Chains Rear Tire Chains L4740

[Kubota 2007]

Thinking about Rear tire chains for L4740-3. I have R4 tires and live on the side of a mountain, my black topped road/drive way is 1/4 mile long. My tire size is 17.5L-24 will chains fit without spacers? It seems I can gain a few inches by moving the hub to the inside of rim. What type chain goes good with a R-4.

 

[Fallon]

Tire Chains-Lawn-Tractor-Recommendations

This chart compares all the types of Tractor Snow Tire Chains with different applications.

oldsite.tirechain.com

I only put chains on the front of my machines due to cost & ease of install. My former L3200 couldn't fit any chains on the rear with R4s unless you put spacers on. I could probably on the new L4060 but haven't looked recently.

You need an inch preferably 2 to make sure chains won't hit anything. Depends on how wide your rims are set to a large degree (grand L R4s like yours have adjustable rims, the economy Ls like my former L3200 were fixed).

Chains up front put more stress on the weaker front ends. My thoughts & experience say chains in snow & ice is still less traction than normal tires on good hard dry warm dirt or pavement.

Studded or Vbar chains give more traction but can mark up concrete or asphalt. Pick your poison. I've been happy with the stuff from tirechains.com.

 

[dstig1]

Move your wheels outboard as far as you can for stability first (they are adjustable to 3 or 4 positions), then you will have plenty of room for chains. I use Duo style on the rears (R4's for me too on my L5240) and 2-link ladder chains on the fronts. I started with Duos on both but the ride was so rough that sometimes I thought that cab was going to bounce into orbit. Changing just the fronts to 2-links ladder style smoothed the ride out a ton. If I ever wear out the rears, I might go to 2-links there too, but I suspect they weigh too much to handle on those big tires.

I only operate chains for winter use on my paved driveway and it is steep enough that the R4s are useless without chains. Sometime I start with just the fronts as they are indeed a lot easier to get on and help significantly, but by the time winter gets serious I need them all around. If you are working on pavement, V-bar or any of the "serious" chains are going to destroy the pavement. Even the ones I have mark things up pretty good, but it is the difference between being able to clear snow or not for me.