Snow Chain Recommendation

[fishhead]

Having been down a similar path with chains- i agree that euro style beat the others by far

 

[LD48750]

Having been down a similar path with chains- i agree that euro style beat the others by far

Including price.

 

[John_Mc]

Having been down a similar path with chains- i agree that euro style beat the others by far

Including price.

They do cost more than other styles (understandable, since there is more to them). But some of us had to find out the hard way that it's far less expensive to buy one pair of chains than to end up buying 3 pairs. I guess the upside is that after having used all three styles on the same tractor, I ended up with a good idea of the differences between the three.

I'm not saying that Euro-style chains are the only chains for everyone. However, for my use (plowing an icy driveway with a steep hill, using in our hilly woods on side-hills and rough terrain, and driving over the road for several miles or on hard ground on a regular basis) there is absolutely no comparison. Yes, I did that with my ladder chains, and with my Duo-Grip chains, it's just a whole lot easier with the Euro-style chains. I don't have to choose between driving at half speed or shaking myself and the tractor to pieces when on roads or hard ground, I don't find the rear end sliding sideways and leaving me stuck against a tree when operating on sidehills in the woods, and I don't have the tractor get pushed sideways when following a winding woods trail while towing a heavy load downhill. The loop in our driveway near the house was freshly paved last summer. I mostly stayed off of it with the tractor if the chains were on in the heat of the summer. This winter, I've been on it after each snow. Because of the continuous good traction, I have not left any marks from these chains, despite the studs.

I gave my brother my 4-link V-bar ladder chains, and he is quite happy with them. They are well suited for his needs, and easy to get on and off once you know the technique. He clears his own driveway and a couple of neighbors with his loader. He does occasionally take his tractor into the woods, but his ground is much more level.

The V-bar Duo-Grip chains have been sitting in my garage for several years now, waiting for me to get around to selling them. They were only used 5 or 6 times. The forward and lateral traction was very good, but the first time I made my 5 mile run to another property, I knew I could not keep them. For someone without the need to operate at higher speeds on hard ground, they might be perfectly fine.

I have never tried double ring chains on this tractor. The farmers around here tell me they are the best in mud or in the clay soils found in some areas around here. Since I generally avoid working in my woods in those conditions, I've never felt the need to try them.

 

[hube2]

I did a lot of research and reading threads about chains on this site before making a decision and I went with studded euro style chains. The decision was based on how much ice I know that I can get depending on the year. I was not disappointed in the performance and the studs to a very good job of breaking up sheets of ice.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Good for you Yooperdave, I have the V-bar per 2 link chains up front. And they were 140 shipped and change. So far they really help on my non studded Duo h-pattern rear chains. But I think I'm going to upgrade to Trygg or Aqualine chains in the rear, my driveway is nasty heading onto the highway. I have very little fender clearance in the rear tho.

I made a drone video snow blowing here, and here you'll see the section where I come out on the driveway. Hard to see the downslope, but you'll get the picture.

 

[LouNY]

Nice video.
I don't think that you will have any clearance issues with the Trygg or Aqualine chains it looks like the dou grips clear good.

They are a fairly low profile chain.
And you will be amazed at how much better the grip is.

 

[Clayak]

Diamond shaped with V-bar on the rear and regular chains on the front. Something about front tires turn a bit faster than the rear tires so so slippage is needed or the transmission is eventually damaged. Just what I hear. Don't know for sure.

 

[LouNY]

They do cost more than other styles (understandable, since there is more to them). But some of us had to find out the hard way that it's far less expensive to buy one pair of chains than to end up buying 3 pairs. I guess the upside is that after having used all three styles on the same tractor, I ended up with a good idea of the differences between the three.

I'm not saying that Euro-style chains are the only chains for everyone. However, for my use (plowing an icy driveway with a steep hill, using in our hilly woods on side-hills and rough terrain, and driving over the road for several miles or on hard ground on a regular basis) there is absolutely no comparison. Yes, I did that with my ladder chains, and with my Duo-Grip chains, it's just a whole lot easier with the Euro-style chains. I don't have to choose between driving at half speed or shaking myself and the tractor to pieces when on roads or hard ground, I don't find the rear end sliding sideways and leaving me stuck against a tree when operating on sidehills in the woods, and I don't have the tractor get pushed sideways when following a winding woods trail while towing a heavy load downhill. The loop in our driveway near the house was freshly paved last summer. I mostly stayed off of it with the tractor if the chains were on in the heat of the summer. This winter, I've been on it after each snow. Because of the continuous good traction, I have not left any marks from these chains, despite the studs.

I gave my brother my 4-link V-bar ladder chains, and he is quite happy with them. They are well suited for his needs, and easy to get on and off once you know the technique. He clears his own driveway and a couple of neighbors with his loader. He does occasionally take his tractor into the woods, but his ground is much more level.

The V-bar Duo-Grip chains have been sitting in my garage for several years now, waiting for me to get around to selling them. They were only used 5 or 6 times. The forward and lateral traction was very good, but the first time I made my 5 mile run to another property, I knew I could not keep them. For someone without the need to operate at higher speeds on hard ground, they might be perfectly fine.

I have never tried double ring chains on this tractor. The farmers around here tell me they are the best in mud or in the clay soils found in some areas around here. Since I generally avoid working in my woods in those conditions, I've never felt the need to try them.

Nice write up, my first chains I used back in the late 50's on a WD Allis were double rings that was about all you saw for tractor tire chains back then. Much better traction but we never got above 2nd gear or it would bounce you out of the seat.

 

[LouNY]

Diamond shaped with V-bar on the rear and regular chains on the front. Something about front tires turn a bit faster than the rear tires so so slippage is needed or the transmission is eventually damaged. Just what I hear. Don't know for sure.

I suppose that could be a possibility,I wouldn't be overly concerned about the issue. I certainly haven't had any issues in that regard.

 

[sea2summit]

I'm doing my research. Anyone running the double ring style?

 

[John_Mc]

It appears that OFA no longer sells anything called "EKO" chains. It appear the same thing is now sold as "Tapio" Compact tractors would use the Tapio 9 chains. (They also make Tapio 11, 11HD and 13 chains for larger tractors and skidders more than most of us on here would need, I suspect.)

I finally did sell my v-bar Duo Grip chains that have been sitting in my garage for years. Ended up selling them to a guy who lived a few miles down the road who jus bought a tractor a year or so ago. He runs mostly in his own woods, and th eonly over the road use is just a couple hundred yards down the road, so they work well for his needs.

 

[John_Mc]

I'm doing my research. Anyone running the double ring style?

I don't really see them used around here other than by farmers. I did see some on a skidder at one point. I don't know if I've seen them on a compact tractor in at least 20 years (and wasn;t paying much attention to what chains were on CUTs before that

 

[LouNY]

Double ring chains are really only effective in deep snow or mud. Their grip on hard pack or ice is very poor.
The ride on anything but mud or deep snow is so rough it is indescribable.
When used on the older 25-50 hp tractors pulling a manure spreader from the barn to a field close by to spread every day regardless of the weather they enabled you to get the job done when tires alone could not do the job.
They did not help much when plowing snow, they were just a small amount better then bare rubber. You could not use the higher gears to get around with so just 1st and 2nd and putt around on hard ground.
We have used them a few times on the larger tractors on the front axles when they got into situations that 4wd and good rubber wasn't enough, dig out an old set and cobb them onto the front tires as they wouldn't come close to fitting the rears. Use them to get out of the situation then drop them off.

 

[JJT]

I'm doing my research. Anyone running the double ring style?

Me, for 25+ years, only on the rear tires. Great traction in ice, snow or mud. Rough ride on the road....

 

[Fallon]

Front wheels spin about 2-5% faster on most front wheel assist tractors. Helps pull the front ens around when steering in 4wd. Also counters out the fact small front tires wear out a lot faster than rears. Probably contributes to that wear as well.

I figure tire slippage with chains is a non issue. If I have chains on, conditions are bad enough I have less traction with the chains than I would without on dry ground. I haven't broken anything yet due to overloading my front with chains. So much easier to put chains on the front than the rear.

 

[John_Mc]

So much easier to put chains on the front than the rear.

LouNY started a thread a while ago about putting on chains. You can find that description here: Mounting Tire Chains. My method varies slightly form what he described. Those changes are described in response #37 in that thread.

The technique is basically the same as what was described. In the instructions which came with my OFA EKO 8 ("Euro style") chains. I had been doing it that way for years, ever since my friend at the tractor dealership described it to me. After struggling with chain installation with my V-bar Ladder style chains for a couple of years, I asked complained to him what a pain in the butt it was. I ended up trying his system and loved it. It worked on my original ladder chains, then the Duo Grip style, an dI've never used anything else on my current Euro style chains.

As long as I don't wait until it 0˚F and blowing snow out, I can get both my rear chains on in a total of about 20 minutes from the time I lay the chains down on the ground behind the tractor until I'm ready to drive off, with no cussing required.

 

[LouNY]

I'm getting slow, it took me just under an hour this late fall to get my rears mounted.
Of course it was quite cold that afternoon, my fingers would stick to the chains at times.
With my fat fingers couldn't tie the rope on or fasten the links and fastening clips with gloves on.
The fronts were about a half hour a week or two later on a nicer day.
18.4-30 rears and only 11.2-24's for the fronts.

 

[Fallon]

I only have front chains these days. Fronts were good enough so I've never bothered with with the expense or effort to get rear chains on this tractor. Plenty of ways to get rear chains on, but at the end of the day they are a lot heavier to even move around the shop much less put on.

 

[nyone]

I have used double ring chains in all weather and I can tell you that there nearly useless on any type of frozen ground. They dont dig in like flatter style chains because they tend to roll over.

 

[Bushbunnie]

Thanks for all the advice here. I was wondering about a set only for the front