When a simple job turns to...

[turnkey4099]

Wednesday a car slid off the road and parked on top of a couple lilacs next to my drive. Lucky me as I was looking for a good excuse to disappear them. Backed PU up, grabbed the 192T and layed into cutting a load of brush to haul to my neighbor's brush pile. I don't have enough dry scrap to burn it here and I won't use good firewood to do it.

Got the load cut, took it 1/4 mile down the road to the barn lot...looked okay, maybe 1 1/2" snow on the ground, ground frozen, basically flat. Backed halfway to the pile and hit a small rock that stopped progress...and going forward also no go. One of the few times in my career that I was wishing I had a 4x. Hoofed it home, grabbed wife's car, loaded the PU chains and shovel and back to truck. Spread chains ahead of the tires and drove out easily. eyeballed the access and decided to quit for the day. BAck home, hoofed down to get car and quite.

Noting more frustrating than not being able to move at all when you know all that is needed is just a few inches of movement to be out of there.

I'll mount the chains tomorrow and Get-R-Done. Maybe. Gonna be about 10* with a breeze plus that set of chains was bought for 3 trucks ago so fit might be dubious. I think the last time I put chains on was 1975.

Harry K

 

[Jakers]

i hear ya there. i hate having to chain up. thats why i leave one vehicle chained up all winter. then in the summer i usually leave them on too as i have 6-7 vehicles and just leave one sit. but then again we get lotsa snow and cold for better than half the year here. i have chains for everything i own too. 5 sets (pairs) to fit 235x85x16, 3 sets for 265x75x16, one set of 18.4-34 tractor chains, 4 sets of chains for loaders and grader tires, two sets of truck chains for my bucket truck with 11-22.5 tires. skidsteer chain for 10-16.5...... i hate ice and wet snow slowin me down

 

[mainewoods]

I wouldn't be without a set of chains. Can make the difference in getting out a load or not getting out a load.

 

[Marshy]

You must have some mild tires on your truck, even a flat grade with some snow on it should provide enough traction to move about but once your stuck your stuck...

I just brought 2 face cord down to the house last week and got my truck burried in the back yard in about 12-14" of snow. It was after I unloaded it and needed the weight, had to go grab by sand bags and snow blow a small path in front of the truck to get out. Even a 4x4 wont help some times, weight is gold in a lot of situations.

 

[colson04]

Hmm...never ran chains before. We can't have chains or studded tires in Michigan so we rarely see anyone use them.

I do have a set on my garden tractor for snowblowing my drive in the winter though. They definitely help with that.

 

[mainewoods]

Yup, chains and some weight make all the difference in the woods. Even a 2 wheel drive, set up that way, will surprise you with what it is capable of.

 

[mainewoods]

Michigan Vehicle Code states "tire chains are legal to use in Michigan if they never touch the surface of the roadway".

 

[Jakers]

http://www.tirechain.com/

 

[turnkey4099]

You must have some mild tires on your truck, even a flat grade with some snow on it should provide enough traction to move about but once your stuck your stuck...

I just brought 2 face cord down to the house last week and got my truck burried in the back yard in about 12-14" of snow. It was after I unloaded it and needed the weight, had to go grab by sand bags and snow blow a small path in front of the truck to get out. Even a 4x4 wont help some times, weight is gold in a lot of situations.

Mastercraft Wildcat AT/2 mud/snow almost new (under 1,000 miles). I suspect that the limited slip does not work in this old, badly abused rig and only one wheel was spinning. Old problem snow on frozen ground let wheel slip and you have instant ice under it. I learned as a kid about getting stuck "if your wheels spin, STOP and evaluate. You'll only make it worse by letting them spin more. That was from watching my Dad whose approach was to floor and no matter how many times it failed, he still did it.

Harry K.

 

[turnkey4099]

Later that night it was "face/palm" time. I only needed some type of traction under those tires. Just a few days before I had given a big bag of noodles fromt he woodpile to her for nestbox stuff. I was stuck right in front of the chicken house. A couple handfuls would have been all that was needed.

Harry K

 

[colson04]

I feel ya Harry. I had a moment last night when moving my equipment trailer where I needed a little extra traction. Chains would have been perfect, but I was able to get some kitty litter to toss under the tires to back the trailer up a slight hill. Even 4wd is no match for glazed snow pack/ice and a slight grade.

On a side note, I never knew there were so many styles of tirechains. What style chains are you guys using? V-bar? Square? Diamond?

 

[Speed]

Harry, I hear ya about just stopping. Grandpa in his later days would put our biggest tractor on the rear axle while plowing before he'd give up. Then it was 57 times harder to pull him out, than if he would have stopped sooner and just needed a little help.

 

[Jakers]

I feel ya Harry. I had a moment last night when moving my equipment trailer where I needed a little extra traction. Chains would have been perfect, but I was able to get some kitty litter to toss under the tires to back the trailer up a slight hill. Even 4wd is no match for glazed snow pack/ice and a slight grade.

On a side note, I never knew there were so many styles of tirechains. What style chains are you guys using? V-bar? Square? Diamond?

all depends on what you are going to do with the chains on and how much stress you will be putting on them. i buy the "mud service" chains in either 2 or 4 link spacing for most stuff just because im always hauling wood or spinning on a gravel road or in a plowed field. i do have a set of the European diamond style that i keep under the seat for emergency recoveries. the square link ones if made from the boron alloy will last a long time but ride rough on a single rear wheel set up, not bad on semis tho. for your average occasional use id go with something that has a built in tensioner like the cams or the pull chain on the diamond style. V-bar is nice if you have absolute glare ice, it digs in better for stopping and stearing

 

[colson04]

Thanks for info Jakers, I'll be looking into a set for my wood hauler.

 

[mainewoods]

Picked up this pair of diamond style chains on Fleece Bay - $25 - free shipping - used once.