The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk snow chains - newbee needs advice

hi guys, i discovered the hard way that the firestone white walls on my truck render it undrivable around my new place. tyres just spin on the smallest hint of snow/ice.

most folks around here seem to be using snow chains.

ive never used them before so seeking a bit of advice.

has anyone used snow chains on the AD truck? any fitment/clearance issues? any recommended make? (stock 49 3100) any advice appreciated.

cheers

While I never have driven an AD truck, I have used chains a lot. You want chains that fit your tires. There are a few types of cross chains. The V-bar get excellent traction on ice, but are murder on pavement and just dig deeper in mud. The plain cross chains are best for all-around use. They will work in snow or mud and won't tear up the road too badly.
My advice is to find out where folks in your area buy theirs and go there. The fenders on your truck should have plenty of room for clearance, just buy chains sized for your tires.

You buy them for your tire size so it's plug and play. Disclaimer: I have radials. I have a set of cable chains that I have used, easy to put on/take off. There are a host of questions to ask like: How far is your commute? What speeds will you be driving? Does the climate merit snow tires for the winter? Does the community lay down salt, brine or sand?

Snow tires on all four corners is recommended. Letting some air out of your tires will give you a larger contact patch with the pavement.

One needs to add additional weight to the rear of the truck, chains or not, get a 2 x board that fits across the bed to hold your weights behind the rear axle, 500 lbs. would be great.

Ed

If you mean add weight just behind the cab in the middle of the truck, yes, if not, Ed, your advice is very wrong.

Cosmo,

I do not agree with you.

Ed

Both sides of this disagreement aren't clear to me, perhaps not to others either.

Y'all tell me if my guesstimation is correct.

Ed prefers weight at the tailgate of the pickup, in which case that weight is more effective on the rear tires by lifting the front a little, more weight transfer to the rear a little less weight on the front tires.

Cosmo says put the weight at the front of the bed by the cab, or perhaps at least over the rear axle? This helps the rear wheels and will add weight to the front wheels if ahead of the rear axle.

Cosmo is concerned about loss of steering ability with the lighter front?
Ed understands that but in his experience there's already enough weight on the front for steering, enjoys even better grip at the rear?

I've seen it both ways, personally I put the weight at the tailgate and have had good success. I suppose if the front seemed extra squirmy I'd rethink.

Grigg

The further back the weight is in the bed the better the traction. It will make it handle a bit weird but small sacrifice for traction. Back in the 50's when we got stuck we put the tailgate down & had a buddy or 2 sit on it. Pull right out.

I used to have an extra set of wheels and tires for chains only. Would let nearly all the air out of the tires, install chains tight on the soft tires and then air up. Made it so chains had zero slop.

Did a quick search as we all did regarding traction, all the sources say do not place weight behind the rear wheels, most say place weight over the rear wheels, I found one that said distribute evenly in the bed of the truck.

My 'center of the truck' came from driver's ed. in upstate New York. There was a film or two that was shown where weight was placed in a cars trunk, on a slippery curve the car literally spun, the center of the car being the axis of rotation. The weight was then placed behind the driver in the center of the vehicle and on the same slippery turn the car did not spin.

thanks guys - good food for thought,.

around here they dont salt and roads to my place are hilly and narrow but good surfaced roads so mud isnt an issue.

any snow that falls stays around all season so road is mostly compacted snow.

in places where some melting/re freezing happens theres ice sheats that make road undrivable currently on the hilly parts.

most people appear to be using snow chains.

my commute is only around 6km, but its the first 2km thats the issue with the lightly travelled forest roads.


https://drmike.smugmug.com/Other/Truck/i-rR83GgB/A

they are snow ploughed but even on the ploughed road the truck just spins its tyres on the thinnest of snow

are snow tyres better grip wise than chains?

i guessing the chains will destroy the white walls of my tyres...

Dr Mike,
I take it your truck is a daily driver?? Chains by far offer better traction. I ran chains on every truck I owned------- years ago! There are multiple downsides. 1st is a lot of vibration and noise. 2ndly and more importantly, is when they break! You can expect major paint and mild body damage. If and I mean if the truck was my main transportation I would secure a second set of rear rims and mount an aggressive snow tire to them and also have them studded. Come spring swap out the snow set and put the pretty whitealls back on. No fuss, great traction and no worries about a broken chain slapping against the side. Yes I'm going there, put a couple of sand bags "over" the rear axle. I had too!!!
Good luck and that's a nice looking place you have there.
Jim

Dr. Mike, 3.7 miles. How about establishing a x-country ski path through the woods? Not kidding, was able to do that as a route to college in upstate New York.

thanks, food for thought.


yes currently its my daily driver. i was toying with the idea of getting a little 4wd suzuki jeap as a back up car though but id still need to get my truck moving in the winter for lugging gear around

lol im not sure the wife will be keen on that kind of commute - but i can ask lol

The answer as to "where" to put the weight is only one part of the physics question.
The other aspect of the physics question is, "How much weight?"
You can put 200 pounds at the front of the bed and get the same amount of traction as putting 50 pounds at the tailgate.
The 200 pounds at the front of the bed will not cause a loose front end, and I wouldn't imagine that 50 pounds at the tailgate would cause any either.
So in summation, everyone is right!
If one were to put 200 pounds at the front of the bed and finds that the tires are still spinning, one could move some of the weight toward the rear of the bed for more traction, then return the weight to the front of the bed after they were no longer stuck.
Carl

If everyone else is using chains as you mentioned, then that's probably the way to go. As was suggested, find out where everyone else is getting theirs and go there.
As far as weight, I think Carl is onto something. Put some weight back there and move it around till you find the spot where it's most effective for your particular truck. Problem solved!

For a while I lived out in the country in Missouri and roads were often not plowed. There were quite a few links from a bulldozer or other piece of equipment with tracks in one of the barns on the farm I lived at. I put some of them in the bed of my 54 3100 and with some mud & snow tires on the back I didn't have any problems getting around.
Samantha

Are studded snow tires allowed? They might not offer enough traction. And some folks don't like the damage they might do to roads but that would be minimal compared to all those people driving around with chains.