Anybody have automatic snow chains?

Each wheel position has an air chamber similar to a small brake chamber, plus the arm that swings under. And they only throw the chains under 1 tire so you’d need them on both axles and all that weighs quite a bit more than a set of good 3 rail chains.

 

Who needs chains when by the time you are at the bottom starting up the hill and almost hitting the slick stuff you have so much iron stuck in your tires it looks like studs sticking out?

 

People told me these don’t work either. Worked just fine for me. Now that being said I don’t go to the Rockies often and don’t want to carry rusty old chains around all winter.

 

A guy that rents a building from me runs a fire truck service and repair business. Lots of fire trucks have the automatic chains, he says they cause a lot of problems and don't work very well.

 

Easy now, easy. Some of us like to take those loads.

 

That looks to be the high tech redneck solution to me. But I don't think all states except them. If they do, I'd try those. Carry seven freaking chains, cause in Washington you have to carry a spare of all things.

 

As far as I know they're legal in every state, at least that's what I was told. Never had a problem with DOT accepting them in any western state. The winter of 2016-17 was a bad one and I got to use them a lot and never had a problem.

The combined weight of the 6 units installed is around 350 pounds, so not a big problem for weight.

 

It sounds like we have one fellow who has significant experience with them and likes them. And then we have several drivers who have little or no experience, like me, who have seen, heard and tasted all kinds of 2nd hand information about them and come to all sorts of conclusions.
If the loads pay more for going through conditions cited, and the weight penalty and additional investment and maintenance cost are recovered then it is worth it
The factor that is being ignored is the additional risk running in those conditions.
For me it isn't.

 

I'm not sold on the auto chains at all. I like the tire socks though.

 

When I was using them, there were 2 times that made me realize that if I ever had a truck of my own that I would find a way to get them on my truck.

I was stuck in SLC for a day and a half because 80 east was closed to blizzard conditions. When they finally opened it I headed out, and just east of SLC there is a large pull-off where they were making all the trucks exit and chain up before proceeding. There must have been 100 trucks lined up to get in there and it was complete gridlock. I managed to find a hole through the center of the pack and engaged my chains and rolled through everybody as they chained up in the dark. A highway patrolman stopped me and asked where I was going, and I said I have auto-chains. He gave them a quick look and flagged me through. Everybody else was stuck in there for at least another hour in the gridlock and I was one of the only trucks going over the summit by the time I got there.

The other time was also on 80 east in Wyoming and there were high winds and a thin sheet of ice on the road. I kept my speed low, but going down a grade I was gradually starting to pick up speed and couldn't use my jakes to slow down. So I engaged the chains at about 40 mph and was able to slow down easily. I looked in my mirrors and saw a FedEx with doubles sliding sideways down the grade a half mile behind me.

I was sold on them after that.