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M35A3 wheel beadlocks

tobyS

tobyS

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For road use, go for the thinner. Front on a rock crawler mud bogger .... would use the thick ones. I'm assuming thicker results in more pressure against the rubber bead to hold it in place. G....are there thick and thin beadlocks used with combat and other 10" wide wheels. I have some in sand trail 450s that are really thick.

If you are super confident in holding the seal all the time, and have no fear of coming out in the morning to a flat that won't air up because the bead is no longer sealed, leave them out. Talking beadlocks here not run-flats.
 
1 Patriot-of-many

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HDN said:
Unless you want your tires losing air and falling off the rim when they're run at lower pressures, yes :)

I believe the way beadlock inserts work is that they keep the tire bead pressed and seated against the rim regardless of tire pressure, keeping the rest of the air in the tire from escaping when the lower tire pressure would otherwise unseat the bead and break the seal against the rim.

I haven't gotten to the point where I've been able to actually see how these go in and out of the tire first hand, but I plan on trying the ratchet strap method when I take them out of my old 14.5s and install them in my 395s.
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Thanks!
 
Sgt Jiggins

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1 Patriot-of-many said:
Do we need bead locks in civilian use? I dread the day, I need to pull them out and reinstall in new tires.
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They really aren't all that bad. If you use the "cheat" of a ratchet strap to cinch them down before putting them in the tire, it's human. Oh, and don't forget the hi-lift/farm jack to prise the beads apart.

Don't get me wrong, I don't relish putting them in either, but after you do a few, you'll get "good at it". I can do the entire process in about 20 mins now with a soldier B in attendance. Not bad considering my day job is IT.
 
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Sgt Jiggins said:
They really aren't all that bad. If you use the "cheat" of a ratchet strap to cinch them down before putting them in the tire, it's human. Oh, and don't forget the hi-lift/farm jack to prise the beads apart.

Don't get me wrong, I don't relish putting them in either, but after you do a few, you'll get "good at it". I can do the entire process in about 20 mins now with a soldier B in attendance. Not bad considering my day job is IT.
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What if soldier B has a jacked up back too? :) Thanks, I'll have to study the process again on video. The pulling out part looks fairly easy. Chain tire to tree, chain to runflat, use vehicle to pull run flat out. It's the other part with trying to get it into a new tire that scares me. I once saw a video of the machine that originally put these in, I'd like to have that in my pole barn.
 
gringeltaube

gringeltaube

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1 Patriot-of-many said:
What if soldier B has a jacked up back too? :) Thanks, I'll have to study the process again on video. The pulling out part looks fairly easy. Chain tire to tree, chain to runflat, use vehicle to pull run flat out. It's the other part with trying to get it into a new tire that scares me. I once saw a video of the machine that originally put these in, I'd like to have that in my pole barn.
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Please note that this thread is about beadlocks, not the runflat inserts. You seem to be confusing both......?
What you need in the civilian world are beadlocks. Installing- or removing a beadlock(band) is child's play compared to the runflats. It does not require any force or special tools. (my post #20)
 
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glcaines said:
I've removed and re-installed 7 beadlocks on my M35A3 by myself - no Soldier B. It is not that difficult and they do serve a purpose.
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gringeltaube said:
Please note that this thread is about beadlocks, not the runflat inserts. You seem to be confusing both......?
What you need in the civilian world are beadlocks. Installing- or removing a beadlock(band) is child's play compared to the runflats. It does not require any force or special tools. (my post #20)
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I guess I am getting confused . Whatever is and was in the original military tires on an M35A3. Don't run flats act as a beadlock also? Sure seems like it when I Installed a new oring in one of them.
 
tobyS

tobyS

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Sgt Jiggins said:
Methinks there was "a bit" of work involved to get to that point. 😎
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Take a look at the bead thickness difference of the 16.00 and 14.5. That much extra may be toooooo much for the A3 rim....not enough bolt clamping force.
 
HDN

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Sgt Jiggins said:
They really aren't all that bad. If you use the "cheat" of a ratchet strap to cinch them down before putting them in the tire, it's human. Oh, and don't forget the hi-lift/farm jack to prise the beads apart.
Click to expand...


I'm glad I saw this post. I'm finally at the point where I'm ready to reassemble my wheel. I noticed that the beads on my old 14.5R20s are about 7.5" apart, whereas the new-to-me 395s have beads that are about 6.75" apart :oops: Talk about putting the baby back in the mother! I tried for about a half hour to squeeze it in there by hand with the insert cinched by kneeling on it and wrapping a chain around the middle, but the beads are so close together I just can't wedge the cinched insert in there!

I don't have a high-lift jack on hand to stretch the beads, but I do have a stupid floor jack that won't fit under my daily drivers, so maybe that'll help!
 
tobyS

tobyS

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HDN said:
I'm glad I saw this post. I'm finally at the point where I'm ready to reassemble my wheel. I noticed that the beads on my old 14.5R20s are about 7.5" apart, whereas the new-to-me 395s have beads that are about 6.75" apart :oops: Talk about putting the baby back in the mother! I tried for about a half hour to squeeze it in there by hand with the insert cinched by kneeling on it and wrapping a chain around the middle, but the beads are so close together I just can't wedge the cinched insert in there!

I don't have a high-lift jack on hand to stretch the beads, but I do have a stupid floor jack that won't fit under my daily drivers, so maybe that'll help!
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Measure the thickness of the bead itself. If the new tires are much thicker (bead), like the 16.00 that sue used, then dropping back to the beadlock used in 10" wheels (measures 9") may be an option. Since I don't have any 395s not mounted, I cannot compare with the 14.5. I'll post up the 14.5 thickness after getting brave enough to fight the mosquitoes.
 
Sgt Jiggins

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Just in case anybody's wondering:

If you're mounting Michelin XZL 395/85R20s on M35A3 wheels... do yourself a huge favor and make sure you have 10" wide bead locks. 7.5", 8", and any other lesser (or greater?) size is only going to frustrate the CRAP out of you and probably lead to orings not working for one reason or another.

Just sayin'
 
HDN

HDN

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Sgt Jiggins said:
If you're mounting Michelin XZL 395/85R20s on M35A3 wheels... do yourself a huge favor and make sure you have 10" wide bead locks. 7.5", 8", and any other lesser (or greater?) size is only going to frustrate the CRAP out of you and probably lead to orings not working for one reason or another.
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Funny how 11" is 10" in Hutchinson world :p My floor jack is too big for me to work alongside it with the bead lock insert, but my bottle jack is small enough to work. Now I need to get a second bottle jack for the other side to spread the bead out wide enough all around. I hope that works, otherwise I'll have to come up with another plan - maybe take it to the local truck tire shop to have them do it.
 
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