AEV Borah and 37

GoolsbyMD77 · Apr 14, 2024

Seriously about 2 beers away from pulling the trigger on AEV Borah true beadlocks and 37x12.50 trail grapplers. Does it make sense?

It’s a 22 Mojave daily driver typically, 40-50 miles/day highway. Live damn near on the ocean in VA, max elevation is 200’ above sea level on way to work. Only off-roading I do is mud pits and easy east coast trails and beach cruising, I don’t rock crawl. Been a knuckle dragging mechanic in the Navy for 18+ years so the maintenance doesn’t worry me and own a few different FT, inch and newton meter torque wrench for various work and plenty of lube. I like the fact the tires in a beadlock become fully self-serviceable. Plans in future are to add the AEV 2” and split the fenders with metalcloak fender gut kit. Already have onboard air so I’m just feeling the beadlocks to be self-indenpenant.

Does it make since or should I look at a traditional wheel.

Not2Late · Apr 14, 2024

Nice thing about the Borah is you can run it as a non-beadlock to. Just depends on what trim ring you use and how that outer tire bead is mounted. So you get the best of both worlds.

PuddleJumper · Apr 15, 2024

GoolsbyMD77 said:
Seriously about 2 beers away from pulling the trigger on AEV Borah true beadlocks and 37x12.50 trail grapplers. Does it make sense?

It’s a 22 Mojave daily driver typically, 40-50 miles/day highway. Live damn near on the ocean in VA, max elevation is 200’ above sea level on way to work. Only off-roading I do is mud pits and easy east coast trails and beach cruising, I don’t rock crawl. Been a knuckle dragging mechanic in the Navy for 18+ years so the maintenance doesn’t worry me and own a few different FT, inch and newton meter torque wrench for various work and plenty of lube. I like the fact the tires in a beadlock become fully self-serviceable. Plans in future are to add the AEV 2” and split the fenders with metalcloak fender gut kit. Already have onboard air so I’m just feeling the beadlocks to be self-indenpenant.

Does it make since or should I look at a traditional wheel.

The only concern you want to be aware of is how much weight you adding per corner. On the fast stuff you can easily overwork the factory Fox 2.5s trying to cycle a 130+ pound wheel assembly. Now the AEV is a solid fitment wheel at +4 but as all beadlocks are, its heavy gal vs a non beadlock alloy wheel. depending on what tire you pair with, you may be shopping for new shocks to handle em shortly after a beach run. a factory wheel weighs in the ballpark of 25-30lbs and avg 37in tire weighs 68-70lbs. but you could easily run a 40lb wheel and and 85lb tire and won't notice till you try and mount the F'ers. I couldn't find a weight spec for the Borah but depending on your 37 tire of choice it could be heavy enough to to send you to accutune for 2.5 elites and 12 or worse mpg. Granted this is all based on amount of F's available to give. If your out, just send it. If you have a few, try to keep your combo at or under 98-110ish pound a corner. I'm at 107lbs per corner and my Mojave handles them just fine. Floats like a dream over 40 mph on some nasty stuff and whoops. I also recommend the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T in 37x12.5r17 for your endeavor. Its a fantastic tire to pair with a Mojave. Best of luck and keep us posted. Just make you actually keep your beadlocks maintained as listed by manufacturer. They are all different. VA state police shouldn't bust balls over beadlocks so no worries there. But my buddy did blow a bead ring on the highway because he didn't read instructions that stated the ring bolts were single use only and had to be replaced every time time the ring was taken off as well as to not re torque after install torque. Not a fun lesson to learn at 70 mph.

Dr Feelgood 5150 · Apr 15, 2024

I’ve been running AEV Borah in both beadlock and rock ring for years without any problems at all. Daily driver.
I’ve towed a trailer across the US and wheeled in Windrock and have put over 150,000 miles on beadlocks on my Gladiator and Wranglers.
I also run KMC Tank beadlocks on a daily driver that wheels hard.
I don’t worry about anything anymore like others will say to be worried.
Companies have lawyers for dumb people that sue after their own neglect and incompetence.
Most people don’t have or never have had beadlocks so they don’t know.
AEV Borahs are great except for one thing…
The large ridge around the valve stem hole makes them off balanced by approximately 3.5 to 4 ounces.
I use balance beads and they work great.
Otherwise, you’ll have a lot of sticky weights that can come lose.
I do think very good quality tires are necessary though because they will balance far easier with almost no weight needed. Toyo and Nitto are the best.
My 40” Toyo MTs needed no weight with KMCs and only needed enough to offset the valve stem bulge with the AEVs.
Now, my AEVs are mounted with BFG ATs and they need more weight because BFGs suck. Rock rings now on the AEVs.
Thats a good thing about the AEVs, that you can run them as standard mount or beadlock. And they look great.
My tire sizes are 40x13.50r17, 38x13.50r17, and 37x12.50r17.
I will say that the 40s are a little too heavy for the AEVs or I’d still be using them because they look great.