Snow Chains For Sand/Mud Driving

G'day Neil
No question is stupid unless of course you don't want to learn from it.
My experience with chains goes back almost 50 years with an old 2WD ute and later 30 years in emergency services in the Victorian high country. Sand .....no , you just dig your grave faster , very soft mud is similar. I have driven miles on chains in the right conditions , which are slippery surface , steep hills and places where winching was not practicable ,ie lack of anchor or distance .I know purists will say you rip the track up but not necessarily so , low gear minimal throttle and you do less damage than repeated attempts without chains. I have also used chains for long steep "gravel " hills as a last resort. I always carried a set of chains summer and winter , along with chainsaw and a few basic recovery bits I never had or needed a winch.
Mike

G`day Neil,
Nothing stupid about any question on here mate.
I don`t know about sand or snow but I use wheel chains reasonably often in mud.

Years ago I got rained in on the Darling River for a week, we had a Holden 253 v/8 ute pulling a tandem trailer. We needed to get out because of work commitments, but we only moved about 3mtrs before being bogged.
We borrowed a pair of chains from the Boss Cocky, it took a lot of effort to fit them while bogged, we drove ( crawled) out in 2nd gear at low revs dragging the trailer like a toboggan, the wheels on the trailer were clogged with black sticky mud and couldn`t turn.
We drove about 2 klm to the main track, removed the chains and walked back to the H/S to return them.

Scrubby

Gday Neil
I was up in high country with Robin Miller, we had a young bloke stuck on a steep incline , Robin and I fitted chains to his rear wheels and the young bloke just drove up the hill, no problems. Neil, you could have fitted chains at Trilby , but it was easier to have me tow you out. Good luck in your travels.

Neil, for what it's worth I don't think it's a stupid question either.

To be quite honest, I have considered the chain option rather than a set of dedicated mud tyres that usually hum a loud tune on bitumen and "usually" wear faster than AT or HT pattern tyres.
To me the chains would provide the mud tyre's ability to grip through a slippery surface where a less aggressive pattern might just spin on the surface. That's all they do to give grip on icy roads.
Having said all that, I personally avoid mud like the plague whenever I can. Some guys seem to wear the mud coating in and on their vehicles like some sort of badge of honor.

Cheers
Pop

There was a 4 wheel drive action episode up in Queensland where the guy who owned a large property used chains to get around it in the wet season. They did mention that using chains on mud/dirt tracks is illegal in some places...(maybe National Parks?) because they chew the tracks up a lot. Personally, I don't know about this, just stating that THEY said it so everyone back off. :-)

Firstly, thanks guys for your comments about my "stupid question" not being stupid. I was just leaving the way open to receive back any criticism or whatever and letting it be known that I don't take offense easily, if at all.

Secondly, as luck would have it I have stumbled over a web article from ARB which answers a question very similar to mine. Here is the link ... I hope it works for you.

http://www.arb.com.au/getting-started/ask-arb/general/010%20Snow%20chains.php

Best regards to all

X3 here for the chains...
My old man, worked on the snowy from start to finish, saw where the old house used to be 55 odd years ago, up the road from swampy plains river at Geehi.. Uncle and cousin marked an X on the tree... To get in and out of there without chains in winter in those days would have been epic. He had an old FB wagon in those days...
I used to put his chains on an old HG sedan, no lsd, would go just about anywhere. I have a set, but they have a V welded on all the links, would only use then as last resort, only to get up or down slippery hills, wouldn't use then in sand though.
Cheers Odog

Hi Neil, noticed you've been asking plenty of advice about lots of things, its the only way to go.
I also did, however, your future up and coming dilemma will be where to put everything and 9 times out of 10 we have to leave a few things behind due to no more room.

4WDs can be hard on chains so get HD units if you have the choice. Diamond pattern work best in snow that's on the bitumen.

A chain-clad tyre runs hotter than one without so check your pressures. Take the chains off as soon as you're out of the merde.

I just remembered this. Cooleman caves area in NSW Snowy Mtns October long weekend 1976. Rain started overnight and creeks which were dry the day before now had a foot of water. That was no problem for a Landcruiser only a couple of years old but do you think he could get up the muddy bank to get out of the creek. Chains on front wheels were just ripping the bank to shreds and he wasn't going anywhere. It was just a few metres up the bank but he was trapped.And the chains were those heavy duty type with no plastic parts at all. took ages and a lot of damage to get out.
Still chains are a lot cheaper than a winch and as others have said they have been useful in certain situations. But do you really want to buy and carry them?.... W

Bought a set of chains when I had an EH Holden ute, Neil. Only used them once, and managed to get through deep mud, even dragging the diff. Funny thing was, the local station owner came down a few hours later, in same model ute, sans chains, and didn't get a speck of mud on his vehicle! :-). Experience counts for a lot, in those situations.

Some years later we got another set of chains to suit Landcruiser utes. Used them occasionally when it was wet and I NEEDED to get somewhere, but otherwise the Utes, and the chains, sat in the shed until the roads had dried out.

On one occasion, the wife and daughter were coming out from Winton, and it was questionable whether they'd get all the way home. Fitted the chains to front wheels and headed off, up the Diamantna River road. About 90 clicks up, and on the Cork Mail road, they'd been blocked by Horse Creek, so carted the mail and other lighter stuff across the creek(about 500M) on foot, and left the other ute there, out of flood risk.

Well, got home that night about 9pm, all pretty tired, and with a filthy Tojo. The rain had stopped so the heavy country started to pack the ute up, and we were often in 1st or 2nd, low range, just to keep moving. Once we hit the River Road again, there was a lot more gravel, and enough water remaining in the wheel tracks to flush out the mudguards.

Did 180 kms return trip with chains, and used nearly 100L of diesel! But got the Boss and daughter home.... Some months later the front diff of that ute got funny and we had to get it rebuilt. Coincidence, I don't think so!

Handy to have chains, Neil, but if it's that wet probably best to stay home, or don't venture anywhere remote. Realise that the snow country is a different case.

Bob

Never tried chains in sand, we stick with low pressures.
Adding chains to a 2WD in slippery mud conditions makes it almost as good as a 4WD. Fantastic on a front wheel drive because drive = steering too.

Have used chains on a 4WD in slippery mud and always put them on the front. Almost unstoppable, but can burn the fuel.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA195 Motorhome