Tire Chains for Wheel Horse Garden Tractor

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KenLockett

Minister of Fire
Dec 27, 2011
580
Eastern Upstate NY
Looking for Tire Chains for my new Wheel Horse GT-14 with 27 X 8.50-15 Tires. Found a pair of RUDs on Ebay for $101 plus free shipping. What do you guys think? RUD good brand? Any other suggestions for that size tire? Thanks.
 
Tire chain.com web site I have gotten tire chains from.

Look them up to compare for your tire size.

Is this just to give you extra traction for pulling firewood around or are you plowing snow as well with the wheel hourse!
Primarily extra traction up and down hills pulling firewood in my trailer but maybe plowing as well. I went to the Tire Chain website but it was kind of flakey and size search did not work well. Perhaps because I was using Internet Explorer. Not really sure.
 
Site has worked okay for me, if your only looking for extra traction as long as your chains are sized to fit on your tires then you be fine with them.

It you was plowing and on ice then v bar chains and going to 2 link spacing as well enters into the discussion.
 
Site has worked okay for me, if your only looking for extra traction as long as your chains are sized to fit on your tires then you be fine with them.

It you was plowing and on ice then v bar chains and going to 2 link spacing as well enters into the discussion.
Yeah working fine. I was on mobile device before with issues. Do you think for traction on hills I would be better of with 2 link spacing and/or v bar chains? Looks like if I go with v bar chains I am going to tear up my driveway so may not use in that capacity.
 
v bar will dig into the ground that is for sure. they are made for biting into Ice and hard pack snow to get traction.

on your hills is it all dirt? or due you have rocks mixed in that you'll be going over?

the Chains on rocks will slip more since the chain can't sink into the ground to provide a biting surface between the ground and your tire.

simple chain course is 4 Link provide a great boost in traction but when ride rough at high speed on hard pack because you due chain on ground, tire on ground, chain on ground making the tire go up/down up/down, At garden tractor speed not a problem. but you have wheel slip when just the tire on the ground till the next chain comes up on the tire to provide the traction.

V-bar provides more biting force when the chain is on the ground but also tear's up the surface so if your going down the same path again and again it will get rip up.

2 Link in either v-bar or regular weighs more and cost more to buy but provides a more consistent pulling effort as you don't have the spacing between the crosslink of the chains allowing the tire to slip.

I think for your Garden tractor I'd go with just regular tire chains in either the 2link or 4 link. you'll run out of power going up hills and your tractor only weighs so much to pull with as well.

tip for putting tire chains on is jack up wheel and let all the air out and put tire chain on as tight as you can then air tire back up now chain is on super tight and wont fall off the tire when your out and about.
 
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v bar will dig into the ground that is for sure. they are made for biting into Ice and hard pack snow to get traction.

on your hills is it all dirt? or due you have rocks mixed in that you'll be going over?

the Chains on rocks will slip more since the chain can't sink into the ground to provide a biting surface between the ground and your tire.

simple chain course is 4 Link provide a great boost in traction but when ride rough at high speed on hard pack because you due chain on ground, tire on ground, chain on ground making the tire go up/down up/down, At garden tractor speed not a problem. but you have wheel slip when just the tire on the ground till the next chain comes up on the tire to provide the traction.

V-bar provides more biting force when the chain is on the ground but also tear's up the surface so if your going down the same path again and again it will get rip up.

2 Link in either v-bar or regular weighs more and cost more to buy but provides a more consistent pulling effort as you don't have the spacing between the crosslink of the chains allowing the tire to slip.

I think for your Garden tractor I'd go with just regular tire chains in either the 2link or 4 link. you'll run out of power going up hills and your tractor only weighs so much to pull with as well.

tip for putting tire chains on is jack up wheel and let all the air out and put tire chain on as tight as you can then air tire back up now chain is on super tight and wont fall off the tire when your out and about.

All dirt with some rock of course here and there.
 
I ordered and received the 2 link chains from tirechains.com. Question to you guys is do you feel the a chain tensioner is actually necessary. Well I didn't order them and in lieu of that assuming they are really necessary I was wondering if anyone had some homemade version of something excluding bungee cords?
 
this from above,

tip for putting tire chains on is jack up wheel and let all the air out and put tire chain on as tight as you can then air tire back up now chain is on super tight and wont fall off the tire when your out and about.

due the air trick and have run chains on my atv for 5 winters and havent' had 1 come off yet.
 
My wheel horse 310-8 is wearing a pair of v-bar four link tire chains that were intended to be used on automobiles. They get great traction in snow and on ice. The spider web type chain tension thingy is probably unnecessary. My chains had a metal cam-lock type thing for chain tension. I did as described above. Fit the chain to the wheel. Cut off most of the excess chain if necessary. Deflate tires somewhat. Get the chain tight and lock over the cam locking device. Inflate tires. I never had a problem with chains falling off using this method.
 
I've got a set of 2-link chains in that size, you can have cheap. I ran them on my Cub Cadet 123, but now have no need for them. They were purchased as 4-link, but converted to 2-link by a prior owner, and work well. I purchased spring tensioners for them, similar to those in the link below, but use them now with another tractor.

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Tractor-Lawn-Chain-Tighteners/dp/B005WTU4H8

Let me know if you're interested, and I'll PM you some photos this weekend.
 
I've got a set of 2-link chains in that size, you can have cheap. I ran them on my Cub Cadet 123, but now have no need for them. They were purchased as 4-link, but converted to 2-link by a prior owner, and work well. I purchased spring tensioners for them, similar to those in the link below, but use them now with another tractor.

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Tractor-Lawn-Chain-Tighteners/dp/B005WTU4H8

Let me know if you're interested, and I'll PM you some photos this weekend.
Already bought a 2-link set from tire chains dotcom. Thanks.
 
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