I finally got around to trying the new chains on and they were way too big for my tires. I guess the chain expert isn't an expert after all. I called him back and told him of the issues. He said I could send them back for a full refund or alter them to make them fit. Of course as soon as I start alterations they are mine with no chance of getting my money back. After a lot of studying the way the chains are made, I decided to make these work. These chains were $1200 CAD and the only others I could find locally in the Euro ice chains were $1900 CAD.
Here are pics.
The second pic shows the lack of clearance between the inside chain shackle and the cab, with the tires at the factory setting. I knew this would be a problem.
There is a metal cover that protrudes from the cab, that protects wires for the tail lights and the rear windshield washer tubing. I removed this and moved the wiring inside the frame work. That gave me another 3/4" of clearance. Still not enough so I ended up removing the wheels/tires and swapping sides to get a wider stance. Holy crap those things are heavy and hard to get on and off by yourself. Especially being loaded with bioballast.
The third pic shows the amount of chain I had to remove to get these to fit my tire and the fourth pic shows the link I had to cut, bend open, relocate and then weld back together. Man this stuff is hard and strong. I had to use OA to get the link red hot in order to bend it open and close again and it was still hard to bend.
The first pic below shows the clearance between the tires and the cab. The left tire is set at the second widest position and the right tire is set at the widest position. I was going to use the widest position but realized that would make the tires wider than my snowblower, so I went with the offset shown on the left. That meant removing the tire on the right and remounting it again. Did I mention those things are HEAVY and awkward to work with.
You can also see that I have draped my old Duo chains on the right tire just to see how they would sit on the new tires. I'm sure I will be a lot happier with the Trygg's.
I also got similar chains for the front tires that were actually made for ATV's but they fit well. My only concern is that they are only 5.5mm and the rears are 9.5mm. That will produce different travel distances between the front and rear tires which may not be good if used in 4WD. I think with these aggressive rear chains that I will not likely need to use 4WD and then all is good. Time will tell. I didn't get pics of the fronts but can when I finally have the need to install them, if anyone is interested.
