RE: chains on ice thread the other day

[Ken Macfarlane]

Do you have ice chains down in the US? V-blocks work ok and old style cork ice chains work ok but very rough ride. the valby/talon/nordic/aquinline etc type hardened pick ice chains work a lot better.

http://www.icechains.com/

I've used regular ladder chains for several years but find they are fairly useless on ice. Only drawback of ice chains is they are expensive.

 

[El Toro]

Back in the 1960's my wife was taking our daughter
to school. They didn't close the schools back then for snow or ice. I studded a pair of snow tires and she said she had no problems on ice. The state of MD outlawed the studs and only the Post Office trucks use them now. I have a set of chains on my garden tractor. I saw them advertised in the paper for $9.00. I used a bolt cutter to shorten them since they were too long.
I keep them on until I plow the garden in the Spring. Hal

 

[Bob M]

Regular ladder style chains don't help much on ice. However my experience is the various crossed chains (aka "diamond", "duogrip", etc) patterns are very effective.

Also somewhat counter-intuitively, the less tread a tire has (ie. the more worn it is) the better the chains work on ice.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

We can still run studded tires here, improvement on ice or packed snow but watch out on dry roads!

 

[teddy52food]

My son has turf tires on a WD Allis. Chains work just fine for pushing snow.

 

[moresmoke]

Considering that link you posted is from a US company, I would say that we do. You will more likely find studded chains in areas where there is logging versus farming. I have a set of Trygg chains on my tractor. Yes they cost more, but I will never need to buy another set, and you can ride down the road with them, and they ride good at full speed.

 

[MSS3020]

I have chains I run all rear around on my old but good sears lawntractor..I have chains for my skidloader which I usually dont use unless i have a layer of ice on the drive and it snows..makes huge difference both look similar to the sight you put on you post.. Tractor chains nothing like these they are what I would call huge rings maybe 2.5 - 3" that go side to side across tread with small chain connecting.. Tractor will go anywhere with those on.. prob places I should go to..

 

[JimB2]

Hi Ken,
We used trygg spike chains since the late 1960s.
My brother bought a second set in the mid 90s for the loader tractor. Have a set of ladder chains on the tractor with the snow blower on it. But there is not comparison spike vs ladder. The spikes are always in contact with the ground. No sliding sideways on a slope. Would be rough on cement. If pavement is frozen it appears not to damage it.

JimB