Will Leaving snow chains on damage my tires?

EquineNetworkCO · Oct 20, 2011

Snow season is coming to Colorado and I decided to take the plunge this year and got some nice "duo grip ladder" chains and binders from tirechains.com. I have a JD 4520 CUT, R1 tires and NO concrete to worry about. My question is whether or not leaving the chains on for extended periods of time will damage my tires?

BethesdaEC · Oct 20, 2011

I lot of loggers use chains all year long. I don't think it will hurt anything on the tractor. Your ears, driveway and lawn, well that is a different matter.

Travelover · Oct 20, 2011

I've been running chains year 'round on my Kubota and my Ingersoll lawn tractor for 20 years. Chains have worn..........

Gordon Gould · Oct 20, 2011

They will actually help protect your tires especially if your running in rough ground or in the woods. You will wear the chains of course if you drive on hard surfaces much.

rekees4300 · Oct 20, 2011

Won't damage your tires but obviously the longer the chains are on the quicker the chains will wear out. My chains are on during the whole snow season.

EquineNetworkCO · Oct 20, 2011

Great - that's what I was hoping to hear. Our snow season here can be 6 months long. I test fit the chains when I got them in the summer, and it was a chore to put them on, take them off and hang them up for storage. I was thinking of putting them on this weekend and not taking them off till next May.

k0ua · Oct 20, 2011

I ran some on a B7500 for 8 years

James K0UA

RoyJackson · Oct 20, 2011

rekees4300 said:
Won't damage your tires but obviously the longer the chains are on the quicker the chains will wear out. My chains are on during the whole snow season.

Same here...they go on after the last mowing of the year and come off sometime in March or April (we get surprises in March, occasionally).

If you park the tractor on a concrete floor, you might want to consider using plywood or horse stall mats to protect the concrete.