Snow Attachments Snow Chains

[Bigboyskioti]

I have a question I've been reading alot on snow chains here and other places. First my situation... I have a 600' concrete drive. It's all of 2 months old. The first 350 feet is somewhat flat to the last 250 feet being pretty steep hill. I'm a little worried about the hill when there is ice on it. The snow I think I'll handle that without any problem. My qustion is this should I put chains on this new drive? I know the "V" bar ones work good but leave the concrete scratched when the tires spin. But I would rather have a scratched up drive then a mangled tractor or a dead owner.... What would be the best answer here?

 

[ToadHill]

I have a fairly steep drive as well and with loaded tires and in 4wd I've never needed chains.

 

[jdgreg]

My drive is asphalt, and I never really needed chains until I get a FEL snow blade. Now I only run chains on the front tires, and the marks on the driveway are very few. You may need to try using what you have for a season or two to see what, if any, changes are needed.

 

[Egon]

Most people seem to be able to get by with no chains on steep portions of their driveways.

Me, I'm always in trouble with no chains. Vbar back chains and just ordinary cross links for the front seem to help me out quite well.

Can't see all the damage on the concrete/asphalt come spring time! Course maybe my eyesight is failing! I am getting on in years.

 

[jimmysisson]

I don't normally need chains, but they do have one advantage. Mine are called, I think, ag double-ring, no bars, not sharp on any side. At middling temps when the snow is driven on (hard to keep the help out of the yard) and packed into ice, the chains help break it up. Ag tires in that case just drive over packing it more. That said, I don't put the chains on until I need them, since it's a heavy half hour's effort.
Jim

 

[rbargeron]

My place has paved slopes. Several years ago my tractor got loose on ice and came within inches of demolishing a garage. Since then I've used chains front and rear. Just simple link chains, no v-bars, no extra rings. They make all the difference - can go anywhere with confidence. The tires don't ever spin - the chains do leave little marks on the concrete floor, and on the asphalt - but they seem to disappear soon enough. For a less bouncy ride, the tire pressure can be reduced.

 

[Bigboyskioti]

Looks like you have them on front and back? Is that better?

 

[skippy957]

A part of my drive way is steep enough to get scared so I install ATV tire chains on my BX 2350 and they work great.

Catalogue

 

[Hardscrabbble]

I have used both my X485 with and without chains. My drive has a fairly steep incline. Without the chains I slip and slide everywhere. Went to my friendly John D. Dealer got a set of chains designed for minimum damage to concrete. No problem. The only evidence of chain damage to the concrete is when I have a heavy ballast on the back and spin the tires. Then I will see a slight damage to the concrete. Doesn't probably me though. I am more interested in getting the snow and ice off the driveway than have my granddaughter slip and fall. Due to Cerebral Palsey she is challenged when she walks. I want a non slip driveway for her.

 

[Destructo_D]

I don't normally need chains, but they do have one advantage. Mine are called, I think, ag double-ring, no bars, not sharp on any side. At middling temps when the snow is driven on (hard to keep the help out of the yard) and packed into ice, the chains help break it up. Ag tires in that case just drive over packing it more. That said, I don't put the chains on until I need them, since it's a heavy half hour's effort.
Jim

I work for a shop up in BC Canada... We sell stuff like grader blades, bucket teeth, loader edges, street sweeper brooms and..... tire chains.... I am the unofficial head manufacturer there... you have a tire, I can make chains for it...

with that said, I think the chains you are trying to describe are called Duo-Grip, a common kind of snow chain used on tractors

 

[mjncad]

First my situation... I have a 600' concrete drive. It's all of 2 months old.

Good Lord man...are you using that concrete drive as a runway? That is quite an investment in concrete you have.

 

[rbargeron]

Looks like you have them on front and back? Is that better?

Depending on conditions the front chains can be more important than the back. When everything is a sheet of ice the tractor is very sure-footed with chains all around. Handles snow-covered fields and woods roads too. We have a nice snowboarding hill - we put couch cushions in the front bucket and the tractor becomes a great ski lift. With chains on all four corners it goes anywhere - slow, but steady.

 

[John861]

with that said, I think the chains you are trying to describe are called Duo-Grip, a common kind of snow chain used on tractors

Duo-Grips are the kind that have a tie between sets of "ladders". These work well because they hold the chain up on the tire lugs. Regular ladder chains tend to fall in between the lugs, particularly on R1's, and don't provide much traction.

Double Rings are ladder chains where the ladder section is made of pairs of 2" or so round rings rather than traditional chain. These dig into ice well, don't fall between the lugs, and they don't tear up the driveway as much as V-bar chains.

Take a look at Tire Chains by Tirechains.com for pictures. I have bought chains from them, and was happy with them.

For Bigboyskioti's situation, I would think that standard ladder chains, or perhaps 2-link ladders (essentially twice the number of ladders) would work best to keep the concrete nice. I'm on gravel, and use duo-grip v-bars on one tractor, and duo-grip double rings on the other. They are unstoppable.

Good luck.

-John

 

[John_Mc]

Double Rings are ladder chains where the ladder section is made of pairs of 2" or so round rings rather than traditional chain. These dig into ice well, don't fall between the lugs, and they don't tear up the driveway as much as V-bar chains.

The other nice thing about the double ring chains is that they tend to be self-cleaning. This can be quite an advantage in mud or snow, where other styles of chains can load up and stop working very well. I see a lot of farm tractors with the double-ring chains here in the Champlain Valley of Vermont... lots of clay in the area.

John Mc

 

[nedly05]

I just ordered these for all four. I was thinking if they dont suit my needs I would buy some more cross links and make them 2 link or even turn the rears into an "H pattern"
Photo courtesy of Tire Chains by Tirechains.com

 

[Egon]

My rear tire chains are 4 link ladder type vbar. With my small tires they ride very rough. I installed a tranverse cross link between the ladders and it smoothed out the ride.

 

[ME83]

I have never seen the double ring chains before. That website says they are the best ice and mud traction, is this true?

I need chains for an older Ford 3500 2wd loader. I always have trouble doing loader work because I loose traction all of the time and get stuck in the mud. I never travel on pavement with the tractor (don't have any) so it doesn't matter if I chew things up.

 

[Bigboyskioti]

The double rings aren't available for my tractor. But I did find an old set from the quad that fit on the fronts. Guess I'll bite the bullet and buy the ones for the rears. I would rather have them and not need them than to not have and need them. Thanks for the replies.

 

[John_Mc]

I have never seen the double ring chains before. That website says they are the best ice and mud traction, is this true?

They are hard to beat in mud and clay. That's why all the farmers around here use them. They are also very good in snow. If you are looking for the ultimate in Ice traction, that's a different story... Valby ice chains are great, duo-grips with v-bars or ladder-style with v-bars are good too... but none of those options beat double ring chains in mud, IMO.

John Mc

 

[John861]

I have never seen the double ring chains before. That website says they are the best ice and mud traction, is this true?

As others have said, for ice, nothing beats a chain with some sort of spikes (v-bars, or some of the fancy ice chains). My Duo-Grip V-bars are much better than the double rings that I have on another tractor. When the V-bars do slip on the ice, they dig down and tear up the ice pretty quickly. Concrete would probably suffer the same fate.

For anything soft like mud, the double rings are better because they stand up very tall which give them a lot of bite. The ride is pretty rough on hard surfaces too, which would get old fast on a long driveway.

-John