Staun beadlock install

joejeepny

joejeepny

New member
I just spent 3-hours trying to install a staun beadlock. After much frustration I ripped it out and put it back in the box. I give up. There going back for return. What a piece of crap. The instructions have three pages of what could go wrong when installing them. Hand that to a tire installer and they hand the things right back and say no way. Four wheel parts, 4wd, and quadratec wont install them. Now I know why. Since you cant see inside you never really know if there on right. If they are not they are useless. If there is any soap on the bead and the tire spins on the rim at all the valve can rip off the tube. So if something does happen on the trial like you rip a vavle stem off you will want to kill yourself. You will not be able to repair it nor will anyone else want to try. Further more if a nail punctures the tire and the tire goes flat the nail will puncture the bead lock. So what form of reliability do they add to the jeep. Right now if I blow a bead all i need is air. With the staun if disaster strikes you need a magician. Anyone else try these yet.
 
Amen, Was thinking of getting some but lots of valuable info here so, no way no how, see ya!........Thanks!
 
Never had the desire or even thought about putting any type of beadlocks on the YJ, just don't see enough need to be aired down for my type of wheeling, but if I did, I'm thinkin' it wouldn't be those. The write-ups I've been reading on the web sound like they're the best thing since lockers, but they don't tell ya what a PITA they are to get on.
 

There are a couple of competition guys that run the Stauns. Sure they may be a PITA, but they do their job, and they solve a problem for a lot of daily driver/wheelers, they're a street legal solution to an age old problem. I wouldn't bash them because they were difficult to install, think about it, they have sit tight inside the rim when aired up, yet fit over the outside of the rim? Yea, it's probably about like mounting a tire. They do their job, they may have a quirk or two, but so does every product. If you're not happy with the Stauns go buy some Walker Evans beadlocks and get back to me with how happy your wallet is afterwards.
 
On the same idea...why are regular bead-lock wheels not street legal, anyway? Who cares if the tire can't come off the wheel? It seems that it wouuld actually be safer.
 
I've read a few articles pertaining to beadlocks, and from what I remember, there is no law against them. Here's an excerpt from Staun's Website:

BEAD LOCK LEGALITY

Regarding the legality of conventional bead locks in California, I contacted very helpful Public Affairs Officer Chris Johnson. Now, understanding that the California Vehicle Code book is very big (over 1,600 pages!), and has many changes every year, Officer Johnson did his best, with the help of "Commercial" officers, NITSA and DOT to answer my question:

"Are conventional bead locks against the law?" His qualified answer is, "As best I know, no, conventional bead locks are not illegal."

Officer Johnson and I both are interested in learning more from you. Please call him (714, 567-6000) or me, if you have been cited specifically for bead locks or know the exact facts for someone who has. In defence of both of us, rumours are unacceptable. We need the facts, ma’am, just the facts.
Click to expand...

Now, they just talk about California laws, but from what I've read, if I remember correctly, there are no laws in any state against them, DOT approved or not.
 
currupt4130 said:
There are a couple of competition guys that run the Stauns. Sure they may be a PITA, but they do their job, and they solve a problem for a lot of daily driver/wheelers, they're a street legal solution to an age old problem. I wouldn't bash them because they were difficult to install, think about it, they have sit tight inside the rim when aired up, yet fit over the outside of the rim? Yea, it's probably about like mounting a tire. They do their job, they may have a quirk or two, but so does every product. If you're not happy with the Stauns go buy some Walker Evans beadlocks and get back to me with how happy your wallet is afterwards.
Click to expand...

Yeah I thought they would be great once I get them on. But thats just it. I was not able to get them in place and feel confident about it. You have to cover all the parts with powder so they slide easy. Any foriegn material in the tire could damage them. Exact placement is neccessary or you will not be able to deflate the tire or you may pinch the tube or the tube could be excaping under the cap. . Final positioning is tested after the tire has been inflated. Great so if you didnt do it right you cant deflate the tire. So now what. How do you get it off now if you cant take the air out of the tire. They are actually dumb enough to say in the instructions If the tire does not deflate , deflate the tire and bead lock and remove them and do it again. Yeah right remove them and throw them out. And throw out your rims to cause now they have extra holes in them. Well I guess you could pull another valve stem through the hole and save the rim. After all this like i said. If you break it in the field you aint fixin it. Sure get dirt and mud in thier and do this. Yeah with powder. You gotta be a trailer queen to run these. So who needs DOT.
 

I called one of staun's dealers 50 miles from me. He's never did one. Thinks it takes An hour each to do. $100.00 an hour.

Called JD's offroad 75 miles from me. He said he has done them but its easier on big fat tires. 8" wide wheels are tuff. No room to work. Maybe an hour to do each. Maybe more. $100.00 an hour.

Maybe there on right maybe there not?????
 
I thought they appealed more to people who already had high dollar wheels and wanted to keep them.
I am with you on the concern of spinning a tire on the rim, it appears that it does nothing to prevent that.
Send them back and order up some Trail Ready's with the narrow polished ring. There are so many people running wannabe beadlocks, that unless you go to an inspection station, it's unlikely that anyone will know the difference.
 
Sparky-Watts said:
BEAD LOCK LEGALITY

Regarding the legality of conventional bead locks in California, I contacted very helpful Public Affairs Officer Chris Johnson. Now, understanding that the California Vehicle Code book is very big (over 1,600 pages!), and has many changes every year, Officer Johnson did his best, with the help of "Commercial" officers, NITSA and DOT to answer my question:

"Are conventional bead locks against the law?" His qualified answer is, "As best I know, no, conventional bead locks are not illegal."

Officer Johnson and I both are interested in learning more from you. Please call him (714, 567-6000) or me, if you have been cited specifically for bead locks or know the exact facts for someone who has. In defence of both of us, rumours are unacceptable. We need the facts, ma’am, just the facts.
Click to expand...

The deal is, a DOT approved beadlock would be legal. At this point, none are. Possibly the manufacturors do not want the expense of doing so and/or they are not willing to assume the liability risk.
 

There are DOT approved beadlocks, Quadratec sells them and Humvees run the others. I have the Humvee ones. The reason most beadlocks aren't DOT approved is that the process to have them done is apparently a PITA. The wheels that the locks are on are DOT approved, as most companies buy wheels and modify them and each wheel then becomes a one off deal. This is where the DOT approved part gets tricky. They are no longer DOT approved because they are not what DOT approved. They are a modified version and for DOT to approve something that is done as one off deal per rim, would be very hard to pull. The beadlocks that are DOT approved are manufactured as beadlocks. The ones in Q-Tec are manufactured, tested, and were approved as beadlocks, the ones that Humvees run, are manufactured, and tested as beadlock wheels as well, because that is what their original, mass production design shows. They are certified to perform at or within a specific metric.

What you should ask the officer or whoever you got in touch with Sparky, is if modifying a DOT approved rim so that the tire is clamped to the outer face via sandwiching the bead between a flange welded to the face of the rim, and a flange bolted to the welded flange is permissable.
 
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Actually, that was a quote from the Staun website, nothing I had anything to do with. I've read other places, too, that said conventional beadlocks are legal. Actually, what I have read is that they are not illegal. Meaning, there is no written law against them. There's a difference.
 
Sparky-Watts said:
Actually, that was a quote from the Staun website, nothing I had anything to do with. I've read other places, too, that said conventional beadlocks are legal. Actually, what I have read is that they are not illegal. Meaning, there is no written law against them. There's a difference.
Click to expand...

yea, what he said:D
 

Point of the argument, no police officer out there knows what a beadlock wheel is, and if he can tell you have a real one, he's probably gonna let you go because he's either a drag racer or offroader and understands.
 
Sparky-Watts said:
Actually, that was a quote from the Staun website, nothing I had anything to do with. I've read other places, too, that said conventional beadlocks are legal. Actually, what I have read is that they are not illegal. Meaning, there is no written law against them. There's a difference.
Click to expand...
Exactly. There is no law making the design illegal, however a wheel that is not DOT approved is not legal for street use. Which takes us back to the whole DOT approved deal.

So... If an officer wanted to inspect your wheels and if he realized they were not DOT approved wheels, then he could write a ticket or inspection order (depending on where you are). chances of this happening? I think pretty slim. The only way I could see running them bite you in the tail would be if there were an accident and it involved a "not technically legal" beadlock or the tire mounted on one then I would imagine that there could be some personal liability either legally or financially. Again, chances pretty slim, but it should be taken into consideration.

Honestly, I don't see the need for beadlocks on a street legal Jeep. I think alot of guys air down lower than they need to anyhow. A good tire at 15-18 psi will virtually always hold a bead yet bulge nicely. We had a guy in a Rubicon pop a bead at Paragon during a club run. I asked him what pressure he was running his tires at and he said 7 psi. We ran the same trails and I had the same tires, same size, and same size wheel (245x75x16 MT/R's on 16x8 wheels) at just under 18 lbs and never had any trouble.

Sure beadlocks are great, but if you truly need them you are probably running trails that require enough mods to make your Jeep a good candidate for a trailer anyhow.
 

TwistedCopper said:
Exactly.
Honestly, I don't see the need for beadlocks on a street legal Jeep. I think alot of guys air down lower than they need to anyhow. A good tire at 15-18 psi will virtually always hold a bead yet bulge nicely. We had a guy in a Rubicon pop a bead at Paragon during a club run. I asked him what pressure he was running his tires at and he said 7 psi. We ran the same trails and I had the same tires, same size, and same size wheel (245x75x16 MT/R's on 16x8 wheels) at just under 18 lbs and never had any trouble.

Sure beadlocks are great, but if you truly need them you are probably running trails that require enough mods to make your Jeep a good candidate for a trailer anyhow.
Click to expand...
Thats a pretty good way to put it T.C. I think airing down on the trail is a good idea, but a lot of people do it just because everyone else is. I don't think alot of guys have tried different pressures to know where their vehicle performs best at. Somebody else said 7 psi so they run 7. Every vehicle is different, every tire is different. Weather conditions also dictate tire pressure. If it's wet, I will run 2 psi higher than normal because I know traction will be negative anyway and I will be in the skinny and need more differential clearance. If it's dry, I will run 5 psi. In Hot Springs, I felt like I needed to air down to 3 to broaden the footprint on the loose rocks. I never did though.
Some of you may think that is getting way too scientific, but you can tell a difference in the seat.
 
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