Let me start by saying these are the first custom tires I have built, and if I can do this, anyone can. This is a simple way to get some 5.8-6" tall pin tires on your rig.
I used AKA 3.8 Truggy I-Beams in the soft compound, and just laid the sidewalls of some old Rovers into the bead of the truggy tire. The Rovers have a ring under the sidelugs that I used as a guide, which made cutting them precisely super easy. The cut was made about 1/16" away from the ring, just under the sidelugs. The I-beams weren't touched with scissors. The sidewall of the truggy tires are short and pliable so I don't think I'll have a problem with them not conforming to the terrain. I'm actually hoping the ring of rubber that is doubled in the bead area will help stiffen it so it doesn't wad up in turns.
Here's a shot of everything cut, washed and ready to go. I have less than 2 hours into building these tires:
This is a shot of exactly where I cut the Rovers, the cut line brushed against the sidelugs as it went around. Don't just cut along the ring, it will make the sidewall slightly too small to fit easily:
Here's a pic of it mocked up in the I-Beam. It lays down right in the bead, kinda pops into place:
This shows the bead area of the I-Beam, and if you look inside the tire, you can see one of the sidewalls glued into place:
Here is what it looks like from the outside. I ran a bead of glue along the entire bead of the I-beam and then laid the Rover sidewall into place. You can see in the previous pic that the glue was able to bond on 2 different faces, not just a butt joint:
I used AKA 3.8 Truggy I-Beams in the soft compound, and just laid the sidewalls of some old Rovers into the bead of the truggy tire. The Rovers have a ring under the sidelugs that I used as a guide, which made cutting them precisely super easy. The cut was made about 1/16" away from the ring, just under the sidelugs. The I-beams weren't touched with scissors. The sidewall of the truggy tires are short and pliable so I don't think I'll have a problem with them not conforming to the terrain. I'm actually hoping the ring of rubber that is doubled in the bead area will help stiffen it so it doesn't wad up in turns.
Here's a shot of everything cut, washed and ready to go. I have less than 2 hours into building these tires:
This is a shot of exactly where I cut the Rovers, the cut line brushed against the sidelugs as it went around. Don't just cut along the ring, it will make the sidewall slightly too small to fit easily:
Here's a pic of it mocked up in the I-Beam. It lays down right in the bead, kinda pops into place:
This shows the bead area of the I-Beam, and if you look inside the tire, you can see one of the sidewalls glued into place:
Here is what it looks like from the outside. I ran a bead of glue along the entire bead of the I-beam and then laid the Rover sidewall into place. You can see in the previous pic that the glue was able to bond on 2 different faces, not just a butt joint:
