Beadlock or standard

[Orlyg1521]

I purchased a 2011 TE 4runner with 17 inch beadlock Evan walkers. Came with 35's going to go to 285's. Debating on whether to keep them or not. Mostly a city everyday driver with weekend Offroading and a few overlanding trips a year. Wondering what members here mostly use and why

 

[haven]

Bead locks are useful when you need to run very low tire pressure. Lower tire pressure increases the area of the tire in contact with the ground. Rock crawling and running in deep, powdery sand are examples of situations where very low tire pressure is useful. However, running normal rims, you can reduce tire pressure to about 2/3 of normal pressure without problems. It sounds like for your intended uses of your 4Runner, bead locks would be unnecessary.

No harm in keeping them, of course. Use the vehicle as you intend, and see if you encounter situations where very low tire pressure is required.

 

[summerprophet]

As said above, keep them unless you have a problem. It sounds like for what you are going to use them for, they are unnecessary, but unless they are tough to balance, run them as is.

Standard rims you can drop tire pressure safely to twice the width of the rim. For example, an 8 inch wide rim, could safely be reduced to 16psi for off-road travel. Obviously, an hour down the freeway, at 70 miles an hour, is not going to be great for your tires, but also, you can reduce psi further to get unstuck, if you are careful not to roll a bead.

With bead locks, you can effectively run the tire at or near 0 psi.

 

[Chazz Layne]

Moved to the appropriate Toyota forum.

 

[MegaRoamer]

Are there any disadvantages to running bead locks?

 

[Martinjmpr]

4runners come in bright orange?

 

[marshal]

Are there any disadvantages to running bead locks?

They're very heavy, local tire shops cannot and will not change the tires on them. Difficult to balance.

Honestly if you have to ask if you need them, you don't and you'd be better off selling them and recoup some costs. Walker Evans beadlocks are NOT cheap. I wish I could get them from you

 

[Orlyg1521]

Martinjmpr, they do when Metal-tech gets their hands on one and does their magic

 

[JWaldz]

I run polished 17" Walker Evans beadlocks. Love them. I think they are hands down one of the best beadlocks out there. Not to mention the polished are sexy They ARE super heavy though. Bout 40lbs/piece not including ring and hardware. I daily drive them. Getting a different daily driver now but I hadn't planned on that when I got them. They are super expensive, especially if you have polished ones. They're like $450 a piece not including shipping. So, if you weren't planning on using them you could sell them for a nice profit to use towards other upgrades on your rig. Like others have said, if you have to ask then you likely wont benefit from them as much as someone else might and you also might not benefit from them as much as you would a different mod. Your average tire shop wont touch them and if you know nothing about them or how to install/remove them you're looking at a pretty penny for the service from an offroad shop. It's by no means a simple process. Takes some patience.

 

[v_man]

They're heavy ! oh someone already said it ... you're not going to crawl or even wheel hard ? sell them to someone who will use them for what they're intended , and pocket a nice little chunk of change .

I'd move down to a 15" wheel with 33" tires , numerous wheel and tire combo's in that range .

 

[summerprophet]

I'd move down to a 15" wheel with 33" tires , numerous wheel and tire combo's in that range .

Except of course for the fact that a 15" wheel will not fit on this vehicle of course..... Unless you spend a rediculous amount of money to downgrade the brakes to a smaller size.

 

[Applejack]

As well, my experience with bead locked rims was that they leaked all the time too. Not like a civ mind you but every few days to a week I was having to fill them up, not to mention the fact that only a few are DOT approved.