The big reason for tubeless is that the tubes on these fat bikes are heavy, and in all the wrong places: rotational weight. The further out the weight is on the circumference of wheel, the 'heavier' the bike feels. The Surly tubes run close to a pound a piece!
I got some 90mm stans tape from Fatback and took a shot at setting the front tire up as tubeless. The big challenge with a tubeless set up on fat bike rims is having a tight enough seal to inflate the tires.
I tried inflating the tires after installing the stan's tape and sure enough, air was escaping as quickly as it was entering. I then added a light layer of the blue foam sill tape to build up the middle of the rim and that was enough to create a tight enough seal for the tire to inflate.
I inflated the tire to about 35 psi in order for the tire beads to seat properly on the rim and then promptly deflated the tire so I could put in Stan's sealant. After a quick injection of Stan's, it was time to re-inflate and seal up any leaks. I brushed soapy water on the tire and rotated the wheel to the leaks and jiggled the wheel back and forth until the Stan's sealed up those areas....I did the wheel dance (wheel jiggle) as I worked my war around the wheel/tire and left it for 30 minutes to sit on one side, and then flipped the tire over to the other side...fast forward a couple of weeks and it is still holding air....
Success!!
Process went sorta' like this:
Rubbing alcohol to wipe off any grime....
Find valve hole and puncture through tape:
Install sill tape to increase 'volume' for tire to bead
Put tire back on and wipe sidewalls with soapy water (help for tires to 'slip' on and bead better)
Re-inflate and let sit to see if it holds air....work Stan's to places where soapy water is bubbling and move tire around so that Stan's plugs up the escape hole...
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