s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,608
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
5/16" or 3/8" for me. Most of the hooks/etc are interchangeable between those two, which is a plus.
I use 1/4" chain most of the time and love it, I have two 6' x 1/4" chains that I keep handy, never had a problem. I keep some 3/8 around for heavy pulling and jerking, or if I just need a longer chain. I used to have a chain that the railroad had hooked to a d9 cleaning up a train wreck, I don't think I need that anymore with my little sub.
I will speak my peace again... I have settled on 5/16in for multi purpose use. As I mentioned in post #3 a smart person sizes the chain for the job but 1/4in is 'light' (in my opinion) and can't be abused like a thicker chain without consequences. For those that want to wrestle with different chain diameters... okay knock yourself out and carry more sizes than you really need. I say gauge up to what you anticipate and carry that size. We are generally talking tractors here and 1/4in doesn't cut it in my opinion. I ask myself, why buy 1/4in chain and worry about if it is 'enough'. Obviously, heavy machine guys need to go 3/8in or larger but for most of us common folk, 5/16in is the ticket. My :2cents:
Yup. Shock loads, however brief are high loads in comparison to your tractor or load weight. Any jerk causes a deceptively hi multiplication factor in a 20 foot chain [Gr70] because it will only give elastically about 1 or 2 inch. After that the damage starts.From the drawbar, 5/16 is fine for a CUT. But have broken it before. But that is harder pulls on dry ground from the 3PH for max power. Take the breaking strength with a grain of salt. While the WLL has a generous safety factor, Using a grab hook I doubt you would ever get near the ultimate breaking strength. Maybe half that.
Also important is shock loads. Chain dont give like a strap or cable does. If you do much jerking at all it is an easy way to weaken and eventually break the chain