cable chains for tires

When we do have snow and ice here for more than a day or two I use my old 1985 Subaru station wagon with front wheel drive and if needed have a set of quick lock on traction cables the previous owner included in the sale of the Subaru to use but have only used them once since I bought that grocery getting station wagon 21 years ago as a second car.

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"I didn't have time to slay the dragon. It's on my To Do list!"

First impression would be so wrong those things work like magic on a semi.
I was skeptical at first myself but watched a guy climb the pass in front of me and was sold never looked back.

Do they last with regular use, or are they intended to only be used very occasionally? Either way, they look like something I could use.

As long as you don't run them on dry pavement they do really well, I'm on the 6th season with this set.

As a State patrolman, I worked one of the passes in the Cascade Mountains for 25 of my 32 years. In the early days we used steel chains, then went to cables. In the early 80's I was issued a four wheel drive. 99.9 % of the time four wheel drives are exempt from using chains, but I often put them on, if I had to get to an accident I needed to be safe. Would not have traded working on the pass for any place. What a beautiful place to be in a hard snow storm. Do miss it, since am retired.
I carry steel chains for my four wheel drive pickup and cables for the SUV. For the motor home I have a set of each, but would park or not go, broken chains would tear the motor home body up really bad.

This is exactly correct. Chains on all 4 wheels is best. If you can only do 2, then do the rear wheels. When you are coming down an icy hill and hit the breaks the rear end will try to pass the front end if only the front tires have the chains and get traction vs. the rear ones. The opposite is true while trying to go up an icy hill but I would rather lose it near the bottom of the hill while trying to go up than at the top of the hill while trying to go down.

I think we are all in agreement about chains on everything is best.
But front or back is a argument that will go on forever.
Perhaps thats why someone said one front and one back?
My feeling Is I want to be able to steer. Since most vehicals have more weight on the front you will get far more steering AND braking with the front chained.
Even with the back loaded the same or hevier than the front I will stlll take being able to steer.
As long as I have steering I can keep the back behind me and go where I want.
And of course if things should get so bad as to swap ends then Im where you guys advocate....with the chains on the rear !

Tire chains or tire cables are meant for low speed usage only. Under 30mph. Significantly improves traction. I use them on poorly plowed (or not plowed at all) non-blacktop roads that are snow covered. When one reaches a good highway, they come off.

one trick with chains i used for years is, hook the inside of the chains one link tighter than the outside and use about 3 or 4 good rubber bungee cords on the outside of the wheel to tighten them up. use a channel lock pliers to squinch down the s hooks on the bungee cords so they can not come off. i have even made short chains with turnbuckles to titen the chains as much as i could if i knew they would be on awhile.

that keeps them tite even at higher speeds like 40 mph.

the good chains have the x ice cleats on the cross chains. they are much better than regular chains.

always carry wire and repair links and tools to install. always wire the connector link and also wire any tag ends of extra chain down. less floppin means higher speed and less loseing of chains.

ive run chain on everything from front wheel drive cars to 10 whl dump trucks.

another good tip is if your on a motorcycle in the snow is to run 1/4 or 3/8 rope around your wheels thru the spokes wrapping it around the tire and tie it off. do it on front and rear wheels.you will get good traction and good steering as long as snow is not too deep. thats got me over a few mountain passes.

another trick is to carry a floor jack that can lift the whole one end of your truck up to install chains. makes it much easier in the field.

I believe in chains on the back going downhill and on the front going uphill.

I used to chain up all four corners but got lazy a few years ago. One end or the other seems to work just as well for our circumstances.

We and a neighbor maintain about a mile of county road from where the county plow stops on up to our place. Neither one of us bother plowing for just a couple of inches of new snow and let it stack up untill it's worth the diesel and time to do it.

My 4WD, V-10, SRW, F-350 weighs right around 7,000 pounds....it's a gas hog but I love it.

I figure that anything that keeps the rear from comming around when you hit the brakes going down hill is a good thing. So I chain the rear going the 3 miles down to the paved road which is usually clear.

The front weighs a bit more than the rear so I chain the front going uphill. It also helps to have the steer wheels keep control.

One thing everyone might think more about is adding weight. I never use sandbags, rocks, bricks firewood etc.

For cars, I pave over the trunk floor with cheap 12"x12" concrete pavers. As many as will fit and two layers deep. They never break and spill sand all over and leave a flat floor for groceries and stuff.

For the 8' bed in pickups, I use 2'x2' pavers that weigh 80 pounds each. 8 of them adds significant weight, doesn't slide around, and best of all only uses up 2" of depth.

Go slow.....