun) just buy a quality wheel. :rant:

fair enough. it's not worth putting all that money into stauns, mounting, tires, etc and then have them bend easily. the pro comps sound strong, but if the ring really bends that easily then it defeats the purpose for me. hmmm......