Ive been homebound since having the baby, and managed to finish a few small projects.

I got really tired of bending my steel wheels, getting tree pieces stuck in them, etc. Last rubicon trip, I bent my wheel bad enuf to start losing air. the cool thing with steel wheels is you can bend them back into shape with a BFH. I figured i would try using rebar rings from Dean at Performance Cryogenics in Auburn. He makes recenteerd hummer bead locks and sells rebar rings to go on those. they are designed to fit a 16.5 wheel, and can be made to fit a 17 obviously, and perhaps a 16.

OLD WHEEL, (this is the best of them all, I got on the picture train too late)
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415748/fullsize/bentwheel2.jpg

clamp them in place. i started i the middle of the rebar, and work around one side. once done, I cut the other side to butt up againsit. A little ahard to tell.
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415751/fullsize/weldingbaron.jpg

I used 10 good spot welds on 4 sides of the outside edge of the wheel, and 4 8spot welds on the inside. the trick is to try and keep the weld puddles very even so as to have a minimal effect on balancing.
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415749/fullsize/weldingbar2.jpg

I used dynabeads from innovativebalancing.com through the valve stem for balancing. i do not have any pics of that.

I painted the wheels to mach the sliders and cage. black hammered spray paint.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415752/fullsize/wheelon.jpg

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415753/fullsize/wheelon2.jpg




While i was at it, I needed to make a better way to inflate my tires after the trip. being that side to side air pressures are important, I devised a way to inflate both tires at once. With a series of air fittings, and two hoses all placed in a 5 dollar tool bag from sears, i can air up both fron or rear tires at the same time.
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415745/fullsize/airlines.jpg

Ive got 2 different ways to fill the tires. One is a 1/4 turn ball valve, the other is a more traditional tire inflator. not sure which i will like better. the cool thing about the ball valve is , that IF I hook everything up except to an air supply, I can equalize pressure between the tires. I also made a few adapter fittings for different air sources.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/415746/fullsize/airlins2.jpg

Nice mods. You've got an awesome rig and it keeps getting better

Dean is awesome, I have used his services a bunch of times (Cryo'd my shafts, u-joints, ring&pinion, etc.)

The rebar ring is innovative, its one of those ideas I widh I would have thought of....

Oh and bending rims sucks, my last few trips I broke one of the rims Andy sold me (They lasted all of one trip) Aluminum wheels suck if they arent BL'd

Then after having my steel wheels custom made, I bent one of those the very next trip.
The first I lost some air but not the bead, the second I lost the bead. Luckily one of the guys I was with had OBA, and a ratchet strap! LOL.

Nice idea with the tire filler upper thing. Would be cool to have a 5 way T so all 4 tires can be done at one time.


May I ask why rebar? Thats stuff is easy to bend. I would think a cold rolled 1/2" rod would hold up better. Unless you are still planning on bending those anyways, rebar would be easier to bend back in shape.

4 hoses would be too much to carry IMO, and I have front and rear air ports, so its almost as easy

rebar was 7 bucks per, and seems prety stout when its in there. Ive heard nothing but good results from people using it.

as info, just ran the rubicon, and the rebar worked great. No bent wheels. For anyone who wheels rocks, and is tired of bending their rims, this is a good, cheap fix. Can still run 65 to 70 on the road before the vibe;s start kicking in.

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2-you are still gay
3-you are so very, very gay.

don't be a hater