Tire Chains, Home Made Anyone done it?

[HSSC]

Hey Ken,
thanks for the pic's they help a lot. After looking online etc for chains I've decided to make my own.. the one question I have is the "twisted link" cross chains.. did you just twist your own to make them ... It looks to me like you used the same side chain and just twisted them with your vise ... do I have that right?

I called my local DOT garage and they acted like I was insane asking for their old chains.. almost like I pay their salary or something... pfff!!

Thusly I'm going to buy bulk chain and start bending... I feel the testosterone increasing just thinking about it.

tractor on

Those are standard cross links and they are hardened as they are the boys put to work, on the ground, giving your vehicle traction. I never bothered welding any of them, only attached them to other links. Just run a grinder over them and create a kerf and a larger set of channel locks and they break rather quick. All of those cross links at one point, were full links. I just cut them to the length for what I needed.

The conditions on the highway last year ( fall ) was icy and some what thin as I traveled those same roads later in the day with full loads of concrete on dry roads. The broken chains were everywhere. Many of which were like new.

It was a bonanza. Kind of funny how it all worked out cause, I'm traveling those same roads this year and not to much to harvest this year.

Maybe those truck drivers learned how to tighten up their chains.:confused3:

 

[HSSC]

As far as using a coil spring, a good way to do it as that metal is much harder than the round stock I used. Just make your cuts and clamp them together and weld away.

I had some round stock on hand and the chains I built will only see dirt, gravel, some concrete, so hardness wasn't an issue. Someone else will send these to the scrap yard. They should last the rest of my life.:cool2:

 

[rScotty]

As far as using a coil spring, a good way to do it as that metal is much harder than the round stock I used. Just make your cuts and clamp them together and weld away.

I had some round stock on hand and the chains I built will only see dirt, gravel, some concrete, so hardness wasn't an issue. Someone else will send these to the scrap yard. They should last the rest of my life.:cool2:

Has anyone actually tried welding a section of a coil spring? If so, please tell me how, because in the past I haven't had much luck getting good welds to stick to spring steel.....Or in heat-bending springs either. Not even after annealing it first.

Maybe the alloys are different. I've done enough re-arcing of leaf springs to know that whatever steel they used 80 years ago is different from the alloys now. So maybe some are different from others.

On hard cross links like the twisted ones versus soft iron cross links - I've made and used both styles but after 30 years of using them I really can't tell yet which one wears more than the other. Mostly chains are used in the winter, but for a couple of summers I was working the tractor in really rough country making dirt roads and we used chains in the summer a lot to save the tires from spinning on sharp granite rocks....fixing chains being cheaper than losing large chunks of rubber. Good in deep sand too - and particularly in deep wet sand. That was hard on chains, but the problem wasn't wear so much as fit to the tire and stretching the chains. Good fitting sets of chains wear very well and don't damage the tires. I'm sure there is a difference in wear due to hardness, but I just didn't see it and so don't know if wear favors chain cross links made of soft iron or of hard steel.
rScotty

 

[Mace Canute]

Awhile back on another forum someone posted a chart to help identify "junkyard" steel as far as carbon content went.
From that chart, car coil springs were supposed to be 4063 steel, truck coils 5160 steel and leaf springs both 1085 and 5160. Of course, they could be something else too, but what I got from the chart was that it was more likely to be those particular ones.

 

[SensibleNick]

Well.. just got in from clearing 18" of wettish snow.. and I NEVER expected the grip to be so good!! :thumbsup:

I have yet to do the front chains, but they're seriously needed to get steering authority when pushing *that* much snow

The cruddy galvanising on the chain has predictably worn in the ends of the links, and the 1% elongation of the chain caused them so seat incorrectly... I kinda expected that, but I'll be finding myself some springs tomorrow to build in a semi-permanent tension on the outsides of them to keep them in check

I'll post another update with more pictures when I finish the fronts and install the tensioning system.

If you've never used chains in the snow before, and are thinking "Hmm.. I wonder if they're *really* going to make a difference", YES... yes they are. a huge one. Massive. Really really big. :licking:

EDIT: have a Photo. Rear chains only on a Foton 254 4WD... and this pile of snow was moving along happily. A pile a 1/3rd of the size would have had the tyres slipping without the chains

 

[smiley]

Well.. just got in from clearing 18" of wettish snow.. and I NEVER expected the grip to be so good!! :thumbsup:

I have yet to do the front chains, but they're seriously needed to get steering authority when pushing *that* much snow


If you've never used chains in the snow before, and are thinking "Hmm.. I wonder if they're *really* going to make a difference"[/I], YES... yes they are. a huge one. Massive. Really really big. :licking:

Nick mentions chains on the front also. I found the same to be true more so with 4wd than 2wd. With 2wd the front tires are generally going where you steer them. With 4wd if the front wheels spin and break traction, the front end tends to slide sideways especially on a side slope.

 

[crazyal]

They were about $650 American. I bought some other stuff so I can't say for sure. Both the Tellefsdals and the Aquilines seam pretty pricey but I really like how they (and your set you made) wrap chain around the tread, can fall between the lugs with that design. I also expect they will be the only set of chains I will ever buy for the tractor so I just bit the bullet and got them.

After reading here I wouldn't mind trying to make a set.

 

[crazyal]

Nick mentions chains on the front also. I found the same to be true more so with 4wd than 2wd. With 2wd the front tires are generally going where you steer them. With 4wd if the front wheels spin and break traction, the front end tends to slide sideways especially on a side slope.

I've always used my brakes to steer. It's only when I have to lock the rear Diff that I've had problems.

 

[SensibleNick]

I've always used my brakes to steer. It's only when I have to lock the rear Diff that I've had problems.

Being a Tractor Newbie, I need posts like this ^^^ to remind me that I have split brakes... :ashamed:

I think another factor is that the tread pattern for the front tyres on 4WD tractors is not well-suited for lateral grip. anyway... the front chains are nearly done, and I'm damned if I'll let those front wheels miss out on the fun

Thanks!!

 

[rScotty]

anyway... the front chains are nearly done, and I'm damned if I'll let those front wheels miss out on the fun Thanks!!

If the snow is not too deep then I'll often just put on the front chains. Lifting the front tires with the FEL is easy, and the front chains are a lot lighter weight. Anyone else that lazy?

Probably the hardest part of making a large set of rear chains is constantly having to pick those heavy units up and and reposition them on the workbench + putting them on/off the tire a dozen times for measuring things.
rScotty