miraclemax

Hey guys!

So I fell into some ATX SLAB bead locks and I'm wanting to install them on my nitto 35" trails.

I have watched the video from the wayalife guys and they seem pretty straight forward.

Just for giggles I called two of my local off road shops to see what they would charge and now I'm really confused.

One shop said they would charge over $350 for the install, mount and balance. And they would need to have the jeep there for 24-48 hours because of a "special technique they do" to the atx slabs that they feel is a safty issue. And he wouldent tell me what is was.

The other shop, said it would take 1-2 hours and it would be $240.

Now.... I'm scratching my head here....

What the hell is this one shop talking about? What the hell are they doing to these wheels that atx felt was not needed. And my God! $240 and $350 to mount and balence tires! Whoa!

I'm pretty handy with tools. I put my own 2.5 lift on, exhaust, bumpers, fenders, which, light bars etc. is it out of the question for me to mount these myself? And does anyone know what "secret technique" this one shop does to these rims?

devwil68

Well, our local discount tire charges $200 to mount and balance regular wheels and tires just with the machine! Found that out when I bought my first set online and took them up there.

It's just the labor world man, someone provides a services and that's what it costs. It's not an easy process of you don't have the tools and experience I think. If you have the time to spare to perform this tedious task...id do it yourself and learn how...that way, you know more about it if something goes wrong.

Honestly, that is why I've done most of everything on my rig except the gears...there is no substitute for knowledge and elbow grease!

Canvas

I found a shop here in Fort Worth that would do the install for $400 but being frugal I chose to do them myself. It took me about an hour a tire and it was so worth the money I saved. That way I can say I did it myself. I found a tire lace that would dismount my tire and stain balance for $10 a tire. Helped that the service manager is a Jeeper and part of the local Jeep club. If you do mount the tires yourself have the tire shop do a static balance not dynamic.

blockrockin

most shops will not mess with beadlocks.. just do it yourself.. not hard just takes time.. ive done a lot of them.. probably take an hour for the first one.. then 1/2 hour each for the others once you get it down.. you can even throw some beads ( airsoft pellets ) and balance them yourself if you want . good luck !

Wightmn

Do them yourself. They aren't bad. You will get bored going around the ring tightening that many times, but it's not a hard job. Get a 5 gallon bucket to put the rim on and seat the tire. Then its just torquing. A lot. Blue Locktite is your friend.

I ran toyo MT's in 37 and 38's on atx slabs without balancing them right off. Went down the road great.

JKZinger

I did mine in about 2 hours. Not hard at all. Save your money.

ttechris

Like others have said install them yourself and have them balanced at discount tire or somewhere else. The install is not difficult, just time consuming/tedious.

thegoat

There are a ton of bolts on ATX Slabs. Even starting the bolt manually and finishing with and air ratchet, then torque wrench is going to take some time to get done. 2 hours of shop time for installing bead locks seems pretty fair to be honest.

mhockey9090

Did the install myself. So glad I did it too.

The PIA for me? Having to put my Jeep on jack stands and then take my wheels/tires to a local shop and have them pull apart. I had to make 2 trips because I could only fit 2 tires in the back of my wife SUV. They took em apart for free, but even if I had to pay $5-10 a tire, it still would of been worth it.

Now you want to look into balancing option as well. If you have a local shop that can do traditional balancing or if you need to go get you some dyna beads or something. I had a local place, not going to mention the name, but its known around the county, do mine for $40 traditional method.

Extremneon

I mounted 37" Coopers on my ATX Slab beadlocks in my garage with no issues.

I used a air ratchet, 5 gallon buckets, soap spray, couple flat head screw drivers and 3/8 torque wrench. Pretty straight forward install, just takes some time to get the lip seated around the rims and then torque down the bolts. The video Wad did help me a lot on my install and I kinda just followed along and knocked them out, with no problem.

Did all five (5) off my over a couple days messing in the garage. I didn't bother on getting balancing beads or worried with taking them to have them balanced. They drive perfectly fine for me and no issues.