snow chain tensioners

[KG6BWS]

pardon my horrible "MS Paint" skills but i was curious about something. has anyone ever tried using turnbuckles to tighten their chains?? it may be that im just not doing it right, probably is in fact, but i cant seem to get my chains to stay on the tire. especially offroad. theyll hold on fine, if im going real slow and dont spin the tires. the first they break loose a little, or catch on a rock or some such, the chains come undone and i have to stop and redo them. i was thinking of using turnbuckles inside and out. what do you guys think??

or

course the second would only work on the outside

 

[Lynn]

I've always liked the rubber tensioners, but have never needed to spin a tire or go very fast. I'm afraid that the turnbuckles you mention will become projectiles if you are spinning tires and break a chain.

 

[rynosurf]

Your chains are probably too big. Try taking some links out of the inside of the chains and use the tensioners like Lynn suggested.

 

[KG6BWS]

i may try that ryno and see what happens. lynn...thats whats irritating me about the whole thing. i dont spin my tires, per se, its more like when i hit a little slippery patch and the wheel spins in place for a quarter or half turn. when on snow or ice i drive slow anyways. its just that going down the highway with chains on, it would be nice to able to go faster 3 mph. well, ill go shorten them and see what happens. they were marked for my tire size but who knows.

 

[Lynn]

'nother thought...

As you can probably guess from my location, I don't actually own chains any more but the ones I have owned typically had a cam-type connector. You pass the connector through the opposite link, then 'cam it over.' The chain tension served to help keep the connector closed. Make sense? For those I used to carry some tie wire and tied the connectors down so that they wouldn't pop loose.

 

[proper4wd]

Choke up the inside of the chain, and get tensioners like these:

http://tirechain.com/ADJUSTERS-HEAVY-TRUCK.htm

The "tightness" of a chain comes from how much you choke up on the inside side chain. Make it as small as reasonably possible, then install tensioners on the outside. Never install tensioners on the inside, it counteracts the way chains work.