Pro-line Rock Shooter 1.9-Inch Wheel
Pro-line puts a new twist on a classic design
Pro-line Puts A New Twist On An Classic Design
Nothing looks more like aluminum than actual aluminum and that’s something that many trail truck owners want when choosing wheels for their trucks. The problem with aluminum wheels is that the great scale look comes with a steep price tag. Pro-line is switching things up a bit with the introduction with their new Rock Shooter 1.9-inch wheels for the trail truck crowd. It’s a wheel that’s made up of aluminum and plastic so you get the great scale look of an aluminum wheel but a lower cost thanks to some of the injection molded plastic internal ring and rear bead lock that it uses. Let’s break down these wheels and get a closer look.
FEATURES
The wheel itself is a 3-piece design with the face and rear ring pinching the tire bead against an internal ring.
Only six screws are used to clamp everything together which saves time and more importantly, money since there’s a lot less hardware to be packaged. The face of the wheel is machined out of a chunk of aluminum and features bead lock detailing along with some screws that replicate lug nuts in the center. On the back side, the center is machined to accept 12mm hexes and there are some threaded holes and cutouts for Pro-line’s optional wheel weights (with some slight modification). The tapped holes for the bead lock screws have a boss around them that keys into the beadlock ring. The beadlock ring itself has detailing around the bead lock area and had no venting, so you’ll have to decide if you want to vent the tire or the beadlock portion of the wheel. The internal ring has several nubs on the outside that can hold onto the foam insert and keep it from spinning.
INSTALLATION AND TESTING
I picked up a set of Proline Interco TSL SX Super Swampers to mount on the Rock Shooters for testing.
The wheels come out of the package ready for assembly with the mounting screws and faux lug nuts in separate bags. I installed the center ring into the tire, attached the aluminum face then the rear bead lock piece. The bead of the tire fit the internal ring perfectly and the outside portion of the bead hugged the rim face and bead lock with no necessary adjustment. I installed the six bead lock screws and in seconds had them tight. All that was left to do was to add the screws to the center of the wheel and I was ready to hit the trail. I tugged on the tires before mounting them on my test rig and I wasn’t able to pull them out of the bead. On the trail the Rock Shooter wheels worked equally as well; they didn’t give up their grip on the tires no matter how tough things were along the way.
FINAL WORD
Pro-line’s Rock Shooter wheels look great and did a great job of holding onto my Super Swamper tires during my testing.
More importantly the wheels were very easy to assemble when compared to other bead lock designs. This is an interesting way to make an aluminum wheel and I give Pro-line props for giving us a low cost solution when it comes to this type of wheel. I do however think it would be nice to have a vent hole in the wheel so I didn’t have to make my own or vent the tire.
—Kevin Hetmanski