I am wanting to buy a good set of bead locks with 3.5 inch back spacing. I am having a difficult time searching for them online. Google does not seem to like those parameters and get all kinds of stupid stuff.

Do you have personal knowledge of a brand and how they stand up on the trail? If so, please pass on your knowledge.

Thank you,

John

 

I'm out of town today and operating on my phone so answers are shortish. 3.5" bs options get limited. Methods, racelines, spiderlock, dirty life, kmc.... Cant think of the other big one that is popular at the second. Believe they all have 3.5 bs options. Walker evans, huthinson and many others dont. I think atx is now out of the game unless they are still making slabs. Most market their specs with the offset instead of backspace with is probably not helping the search...... But google probably doesnt get that deep in a search. You're looking for - 38mm offset.

I had methods and just swapped to atx chamber pros. I'll elaborate on my opinions tomorrow when home.

Trail Ready is the brand i couldn't think of above.

 

I think it's pro comp that makes a 3.5" bs wheel that's actually a joint venture with trail ready. The price isn't a joint venture though, it's rather affordable.

I don't believe the Mopar fits what you're looking for but the heads of the bolts are exposed when you're wheeling which makes for no fun when you have to do your annual hardware change. I have a friend who got rid of his racelines (due to other factors) but the water pooling between the wheel face and the lock ring became problematic for the hardware. It corroded and eventually developed leaks. He wasn't big into maintenance so that too may have been an issue. The AEV's I've got (still not in your backspace req) don't have the issue of collecting water. Another thing to look at is serviceability. If I break a bolt, there's a large headache involved. If you break one on a raceline then you just tap the old one out and pull a new insert back in. I'm very careful with torque specs, lubricants, etc on the wheels.

And I don't know where you are in life but beadlocks are allegedly a no-no on the highway. I daily mine and they're fine. They don't leak air but I believe the Slabs came with a disclaimer that you should expect air loss.

 

Finally got computer on wifi. I liked my Methods and was only forced in to a change due to lug pattern change on new axles. Karl highlights a couple things I wanted to say earlier. Benefits of something like the Methods and a few others that are similar: 1) the ring doesn't hold water or mud and sits fairly flush with the wheel which is nice, 2) on the off chance you damage a bolt it's simple grade 8 hardware which is readily available. The downside, along with some others, is that even though the bolt head is recessed, you could still catch one on a rock and damage the head. That said, I have rubbed that ring all around on rocks and have no damaged heads as I thought I might. Also though, the bolts thread into the wheel itself so you have to be careful with torque and not jacking up threads.

With the ATX Chamber Pros I have now, and similarly Slabs, the ring is huge and is going to hold all sorts of crap. What is nice is the allen heads are completely recessed. On a lot of these the bolts thread into sleeves or nutserts. Break a bolt and you can remove the sleeve and replace with no damage to the wheel itself. however, the bolts stick out through the wheel and will be exposed to your wintery road treatment. KMC and some others have all sorts of holes in their rings to supposedly help clear out water and debris. It's a novel idea, but I've seen several people say outside of draining water out of a clean wheel, the function isn't quite as good as you'd expect. The holes get clogged often and then they just retain water like normal.

Up in Colorado with wintery conditions, I think you should really weigh the aspects of the ring as much as the wheel itself. I wouldn't want something like these ATX rings that will just hold water. Most of the time there's not a perfect decision.....you have to pick a route and deal with the drawbacks.

 

Thanks guys. I am trying to eliminate my spacers. I don't care for them much. I was told that a 3.5 back spacing will do that.

My front tires rub slightly on the frame and upper control arms when turned completely to either side. This was my rationale for the spacers. However, after my spacer disaster, I would like to get ride of them.

As for driving. My Jeep is a toy. I don't use it much on the road. In fact, it is not much fun to drive on the freeway. I trailer it almost everywhere.

I am going to look up some the brand names that are listed. When I was searching, I found mostly fake bead locks.

Thanks,
John

 

FWIW, I've run Trailready HDs for the last seven years and three (soon to be four) sets of tires. No issues with them whatsoever. I highly recommend the brand. You can custom order whatever bolt pattern or back spacing you need. Not cheap, but none of the good brands are.

 

How do you feel about Method Racing? I like the looks of these, but do not know what the quality is like.

Method Race Wheels 105 Beadlock, 17x9 with 5 on 5 Bolt Pattern - Black - MR10579050538B

I found them on Four Wheel Parts website.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
John

 

John - I have a set sitting in my garage for you! I just need to go up and visit my dad to get them in your area!

In all seriousness, they are good wheels, tried and true. They have there benefits and their drawbacks. IMO, the biggest drawback is the threads are in the wheel itself vs. using a sleeve like a lot of the pricier beadlocks use. If you jack up a bolt/sleeve, you simply replace. With the Method your talking about internal threads. The nice things are these wheels balance easy if you even need weight, the rings sit flush with the wheel so they don't hold mud/water, and the bolts are simple grade 8 available at any hardware store.

I had these wheels for a year and was plenty happy with them. I only changed due to an axle swap that had a paire of ATX Chamber Pros married to em in a 5x5.5 bolt pattern and a custom center bore.


Method is a quality company that has been around for a long time and has a reliable track record.

 

What do you want for them? Are they black with 3.5" back spacing?

 

@resharp001 or anyone w/ info.

I am looking for a 17" beadlock that will not retain water. Any exist?
I mean I understand if I air down to 5 psi that water may enter into the tire, but we only air down to around 12psi around these parts.