RRW beadlock failures (pavement)

Has anyone else had problems with RRW beadlock wheels?
I have two friends with them and both have suffered the same failure.
Driving straight, in town under 30 mph. (I know for sure they were telling the truth because one is a street queen and the other, if he did it offroad he would brag about it)

exact same failure type.

I can’t speak to the exactness the first guy used with torque on the rings and install. But this guy. Yea. He does nuclear work. He is patient and exacting with that kind of stuff.


Obviously the ring is gone. I told him to inspect the casting where the bolts thread into for chips and cracks for when the bolts got yanked through.

 

I haven’t seen or heard of this issue yet. I have RRW wheels without the beadlocks. Hopefully RRW does something about it because ive had pretty good experience with their customer service.

 

Maybe that’s why the website specifically says the rings are for off-road use only? I’m sure they won’t refund or replace since they weren’t used for their intended purpose.

 

Lolz. I’m sure hammering trail at 30-75 mph is a lot harder than driving down the city street.

I’ve used beadlocks for a really long time. My current truck is the first not to use them and my next truck is going back to beadlocks.
I’ve used trail ready, method, steel converted, factory ford and I’ve played with the ram beadlocks (hint on the next truck).

street use was a joke to them all.


I just think it’s weird that the two people I know with these wheels on sub 4800# trucks and 35’s… 38 psi… had identical failures on the street.

just curious if this is a more common issue or just like anything: Law of large numbers. Nothing is perfect and everything has faults.

 

Hmmmmmmmm if I had to guess, they probably say that because bead locks aren't street legal.... lol

 

OP you might want to go ahead and order a replacement now (if necessary) because they will discontinue certain versions of wheels after a while. I made that mistake of only buying 4 of the RR5-S 16x8 wheels and they no longer make them so if I destroy one of my wheels im screwed... they don't even make 16 inch wheels anymore

 

That looks like a terrible design to begin with.. With the threads in the middle exposed like that. Not as much material for the bolts to grab onto plus the really obvious corrosion issues.

That being said still seems like on odd failure, to see it bow out like that. Wonder if the rings were not the right size to begin with?

 

this is the other wheel.

 

It may not be the impact that does this. It MAY be purely a temperature induced failure. Trail use is mostly low speed and thus low temps. Any high speeds reached are usually not sustained - like they are in Highway use. I mean high temps over time, not necessarily at the exact time of failure.
But I agree that there are a hell of a lot more impacts on the trail. (Though, impacts on the street can be worse if speed is involved.)
***Just a guess on my part.***
and yes, Corrosion (as already mentioned) is critical as well!


Impacts are why I stayed w/ OEM steel wheels and 16" rims w/ 33s. More rubber between obstacle and rim! And I can hammer out the dents in steel rims.
I've got the RRW sliders (early edition) and love 'em!

 

EDIT: I am wrong, these wheels are not beadlocks, it's a beauty ring that failed. OP did it wrong.

Most of the bolt heads failed, then some of the bolts just pulled out.

I'ma bet it's Hydrogen Embrittlement of the 12.9 grade fasteners. Lots of decent engineers will just slap the highest grade bolt they can source in there, except they suffer from this weird type of failure. best solution is to actually use a lower grade fastener that does not suffer from Hydrogen Embrittlement.

https://www.grampianfasteners.com/blog/new_thoughts_on_hydrogen_embrittlement_of_109_bolts

 

I get that for sure. I guess my point is that hammering at 40 mph in the Az desert at 25 psi is going to generate more heat than 35 mph on the street at 35-40 psi.

but there really isn’t anything I can see than a material failure on the ring bolt holes.
The question is did the damage happen X days ago on the trail and it was a ticking time bomb.

I need to ask my friend what size bolts. And what kind did they use.

I know the guy who makes the uniball misalignment threaded pins for knuckles I use (he owns the company terrible herbst uses for all their machine work) would jump into the way the threads are made and would just drop the microphone and walk.

but he is an elitist and has to deal with trucks finishing baja 1000’s etc.

 

you know it’s funny. My friend did say if RRW tells him to pound sand that he is going to drill the other wheels out for larger bolts and use grade 8

makes me wonder if there was a 10.9 set in there so they can claim oe strength type hardware.

I’m still trying to figure out how they call these wheels and the rings forged.
I’m not near them so I can’t touch and inspect them to see if they are real forged or not.

 

EDIT: I am wrong, these wheels are not beadlocks, it's a beauty ring that failed. OP did it wrong.

Looks like hydrogen embrittlement is much more common on 12.9 then 10.9

 

top pic looks like the bolts loosened up and then the lock ring flexing broke the bolt heads off.

 

I mean maybe, but the question is still why was there that much force to begin with? Thats a pretty thick chunk of Al (Im assuming) cant imagine what would cause it to deflect that much without being hit

 

Dumb question but did he torque these to specs? Had a local shop here in town use an air impact on the bead locks and the failure looked like this, torque on these surprisingly low some wheels require only 60 to 80 inch pounds, some require 10 to 15 ft pounds its really easy to over torque and cause the bolts to break or pull threw. It might not be the issue but maybe somthing to look into

 

I can’t speak to the first wheel since that was a bit ago and I can’t remember.

but the recent one, the three pic one. That I can guarantee he used a torque wrench and it was done by hand.

he just went to a 35 inch tire not too long ago.

 

I asked. He said that those were all pulled out of the threads.

it makes me wonder if ring isn’t perfectly machined (or the wheel) and there is a resonance in the wheel… or if there is a major resonance or flex in the wheel causing the ring to pop.

If that’s the case it’s s terminal design problem.

both were passenger rears on unlocked axles. Both had the same rear shocks (kings from baja kits) and same rear leaf pack. A bit of axle wrap coming from a Stop light..?

i wonder if the wheel is out of round. I doubt it. But I wonder If it was a wheel flex.

again. If it was there is no fix. It’s the wheel design and material.

sadly there is no way to test this theory.

 

The hardware definitely failed for the heads to pop off like that. Any beadlock wheel I've seen worth a damn has had steel threaded inserts that can be replaced on the fly. In this case rrw is threading the actual wheel and once those threads are jacked up or wasted the wheel is useless.

 

Their website states grade 10.9 bolts