Tire chains

[i82much]

Went hunting in north Idaho last week.  Long story short, a storm came in overnight and we had to come down some very steep, narrow grades in 6 inches of snow and ice without chains.  I did not take mine along because I have 265/70R17 tires and the manual says you cannot run chains with that tire size.  

 

Given my experience last week, I am doing something.  Either getting some 245/75R17 snow tires and running chains on the rear as suggested in the owner's manual, or just going to try my current chains on my 265/70R17 tires.  

 

Anyone run chains on their HD or otherwise have thoughts on this?  

[crankman]

I run Z cables on my HD. Havent tried real chains just cables. They work fine for me.

[i82much]

crankman, what size tires?  do you run both front and rear?  

 

thanks!

[crankman]

265/70/18 if my memory serves me today. I only run them on the back, I have gone pretty much anywhere I needed with the Z cables. There not cheap but they can be put on quickly without jacking up the tires off the ground. Thats a big plus for me. You can get them for any size tire my son has some on his 2011 there 17'' tires. www.vulcantirechains.com   This is where we got ours but theirs other companies selling them to. 

[kstruckcountry]

Do you have the stock tires? If so I'd upgrade those and get better traction everywhere. A set of the cables would be a good backup.

 

I have a lot less weight to contend with, but good snow rated tires made my half ton a sleigh.

[i82much]

15 hours ago, crankman said:

265/70/18 if my memory serves me today. I only run them on the back, I have gone pretty much anywhere I needed with the Z cables. There not cheap but they can be put on quickly without jacking up the tires off the ground. Thats a big plus for me. You can get them for any size tire my son has some on his 2011 there 17'' tires. www.vulcantirechains.com   This is where we got ours but theirs other companies selling them to. 

Thanks, I am glad to hear you are able to run them with those tires.  Yours are an inch  taller than mine. 

[i82much]

19 hours ago, kstruckcountry said:

Do you have the stock tires? If so I'd upgrade those and get better traction everywhere. A set of the cables would be a good backup.

 

I have a lot less weight to contend with, but good snow rated tires made my half ton a sleigh.

Nah I have snowflake-rated all terrains, the tires are pretty good.  These conditions were pretty bad, the forest road was often banked toward the drop-off.  Snow on top of older ice, you could hear the ice crunching under the tires in places where it hadn't melted off.  Just bad, bad, bad, news.