I am upgrading my suspension to the EVO Double D soon and want to upgrade the wheels at the same time. I am looking at the ATX Slabs but wonder if there is any need to upgrade the disks to a different bolt pattern. I would think the stock JK 5x5 would be sufficient for most off road use but want to get feedback before I dump $2K on new wheels. Another question, I'm in Hawaii and there are limited tire shops, most who know nothing about beadlocks (lots of imitations). Any advice on having tires mounted and balanced by a shop that is unfamiliar with installing beadlocks? I have never bought a set. Can you mount and inflate a tire without the slab bolted to the wheel/bead? Any advise is appreciated.
Beadlock wheels
- Thread starter Skywalker
- Start date
Ddays
Hooked
Here's a video showing how to mount these yourself.
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...ideo-w-Off-Road-Evolution&highlight=beadlocks
This makes it look fairly straightforward. I'm sure the first couple attempts may be a learning experience, but doesn't look too intimidating.
Hopefully, I'll find out for myself this Spring
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...ideo-w-Off-Road-Evolution&highlight=beadlocks
This makes it look fairly straightforward. I'm sure the first couple attempts may be a learning experience, but doesn't look too intimidating.
Hopefully, I'll find out for myself this Spring
hinrichs
Caught the Bug
I have done 1 set of walker evans, one set of slabs, and one set of chamber pros.....if you take your time they are so easy to mount. Watch the video a few times and you are good to go. Depending on the tire you may not even need to have them balanced. I have to say I kind of enjoy this kind of thing however.
I would stay with the standard bolt patter, easy enough to get a new set of wheels if you decide to swap axles at a later time.
I would stay with the standard bolt patter, easy enough to get a new set of wheels if you decide to swap axles at a later time.
Ddays
Hooked
Ok, so now you opened yourself up to some follow-up questions, please! 
I'm leaning towards the chamber pro II and the Walker Evans. Which of the two would you pick
if you had to do over? The biggest difference I note is that the bolt heads on the Walkers don't sit flush
as the allen head bolts do on the ATX wheels. Finish wise, did they both hold up well to our crappy Winters?
I'm leaning towards the chamber pro II and the Walker Evans. Which of the two would you pick
if you had to do over? The biggest difference I note is that the bolt heads on the Walkers don't sit flush
as the allen head bolts do on the ATX wheels. Finish wise, did they both hold up well to our crappy Winters?
hinrichs
Caught the Bug
I ran both through the winter, both were fine. One thing about the walkers, is if you wheel in winter, and hit water, you may not be able to find your valve stems due to freezing and location. I like the design better of the chambers, especially since they have 2 valve stems. The walkers will hold up, but I can say the chamber rings are prolly 2 or 3 times as thick. I hit my walkers hard on rocks with no issues at all.
I would say it comes down to what type of wheeling you plan on doing and what wheel design you like more.
I was able to get my slabs for a very good deal locally, and thats why I went with them. Also they have a slightly lower offset than the Chambers, but Cozdude is running his with the bolt on coilovers and has no issues that I am aware of. They are a great wheel and look just as good as the slabs. I have heard that the walkers are different now tho and the rings are more recessed which I can only see being possible if they made the rings thicker.
I would say it comes down to what type of wheeling you plan on doing and what wheel design you like more.
I was able to get my slabs for a very good deal locally, and thats why I went with them. Also they have a slightly lower offset than the Chambers, but Cozdude is running his with the bolt on coilovers and has no issues that I am aware of. They are a great wheel and look just as good as the slabs. I have heard that the walkers are different now tho and the rings are more recessed which I can only see being possible if they made the rings thicker.
Last edited:
Ok, so now you opened yourself up to some follow-up questions, please!
I'm leaning towards the chamber pro II and the Walker Evans. Which of the two would you pick
if you had to do over? The biggest difference I note is that the bolt heads on the Walkers don't sit flush
as the allen head bolts do on the ATX wheels. Finish wise, did they both hold up well to our crappy Winters?
I have run Walkers, Chamber Pro II and Slabs. As much as I love the look of Walkers, I would ONLY run the ATX wheels. The rings on them are just so much beefier and will not bend and the bolts are BIGGER and sit flush. I have NEVER had a bolt break on me due to the way the rings sit metal to metal when installed. They are just a superior bead lock.
Ddays
Hooked
Yeah, I watched several videos on mounting these both and I did notice that there is a pretty big difference on the rings. Those exposed bolt heads look like a potential problem down the road.
Thank you for the info, I really appreciate it!
jeeeep
Hooked
I have the Chamber Pro II and they were easy to mount, bolting them up was the time consuming part but take your time do it right and you won't have any issues.
Most tire shops will not mount beadlocks but they will balance them.
you cannot mount and inflate the tires without the ring bolted on, it's what locks that side of the tire in place. you will need an air pump; I used my portable air compressor, it was slow but did the job.
No problem guys. I race sportbikes and change/balance my race tires all the time. I'm sure I can get these on pretty easy. My tire changer and balancer are meant for motorcycle tires though so I wasn't sure how much of a pain beadlocks were to seat without the right tools. It makes sense though that unlike stock wheels, you don't have to get the bead past the lip of the rim. you create the seal with the beadlock. I will see if the local shop can balance though since I am fighting a death wobble issue. I'm hoping to fix that with the EVO swap though. Thanks for all the input.
Snake oil.....
If you install good tires like a Toyo, you won't need to balance them.
