Only front chains?

[Dingo Man]

For this year and just to save a little money I am thinking about buying tire chains just for the front tires (r4). These are great tires but I have found their weakness is any kind of lateral grip on snow, ice, and hard ground is non-existent. Snow removal in my driveway is no problem. But let's face it one of the things I looked most forward to with my tractor is being able to plow the entire friggin yard if I felt like it. I have been speaking with my dealer who advised me he remembers experiencing the same thing with his first tractor with r4s. He stated that running front chains was alright to do and is fine for any kind of warranty issue, but warned this would put a little extra strain on the "ring n pinion". Did he mean rack and pinion? Anyone running just front chains and has it help with hilly frozen terrain.

[nybirdman]

Ring and pinion,is your front differental gears.Expensive to fix if you break them.

[Coyote machine]

Ring and pinion,is your front differental gears.Expensive to fix if you break them.

If I were to run chains - all four wheels would be the thing to do. You gain traction all the way around; whereas just fronts leaves possibility of rears breaking free when least expected, and could lead to unfavorable consequences.

[MF1433V]

Some do this, but I wouldn't. Running a blower I would no issue, but plowing I wouldn't do it. The savings in the difference between the front and rear chains is chump change compared to front axle repair. Its been a while since I have priced chains , how much difference are we talking, $200 or $300?

If you eventually want to do all 4 and you can spring for the rears next year, IMO it would be fine to use front only for 1 season. Even with chains you should run out of traction before you risk damaging the front axle in mos snow/ice situations.

[kco]

I rebuilt some old chains into 2-link ladders for the front of my DK35. I also have rear chains and there is a noticeable improvement in traction and steering with the fronts, even when not in 4WD. My dealer also suggested front only chains last year but I went with rear chains. You're on snow and ice so I think there won't be undue stress with front only chains as long as you don't shock the heck out of them.

One thing I found with my front chains is the crosschains need to be fairly short so the cross hooks run near the top of the wall. Otherwise there will be inadequate clearance because the clearance to the vertical member of the front assembly angles closer to the wheel from top to bottom. Here is a photo of the chains I made:



The front components of the DK35 and DK40 are the same I believe.

I considered ordering new chains. The crosschains would have been longer than those I ended up making. Before ordering I tested with my longer old chains and saw there would be problems. I also saw I could shorten them and convert them from 4 to 2-link ladders for free. They actually aren't that large or heavy duty. I think they are some old truck chains with very worn (some non-existent) v-bars. But they do the trick.

[Dingo Man]

I have priced out some chains and doing both front and rear I can handle buying both but thought if I could save money on just fronts I would. I agree with CM it is definitely not as safe, and I do not want to put added stress on the front end. At this time I am looking at 2-link Vbar ladders for the front and the basic H chains for the rears both from tire chains.com totaling $788 delivered. This site seems to have the best selection and prices. If anyone else has any other options I am all ears.

[kco]

By basic H chains for the rears do you mean 4-link ladders? If so they may get lost in the lugs. That's what happened for me when I tried the old 4-link ladders. But they were also light cross chains so more prone to that. I recall grtsthegreat has 2-link ladders all round and they work well.

My DUO rear chains are very rough on hard surfaces. They ended with a large end gap that I filled with two 9 mm crosschains, but they're still rough. I am considering shortening the cross patterns by two links over the summer, repositioning the patterns to be more like the small garden tractor H patterns (i.e. each DUO cross hook will attach two patterns as opposed to having a link gap to the next pattern). I would need two more DUO patterns for each side.

The advantage for me would be more DUO patterns giving a smoother ride. Plus the chains will ride higher on the tire giving more clearance to the fender upright support (which now is very tight). You won't have such a problem on your DK40 since you have adjustable rims (my DK35 doesn't).

Also, my previous comment about tight clearance for the front chains may not apply to your DK40. It has larger rims and therefore your chains will be further from the front end components.

[VictorW]

I have been running two link ladder chains on a CK30hst with R4s for the past seven years. I have them on all four tires and it does turn it into a Winter tank for pushing snow with a 6 1/2' Myers adapted snow plow. I too was loosing steering when plowing due to the fronts not grabbing enough. I did all four because I didn't want the front to bite in and have the rears slipping putting more stress on the smaller front axle compared to the rear. I don't have a problem with the chains falling into the tread on the R4s because it's not that deep anyways. My fronts are 1/4" link chain and the rears are 3/8" link chain. The smaller links on the front give it plenty of bite for traction and steering and the larger rear links let the rears do the work they were intended to do and that is push like a tank especially when you have the diff locked. I've driven it through 2 feet of snow in my yard and I get hard packed snow along with ice in my driveway and it has never failed me with the chains.

[Dingo Man]

VictoeW where did you find your 2 links for the rears. I have only been able to find 4 link for my size rears. Do you have just standard chain or Vbar.

[VictorW]

I have just regular two link ladder chains with no v-bar. The two link give a better ride and always seem to have a cross link on the ground. I bought mine from Tire Chains by TireChains.com which had the best pricing even with shipping from several sites and local places I compared. They have many styles of chains for tractors; h-bar, v-bar, duo-link, etc. I'm not sure of your tire size to know if they would have the two link to fit yours but I bet they would have your size in one of the styles or if you call them, they will make the chains for your size tires. On their site, click tractor chains tab, then the style you want. It will list all the tire sizes they have that specific style for. I hope this helps and they have what you're looking for.