Tire chains on rear

[greenvan02]

Just lifted van 3”. Looking at the plastic cladding on the rear it still looks like chains are going to be a flail mower in the rear Wheel well with 30” BFG’s. Has anyone ran chains on rear with this setup? And or has anyone had luck removing the cladding and not having it look bad?

In the state of Oregon if you are towing a trailer with brakes then the tow vehicle must have chains on one axle regardless of traction tires or AWD/4x4. I know this due to the ticket I got.

Thanks, Z

[Rod's Trucks]

One thing to consider:
Your AWD willNot be happywith chains on only one axle.

As for the cladding removal; I have done it ( on my green van).
It is a fair amount of work, but if you have no hidden rust, it should come out just fine.
The 3M 'eraser' wheel works well to get the adhesive tape off, but there is a bit of a learning curve. This is the only significant damage I did, when I was not paying attention to the wheel speed and rate at which I was moving.

It didn't look too bad after a little touch-up. I bought a spray can of matching touch-up paint from an on-line supplier, but have only used the brush variety so far.



Rod J
Issaquah, WA

[Rockridge]

I had to run chains last winter twice. Driveway turned into a luge run after a big freezing rain storm. Only needed them to get down the hill. Did not have an issue with the chains hitting the fenders running 235-70-16 with a 3" lift. S10 Hd rear springs.

[Rod's Trucks]

Greenvan was mentioning the requirement for chains on at least one axle, when towing a trailer over the mountain passes in Oregon. That implies some speed and along drive.
Just trying to get up or down an icy driveway is a much different scenario, and I would not hesitate to put the chains on for that, if needed.
Rod J

[greenvan02]

Yes I need to be able to do up to 35mph

[Rockridge]

Spike spiders?

[Rockridge]

Greenvan was mentioning the requirement for chains on at least one axle, when towing a trailer over the mountain passes in Oregon. That implies some speed and along drive.
Just trying to get up or down an icy driveway is a much different scenario, and I would not hesitate to put the chains on for that, if needed.
Rod J

Just offering what insight I can. Sorry it did not meet all specific criteria.

[Rockridge]

Yes I need to be able to do up to 35mph

Did you come up with a solution?

[AstroWill]

In the state of Oregon if you are towing a trailer with brakes then the tow vehicle must have chains on one axle regardless of traction tires or AWD/4x4. I know this due to the ticket I got.

Seems like pretty common sense chain laws. The towing vehicle primary drive wheels have to have chains when required as well as at least one axle on the trailer if the trailer has brakes. Sucks to find out with a ticket though.
This made me look at: https://tripcheck.com/Pages/Minimum-Chain-Requirements

In typical winter conditions, vehicles rated at 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW) or less and not towing or being towed are allowed to use traction tires in place of chains.

Which linked to: https://tripcheck.com/Pages/Traction-Tires

"Retractable studded tires" are tires with embedded studs that retract to at or below the wear bar of the tire and project not less than .04 inch beyond the tread surface of the tire when extended.

How freaking cool would that be, would love to have something like that. Looks like a company called Q-Tires at least advertised that they were making such a tire that used tire pressure to deploy the studs on demand, but it never came to life. https://auto.howstuffworks.com/q-tire.htm

[markmitch]

Since I moved to California I hear about laws pertaining to tire chains yet I grew up in Maine and lived there for many years as an adult and the only people I had ever seen using tire chains was the US post office. Honestly from someone that grew up driving in snow and ice I have never even tried them. Mark

[AstroWill]

Most of Maine is flat as a board as well, esp where the population is. Even the higher peaks which are not travel routes are double the elevation in OR, close to triple in CA. But look at the elevation on travel routes.

[Rockridge]

Because our driveway is so steep, and we were running FWD for the first few years, I was very close to buying the Spike Spyders. Easy on and off and they look pretty durable. Ended up with AWD vehicles and that solved it, unless we get an ice storm and then I have a luge run and we just park at the mid point and walk.

Agree on chains on the road, never used them, only for plowing my driveway

[AstroWill]

Proper tires make a huge difference.