Fitting tire (snow) chains on a Tacoma

[p1michaud]

Scott has started working on this mod for the Arctic Ocean Expedition but I thought it would be a great topic for other folks who would like to run winter trails with snow chains.

I want to explore my options for fitting tire chains. Here is some background:

• My truck is a 1999 Extra Cab Tacoma, 4x4
• I’m running 1.5” to 1.75” OME lift front and 2” Deaver Springs lift rear.
• My tires are 32” x 11.5” Good Year MTR on stock 15” x 7” alloy wheels. I believe that the stock off set for these wheels is 4.5”. Is that correct? I’ll have to remove one and measure it to be sure. This tire and wheel combo does not leave sufficient room for tire chains mainly due to the distance between tire and upper control arm (approximately 0.5” to 0.75” in my case).
• My know areas of concern at this time with respect to clearance (without having actually test fitted the chains) are the frame, sway bar and upper control arms. These are all in relation to the front wheels since I feel that my rear wheels have sufficient clearance at this point.

Known modifications:

1. Remove my “shortened” mud flaps. The tires occasionally rub on these when turning so I know that they will be in the way. I keep them on to keep the road salt and sand off the truck. Only a concern during the winter months but can easily be removed during winder outings to gain clearance. Side note here, how do you guys that have removed your front mud flaps keep dirt and mud out from that area between the outer fender and truck body free from debris (i.e. if you open your driver or passenger door and look down toward the bottom of the door towards the front wheel well there is a small opening that seems to fill with mud. I’ll take pictures tonight for clarity)?
2. Pinch weld mod

My know options to gain clearance as this time are:

1. Wheel Spacers (1.25” minimum)
2. New wheels with different off set (not sure I can get enough clearance via this route).

Here are the questions I have:

1. How much clearance do you need between suspension components and frame to safely operate your vehicle with chains on. Is 0.5” sufficient?
2. What other options are there without busting out the grinder and reciprocating saw to increase clearance? :Mechanic:
3. Have I missed something?

At this time, I’m leaning heavily towards the RUD 4x4 Grip Chains mainly for ease of installation based on the reading I’ve done to date and what I saw on Bill Burke’s “Getting UNStuck”.



Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[crawler#976]

I wonder if a product like the cable chains below would clear on the front of a Taco. They say they only need 5/16" clearance.

http://www.scc-chain.com/Traction Pages/Trac_SZ8.html

From my limited experience with chains, running two sets is nice, but rear chains w/ a locker do a pretty darn good job too.

I used two sets on my 4x4 1970 GMC P/U, but it had generous amounts of room in the fenderwells. With that truck - healthy 350 V8, automatic tranny, the only thing that would stop me was snow so deep it would high center or push more snow than I could move.

That's the one drawback to running chains - they make it quite difficult to get up on snow pack. The beater trail rig w/ 35-12.5 MT/R's at 4 PSI gets a lot of floatation if the conditions are right. I've driven in 3 feet of snow and only cut tracks 10 to 12" deep. Wet heavy stuff is an entirely different situation tho...much more than a foot of that is difficult - there is too much effort required to push an axle thru it.

 

[Scott Brady]

In your case, cable chains, smaller tires, new wheels or new upper control arms are the real options. The main clearance issue is the upper control arm.

I am going to do an article on fitting these big lug chains, which will not be easy...

 

[p1michaud]

Chain clerances

In your case, cable chains, smaller tires, new wheels or new upper control arms are the real options. The main clearance issue is the upper control arm.

I am going to do an article on fitting these big lug chains, which will not be easy...

Scott,
I'm looking forward to reading your article. Would wheel spacers not be another solution? I'm currious with your wheel spacers, will you install them on all 4 wheels?

Additionally, I was doing a bit of reading during luch and found some information about snow chain clerance requirements. The link provided by crawler#976 also had similar information at the bottom of this page. I will have to verify my owners manual and see if there is mention of S.A.E. Class for the Tacoma.


Edit: Also, most chain manufacturers recommend a maximum speed of 30 MPH (48 KPH).

 

[crawler#976]

Wheel spacers or offset rims create problems of there own. The tire wells were designed with minimum clearances - moving the tire out causes rubbing at the fender or as you mentioned at the firewall. Either you add lift or will be doing considerable trimming - or reforming the firewall like I did on the '87 after SAS'ing it. (BIG hammer applied with considerable vigor)

 

[Scott Brady]

Wheel spacers or offset rims create problems of there own.

:iagree: , which is why I am not recommeding them. For my situation, this is a ONE TIME trip with these tires and big chains, and it is going to require days of fabrication to make it all work. This is all more of an experiment that something to emulate...

 

[p1michaud]

Wheel spacers and off set wheels.

:iagree: , which is why I am not recommeding them. For my situation, this is a ONE TIME trip with these tires and big chains, and it is going to require days of fabrication to make it all work. This is all more of an experiment that something to emulate...

I also agree that off set wheels and wheel spacers have the potential to cause other problems.

Thanks for all the input guys that is why I ask here before forking over a buch of $$$ only to find it was spent nedlessly. The more I think about this, I feel that a good solution would be a single set of chains for the rear wheels for the times where I really need them. I also have a Winch that could assisst in snowy conditions, but the best solution of all would be to use common sense and stay away from conditions that would require you to have snow chains on all 4 wheels!

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[IggyB]

I run 32-11.50/15 BFG muds on my Frontier all seasons except winter. For wintertime I have 30-9.50/15 BFG AT's

The huge V-bar chains fit on the little 30" tires with lots of clearance. V-bar chains require about an inch of clearance, so with them on the effective tire diameter becomes about 32". Also, with the AT's there are no large voids between lugs (as on the MT) for the chains to slip down to the base of the tire and not expose the chain to the road surface.

I don't think one needs chains for fluffy snow. Hardpacked snow, ice and such requires chains on all 4 tires. Makes it easy to steer and have traction to move uphill and through ice. With chains only on the rear it's difficult to steer the truck in the direction you want to go.

 

[p1michaud]

RUD Grip 4x4 Chains

Gents,
Well since posting this, I purchased a set of RUD Grip 4x4 chains from Bill Burke's 4-Wheeling America LLC website based on what I saw on Bill Burke’s “Getting UNStuck” video.

After discussing with Bill, I purchased the RUD 2532 chains that are actually sized for a 33" tire in anticipation of going to a larger tire in the future. Turns out that they fit the 32" MTR well when tightened all the way but are still a bit too loose for anything over 15 MPH. A few bungie cords would fix that. I've got a set of four, but can't use them on the front wheels yet. We have quite a bit of snow and ice here so if you want to do any winter wheeling, these chains will make your life easier. I've used them on our last two weekend outings and am glad I spent the money on these.

If you read this blog entry, you will see that some of the club members were very impressed with their their performance as well.

Cheers :beer:,
P