Mounting tire chains

[ovrszd]

I always want my fasteners at the bottom of the tire. Let gravity pull the slack.

 

[jackpine savage]

I always want my fasteners at the bottom of the tire. Let gravity pull the slack.

If you can easily get at the back side of the tire I agree. With a vehicle I'd rather have it up aways.

 

[Greenland South]

Why is it that every video I've ever seen shows the chains being put on in nice weather. Not very realistic. I don't put mine on till I need them.
The first year I put them on the tractor it did take a couple hours, despite having experience with big triples I used to have to put on a vacuum truck. It gets faster every year. About 15 minutes a side now. I do take and keep notes every year, just because. Just stick the notes in the chain bin so you know where they are next year.

 

[jgayman]

I always want my fasteners at the bottom of the tire. Let gravity pull the slack.

That works fine if you have a smooth tire like a R3 or passenger car tire but with R1 or R4 tires the cross links always get hung up in the lugs and you have to manually keep lifting the chain and making sure it is straight and even.

 

[LouNY]

Letting the tractor pull them up and around there is no slack to fight with.
That's what makes it easy.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Letting the tractor pull them up and around there is no slack to fight with.
That's what makes it easy.

^^^^ This is key to the method Lou uses. I think those who haven't tried it may be missing this point. And like jgayman said it makes chaining up R1's and R4's a breeze.

gg

 

[John_Mc]

Letting the tractor pull them up and around there is no slack to fight with.
That's what makes it easy.

EXACTLY! I just drive them on and clip them together. No need for adjusting or retightening.

 

[CobyRupert]

Two other items regarding chains:

1. To use bungees, cords, springs, etc... across sidewall/rim to take up slack or not?
I don't use these. But thinking about this, don't they really just pull all the slack to one side of the tire, to the limits of how tight you fastened the chain on the inner/tractor side of the tire? I don't know, maybe they stop the chain from banging on the fender at road speeds?

2. Do you use any safety clips, wires, etc... to lock the chain fasteners? Ever have a chain fall off because the fastener went slack (no tension) or it got bumped, etc..?
I always thought the purpose of these connectors is to get some leverage when making the final front side connection or have a more secure way of connecting/locking the chain, but with my bigger tractor chains the leverage I gain is little compared to the weight of the chain or it's ability to slide on the treadbars. And if locking is their purpose, why doesn't the S-hook on the back side come unhooked more often when the tire pulls and tug (slackens and tensions the chain) in real world operation?

 

[Chilly807]

Two other items regarding chains:

1. To use bungees, cords, springs, etc... across sidewall/rim to take up slack or not?
I don't use these. But thinking about this, don't they really just pull all the slack to one side of the tire, to the limits of how tight you fastened the chain on the inner/tractor side of the tire? I don't know, maybe they stop the chain from banging on the fender at road speeds?

2. Do you use any safety clips, wires, etc... to lock the chain fasteners? Ever have a chain fall off because the fastener went slack (no tension) or it got bumped, etc..?
I always thought the purpose of these connectors is to get some leverage when making the final front side connection or have a more secure way of connecting/locking the chain, but with my bigger tractor chains the leverage I gain is little compared to the weight of the chain or it's ability to slide on the treadbars. And if locking is their purpose, why doesn't the S-hook on the back side come unhooked more often when the tire pulls and tug (slackens and tensions the chain) in real world operation?

I don't use tensioners at all, about a fist worth of slack between the sidewall and side chains. I've never had a chain come off in 10 years, both in the woods and on smooth surfaces. Very little wear on the chains and tires, and smooth running on hard surfaces.

I use a small screw shackle to secure the boomers once they're in place, then a short length of stove wire to lock the screw pins in place. Cut that off in the spring.

 

[John_Mc]

I don't use tensioners at all, about a fist worth of slack between the sidewall and side chains. I've never had a chain come off in 10 years, both in the woods and on smooth surfaces. Very little wear on the chains and tires, and smooth running on hard surfaces.

That fist worth of slack is what's recommended for the Euro-style chains (like the Ofa EKO chains). For Ladder-style chains, tensioners are recommended. If I recall correctly, tensioners are recommended for DuoGrip style chains as well.

 

[ovrszd]

That fist worth of slack is what's recommended for the Euro-style chains (like the Ofa EKO chains). For Ladder-style chains, tensioners are recommended. If I recall correctly, tensioners are recommended for DuoGrip style chains as well.

I've ran 2-link ladder style chains thousands of miles at 15mpj without tensioners with no problems. I see no way an elastic tensioner is of any value unless it's strong enough to require some form of mechanical installation tool to stretch it.

 

[Garandman]

We have Ofa Eco 8 chains on rear. The slack is a little more than the fist width recommended. We put one bungee on the inside, one on the outside and it snugs them up just enough.

Very icy around here right now so it was a good move.

 

[John_Mc]

I've ran 2-link ladder style chains thousands of miles at 15mpj without tensioners with no problems. I see no way an elastic tensioner is of any value unless it's strong enough to require some form of mechanical installation tool to stretch it.

I ran a tensioner on my ladder style chains the first season I used then, then never put them on again. (Basically, even with a special installation tool, I judged that getting them on was more hassle than I was willing to put up with.) I'm not saying they won't work without tensioners, I'm just relaying what two different chain vendors said, as well as my tractor dealer about running ladder style chains: Using a tensioner gives the best life on the chains and on your tires. I did not ask why.

When I switched to my Ofa EKO chains Those same vendors also said not to use tensioners on them (or the similar Euro-style chains one of the vendors was selling).

 

[Garandman]

So what did the Ofa Eco vendors say when the chains were looser than recommended, after removing all the extra links? Because that’s where I am.

 

[John_Mc]

So what did the Ofa Eco vendors say when the chains were looser than recommended, after removing all the extra links? Because that痴 where I am.

I think I may have answered this in a different thread. I'll see if I can find it. If I recall, you and I have the same size rear tires: 15-19.5

[EDIT] Here is the link to my post in the L3301 snow chains thread in the Kubota forum. I assume you've seen it by now, but it may be of interest to others faced with the same issue with the Ofa EKO chains.

 

[Garandman]

We found some twisted links, and shackles attached to the wrong link. If you are not paying attention when you fasten the twist links, the chain twists. When we untwisted it there was enough slack to get rid of an extra link.

Once fixed, seems to be working properly without any tensioners.

 

[MarblemountLane]

All this reminds me that I am headed over to the other place today, to adjust the tensioners on the new chains I bought for my MF 204. I have some work to do in the brush, and I will just leave them on, even though we have no snow at the moment.

As to clipping the end of the chains onto the tire then driving forward one revolution, I believe Campbell included a clip for that with every set of car chains, back in the days before radial tires, when all of our chains looked like ladders.

One of my bad memories is getting a 1955 GMC fuel delivery tanker stuck in mud, THEN having to chain up with dual tire chains on 9:00-20 lug tires inside those close fitted tanker fenders. On ice, chains do not have to be big, but constant contact is desirable, as opposed to the slip-grab-slip of ladder style chains with few cross chains. In mud, one wants large chains, not necessarily tight on the tires.

 

[John_Mc]

"My happiest experience is to mount the chains and then never have enough snow that season to get in it. " I'll second that!

My happiest experience used to be putting off installing my chains for as long as I could, then making it through the winter without installing them at all. Since I switched to the "drive them on" method, It's no big deal. The only unhappy experience is when I put off installing them for too long, and then end up installing them at night, in the middle of a blizzard when it's 10˚F outside.

 

[fruitcakesa]

My happiest experience used to be putting off installing my chains for as long as I could, then making it through the winter without installing them at all. Since I switched to the "drive them on" method, It's no big deal. The only unhappy experience is when I put off installing them for too long, and then end up installing them at night, in the middle of a blizzard when it's 10˚F outside.

I did that only once:

 

[jmc]

I did that only once:

I've finally learned to replace a sluggish battery in October rather than a dead one in January.