Pickup Tire chains question

With this next round of snow barreling down on us Friday, I’ve come to the realization that I need a set of tire chains for my pickup. I believe it’s going to be mandatory to get the wheelhouse out after this weeks snowstorm. I am considering getting two sets, and chaining up all 4 tires. I’ve heard tails that putting chains on the front of four wheelers have messed up transmissions/four wheel drive. I am wondering if anybody here can confirm this is true, and would/could it mess up a pickup transmission/four wheel drive?
TIA, drifter.

I can’t say that the chains themselves will affect your truck but the stress from driving and pulling through the slush/snow would be more the problem. Have you ever watched your tranny temps after running a ways off road with your house behind? Make sure you have plenty of clearance on the front if you are going to run chains. I definitely did not have enough room to run them on my old GMC.

the biggest problem with chains on the front tires is you risk tearing the brake hoses off of the calipers and ripping the fender wells out during a turn.
you can also tear off speed sensor wires which will disable the abs/traction control system.
if you have disc brakes on the rear you can tear the hoses off of the calipers there as well where as on drum type brakes there is a metal line to the slave cylinders and they are tucked out of the way enough for chain clearance.

edit to add,as far as tearing up the transmission or the four wheel drive system that can occur when one tire is spinning like mad while the other has traction,when the spinning tire grabs traction that can tear the sh!t out of things.

For ATVs,you want to chain all wheels if you use 4wd,or the rear and use 2wd.Chains on just the front make things go ugly.

For cars/trucks,make sure everything fits snug and stays that way.Clearance is your friend.Or check owners manual to see if chains are an option.

Not sure what year truck you have, but I would check your manual. A lot of new rigs say most stock tires won’t take them due to what I assume is the tire profile and or the TPS monitors.

I think you may want to look at tire cables instead of chains. They won’t have the grip but they are smaller profile and go on tires very easy and quickly compared to chains. We used them out west hunting and they were a game changer’ I have used both chains and cables. Chains grip more no question. I don’t know if can be mixed together or not. You should order tire size specific no matter which route you go.

Mike

Yeah I’m having trouble finding chains that fit my tire size. 275 65 R20. Only ones I’m finding are from Etrailer.com. And are pretty dang expensive. Almost all others are roughly $100 or under. Go figure the size I need are $180 a set. At that price, I’ll probably just get one set. I’m a little skeptical about the cables. Pretty sure on ice I want to stick to V bar chains. And I got buddies with the chains with locking cams that seem easier to put on then the chains for my four wheeler. Thanks guys!
Drifter.

I use chain up in the mountains a lot. Between snow and worst, ice on north slopes. For the truck, most of the time we only chain front tires. Cables suck and I wouldn’t waste my time with them. I guess their ok for super light duty, but I would NEVER trust my life with them. Had a couple close calls of sliding backwards down a mountain.

Get extra tensioners and heavy duty tie wraps. The rubber tensioners will eventually break. Always carry some spares. Tie wrap the heck out of the excess chain and cams. The loose chain on the inside will rip your break lines off. Also, watch for debris. Chains can pick up sticks and other crap.
Once your chained up and secure, 4 low and slow and easy.

The fronts only Randy? Curious on why the fronts. I’m not doubting you at all. I know you have a lot of first hand experience. I’ve never seen anybody chain just the fronts. Only seen just the back, or all four. And the only time I’ve seen all four is at resorts that plow ice roads. I was thinking with the weight of the trailer on the back axels and the chains would give you the most traction.

I run them on rear of my f150.
Ive got 18″, got them at Fleet farm.
I would check out their sizes, they will most likely have something to fit your truck. I had to cut of 6-8″ of the length to fit mine, easy work with a cut off wheel.

Im fairly certain you can come in under $180.
Id start with just the rear, you will be amazed how much that will do.

mark-bruzek wrote:

I run them on rear of my f150.
Ive got 18″, got them at Fleet farm.
I would check out their sizes, they will most likely have something to fit your truck. I had to cut of 6-8″ of the length to fit mine, easy work with a cut off wheel.

Im fairly certain you can come in under $180.
Id start with just the rear, you will be amazed how much that will do.

I looked at FF. Nothing in my size in store (Monticello or St. Cloud) or on line. And I don’t really want to go retrofitting them. Removing chain to fit A smaller rim would be easier than adding chains to fit a 20” rim. No I did not put fancy rims and tires on, they are 100% stock.

I’m sure Randy wants to be able to steer on a mountain road, but in your case i would start with the rear only. I bought 2 sets for my truck. I have only used the rears. Front set for me is kinda like insurance. But if you take it nice and slow with the rear chains, you can get through a lot and not mess anything up. In my opinion if you need all 4 chained up, you are going to be wrecking some stuff anyway.

Yeah, adding is not really fun.
Im not very good at the aspect ratio tire size…
I found some 20″ at northern tool online but unsure if that size would fit yours, they were $140.

Maybe a truck stop or truck service center might have some local?
Have you tried this place?
Not sure on shipping…
https://www.tirechain.com/275-65-20.htm