Are snow cables any good?

Never "hung iron" in my life, ( except on my garden tractor) but I knew a guy that ran cables, ran west, and he swore by them. He said he could easily get 35-40 mph on snowy roads ( nothing works on ice) They went on fast, and could take them off easily. Chains, maybe 20-25 tops and they are a hassle.

 

I've run 45mph+ with chains. KEEP THEM TIGHT. I have three railers for every axle. They go on a lot faster and easier.

 

Once you have them on, roll from one end of the chain-up area to the other, stop and re-tighten everything. I would do about 40mph if possible and they were doing just fine.

 

That is what most people don't do. They don't stop to retighten them after they start rolling. They are going to loosen back up as soon as you start moving after you put them on, no matter how tight you think you had them the first time.

 

Cables? Ugh.

Loose, tighten, loose, tighten, loose tighten.

Time sink. I lean towards chain. That way if something becomes too much they simply break.

 

iv done a lot of chaining. mostly offroad in the oil feilds. 3 rail chains were the only way to go. i wouldn't personally buy a set of cables. in my experience with chains even single chains are worthless. but again my chaining experience is not nessisairly typical conditions.

in my experiance if you cant make it barefoot 3 railers are are the only thing that will get you threw.

so my vote would be 3 railers are the only thing worth having. but take my suggestion with a grain of salt.

 

This. Once you start spinning,singles and cables are useless. To only "downside" to three railers is that they're a little heavier. I've actually used tire chains to tow out stuck vehicles and even had to use them with binders on a flatbed load one time. Try doing that with cables.

 

They've also gotten me out of the mud.

 

Oh snap! Never considered using chains for load securement. Great idea, but are they rated for breaking strength? If they are, then I will definitely use them on a problem load that needs to be contained.