ATV tire chains

[Bigfeet]

My wife and I live in the country and have a fairly steep driveway, 150 yards long, that we plow. Been using a lawn tractor for that for many years, but it really isn't the best for the amount of snow we sometimes get. Have found ourselves snowed in a few times over the years so, a few months ago, we bought an ATV (Honda Foreman) to handle that chore.

Was looking at the tires and hoped that they would have enough traction to do the job without chains. I was wrong. Got stuck, on the flat part of our drive, in 3-4" of light snow the other night. First time I tried to plow with it and it won't do the job without chains. Before I buy just any chain, looking for recommendations on what to get. Brand, style, where to buy, etc. Suggestions?

[Big Grey Wolf]

We have been using tire chains on our quads on trapline for years on All 4 wheels. A good VBar chain with multi links are some of best. However my favorite is a skidder chain design (Chains are parallel to tire with lugs) I buy from Greggs. They are more expensive but are harden steel and provide longer wear.

[sourdough doug]

Totally agree with WM... Many other chains will drop inside the tire lugs with only a couple cross chains providing any amount of traction...Am not familiar with what Gregg sells but am with skidder chain..

[harv3589]

This is what I use and they are a tough chain. Expensive yes but worth it.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CNP]

Got my ATV chains from Prince auto, brand ? Our driveway is all downhill, a 5 degree grade maybe. I find that I don't need the chains, even pushing 18" of light snow a hundred feet using my Yamaha Grizzly 550 with a 60" Warn blade. With the weight of the blade on the front of your ATV you'll find that the front wheels are providing most of the drive. If I put the chains on again for plowing, I'll just chain up the front tires.

[obsessed1]

I use V chains I got on sale at cdn tire years ago. Makes a huge difference on time and speed. Used to take me 2.5 hours most times now its 1.5hr for most light snows. I rarely ever got stuck but did spin lots and couldn't push as big of a head in front of my plow. Now it just walks never spins and havent got stuck since. I can also be way more aggressive

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[graham1]

Not to derail things, but any concern about wrecking things on the machine with to much traction? Transmission, dif etc.
I have a 700 grizzly that I would like the extra grip, but it makes me nervous.

[obsessed1]

Originally Posted by graham1

Not to derail things, but any concern about wrecking things on the machine with to much traction? Transmission, dif etc.

I have a 700 grizzly that I would like the extra grip, but it makes me nervous.

I have been running chains on an 03 traxter 500 for like 5years and have no issues. Plowing is low gear work moving along at walking pace...not sure how not having your tires slip would be hard on the trans? Your tires still spin you just keep moving as opposed to higher rpms spinning... you do need to confirm clearance from your bike fenders or you'll wear a the plastic out

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[graham1]

Originally Posted by obsessed1

I have been running chains on an 03 traxter 500 for like 5years and have no issues. Plowing is low gear work moving along at walking pace...not sure how not having your tires slip would be hard on the trans? Your tires still spin you just keep moving as opposed to higher rpms spinning... you do need to confirm clearance from your bike fenders or you'll wear a the plastic out

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

Maybe I’m overthinking it.
Just seems like if you were up against a big pile that you couldn’t push anymore that torque has to go somewhere. And if you’re tires aren’t spinning maybe something else would give.
Idk

[obsessed1]

Originally Posted by graham1

Maybe I’m overthinking it.

Just seems like if you were up against a big pile that you couldn’t push anymore that torque has to go somewhere. And if you’re tires aren’t spinning maybe something else would give.

Idk

Well possibly you might shear the pins on your plow mount but it's pretty easy to tell when your pushing hard enough. If you hit a hard bank at speed it would likely bounce your bike sideways if you have the blade angled. I have never tried to smash things that hard but I'd guess the plow mount would fail before you destroyed your bike..

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[Popcan]

Chains have been a pain in my arse since minuite 1. I bought some. Hated them. Of course I'm inexperienced with them. Switched to studs. The more the better. Dig like nobody's business. Problem is if you spin'em on pave or whatever your driveway is made of they'll leave some damage probably. Very pleased with the studs. I wouldn't worry about your Honda. Bull low & power through. You won't break anything on that power train.

[waldedw]

When I lived on the acreage back in the 90's I had a plow blade for the front of my Suzuki 300 king quad and had chains on all 4 wheels, I plowed snow for 9 years without breaking anything, you have to take you time and not try to plow at 40 KPH or ram into big snow piles or hard drifts, there was a couple times when I actually had to bring home the bobcat from work and to move the snow out of the way as it got to deep and hard for the quad but most of the time it was fine.

[burbotman]

Originally Posted by CNP

Got my ATV chains from Prince auto, brand ? Our driveway is all downhill, a 5 degree grade maybe. I find that I don't need the chains, even pushing 18" of light snow a hundred feet using my Yamaha Grizzly 550 with a 60" Warn blade. With the weight of the blade on the front of your ATV you'll find that the front wheels are providing most of the drive. If I put the chains on again for plowing, I'll just chain up the front tires.

I moved into a place west of Calgary and have 300 m plus of driveway. I found your observation the same as mine. Polaris Ranger 800 and. 72” Denali plow blade. The weight on the front end so far has kept the chains off

[Phil McCracken]

[QUOTE=burbotman;4463138]I moved into a place west of Calgary and have 300 m plus of driveway. I found your observation the same as mine. Polaris Ranger 800 and. 72” Denali plow blade. The weight on the front end so far has kept the chains off[/QUOTE]

I agree. The weight of the blade definitely helps.

I have a large yard plus about 150 yards of driveway. Never had issues for the past 15 years.

In early December this year, we got rain, wet snow which amounted to just over a foot. No problems...

[Dean2]

Have been plowing with mine since 2004, three different houses. It is a 2002 Honda Foreman 400. Lots of snow, some hill but none real steep, long driveway on two. Have chains, never used them yet. Have plowed as much as a foot of snow. The one house had a hedge row on each side of the driveway, in real heavy snow there was no where to blade the snow to so used the blower, but the quad pushed it just fine. If you are getting stuck in 3-4 inches of snow on the flat there is something else wrong. I would be checking quad over carefully. Have you engaged the front end?

Two guys on the quad, waist deep snow, no problems. The Nylon skid plate acts like a toboggan. You can see from the snow way up in the front end that we were pushing some pretty deep snow. In 3 inches you aren't even high centered.

[harv3589]

I don’t use my chains for plowing our driveway, it’s paved so I don’t want to damage it. No issues so far without them. Just use them for hunting season…some hills are a bit slippery in the snow and ice out where I go and nice to have them.

[Reeves1]

Originally Posted by harv3589

This is what I use and they are a tough chain. Expensive yes but worth it.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like that design !