Three cracked Pintlers...

I bought five AEV Pintler wheels just over a year ago and had them installed along with a lift and some other components. A few months ago the first wheel cracked. The crack occurred where the spoke meets the rim. I had a weld bead placed inside of the rim so that it could act as a marginal spare until I could get a new wheel. The wheel was replaced for free under the structural warranty. Then about a week ago a second wheel failed in essentially the same manner. And finally two days after that a third wheel decided to stop holding air, again in the same manner. I wonder if numbers four and five would also have cracked?
When the third wheel gave up I decided to try and get my money back and bought five steel wheels. AEV agreed to pay back all of my money for initially buying the wheels and mounting/balancing fees. At least I didn't waste all of my money in the end, but this whole affair has been a colossal waste of time. After my second cracked wheel and seeing another lament such problems on Wrangler Forum at the same time I was going through it I wondered how many others had such woes.
After searching this and other forums I found many instances of cracked Pintlers over the years, all with pretty much the same problem. At that point I decided to post directly on AEV's forum about this issue. I was hoping to get other people to post any cracking issues they had on AEV's forum with Pintler's and push AEV on to make wheels that don't crack after 16,000 to 23,000 miles of operation. Maybe I'm wrong and I'm just being an asshole and letting emotion get in the way? Maybe I shouldn't have had three wheels crack where the spoke meets the rim? I feel like this is a significant problem. Depends on who you ask I guess.

Perhaps I abused my wheels and just have to "pay to play"? Well for that I have plenty of pictures to post. Do these wheels look abused to you?

Failure #1









Failure #2










Failure #3




I'm trying to keep any discussions on this issue rational, but after three wheels I am highly suspicious. I have not contacted the NHTSA and have no desire to as long as AEV does starts making better wheels. Of course these things take time, but I see no reason wheels should keep failing in such a manner. Which of the following am I: a vindictive asshole, a "tattle-tale" (as one person called me), way out of my depth, or do I have a genuine concern? You decide!

On the other hand, at least I have five steel wheels now.

You have a genuine concern. These have been cracking for years now. People keep say they redesigned them, but I'm not seeing that.
Really feel bad for you. Nothing like spending your hard earned money on a product you expect to last. And then to be disappointed. Good luck with these and working with aev.

That's unfortunate, but good to hear AEV took care of you.

Olram is correct. Unfortunately people have been posting up about cracking Pintlers for years although it's been a while since I have heard about one. I had thought (hoped) that the issue had been resolved.

I hope they square you up. That's a lot of coin for broken wheels.

Wow! I'm glad you have gotten this somewhat resolved. I would say you have a right to be concerned. There's nothing more disheartening then spending a good amount of money on a product only for it to let you down. I will pass then info on to others who have been considering these wheels.

Shoot, they are my favourite looking option. I guess I'll look elsewhere.

I ran pintlers when I first bought my jeep almost 6 years ago. Had two cracked within the first three months or so, AEV replaced without questions. When the third wheel developed cracks, AEV replaced it again without issue. I then switched to Walker Evans Beadlocks and sold the AEV's for next to nothing. There have been quite a few folks who had the same issues with the Pintlers.

the original wheels cracked then they redesigned them, my brother bought the redesigned wheels but they really didn't look so different - a little wider spoke but still had that funky smaller indent connecting the spoke to the outer wheel. Anyway, the new design cracked after a couple of wheeling trips, they refunded his money so that's good but they really should pull them from their product line.

If you look at the AEV site they state why the wheels are made in China and the only review talks about a hairline crack and replacement.

Nope you have a ligit concern for sure , people need to be aware, what happens if all five break off while going done the highway?

jeeeep said:

......wheels are made in China.

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Unfortunately most of the wheels on the market today are mfg'd in China. It was the first thing I noticed stamped on the inside of my Walker Evans. I think even our beloved ATX's might be too. The point is, you can have quality wheels that are made in China, its just up to the original mfg/brand owner to make certain that their brand of wheels being produced overseas is actually made to higher quality specs than what the Chinese would inherently default to producing.

Yep, have had Chinese built wheels before on cars, excellent products at good prices.....it all comes down to the client specification. If you tell them to build good wheels, they can....they'll also build you rubbish, if thats what the client wants.

Sucks that this is still happening, I always wanted a set of those wheels or the other ones with the holes, glad I never got a set now.

GCM 2 said:

Unfortunately most of the wheels on the market today are mfg'd in China. It was the first thing I noticed stamped on the inside of my Walker Evans. I think even our beloved ATX's might be too. The point is, you can have quality wheels that are made in China, its just up to the original mfg/brand owner to make certain that their brand of wheels being produced overseas is actually made to higher quality specs than what the Chinese would inherently default to producing.

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Yes the atx slabs are made in China as well! i was super suprised to see that when i got mine a year ago.

ZuidJK said:

Yes the atx slabs are made in China as well! i was super suprised to see that when i got mine a year ago.

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Unfortunately there are VERY few wheels being made in the USA. Weld is, but they come with one hell of a price tag.

I know I keep harping on these things in various threads, but B.A.D. wheels are a great option. They're 100% made in America, reasonably priced for beadlocks ($369) and are D.O.T compliant (they even have the stamp inside the wheel). I was seriously considering the AEV beadlocks but was hesitating because I too had heard of numerous sturctural failures. After a few more weekends of "testing" I will post a detailed review of my B.A.D. wheels. These are some pics of what I've got so far

Aired down to 8 PSI

If you do a search for cracked pintlers on the AEV forums, you will surely find the thread where I am ganged up on by 1/2 the forum...only I pound them with facts so eventually the trolls back off and Dave Harrington actually chimes in and takes care of the poor guy. The problem with 90% of the wheel manufacturers these days is that they don't actually produce their own wheels. They contract with a chinese company (AEV wheels are made in china) and they make the wheels for said company. The problem with this is they have low QC standards and you see the result. All the cracks you see are from poor casting, which is why they are splitting at the joints. It may be a number of things, poor conditions, improper temps, rapid cooling, whatever. The main point is how the company stands behind their products. I harped at AEV that any company proud of their products will ALWAYS want their defective products back (and pay for their shipping) because they can hand it to their engineers and figure out what went wrong. In the case of the wheel, I told them they should take the wheel back, examine it, and make sure their manufacturer correct their problem so that AEV isn't responsible for a wrongful death suit when some poor guy goes off a cliff running black bear pass. Im glad they took care of you though, my AEV experience hasn't been as positive.

Maybe these are made at the same place of the chinaflex carrier ?

NFRs2000NYC said:

If you do a search for cracked pintlers on the AEV forums, you will surely find the thread where I am ganged up on by 1/2 the forum...only I pound them with facts so eventually the trolls back off and Dave Harrington actually chimes in and takes care of the poor guy. The problem with 90% of the wheel manufacturers these days is that they don't actually produce their own wheels. They contract with a chinese company (AEV wheels are made in china) and they make the wheels for said company. The problem with this is they have low QC standards and you see the result. All the cracks you see are from poor casting, which is why they are splitting at the joints. It may be a number of things, poor conditions, improper temps, rapid cooling, whatever. The main point is how the company stands behind their products. I harped at AEV that any company proud of their products will ALWAYS want their defective products back (and pay for their shipping) because they can hand it to their engineers and figure out what went wrong. In the case of the wheel, I told them they should take the wheel back, examine it, and make sure their manufacturer correct their problem so that AEV isn't responsible for a wrongful death suit when some poor guy goes off a cliff running black bear pass. Im glad they took care of you though, my AEV experience hasn't been as positive.

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I also do not understand why AEV forum members want this issue to be kept quiet. They more than anyone else should want this fixed if they support AEV so much. Maybe one day some Naderite will buy these wheels, will get cracked wheels, won't accept it and will picket/protest/tell the federal government. My hope is to get more people to post their stories on AEV's forum and push them to do better before the wrong person gets multiple cracked wheels. I read the thread you mentioned, I think, it was very interesting.

hinrichs said:

Sucks that this is still happening, I always wanted a set of those wheels or the other ones with the holes, glad I never got a set now.

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I haven't found any instances of cracked Savagres online, just Pintlers. I don't understand why AEV would design/distribute one seemingly good wheel and another bad wheel that cracks so easily. But it's probably a wise idea to wait for a good response from AEV about this problem.

did two threads get merged or did I completely miss GSM's post and post the exact same info(much less info thought) :thinking:

Do the beadlock versions crack as well? Just being curious. You would think if this is an issue with both, they would start to make a savagre into a beadlock and get rid of the pintler design all together.