Thread: Snow chains - cheap

Originally Posted by garrycol

I was at Aldi today and they had two pairs that will fit my RRS and two pairs that would fit my Haflinger so I bought one of each.

Now the RRS handbook says to fit the chains on the front wheels only and chains must not be put on the rears. Putting a single pair of chains on the front is sort of understandable as steering is important but I am not sure how the CDL in the car will react.

When driving onroad on ice and snow "Grass, Gravel and Snow" would normally be selected in which case I believe the CDL will normally be 'off' until slip is detected when it starts to lock. So most drive will go to the rear wheels initially but as they will have no grip on ice they will start to spin a little with the cdl then sending drive to the front where the tyres have grip because of the chains.

For those in the know of TR systems, is my logic correct??

The handbook does not say why chains must not be fitted to the rear (under any circumstances) - does anyone know the reason - clearance or another reason? I am considering getting the one remain set but if they definitely should not go on the rear I will not bother.

Haflinger - in 4wd I assume they should also go on the front - but not sure on diff locks. I have diff locks at both ends and am not sure how a car responds with these on on ice - so with chains on the front should I have diff locks on or off?

Cheers

Garry

What's the tyre and rim size on your RRS? The one I checked (275/45R20) has no room on the inside for conventional chains. The only type that can be fitted are the Spyke Spiders (with/without landrover badging) and/or Thule versions.

These aren't conventional chains, they are held over the tyre from the outside and clamp onto a wheel-nut. There is no inner chain to get tangled in your suspension links.

Originally Posted by garrycol

With my standard rims you cannot get your finger in between the tyres and ball joint - I assume larger rims have a different offset to ensure clearances.

I tried the Aldi chains on my front RRS tyre to day - it helps to be at extended height.

I have no experience with chains and it took me a long time to get the chain on as they kept on getting tangled and also would not centre on the wheel but in the end it did fit. What happened to the chains you laid out on the ground and then you drove over them and just clipped them up as I found it difficult working on the inside of the wheel to connect up and to get the wire ring centred?

The chains did clear the ball joint but with less than a mm clearance - I drove up and down the drive and retensioned them but clearance was still tight - the connector is down at the sidewall where the tyre is the thickest rather than at the up on the side of the tread where the tyre is not as thick.

With practice I think these chains would fit a standard RRS/D3 wheel/tyre with relative ease but I was concerned at the very tight tolerance so have returned these as well.

Garry

The old lay flat chains were similar just with link chain instead of the wire band on the inside. Driving onto them for install never worked well. The best way was the same as the new ones, drape them over the tyre, hook around the bottom, tension, drive forward a few turns and retension.