Staun beadlocks and tire balancing

[Richard]

After changing just about everything on my Jeep I had just one last annoyance to take care off, leaky tire beads.

Wheeling in the dirt and mud at low pressure causes one problem, mud, rocks, and twigs get under the beads and cause air leaks. This has gotten so bad recently that I got 5 flats on one trail run, and had to put the Jeep on axle stands when parking the Jeep. Did I ever mention I hate mud? issed:

I considered using inner tubes but there's the risk of the rim slipping and...

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[Dirk]

they are nice, checked them out myself....and IF there any $$$$ left after my project runs, I'll get me a set too.

 

[Richard]

After popping my outer bead with my Tyrepliers I put the tire up on a bucket to get it off the ground and pull the tire down. This 20L wine juice bucket just fit perfect inside my 15" rim, it kept it flat, stable, and I could easily rotate the wheel.

I cleaned the rim's bead area with a plastic wire brush on my drill, this wouldn't be required on a new rim. I drilled the hole for the inner tube valve stem and deburred the inside with a counter sink bit. Only then did I pull out the external bead using these levers, which gave me great access to deburr the outside.

I'll give my thoughts on the instructions now, they could be better. They give a DVD video which appears to have been made by a film student. It does give you a good feel for how the process goes but it was missing some important information such as where to drill the inner tube valve stem hole, and had useless scenes showing the mechanic putting a bit in his drill and tightening the chuck They do have simple steps and tips on the back of the packaging, but they were hard to follow with partial steps at the top and separate details at the bottom.

One of those important tips was to put the inner tube valve stem 6"-8" from the normal valve stem. This is supposed to make installing the tire back on easier or safer. I don't quite get it but I had no reason not to follow it.

Those of you that have seen me air down know I had 2 valve stems already. The beadlock has a special flap with thick tongues to allow their special valve stem to air up and down the tire. The inner tube would press against my other valve stem rendering it useless, so I decide it would be best to get rid of it. I bent an aluminum plate to the rim's form and used RTV to stick it down. Bungee cords kept it tight overnight.

And to replace my quick air down coreless valve stem, I purchased some Staun tire deflators. It won't be as fast but it will be easier, plus it's a new offroad gadget

 

[Richard]

About the valve stems, you need to replace the stock stem with Staun's, it has a slit in the back to allow air to pass under the inner tube.

And here's what it looks like on the other side if you stick with Staun's pieces.

On the left is the inner tube valve body and a plastic cap with a valve stem remover. On the right is the shiny new tire valve. I decide to replace the tire valve cap with my No Loss Tire Caps from Extreme Outback since it has a seal and a tether. And I put the Staun metal one on the inner tube since it too has an added seal.

After installing the bead locks in the rim and using my tyre levers to put the bead back on the rim it was time for some tire balancing beads. I got a 10,000 Airsoft ammo pellet jug from Canadian Tire for $35.

Lots of people have tried these and found them very good. They will help balance your wheels and they don't damage the inside of your tire or rim like BB pellets or golf balls. I'm putting 8 ounces in each tire (one tire's worth is shown in the Becel container) and I still have tons extra.

 

[Richard]

I completed the first rim fine tonight, but I screwed up on my 2nd rim, so to help anyone who would do the same I'll mention what not to do. After putting the balancing pellets in the tire I put the wheel on it's side over the bucket to spread silicone sealant on the outer bead to help seal the air in. When I aired up to seat the beads some pellets found their way in the inner bead. I aired down and popped the bead, but the now lubricated outer bead came off and more pellets found their way there. With the sticky silicone there it was a pain to get them all out. :banghead:

So what I'll try tomorrow is to put the silicone on the outer bead first, then stand the wheel up to insert the pellets and air up/seat the beads. If all goes well the last two will be done tomorrow night and I'll be ready for wheeling

 

[Buster]

Very cool, I've been thinking about them too. Maybe next year!

 

[Twinkie]

Can you do what Bill or someone did? Put the pellets in a Kleenex tissue, the tissue will disappear to nothing after a bit of driving, making it easier to get the beads mounted.

 

[Richard]

Can you do what Bill or someone did? Put the pellets in a Kleenex tissue, the tissue will disappear to nothing after a bit of driving, making it easier to get the beads mounted.

That would help, but how do I make the Kleenex into a closed pouch?

 

[Richard]

Another detail I forgot to mention. Some people like to add a couple ounces of anti-freeze with the pellets to prevent them from freezing together. I opted not to do this in case the anti-freeze affected the strength or performance of the beadlock.

When I looked inside my tires they were all dry, and since I don't drive the Jeep much in the winter it's very low risk for me.

 

[Root Moose]

Very cool Richard. Looking forward to see this all done and mounted up with driving impressions.

 

[Twinkie]

That would help, but how do I make the Kleenex into a closed pouch?

I believe whoever it was (it's in an article somewhere...) used a small piece of tape to make a little puch out of it.

 

[Farm Boy]

I haven't heard of these before.

How low can you air down with them? At some point if you run low enough pressure and are up against a ledge (etc), will they reduce the amount the tire can conform to trail irregularities?

 

[Kunker]

http://pirate4x4.com/productreviews/staun/index.php

A bit of a review as well as (from the sounds of it) some better install instructions.

 

[Richard]

How low can you air down with them? At some point if you run low enough pressure and are up against a ledge (etc), will they reduce the amount the tire can conform to trail irregularities?

You can air down to 0, even remove the valve core, and the internal bead lock will act as a run flat. Technically it will limit tire deformation, but at that point you're getting dangerously close to the rim so I think it's another bonus. And no worries about the inner tube or beadlock in these situations, it's sitting at 50 PSI so it'll hold the truck up just fine.