jigs_n_fixtures
Platinum Member
The smooth chains wrk fine on ice. Above a certain pressure, ice melts back to water. The chains melt their own little pocket in the ice.
Why do tire chains work?
- Thread starter Kubotarip
- Start date
Rockbadchild
Veteran Member
Smooth chain provide more tractions then just rubber ... most people simply have smooth chain
Rockbadchild
Veteran Member
Chains decrease the contact area so it increase the pressure by square inch like bnold point out, it create irregularities on the tires to dig in and provide more grip. around here haul truck don't used them in bush road since our terrain is flat but in more accidented terrain it is often mandatory to use them and they do wonder.
tacticalturnip
Elite Member
This was definitely not a stupid question. 
Vigo327
Platinum Member
I like to think about it like this..This was definitely not a stupid question.
When i clicked the forum main page right now it said this:
We tend to think about whether our forum contributions are worthwhile in terms of the other members of the forum, the 'regulars'. It's very easy to forget that for every 'cool kid' here who already knows damn near everything there are MANY TIMES that number of people who are way earlier in their tractor-knowledge journey who are passing by and could find a lot of use from the things we say even if it sometimes seems like 'preaching to the choir'. So if you're posting something and you think 170 out of those 190 members already know it, that's one thing but what about the other THREE THOUSAND people who aren't yet members, who don't already know everything, and who may or may not ever become members or take more steps on this particular path, based on how much or how easily they learn during their visit today?
Sure, maybe some of the same information gets posted over and over again, but i guarantee you every time it gets posted new eyes see it, and some of them are going to be the ones passing it on to the next set of newbies, a little bit down the road. I think it's very rare for any explanation of how anything works, to be useless. Not too many people will write out good explanations for things just for posterity. Generally, someone has got to ask first. It's an important role.
The chains cut into the ice and snow or mud. If you want an illustration, take a tire, tie a rope to it and drag it across the yard. Then take a chain and wrap it through the center and around the outside all the way around the whole tire. Now drag that across the yard. Take note of which way is harder to drag i.e, has more traction.
Most chains that are made for ice and used on tractors do not have "spikes" on them. There are studded and what are called V bar chains available, as well as chains with square profile links, but smooth are the most common.
LouNY
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Not in my experience.
Most chains are the V bar reinforced, a few people run the smooth twisted link "highway" chain but most run a more aggressive chain. Such as the V bar, or square twisted link, the best chains are the studded chains.
In my early chain days we had the old double ring style, very good in deep snow or mud; almost useless on ice or hard packed snow.
The non reinforced twist link chains work a bit better on ice or hard packed snow then the double ring but are not as good in mud or deep snow.
The V bar reinforced work many times better then the twisted smooth on ice or snow pack and about the same in deep snow and mud.
The studded "Euro" pattern chains work much much better then the V bar reinforced on every surface.
Rockbadchild
Veteran Member
sorry got the smooth chains and the twisted link mixt up most people around here use the twisted link ... that's pretty much all I see ...
I imagine it varies regionally. My point was, smooth chains do work (not as well as studded or v bar) and tire chains are not "spiked", as the one poster (from Tennessee
) thought. I carry one set of heavy duty studded chains (made out of 9/32 chain. They're the size that are normally used on log trucks around here) and one set of square link in my pickup in winter. If I'm going to be using them on snow covered pavement or hard packed gravel, I use the square link. In deep snow or climbing snow covered dirt roads on grades towing a trailer or in the mud I use the studded chains.
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TractorTYMe
Veteran Member
I have smooth chain on rear due to fender clearance and grousers on front.
