I ordered a set of Walker Evans Beadlocks. I still have a little bit of the legal / illegal and Non D.O.T. approved arguments in the back of my mind. My question is, for everybody running beadlocks on the street, have you ever had or heard of someone having an accident or near accident caused directly by the beadlock failing? If so, was it lack of proper maintenance or did it simply fail?

 

I agree that most likely any accidents that have happened from beadlocks are from the "set it and forget it" types....as long as you check the ring bolts on a schedule, I would run them on the street. I plan on doing the same once I can afford a set..

 

I don't have Walker Evans but I do have beadlocks. They need to be checked at least monthly. I check mine more if I've been offroad.

 

Do you check them with the tires aired up or down? Would it make a difference?

 

Again, just presuming here, but I wouldn't see why it would. As long as the ring is firmly locked down over the bead you should be fine.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm aware of the maintenance required and have no problem with doing it, I was just wondering if anybody had ever had a failure or knew of anybody that had a failure on the street. I haven't heard of any and feel very confident that as long as the maintenance is done there is very little chance of ever having an issue. I also believe that the fact that the Walker Evans are cast as a beadlock insead of having the ring welded on later makes the chance of having a failure even less. I'm really not too concerned or I wouldn't have ordered them, just was wondering.

 

I have the Walker Evans Wheels and I am selling them. In my opinion they do not work well as a daily driver especially in the winter. I have had 5 bolts break on my wheels and the last break was a set of three. That being said the wheel held for a good 10-15 miles so it would have to be really bad fro them to completely blow off the wheel. I could see no other reason for the breaks than the bolts weekened due to corrosiion or rust. When I removed the outer lip several of the bolts had seized to the Heli Coil. My thought is there is some reaction between the three different metals. Most tire shops will not touch the wheels so if you are able to find someone who will or better yet have the machinery to do it yourself it makes a big difference. the biggest PTA is the back bead, I could never get mine to break on my own. I did find a local shop who would pass my inspection but it took cash to convince them. I loved these wheels and thought that the maintenance and legal issues could be dealt with, but time has changed my mind.

 

Good info, how long have you had them? Did you ever change the bolts? How long were they on before the bolts started breaking? I've heard they recommend changing all the bolts once per year, does this need to be done more often maybe?

 

I had the wheels for Two years, and I did not replace the bolts. Where you are in about the same climate as me, I would pull them out before winter and then change them after winter so at least once a year, and I dont think it would be pushing it to change them twice a year, especially if its a DD. I had not seen were it was recomended changing the bolts once a year, had I heard that I think it would have saved me a lot of hassle.

The other way to go would just get some cheap rims for when snow hits the roads. You would need another set of tires as it would be to much of a pain to swap the tires out.

 

One advantage that I have is that I have a company car, so the Jeep spends most of it's time in the garage. I don't plan on taking the KM2s that I ordered today off of the wheels until they wear out. I only put 3 to 5K per year on the Jeep, so I shouldn't have to worry about having to get the back bead off very often. I'll definitely be checking the bolts often, and hopefully won't experience the problems you've had. It makes sense that some of your problems could have been caused by the winter roads & salt. It seems that most people running these wheels are having very few issues. It's somewhat comforting knowing that you had that many broken bolts, but didn't experience any major problems. I've already ordered the wheels, so even if I did change my mind I'm past the point of no return. I'm going to install the wheels, check the bolts often, replace the bolts once per year, and feel confident that I'll have no problems like most people on this board that run them. Thanks for the opinions!