Tales/photos of Moab and looking for recommendations about beadlocks and rims

[Gillis-Smith (SO LR)]

Well, I just got back from taking my 94 H1 from LA to the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Durango, Ouray, Teluride, and Moab, 2500 miles in 10 days camping with the family. Things went great, but we had a bit more adventure in Moab than I was hoping for. After a mellow morning we talked to a Jeeper couple that recommended getting back to the highway through Kane Springs Creek, no problem with an H1 they said. BTW, I was aired down to about 22 psi on 38.5x14.5x16.5 Swamper TSL/SXs. Well, the road is very narrow and more than once I had to hang one tire off of the road (cliff) to get around some large rocks. Eventually we ended up in the creek bottom and after many crossings we had a longer creek section to run. A large, 12' diameter rock sat at the edge of the water allowing plenty of space to go around. We proceeded through and as the water reached about 2' deep near the rock, I added power to get out of the deepening water. After feeling two impacts to the vehicle, we hobbled out of the water. By the way, if I did not have the Detroit lockers, I would have been dead in the water. I exited to find the front left tire missing and the rear one wrapped around a destroyed aluminum rim. After 2 hours of installing the spare and moving the least damaged tire to the least damaged rim, we crawled several sets of 2-3 foot rock stairs out of the canyon and made it back to Moab in time for the fireworks.

So here is my question. Does anyone run beadlocks on their H1? I have heard that beadlocks are only for vehicles less than 6500 lbs if doing lots of freeway driving. They are also not legal in some states.

Next question, if beadlocks are out, then I have heard that 16.5 are used for military compatibility with other high load trucks. The x.5 rims are for high load trucks and have a much smaller bead and tend to come off easier. By going with a 16 or 17" rim, I will have a much better bead engagement. Does anyone run 16 or 17"? What are your thoughts?


Greg
SO LR