KMC XD 222 wheels installing on Raptor

Question?

As you can see how the bolt is not centered in some of the holes of the ring in the pic...I was curious on what the dimension of the ring bolt hole was and here it is. The recessed hole for the bolt is 3/4 wide to accommodate the bolt head. The diameter of the hole for the width of the shank is larger and allows the ring to migrate or shift with impact or hard driving. Torque of the bolts are 22 ft. lbs. as directed by KMC. I find this rather odd...Short of a reply from KMC is there a reason for a larger hole? Shear stress relief ????

the jury is still out

Inconclusive

Well; I cannot get to the bottom of this riddle here. According to the distributer Engineering for this wheel is based in China! Weird!! Marketing thinks the beadlock ring is bad, but doesn't know if its designed that way on purpose. There are other KMC beadlock wheels and different competitive models that have the same problem I do "beadlock ring migration". The installer who assembled it in the shop says in his opinion that the ring could not be installed if the tolerances are that tight for smaller bolt holes on the beadlock ring.

So, I think I am done here.

With this setup and if it matters to you the ring can be corrected in the field in the following manner, IMHO...remove wheels from truck (try the spare tire first as a example) depressurize, remove all bolts/washers, reposition the beadlock ring to center position again, if your using the spare tire this repositioning of the ring may not be necessary...but the following can be...FIND AND INSTALL washers...a whole lot of them!! That have tighter clearances inside the bolt drop-in holes so the ring will not move "as much" as it would in normal assembly. Also, the bolt hole tolerances in the washers have to be tight too or the same effect will happen again. It may be possible to buy a handful of washers for wheels offset from each other than a complete replacement of all washers. Example...four washers at each spot...twelve, six, three and nine O'clock positions.

Bottom Line: If you are doing 60mph in the desert with your kidneys bouncing around like the mechanical bull at the bar then this is not a problem here. If you want to keep vibration down to a minimum at highway driving speeds above 75 MPH and want to do this extra work, well...it's your call. Vegas Raptor...

Vegas raptor,
How about a small bushing just slightly less than the thickness of the recessed portion of the beadlock, and sitting under the head of the bolt. The bushing would bring the tolerances much closer and prevent ring migration. Or machine down the bolts from one that fits the bead lock ring again just under the thickness of the lock ring, to the diameter/pitch of the original bolts. I think it's called a collared bolt?
I bet you can find the correct collar bolt through Fastenal or Grainger...
Eddie

Ditchplains1 said:

Vegas raptor,
How about a small bushing just slightly less than the thickness of the recessed portion of the beadlock, and sitting under the head of the bolt. The bushing would bring the tolerances much closer and prevent ring migration. Or machine down the bolts from one that fits the bead lock ring again just under the thickness of the lock ring, to the diameter/pitch of the original bolts. I think it's called a collared bolt?
I bet you can find the correct collar bolt through Fastenal or Grainger...
Eddie

Click to expand...

Wow Ditchplains1 ...that is an excellent idea! Going to have to look around town for something like that. In Vegas you can find about anything here! As for the picture of the bolt you posted it is a "PROPER BIKE CO FEMALE FRONT HUB AXLE BOLTS 10MM WITH 14MM COLLAR X2.FOR USE IF YOU HAVE 14mm DROP OUTS" AKA...bicycle bolt...So obviously...these have to be heavy duty bolts for a beadlock...Still an excellent idea! Man Google Images does wonders!

Vegas Raptor,
The picture was just an example of a collared bolt. I'm a bike guy, and have collared bolts on my Bianchi SOK 29er single speed rear axle. Clearly the beadlock ring bolts would have to be strong, but torque of 26 ft lbs can easily be tolerated by grade 8; probably ok with grade 5 even... Maybe find a stainless collared cap head bolt...
Eddie

Again, thanks for the info Eddie. The beadlock wheel has a 22 ft lbs torque. This type of bolt would work. Eugene

Eugene, check McFadendales on Decatur just north of Russell.
They have just about every type of bolt out there.
If they don't have it, they can tell you where to find it.

Wow

jim f said:

Eugene, check McFadendales on Decatur just north of Russell.
They have just about every type of bolt out there.
If they don't have it, they can tell you where to find it.

Click to expand...

I followed your advise and went to McFadendales...man that is quite the store! I should have been there a long time ago. I took a micrometer and measured the beadlock rings sunk-in hole and the washer it came with.

The beadlock ring hole where the washer lays in a 0.770 hole, the new washer width is 0.737 compared to the old one of 0.658 and the washer hole is smaller than the stock washer as well, so the bolt is a tighter fit with less slop. As you can see in one of the pics a washer is installed on a bolt from the beadlock ring, it is a lot better fit than stock. I could not fine a collar bolt and if I did the price was starting to get high. A box of 100 washers is $3.20...cant beat that! 36 washers per wheel and it would take two boxes to complete the job for all wheels including spare. You can see by the pic that the part number/identifier/bar code ID of the exact washer in this scenario. This will eliminate to a high degree most of the problem to acceptable levels. The beadlock ring shifting after replacing washers will be minimum and inconsequential. You can replace all of them or certain ones at clock position if you wish. Again your call, but you have the item required to do the task.

Thanks Jim! Sincerely; Eugene

Glad it worked out for you.