After suffering a major impact with a rock at the 2002 Dakota Territory Challenge, these rims were in very bad shape. My first thought was new rims with beadlocks. Beadlocks seem to have become mandatory equipment on rock crawlers and there is a good reason for that. Over the last couple of years I have lost a bead quite a few times. Losing a bead is always inconvenient, however one time I'm convinced that it actually lead to a rollover. With beadlocks, that wouldn't have happened.

One of my Centerline wheels suffered a major impact at the 2002 Dakota Territory Challenge. Luckily the wheel continued to hold air but was damaged to the point that it either needed repair or replacement.

Another view of the wheel shows how badly scarred they were after seven years of heavy rock crawling use.

A close up shot of another rim showing some of the deep gouges it had received. All the rims had damage of this nature.

I decided that this time I had to have beadlocks. I started my pre-purchase research by checking out all the options out there. There are many manufacturers building beadlock wheels. Even though my old Centerline rims were in bad shape they are a high quality rim that still had life in them. I decided that if they could be saved they still could serve me well. Once I had made this decision the possible choices really narrowed down. After some phone calls to various manufacturers it really came down to one choice which was Champion Wheel. Champion would take my old wheels and add aluminum beadlocks. I didn't have to shell out any more cash for aluminum rims which saves me a considerable amount of money. I boxed my old rims and sent them to Champion in California. I had already spoken with Champion Wheel and they agreed if I sent a camera along they would snap some photos of the process the wheels go through. Follow along as we take a look at a set of standard wheels being converted to beadlocks. The following are shots from their production facility in California.

Here we see the outer beadlocks being drilled for the 24 bolts that hold it to the inner beadlock.	The huge jig that holds the inner beadlock on the rim for welding.	Here we see one of the inner beadlocks being welded to the rim.
A shot of the finished rims. The rim by itself is the wheel that was heavily damaged. The rims look better than they have in years. Now if I could just do something about the grungy inside.	A close up view of the quality wheel lip that Champion Wheels provides on their inner beadlock. The machined lip does an excellent job of locating/centering the tire on the rim.	After looking at the beautiful new beadlocks I decide to polish the whole rim. A polish kit was obtained from the Eastwood Companies. I then spent the next several weeks taking the rims through six stages of polishing. This is the final result.
The finished wheel with beadlocks mounted, rims are buffed and shined, and the new 42" Super Swamper TSL's have been installed. Plenty of work involved to give some old rims new life. The effort is well worth it if you have quality rims and are willing to put a little elbow grease into making them look new again.
	Champion Wheel Co. www.championwheel.com 1671 N. Brawley Ave., Fresno, Ca 93722   tel: 559-275-5183 fax: 559-276-2365