DEEP snow... Skidder chains?!!!

Ok I started looking into snow chains or mud chains as I use my Jeep for rough work at a large farm on a regular basis. The farm is in upstate NY in the snow-belt plus we get truly evil mud each spring (even the tractors get stuck).

I frequently drag entire trees up to the farmhouse and pull a lot of farm equipment but even with my MTRs and lockers, getting threw 2+ feet of snow is really rough going. Yes we use snowmobiles but we still need to get up to the farmhouse (last mile is unmaintained with lots of snowdrifts).

Anyway my thought was to get a moderate skidder chain for a tractor tire about the same dimensions as my tires. Has anyone experimented with this before?

I really like this but I think it's overkill.
www.tirechain.com/Double-Diamond-Skidder-Chain.htm

All feedback is welcome, I'm just really sick of hiking a mile to the house in snowshoes to start up the big-old Ford tractor!!!

Rick

try these

http://www.mattracks.com/

I dont have any experience with running chains myself.. but I beleive the chains would serve your purpose better than the tracks, just seems that they would dig in better than the tracks. And if something was to happen to a track, your stuck if you break a chain you can always patch it with another link.. just my .02 good luck

scorpio_vette said:

try these

http://www.mattracks.com/

Click to expand...

Any idea what those cost? I'm not about to call them.



Anyways, chains work well in snow as long as you aren't going to just be digging deeper holes. You need something solid to eventually get down to. The situation you described leads me to believe they'd work well. But if you're only going to use them on your own property, I'd probably consider making my own before shelling out the absurd amount quoted on that site. Unless you can find them used. If the solid base is a long ways down, you want flotation; more like sand. At least, that's what I've been lead to believe.


Anyways, I'm curious as to of what other people say. I've been looking for chains that'll fit a 35X12.5.

I grew up in the mountains of Colorado where we got many feet of snow each year. We lived 14 miles from town and had to plow our own roads. We found that the standard snow chains worked the best. Standard chains on the road on radials equals problems, but off road, you will be fine. The cross linked like you showed, don't move enough snow to make them work as well. Around here, on sale you can score a set of chains to fit my 35x12.50x15's for around $50 an axle, sometimes cheaper. Check out the farm supply places like Tractor Supply.

Any idea what those cost? I'm not about to call them

Click to expand...

last time i checked the size we would need for our jeeps was going for $15,000 i believe. that's 3 times more than i payed for my jeep. LOL but if i had the money to blow i would get them. i've seen tons of videos of those things in action on everything from atv's to suv's to military hummers. i've seen them in mud, snow, sand and rocks and they seem to walk right over everything.

here are videos of them in action in all the terrain i just mentioned. there is also one of a wrangler going through snow with the tracks. they're worth watching.

http://www.mattracks.com/html/video_clips.htm

DirtyMJ said:

Any idea what those cost? I'm not about to call them.



Anyways, chains work well in snow as long as you aren't going to just be digging deeper holes. You need something solid to eventually get down to. The situation you described leads me to believe they'd work well. But if you're only going to use them on your own property, I'd probably consider making my own before shelling out the absurd amount quoted on that site. Unless you can find them used. If the solid base is a long ways down, you want flotation; more like sand. At least, that's what I've been lead to believe.


Anyways, I'm curious as to of what other people say. I've been looking for chains that'll fit a 35X12.5.

Click to expand...

you're right about the floatation part... IF he requires ordering skidder chains he must be running pretty big tires to begin with. ever seen some of the rigs they run in the arctic? large tires with really low pressure.....

what size tires are your running anyways? MTR's are pretty good in snow, maybe a better or bigger snow tire? The best are Dirt Grips and Claws The Nitto are suppost to be pretty flipping good, from the POR guy that has ran them.

Thanks for the feedback. The Mattracks are very cool but they're too big to carry around. When it's simply too deep and I need to float on top of the snow we just use the snowmobiles. The decision to go with chains is for practical reasons. I like the idea of just tossing the chains in the back for when all else fails and I need to dig down to hard ground for all the gear and emergency towing.

old_man said:

I grew up in the mountains of Colorado where we got many feet of snow each year. We lived 14 miles from town and had to plow our own roads. We found that the standard snow chains worked the best. Standard chains on the road on radials equals problems, but off road, you will be fine. The cross linked like you showed, don't move enough snow to make them work as well...

Click to expand...

Cool, I imagine I'd need the equivalent of paddle wheels right? What other aspects of chains should I be looking for? I've seen "V-Bar" chains, are they any good or is it just a marketing gimmick?

Ok I just found this manufacturer Weissenfels, looks like they have some serious sh#t. Anyone familiar with these???
http://www.chainusa.com/products/tirechain/truck/a15stud.htm

The last time I looked into chain, the type made or what I guess would be described as square wire.



Note: Not to be confused with square drive shafts.