Tire Chains.

[Ulfthednar]

Anyone know of places to get ATV chains that don't cost more than my new ATV?

Seriously, I can outfit My 74 RC with 34x9 - 15 Swampers with Vbar tire chains for what 1 pair of ATV chains cost. And theyre not a "popular size" tire.

The gougy prices at $250 to $350 a pair is . . a LOT GOUGY.

If I hurt a suppliers feelings, good, they deserve it because the prices are ludicrous.

I've thrown chains on everything from garden tractors to semi trucks for forty years or so.

I am not confused about the prices. They're gougy.

[Mech]

Supply and demand.

If there's not much market for a thing, then they always cost more..

[Ulfthednar]

Too a point yes - but I can find chains for my Seriously odd RC tires for far less. 

The tires run on most ATVs are pretty similar in size to typical car tires.

I could literally (though not advisable) mount my ATV tires on my Dodge Stratus rims.

I can get Vbarred or Studded tire chains for my Stratus with basically the same sized casing for half the price.

Dimensionally, the chains are pretty close to what I run on my 98 sonoma with 15 inch rims.

which external casing size including tread measure out at very close to the same circumference as the tires on my ATV.

 

But the "ATV" appellation adds $200?

 

So . . yeah . . . sometimes the economics dont come out in the wash.

 

Tire chains are tire chains, not proprietary rocket science.

 

Guess the suppliers gotta take this one in the snoot.

Which, of course leads to the obvious answer . . .  buy the chain style for a matching sized Automotive tire.

 

Then the ATV chain suppliers won't have any demand at all.

[Mech]

Well.. If you can make them cheaper, do it and you'll have the market.. If anyone could undercut them by a reasonable amount, they should still be making a killing according to you..  So why isn't anybody(or you), undercutting them ?

I've been in business for a long time and I've heard so many people say that people in business are creaming the profit.. but those people aren't in business.. If they were they'd know that it's a competitive and time consuming way of making a living. I never complain about the price of things. I shop around and find thing as cheaply as I can and then, if I want it, i pay my money happily.

As far as I know there are two options if you don't like their prices, do without, or figure a cheaper way of doing what they do.

 

 

 

[Ulfthednar]

Thats what I'm thinking.

Ive got a couple sets from similar sized tires Im going to try out and see where Im at.

I found an entire set of drive chains for 10 22s buried in the muck on a job site and several extra sets of LT chains.

My point is though, they require less material than my RC chains (identical section width and 1/3 less diameter) and even running a diamond chain pattern, you can get the same quality with the same material in the same size for a road vehicle at about 2/3 the price.

$198 for a set for the exact same design for the same size tire as opposed to $350 for one labelled specifically for "ATV/UTV".

 

[Mech]

Alright  !!

And don't forget... Taxes..

[Ulfthednar]

tire chains were invented with tax collectors in mind.

[davefrombc]

There's always 2 0r more prices for everything transportation or leisure involved.. Years ago there was 3 prices for an identical alternator used on a vehicle , boat or aircraft.  Yes, there were slight differences between them--- the marine alternator had screening to  make them  less likely to ignite fuel vapors in the bilge and the aircraft certified ones were much more tightly quality controlled;  but it still  didn't justify a more than 3x price increase over the  automotive  one. Price the identical  part for a Chevy  and Cadillac, or any companies basic models and their luxury line. You are paying a premium for the name or "luxury". Even some power tools have huge price differences depending on the brand name   on them.   I remember a 4 " angle grinder made by one company  having 2 prices .. The very common utility brand was $100 cheaper than the "elite"  branded one.  The difference between grinders?  the expensive one had a polished aluminum gear case while the basic one was matte finished as it came from the forming die. Otherwise the two  angle grinders were screw for screw identical.  When the tool salesman was confronted with that he admitted the utility grinder maker also  made them for the company whose tools he was selling ..  I  won't say their names but the initials for the two  companies were  B&D and S.O.    LOL...

As far as chains are concerned,  it isn't that hard to  cut down  chains or add to them  to  modify them to  fit a different tire diameters,  a little  more work  to  modify width  You don't need to  pay the higher price tags for  new if you don't want to.

[Mech]

You are right about the marine and luxury premiums Dave, but people do buy and re-market to make something on the difference.

If there were agricultural and recreational versions of quad chains I dare say someone would be doing a re-market of the agricultural line... If the demand was great enough to justify their trouble. 

I'd think the trouble here is that the market just isn't big enough for a new competitor to start making, stocking, advertising and marketing an unusual size, and so the existing manufacturer, who has the advantage of already being in that business, can ask what they want.

 

 

 

[Ulfthednar]

Yeah . . It was just kinda like sticker shock when I searched "ATV Chain" . .  

Ive got the tool for closing the cross link and an angle grinder, metal saw and a forge if If I have to show them whose in charge though.

Just another thing to add to my to do list.

 

Just shows how gullible some suppliers want us to remain.

[Ulfthednar]

Kept looking for chains at honest prices instead of gougy prices.

Found em . . and right about the price I figured they should be from a a tire chain supplier.

Diamond studded chains sized for ATVs.

$340 out the door, shipped for TWO pairs (for front and rear) of chains instead of one pair.

Unless your dealing with Skidder Chains or heavy equipment chains or something chains are chains.

No good Damned reason to be paying twice as much for stupid 3 letter prefix for greed.

heres the link.

Tire Chains Online

[Mech]

Ha, good onya. Chains are a bit extreme for me. I've used them on subarus before though.. great invention.

And I was looking for those hot patches.. Not much show I don't think. I see though that they sell the hot patches, for tubes and sidewalls, and the workshop, mains power, heating clamps are still available.. for $40 kiwi.. haha..  Too cheap !

[Ulfthednar]

yeah. I found the tools for them too. the patches I havent quite pinned down yet.

I get a good bit of snow and ice here.

never found anything more reliable than chains for real traction security.

Ice is Ice is Ice is Ice. I don't care how big and bad your turbo diesel rocket truck thinks it is, Ive seen more of them wrecked on the passes than anything else except semis that thought they knew how to drive winter roads. (it can get pretty bad here, there must have been 30 bad wrecks and Dozens of stuck semis one year - all causing even more chain reaction wrecks). The big heavy turbo dino powerguzzlers usually do a barrel roll down the divider and look like a pop can met a nuclear bomb. Sometimes when you pass the wreck the blood is still wet. The AWD cars usually do all right if they have good snow tires on em, but . . not always.

I first started looking for chains I was seeing prices in excess of $300 for chains for tires of similar size as my sonoma and my stratus. Same material, same pattern, same or similar weight . . I actually tried a set of ladder chains to see if they fit right across the tire carcass and yes they will, but the ones I have are well . . . I might be able to cut them down to fit the sonoma and use the extra cross bars to make a tighter pattern.

A ladder chain isnt going to sit right on an ATV tire, but the diamond style supports itself On the lugs. I tried my damaged les schwab ones (dont buy the les schwab ones for anything but short drive emergencies - they suck) that I wasted money for (theyre incredibly light and maybe good for getting off of the road to a motel or a very short drive) settled correctly on the tire to. So a person could cut down quality diamond chains from a pickup truck and fit them to their ATV.

Mind this set of les schwab ones I bought because Id worn out my old ones. It was a bad day on the pass (three hours for a 1/2 drive, lots of wrecks and people stuck all over) and my idiot self had forgotten to throw my chains in the truck. I broke one les schwab chain and wasted the other in a few miles. theyre made out of super light chain and just are not worth the money I spent. I ended up finding a decent set of ladder chains for my sonoma for $60 bucks at checker a week later.

My Dodge Ramcharger I expect to pay a good chunk for chains for it. I found chains (two link type) for about $200 for 34 inch Interco swampers.

I didnt have enough good chain laying around to build a pair though . . and I briefly thought about breaking down a set of skidder chains (it could work) but if youve ever seen skidder chains? They start at about 90lbs for smaller ones. they drag you to the skidder and allow you to arm wrestle them on.

If weather is really bad in my little truck I'll chain the rear and put z-cables on front. going forward doesnt mean much if you can't steer . . . Ive gotten my little pick up trucks through all sorts of stuff set up like that. the 20-30 minutes spent throwing them on pays for itself every time I pass everyone else thats stranded.

Chains for the ATV are well . .  keeps me on the road and riding more . . I kinda like hiking in the woods in winter.

 

[Mech]

Ha. Yeah I know skidder chains.. That is a bit much alright.. You're a nutty guy !

[Ulfthednar]

Okay, future note for other CFMoto owners.

I noticed when I went to fit my chains that they run awfully close to my brake line with the stock wheel configuration.

It's actually the locking lever that really pushes the clearance gap.

Something a person might want to check before they roll under power.

I haven't found good looking rims with the offsets I want (that and some suppliers aren't really good at supplying details/options onsite), so Im going to run wheel spacers to accommodate the chains during the winter.

I'm not going to be bombing around with chains on anyway, so it shouldn't cause serious issues.

I'm also going to look at tucking the lines in better to keep them out of harms way.

[Mech]

Can you not put the chain on the other side of the bike, so the lever is on the outside ?

I don't like wide flat tyres because they upset the handling, by making the wheel base wider while the length stays the same..  So we end up with a short wide wheelbase.. and bad handling..

I wouldn't like spacers for the same reason.

[Ulfthednar]

Dual locking levers or I would have.

But due to the style of chain they make sense.

Theyre designed to self correct over the tire shape to stay centered, and the center diamond set up is kind of different too, but again, it makes sense.

theres two center strands with shackles that you twist through a centering ring and down to the side chains to secure them.

I'll run the spacers for winter use, while I'm eyeballing a different route for the brake lines in the future.

I'm not riding balls out sliding through corners right now anyway.

I've never liked the idea of spacers either, because I understand the offset of the leverage point.

Figured that out way back when and, yeah, its okay for a straight line mudholer maybe, but you dont see rock bouncers and crawlers with rim spacers, they widen their axles.

the hard core crawlers still use a relatively normal sized rim with a large sidewall tire, not a big dummy DUB rim with knobbly house slippers.

The large rims work good for mudders, because it is less weight, better at cleaning out the muck which lets them keep their wheel speed up better.

But again, they widen their axles rather than use spacers.

I would rather have a rim with a slight negative offset over stock to create a bit more clearance.

Even though your moving the origin force point out a bit, the pinion point of the lever effect is still mounted at "point zero" in relation to the spindle, instead of an inch or two out.

I even plan to keep the stock tire/wheel widths, even if I go up an inch in diameter.

I can't do the mathematical equation, even though I understand the geometry and physics of the rim/tire comb pretty well.

Having trouble finding a rim set I like that matches the Rim/width ratios.

I kinda like clean, not junky looking and a lot of the rims out their look like tekashi69s grill . . . not flying that.

But thats personal preference.

 

 

[Mech]

Yeah it's only when you're going fast over uneven terrain that the wide tyres play up and try to throw you around.. Slow speeds or flat ground and they don't make much difference.. I think that most of us that drive standard sorts of quads, not the motocross versions, mainly do just take things easy.. Well quietly anyway if not easy..  haha.  Easy's no fun.

[Oldbear]

I've got a set on front and rear right now after the recent big snow.  They are the ice gripper type and I believe they were right at $50.00 from the sportsman's guide.  I use them while icefishing and late muzzleloader deer hunting.  That don't make them unstuckable though as the snow was packed pretty hard from drifting today.  Made it thru a spot today and when I came back thru it got hung upfrom chawing the same track up.  Was carrying a scoop shovel though and got her out.  You could also get a set of small car chains if you can find them for cheaper  and cut them down with a bolt cutter.

[Ulfthednar]

Wish I could have found $50 sets.

No worries though Ive got mine sized to my tires finally today.

[Oldbear]

When I put mine on I put the inside a couple links tighter than the outside so they don't run so close to the brake  line.  Then you should drive around a bit and  they'll get a` bunch of slack and retighten them on the outside.  Or   you could deflate some put them on tighten and blow back up.  They also make elastic tighteners but I put 2 short bunge cords on each tire to keep them tight.

[Oldbear]

I didn't see any sizes listed but several  years ago their were like 3 sizes.  Also they went up a little bit.  Anybody else looking give them a call.           https://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist?k=atv tire chains

[Ulfthednar]

I ended up removing cross links (not til I test fitted them though)

The rear fit fine but when I put the front on they were about a razor blade from hitting the brake line.

With spacers on they were striking the caliper itself.

Neither was an acceptably result.

Now they fit to the point to where I almost don't need tensioners at all.

I still have to do a final fitting before I start cutting off extra material.

[Ulfthednar]

This is the style I picked up. They make more sense where I'm at and for the use they are likely to see.

https://tirechainsonline.com/part-no-atv3ds/#gallery

[JDAlbert]

Lots of good answers here.  I'd look at a Farm Store (Murdochs, Big R, Rural King, Tractor Supply, etc) for the least expensive ones that it'll work and resize to fit.  I know it will cost more but it might not be a bad idea to have and extra set of wheels and tires.  Just a thought. 

[Jim Denton]

Here in our West Virginia mountains every farmer has some extra old sets laying around and I bet they'd sell you a couple you can could whack up to use on your quad. Or make your own.

 

 

[Ulfthednar]

I picked up a pretty brutal set of chains then modified the front ones to fit properly. (I think the company accidentally sent me two pair sized for the rear tires).

I also modify and repair the chains for my trucks and my little tractor as well.

I'll have to throw them on for lumpy farts and exasperated laughter and snag a picture or two.

 

[Jim Denton]

7 hours ago, Ulfthednar said:

I picked up a pretty brutal set of chains then modified the front ones to fit properly. (I think the company accidentally sent me two pair sized for the rear tires).

I also modify and repair the chains for my trucks and my little tractor as well.

I'll have to throw them on for lumpy farts and exasperated laughter and snag a picture or two.

 

It sucks when you can't trust a fart.

[UpstateMatthews]

I run a set of tire chains that I got from a buddy that had them on his Chevy. Had to cut them down length wise to make them fit but they work great. If you're handy with a grinder and can weld it's pretty easy to modify them. Look on places like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, you can usually find a set that's not gonna kill you price wise.

[Oldbear]

Whatever works.