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Valve Stem Damage Prevention?

H-K

H-K

INFIDEL
Supporting Member
Location
SLC UT, USA
I busted two valve stems on RS and I need to come up with some kind of way to prevent this from happening in the future. I assume I'm not the only one who's ran into this problem before, so how do you guys protect your valve stems?

These look like a good option, but I think I'd lose the filler adaptor and then I'd really be screwed:
http://www.cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=1213

Here's somebody elses solution:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/valve_stems/valve_stem_protection.htm
 
H-K

H-K

INFIDEL
Supporting Member
Location
SLC UT, USA
Hickey said:
Neither is drilling holes in your rims for new stems.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a little less work, but you'd still have to re-prep and paint the wheels.

Oh, did you mean legally?
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
H-K said:
hmmm.


Did you do DIY beadlocks?
Click to expand...


I have done the DIY (as well as quite a few guys here) beadlocks. I thought it would be a pain to grind the powder coating off and infact it was super easy...about 5 mins per wheel is all it took...then about another 10 mins (at most to weld on the new rings, followed by paint and you're done...in about an hour I did three of my four (didn't have the fourth wheel yet)...highly recomend doing them.
 
H-K

H-K

INFIDEL
Supporting Member
Location
SLC UT, USA
Supergper said:
I have done the DIY (as well as quite a few guys here) beadlocks. I thought it would be a pain to grind the powder coating off and infact it was super easy...about 5 mins per wheel is all it took...then about another 10 mins (at most to weld on the new rings, followed by paint and you're done...in about an hour I did three of my four (didn't have the fourth wheel yet)...highly recomend doing them.
Click to expand...

Do you think I could convince a Highway Patrolman that they are fake beadlocks? ;)

I thought the hard part would be making sure the welds sealed well. I guess you don't know until you spend 3 hours bolting the rings on and inflating the tires...find leak...remove...weld...bolt up..inflate..............find leak......repeat 5 times and then move to wheel #2............

How was this for you? Was it that bad? How well do sidewalls react to weld splatters?

BTW do people typically prep and re-paint the rim or just paint up the areas that need it?
 
Hickey

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Location
Grantsville, Utah
H-K said:
hmmm.


Did you do DIY beadlocks?
Click to expand...
Not yet. I think it would be easy to convince a HP officer that they were cosmetic locks, if the questione ever came up. I would like to see the vendors around here sell the little anti coning ring with the lock rings, that would make it even easier to convince a cop. Rockmonkey did a nice write up about 2 months ago on his beadlocks, check it out.
 
Last edited:
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
H-K said:
Do you think I could convince a Highway Patrolman that they are fake beadlocks? ;)

I thought the hard part would be making sure the welds sealed well. I guess you don't know until you spend 3 hours bolting the rings on and inflating the tires...find leak...remove...weld...bolt up..inflate..............find leak......repeat 5 times and then move to wheel #2............

How was this for you? Was it that bad? How well do sidewalls react to weld splatters?

BTW do people typically prep and re-paint the rim or just paint up the areas that need it?
Click to expand...


I bet 95% of the UHP dont even know what a beadlock is, the other 5% dont really care. If you aren;t confident in your welds then I would suggest haivng someone else weld them on...most guys smear some silicon around the weld to ensure its sealed, but even the best welders will get pin leaks sometimes. I have not yet mounted tires on mine (still on order) so I can't speak form personal experience as far as leaks go. What do you mean sidewalls react to weld splatter:confused: you do realize you unmount your tires to weld them on right? Your sidewalls will have nothing to do with splatter. I jsut ground the bead area and repainted the ring I welded on and the area I ground...some guys repaint their entire wheel though.
 
H-K

H-K

INFIDEL
Supporting Member
Location
SLC UT, USA
Supergper said:
What do you mean sidewalls react to weld splatter:confused: you do realize you unmount your tires to weld them on right? Your sidewalls will have nothing to do with splatter. QUOTE]

LOL duh I hit submit before I was done (multitasking here, so I'm a bit distracted). I meant to joke that I was just going put the tires on and booger everything together. If that didn't work, I'd try superglue or duct tape.
Click to expand...
 
H-K

H-K

INFIDEL
Supporting Member
Location
SLC UT, USA
Supergper said:
here you go, this is the article Hickey is refering to...any questions are answered in there.
Click to expand...

Thanks all. I'll probably do this in the near future.

In the meantime, does anybody have any ideas or advice about protecting valve stems other than beadlocks?

one spare minus two flats = negative one tires. :ugh:
 
Hickey

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Location
Grantsville, Utah
H-K said:
In the meantime, does anybody have any ideas or advice about protecting valve stems other than beadlocks?

one spare minus two flats = negative one tires. :ugh:
Click to expand...
I used the really short stems from Autozone on my last set, never had a problem with them.
 
H-K

H-K

INFIDEL
Supporting Member
Location
SLC UT, USA
Hickey said:
mine were like the ones on the right. You shouldn't have any problems with the ones on the left.
Click to expand...

Huh, you probably just have better luck with your rig than I do. The two that broke on me were just like yours.
 
R

RSL

Registered User
Location
Lloydminster,SK. Canada
You could always do like they do on industial equipment for offroad use and weld a short piece of pipe around the valve stem to protect it. You would have to rebalance of course to allow for the added weight. Some even use a threaded piece of pipe to allow for putting a pipe cap overtop for complete protection.
 
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