Believe me, I would never consider cutting on the rim or tire. Disaster waiting to happen in my opinion.

I used Dawn soap yesterday but just in the soap form, didn't dilute with water or anything. I will keep at it. I am just so frustrated at how easy my 35 BFGs were to mount to my Champions. I have never mounted Coopers myself. I am still concerned with the thickness of the bead. Those rings are gonna have to clamp down quite a bit.

 

ditto with the rest of the guys here. AEV and 37 inch bfg km2s. had to work it into place with a couple flat blade screwdrivers.

 

I misunderstood your problem.

As everyone else has said this looks normal. Just because the beadlock is removable does not mean the tire should just slide on and off of the rim.

You need to use the soapy water as described and a rubber mallet or rubber protected levers can be used to force the tire on the rim.

Also do not modify the tire bead in any way, you will seriously compromise the integrity of the tire.

Congrats on your new wheels.

 

Let me clarify the biggest issue I have. I do think that with enough persuasion, I can get the tire around the rim. The bigger issue is that the bead itself is 1" thick. I have never mounted tires with a bead this thick. The BFGs on my Champions are .75" and it was quite a task to get them to clamp down but I got it done. I am having a hard time seeing how I am gonna get the AEV rings to work with a bead that thick. I have seen posts on varous boards, even one here, where a bead too thin can't be used with beadlocks.... wonder if a bead could be too thick??

Does anyone know whether or not a 1" thick bead is normal for a tire of this size? I have only dealt with 35" and below up until this point and the thickest bead was .75.

I even drove to my nearest Goodyear dealer as well as Discout tire to see if by chance they had a 37 of any brand in stock so I could measure the thickness of the bead. The biggest they both had were 35s and the beads were all .75" thick.

When it comes down to it I am farily sure I can return the Coopers and get some BFGs but I really like the look and price of the Coopers so I would like to make them work if I can. If other tires of this size have a 1" thick bead then I guess I just need to man-handle them some more.

 

I too would like to know the answers to this guys questions. I am looking at buying beadlocks for my 37x12.50/17 Cooper STT's.

 

After speaking to both a Cooper rep as well as AEV we determined the Coopers just will not fit. I am exchanging them tomorrow for some BFG KM2s.