2.2 Beadlock Rings

I'm a big fan of the Axial Rockster wheels. They are cheap and hold beads really well but I'm not a fan of the weak green colored rings. The rings are a little flimsy, the powdercoating also scratched fairly easily and I don't want to refinish them all the time. Luckily, I was in the hardware store looking for some materials for another project when I noticed some nice big 1" hardware washers. I bought a box of 10 for $5 and decided to see if I could use them as beadlock rings.

PARTS & SUPPLIES NEEDED
1 Axial beadlock rind (or ring of your choice)
8x 2.5" OD washers with 1" hole

TOOLS
Drill
1/16" bit
5/64" bit
3/32" bit
1/8" bit
2x small vice grip clamps



1. I started off by centering the Axial ring on the washer and clamping it down. It's best to have both pieces face down so that you don't scratch your Axial ring and so that you don't have any burrs on the back of your washer ring. I used one of my old rings so that I could sell the nice new ones I had just gotten.


2. I started with the 1/16" bit, then the 5/64" bit so that I wouldn't wallow out the inside of the softer Axial ring. After drilling all 6 holes I removed the clamps & the ring and went back with the 3/32 bit.

3. After drilling all the holes I followed up with the 1/8" bit on the face of the ring to deburr the hole and so that the screws I was using would sit inside the ring a little bit. If you had some tapered socket head screws you could completely countersink them for a great finish.



The washers actually work great. Because they are thicker, sturdier and a bigger diameter than the Axial rings they seal even better. The bonus to using these as rings are that they are quite heavy. Running these inside & outside I no longer need to use tons of lead weights inside the wheels. It also means I can save my nice pretty rings for magazine shoots (ha) or I can resell them.