Tire Chains - Which do you like better?

Preach on brother !!!!

Chaining does not make you a supertrucker..a better man or anything else....

Those chains are to get you out of trouble not into trouble....

 

OK I saw sets at petro repair the other for us just was wondering I did not look to see what size cable it was for sure but looked like 1/4" and 3/8" to 1/2" on the rollers

 

I understand where some are coming from if its bad enough to chain sit still but I am sorry miles slow with chains is not going to ruin a whole turn around. I will chain get to the other side of it if its required to get them ten miles. Now if its bad 50+ I would sit still but that's just My thoughts and I was raised at the top of the world spent my whole life traveling CO passes and one side of the divide may be bad but great on the other side.

 

Flip side of the coin is they can get you where you want to go when you want to go.

 

Tried both on super singles on the drives. Easy to install but that's it. Tried to move from a stand still on a VERY slight incline and kept spinning.
Switched over to the old style iron and moved without any problem. They just bite into the ice better. The cables just slide over the top of the ice.

 

I do not say that i would never chain... i have chained and would again if i needed to get somewhere safe.

Like another post said..if i knew it was to get over a pass where it was clear the rest of the way then i am good with that. However i have found that often times if you wait a couple hours it will be ok to run without them.

I have seen newbies feel pressured by other drivers to chain and run because they think they are chumps if they dont.

If you dont feel safe then dont go..the hell with all the supertruckers out there...

 

See, there's the problem. The first part of the sentence is good advice. The second part, however, makes it sound like you think anyone that will do what needs to be done to do the job is a supertrucker. Now, that may not be your way of thinking, at all, but that's how it sounds.

I will chain to get where I need to go. I've been doing so for a quarter century and have doneit inmany places that most would never even think about, but that was my job. I delivered cyanide to various mines in the northwestern US and Canada and if you didn't throw iron, you didn't have a job. It had nothing to do with being a supertrucker or having something to prove, it had to do with getting the job done as the product wouldn't make it to the mines any other way. 14.5% grades, among other things, made chaining a necessity, sometimes more than once on the same grade as we would have to pull the chains, repair them, put 'em back on and continue rolling. Armed with this experience, I feel that chaining is just another aspect of the job, no different than tarping or washing out the trailer. I do not consider throwing chains and continuing a run an unsafe practice or that it puts me in any danger. At least no more danger than sharing the roads with unskilled truck drivers as we do every day. It's a double-edged sword. You get offended when someone calls you a pansy for being afraid to navigate inclement weather while I could be offended by those that consider me unsafe and unnecessarily risking my safety for a load that isn't worth it. I say "could" because I highly doubt I'll waste time taking offense to anything coming from those that just don't know.

 

Good post joetro....
In no way was it a jab at those who do what they have to do...

When i refer to "supertruckers" i refer to the same class as many also refer to as radio rambos and such.
The guys who drive by the newbies or others who dont see the need to chain and ridicule them for doing so.

Your job is a unique one as you say and your experience level allows you to make better decisions.

One of the problems i face is this ; this is what i do to provide for my family. Every decision i make can have an impact on whether i have a job or not.

My company and most otr companies will not send a message over the qualcomm requiring a driver to chain and drive because to do so would put all the liability on them should an accident occur.
If,on the other hand i as the driver make the decision it is ok to chain and drive then have an accident. Well, my career is over.. my company will fire me because they will say it was not their policy for me to chain. Then i now have a preventable accident on my dac and no one will hire me.

So as you see there is a lot to consider before making that decision....

I hope i cleared that up

 

EXACTLY, some people think they have to comment on every thread! Trying to bring the discussion back to the OP's question, I have never seen the rubber chains mentioned on big trucks. Are these the ones with rubber strips that go across the tire but still have steel chain around the circumference of the tire? I have seen them advertised for 4 wheelers but never in use, got a link?