Winter traction devices aka tire chains

[TonyJ]

What chains are you guys using with the factory tremor wheel/tire setup?

In the owner's manual, I read they don't recommend using chains, the tires blah blah blah. I have a set for both ends, just in case. There appears to be plenty of clearance for chains, front & rear.

 

[Loshad]

"There appears to be plenty of clearance for chains, front & rear."

Especially if you keep her under 90, huh?

 

[TonyJ]

That would be my suggestion. After 95 things tend to "grow" a little!

 

[surfscottydog]

I've had to use chains many times in my life to go places i know I shouldn't have been going and get to get out of some bad situations. But to tell you the truth the older I get the more I realize that if I need chains.............. it's time to put another log in the fire, make some hot chocolate and stay home. At the very most I pressure down my tires and use 4x4 these days.

Add a shot of whiskey to that and I’m with you!

 

[Backwoodsrider]

Keep one of these in your truck box at all times lol

 

[Raspy]

Keep one of these in your truck box at all times lol

Another truck with fancy wheels and hub caps that prevent you from working your hubs. If you always rely only on the automatic feature, you are asking for a problem. Leave the front covers off, so you can manually engage the hubs as needed.

 

[Backwoodsrider]

Another truck with fancy wheels and hub caps that prevent you from working your hubs. If you always rely only on the automatic feature, you are asking for a problem. Leave the front covers off, so you can manually engage the hubs as needed.

Those are summer rims. My stock duratracs go on in the winter. I have never needed to lock my hubs.

 

[Raspy]

"Yes, the Duratracs are a top rated winter tire."

Pretty sure that assertion won't cut the mustard with the CHP.
When they say 'Chains Required' it's not open to debate.
In Alaska I only ever saw 'Wheels Required'.

In CA and in Nevada, it means chains, or 4WD with snow tires. They also want you to carry chains, but I've never been asked if I have them. I've never been stopped or prevented from proceeding with any 4WD vehicle I've had and I have traveled in the mountains a lot in the winter. I never chain up, and I don't feel unsafe not chaining up. They always just wave 4WD vehicles through in CA. In Nevada, there are no check points.

One trip through the Sierras, there was a blizzard and white out conditions. The only way I could keep going was to roll down the passenger window and watch the guard rail, just a foot away, as I crept along. Looking forward I could not see beyond the length of the truck. That was a bit much, but fun. And stopping on the road was not a good option.

 

[Raspy]

Those are summer rims. My stock duratracs go on in the winter. I have never needed to lock my hubs.

A couple of weeks ago, I helped a Super Duty get off the beach pulling a trailer. He had never engaged his hubs manually and didn't even understand how the system works. His automatic hubs kept disengaging when he shut off the truck, or idled it down, and when throwing it in park, it ground the gears. His wife asked me why it was doing that and I suggested he needed to manually engage the hubs. Neither one of them knew what I was talking about, but they were proud of their fancy wheels. I go the the beach in the summer time a lot and always need my 4WD to get through the sand.

 

[Loshad]

"The only way I could keep going was to roll down the passenger window and watch the guard rail,"

Once in Alaska on a very steep road, with zero traffic and no guard rail on the dropoff side, I had my friend put on his XC skis and ski in front of me! I couldn't see the dropoff in the whiteout! I just stayed on his butt, literally.

Did I mention we were like the Blues Brothers on a mission from God? Yup, we had the Thanksgiving turkey and most of the fixings for the skier's brother, wife, and kiddies up at the mine. Forget the mail! We were NOT going to be denied!

 

[Backwoodsrider]

A couple of weeks ago, I helped a Super Duty get off the beach pulling a trailer. He had never engaged his hubs manually and didn't even understand how the system works. His automatic hubs kept disengaging when he shut off the truck, or idled it down, and when throwing it in park, it ground the gears. His wife asked me why it was doing that and I suggested he needed to manually engage the hubs. Neither one of them knew what I was talking about, but they were proud of their fancy wheels. I go the the beach in the summer time a lot and always need my 4WD to get through the

A couple of weeks ago, I helped a Super Duty get off the beach pulling a trailer. He had never engaged his hubs manually and didn't even understand how the system works. His automatic hubs kept disengaging when he shut off the truck, or idled it down, and when throwing it in park, it ground the gears. His wife asked me why it was doing that and I suggested he needed to manually engage the hubs. Neither one of them knew what I was talking about, but they were proud of their fancy wheels. I go the the beach in the summer time a lot and always need my 4WD to get through the sand.

I definitely used them in the past on an old bronco and Land rover defender. This particular truck, i dont need locking hubs in the summer.

 

[Potato Wilson]

For the most part it’s all about dealing with ice. A lot of the mountain roads around my camp are no/limited winter maintenance dirt roads. A few snowstorms worth of snow with people driving on them and snowmobiling on them packs the snow tight. One day above freezing or even enough sun and then another drop in temps will turn that shit to a hockey surface fast. At that point you need studs or chains without them you are SOL. My neighbor at my last camp who lived up there year round kept his newer F-150 at the bottom of the mountain near than paved road and ran an “OJ style” bronco with chains all around to get back and forth to his house. ?

I pulled over one day years ago to put chains on because I knew the black ice was getting bad and I had crap tires. I jumped out, fell down, and watched my truck creep away from me, slowly sliding a couple of feet before it came to rest.

 

[STDevil]

Wanted to go to Yosemite this weekend but my wife noticed that several areas required tire chains. We pushed the trip back a few weeks but I went ahead and ordered these:

Peerless | Super Z®8

www.peerlesschain.com

Lots of good reviews on Amazon and they are class S. I haven’t had a chance to use them yet but I installed them on the truck and they clear all the brake lines/calipers, etc. I didn’t have anyone around to roll the truck and turn the wheel so I only have straight ahead photos.

Please keep the teasing to a minimum regarding the installation. This is my first time.

View attachment 9150View attachment 9151View attachment 9152View attachment 9153View attachment 9154

Those look great!

 

[STDevil]

Here is the law in Washington state..

Winter driving - Studded tires, traction tires & chains - WSDOT
www.wsdot.com › winter › tires-chains

Chains are required on all vehicles over 10,000 gross vehicle weight (GVW), and all vehicles and loads over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), including large passenger trucks and SUVs. *Vehicles over 10,000 GVW/GVWR must install chains when "chains required" is posted, even if they have 4WD/AWD.

Love how they spelled "axle" in the WSDOT publication. I guess the dimwit who wrote the language for WSDOT must have been an "axel" rose fan. Just more proof that intelligence is not a requirement for a job in WA state government!

 

[Donnie With A Dee]

In CA and in Nevada, it means chains, or 4WD with snow tires. They also want you to carry chains, but I've never been asked if I have them. I've never been stopped or prevented from proceeding with any 4WD vehicle I've had and I have traveled in the mountains a lot in the winter. I never chain up, and I don't feel unsafe not chaining up. They always just wave 4WD vehicles through in CA. In Nevada, there are no check points.

One trip through the Sierras, there was a blizzard and white out conditions. The only way I could keep going was to roll down the passenger window and watch the guard rail, just a foot away, as I crept along. Looking forward I could not see beyond the length of the truck. That was a bit much, but fun. And stopping on the road was not a good option.

Raspy is correct, I too have made hundreds of trips through the Sierras. The ONLY time that chains are required on 4 wheel drive vehicles is when you are towing, at which time chains are also required on the trailer too. If it gets too bad, Caltrans will just close the road

 

[soulezoo]

+1 on ease of installation being key. Conditions out here in CA generally aren't that bad. CA DOT can require you have chains with you even with snow tires and 4wd so that's primarily my concern.

I hear you on this, but this is the deal: The difference in requiring chains on with 4wd and snow rated tires and just closing the freeway.... none. Before enforcement of the former occurs, they just close.
My house is exactly 3/4 of a mile from where they check for chains or turn trucks around. I see it all the time every year.
Here's another, while the law states exactly as you put it, having lived at the snow line now for 25 years, I have yet to be checked to see if I have had chains. I have driven across the passes so many times since I could drive and have still never been checked for chains. So over 40 years. (I have family in Truckee... named by one of my ancestors no less).
I keep my chains with me just in case, but bottom line is, if your tires pass the casual visual and you clearly have 4wd, you are continuing or you are stopped as the road is closed, chains notwithstanding.

Where ice (not just snow) is concerned, yeah, you need chains.

 

[soulezoo]

As an aside, chains can be very useful in mud conditions too.

 

[Donnie With A Dee]

I hear you on this, but this is the deal: The difference in requiring chains on with 4wd and snow rated tires and just closing the freeway.... none. Before enforcement of the former occurs, they just close.
My house is exactly 3/4 of a mile from where they check for chains or turn trucks around. I see it all the time every year.
Here's another, while the law states exactly as you put it, having lived at the snow line now for 25 years, I have yet to be checked to see if I have had chains. I have driven across the passes so many times since I could drive and have still never been checked for chains. So over 40 years. (I have family in Truckee... named by one of my ancestors no less).
I keep my chains with me just in case, but bottom line is, if your tires pass the casual visual and you clearly have 4wd, you are continuing or you are stopped as the road is closed, chains notwithstanding.

Where ice (not just snow) is concerned, yeah, you need chains.

You must be in Applegate.

 

[soulezoo]

You must be in Applegate.

Right behind the Applegate garage.

 

[TonyJ]

Those are summer rims. My stock duratracs go on in the winter. I have never needed to lock my hubs.

A couple years ago on a snowshoe hike, after I got back to my old F350 SuperDuty, I had to engage the hubs manually because the seals at the hubs chose that time to start leaking, preventing the vacuum from engaging them. We've been 4wheelin' since 1975, I believe that was only the 2nd time I've ever had to engage auto-locking hubs manually, but soooo glad I had the option!