Beadlock wheel question

Being a newbie to my first Raptor order (2014 SE) that has the beadlock wheels, I hopefully do not have some dumb questions.

From my research the factory beadlock only has a beauty ring and if you really want to beadlock it then you have to dismount the tire, air down the tire and move the rim from the inside on the wheel to the outside and purchase a Ford OEM beadlock ring per tire for around $180 each and tighten that down using an order that is described in the instructions. Am I right so far?

It makes sense but how practical is this? Also from some of my research, to drive on state/county/fed roads it is illegal to have beadlocks actually setup. So if that is the case, do people bring a jack, tools and an air compressor with them to an off-road park. Drive there and dismount each tire to make the modification and then when ready to go home, do it all over again? Or do you do this in a shop and put your Raptor on a trailer and haul it to wherever you are going when wanting to use the beadlock feature?

Just trying to figure out the real world practicality of these wheels.
Thanks for any info provided.

It's the same questions I've had since day 1.

First, yes you need to buy the SVT beadlock rings. Mine were $125 each delivered. Yes, they are not DOT approved. Not illegal to drive on the street but not on road DOT approved.

What are people doing? I highly doubt the few that have converted theirs are not just driving them like a regular set-up. They're certainly safe as long as you keep an eye on the 25 bolts and they're torqued correctly. Some shops won't touch them due to what they think are liability issues and they're probably right with lawyers and what they'd try and do to you if you had an on road accident and they were smart enough to figure you were running non-DOT approved wheels on the street. Makes a lot of sense huh? Safe off-road at 100 mph but don't drive them on the street! I have still not converted mine. I'm thinking of having a second set ready to go in beadlock mode and just slap those on when I head to the dunes. Or there are street legal beadlocks now available.

I know my local Big-O-Tires will not touch beadlocks (and I know the owner).

Just a weird situation to be honest for an optional wheel from the factory.

Thanks for replying, thought nobody would for the longest time. Sounds like I am on track in my thinking. Just sounds like a lot of work to keep converting these back and forth. I thought you did this only when you want to air down and rock crawl or sand dunes. I wouldn't think you would do the bead lock setup and go 100mph through the desert though?


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I just ran my bead locks 400 miles on road, only thing you have to do is make sure you monitor your air pressure and make sure the bolts stay tight, I just keep a pressure gauge and torque wrench with the correct socket in my truck so I can check everything

---------- Post added at 07:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

Eventually I'll have my bead locks as a dedicated offroad set and my stock 2010-2011 wheels with a less aggressive(less expensive) tire for on road use, but a lot of people run bead locks on the street with no problems and you'd never know because so many wheel manufacturers copy the look of bead locks now with their street wheels

RDFTS said:

Thanks for replying, thought nobody would for the longest time. Sounds like I am on track in my thinking. Just sounds like a lot of work to keep converting these back and forth. I thought you did this only when you want to air down and rock crawl or sand dunes. I wouldn't think you would do the bead lock setup and go 100mph through the desert though?


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I've never heard anyone say that you can't use a beadlock for all off-road situations. They did come as an optional wheel for the Raptor (with the optional beadlock ring) so it's obvious Ford figured some would convert them. If anyone wants to dispute their safety at high speeds, feel free. Just like Cleave said, just keep an eye on them as you rubber is now on the outside of the wheel being tied down by 25 bolts. Seems pretty safe to me but it does require extra care after each outing to make sure they're all still properly torqued. The bigger issue is would you be comfortable running them on the street and the potential liability issues (as small as they may be). Something everyone has to decide on their own.

I run mine on the street... no problems. I keep a torque wrench in the truck and check them about every 1000 miles or so. I only had to tighten them once (the first time after the initial install).

I was wondering if I should use loctite on the locking ring bolts? I've read through many of the OEM bead lock wheel threads and I didn't see that discuss.

RDFTS - did you run the bead locks at TRR? If so what did you think?

Yukon Joe
www.RUNRAPTORRUN.com

Yes, I run blue loctite, I ran mine on the raptor expeditions toy run and night run, both times they worked very well, none of my bolts came loose, they really don't need as much attention as I've let on before, main thing is check them often the first 100 miles, then just keep an eye on them, I wiped out a tire on the night run and it was running on the bead lock ring for a little bit, mounted a new tire on it and it still works like new, just got a few beauty scars

Not to say people don't run beadlocks on the street, they do. And also it should be mentioned that their are street legal beadlocks on the market. But once you get to the point you have beadlocks on your rig, is also the time you might want to start trailering your rig, instead of driving it to the trail. Ford did change the game by offering this beadlock wheel. Just be aware of the potential for issues and the very real possibility of losing your shirt due to liability if you are involved in a collision or other incident.

Yukon Joe said:

I was wondering if I should use loctite on the locking ring bolts? I've read through many of the OEM bead lock wheel threads and I didn't see that discuss.

RDFTS - did you run the bead locks at TRR? If so what did you think?

Yukon Joe
www.RUNRAPTORRUN.com

Click to expand...

I didn't get the actual bead lock rings and switch over to it. I ran the factory bead lock wheels with the beauty rings. The rings aren't so beautiful anymore, damn deep ruts. A couple kept pulling me in...


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