DOT-T WA-0567 RockMonster Bead-locks
When we travel across the boarder into the United States of America, it isn't usually a very fun experience. It can actually be downright nerve racking even if you're not guilty of anything! Keeping your Toyota 4WD street legal if you're driving through some strict states entails upgrades that won't provoke harassing from right side of the law.
Increased performance can sometimes become wayside to making sure that laws aren't being broken. Because there are some states in the U.S. that are particular about their D.O.T. regulation, it's best to try not to give any reason to get pulled over and harassed.
Having bead-locks isn't a fashion statement nor is it to look cool, although you can get "street locks" which can do this. Airing down your tires does a few things, for starters it increases a tires foot print, allows the tires to conform over obstacles, and it reduces the impact on the trail which is good for improving the image of 4WD'ers. If your tire pressure starts to drop below 18PSI on a stock rim and tire or 14PSI on aftermarket wheels and slightly larger tire, you risk losing the bead where the tire will separate from the rim. For a properly designed 4WD tire, the magic happens sub-10PSI! This is where a bead-locked wheel comes into play.
There are a few different methods to "lock" the tire to the rim.
- There's the outer ring Bead-lock which clamps the one outside tire bead to the wheel:
- There's an internal Bead-lock which uses air pressure in a donut to press against the inner bead, seen in green below, of the tire forcing it out against the wheel:
- There's a 2 piece wheel which has two halves and uses a rubber donut inside the tire as the Bead-lock and the tire is clamped between the rubber donut and the two halves of the whee l:
Hutchinson as a company produces wheels for the U.S. Military and the Canadian Military. They've created a consumer line of wheels based on their military applications which is passed under the product name RockMonster. The RockMonster Bead-lock is exactly the last of the three above types of bead-lock designs. An inner rubber ring is fitted into the tire which is called the bead-lock as it is the piece of the puzzle that locks the bead of the tires to the rim of the wheel, then the tire fits over the rear half of the wheel, then a rubber seal is placed around the bolts, the outside face of the wheel then is placed on top and bolted down.
Photo of the Bead-lock inserted in the Mickey Thompson MTZ
It's very simple and it takes 20 minutes to completely assemble one wheel which is nice because the first style of bead-lock in the above list can take longer because there are sometimes quite a few more bolts to tighten. When you're ordering a set of RockMonster's, you also need to specify which tire brand and type you're going with as the inner rubber bead-lock varies for each tire manufacturer. The downside to this setup is the weight factor with each wheel weighing in at 45 LBS without the tire. If your Toyota was blown up, the wheels would be the only things left! Here is a video how to set up a Hutchinson wheel.
This set up performs incredibly well as of yet. There are no air leaks which are synonymous with the outer ring style bead-lock as air will pass through the tire and the clamped ring. These wheels have covered 5,000KM already with some good use on the rocks in Moab. They balance incredibly well with only 4oz of weight which is also due to the Mickey Thompson MTZ's being more street friendly. The bolts are very strong and have blown some rocks apart without any damage to the bolt. The powder-coat on the wheels have scuffed a bit from the rocks, however, this is to be expected if you're having close encounters of the sharp kind.
Dealing with Hutchinson has a bit of helter skelter as these wheels where ordered last year in early October 2009. Each month that went by Bill O'Hara assured that they'd be here the following month. The months came and went till April 2010 they arrived. Bill has re-assured that this was a once in a lifetime issue and RockMonster's for the Toyota line will be easily accessibly with a 1 week lead time.
Overall, these wheels look like they will handle future adventures very well. Deep powder this winter has nothing on these bead-locks.... oh and the Police!
Here's what the wheel's look like wrapped in 315/70R17 Mickey Thompson MTZ attached to a Toyota Tacoma at 7PSI.
Sitting at street pressure below.
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