WhereTheHellIsJames?
Explorer
Shopping for a set of snow chains for the shop truck: a 4WD Toyota short bed, short cab on a fresh set of 31 x 10.5 / 15 BFG AT ko2's wrapped around Toyota alloy's.
We need to be able to get around the steep terrain of our area when it snows, freezing-rains, melts & refreezes, etc. The Ko2's are great general purpose tires, and pretty decent for a bit of packed snow & ice on roads that don't have much more than some mild inclines, but what we really need is to have the ability to go up and down +/- 45% grade ungraveled/unsanded ice skating rinks with confidence.
I don't need the absolute quickest to install here... this truck sees only a few hundred miles each year at best, and the plan is to leave it chained up on all four's in one of the shop bays for several months each year, just so we always have something ready to go when needed. I also don't need the cheapest chains in the world, although I'm not looking to spend $1k on snow chains either. What I'm after here is the best steep terrain compact snow & ice traction that I can get. FWIW, speeds with chains installed could be up to around 35mph on the plowed/graveled flats, but more often than not, under 25 mph. On the steeps, we'd be crawling... of course.
So what are you folks out there using for snow & ice chains? What works great, what works okay, what is a total waste of time, money, or the effort of even installing them?
We need to be able to get around the steep terrain of our area when it snows, freezing-rains, melts & refreezes, etc. The Ko2's are great general purpose tires, and pretty decent for a bit of packed snow & ice on roads that don't have much more than some mild inclines, but what we really need is to have the ability to go up and down +/- 45% grade ungraveled/unsanded ice skating rinks with confidence.
I don't need the absolute quickest to install here... this truck sees only a few hundred miles each year at best, and the plan is to leave it chained up on all four's in one of the shop bays for several months each year, just so we always have something ready to go when needed. I also don't need the cheapest chains in the world, although I'm not looking to spend $1k on snow chains either. What I'm after here is the best steep terrain compact snow & ice traction that I can get. FWIW, speeds with chains installed could be up to around 35mph on the plowed/graveled flats, but more often than not, under 25 mph. On the steeps, we'd be crawling... of course.
So what are you folks out there using for snow & ice chains? What works great, what works okay, what is a total waste of time, money, or the effort of even installing them?