I noticed this while torqueing the outside ring. 22 out of 24 bolts are grade 2. 2 are grade 8. So I googled this and found that I am not the only one. Are the grade 2 bolts sufficient?

 

Yes. Bolt engineering is a science. Lower grade bolts are called soft bolts and will far exceed higher grade bolts in many ways depending on the load characteristics. Aev sounds like they do their homework so I do not recommend using anything else than grade 2 if that is what they provided.

 

I've never really thought about using soft bolts on purpose... lol. Cool factoid. But, somethings still seems fishy with getting two grade 8s and a bunch of softies... I can tell you that a lot of the higher end beadlocks that are beat on by the pros are all grade 8. Give AEV a call.

~Casey

 

Yea why would they mix them in.... Give em a call....

 

Interesting. I didnt think of anything initially, because your only torquing these bolts to 15ftlb. Your explanation really makes sense though, it does seem that a more malleable or soft bolt would be a better option for a beadlock wheel.

 

2x . . . give them a call and let us know what they say.

 

I have read about this in the past... AEV's typical response, They dont know why there are bolts other than grade 8 on the wheels, and they will send out the appropriate replacements

 

Got a response from AEV, they want me to take a picture and send it to them. The guy at AEV stated that his supplier must have put in the wrong bolts. IMO that is not a small screwup. Anyways, I think I am going to use a socket cap like spyderlock uses, if that is feasible. Currently it is a royal pain in the a$$ to torque some of these hex caps because the machined ring is too damn small for the head to fit throught, even with a fabricated socket. Anyone know off had what size bolts are used.

 

What also happend is that the supplier did not supply the right size washers, this made it difficult to center the bolts and why a lot of folks have a difficult time torquing them. So I am going to get replacements shipped to me, hopefully I dont lose a bead going to 60mph.