265/70/17s and snow chains - yes or no

yukon4wd · December 13, 2006

I have an 04 Yukon 4wd fitted with 265/70/17 cooper M/S.

In the manual it says never put chains on the front wheels. Only on the back. Then it goes to say that you can not put chains on this size rim/tire, only on 16s.

I am guessing that this is because there is not enough clearance, does anyone know?

yukon4wd · December 18, 2006

Well I read further, and it seems the front wheel issue is because the chains can get tangled in the CVs and other parts of the front wheel drive. But the rear is a solid axle, so does anyone know why I shouldn't put chains on the rear tires?

yukon4wd · December 21, 2006

anyone?

catch2otwo · December 24, 2006

the only reason i see for not using chains in the rear is clearance. with a 17in rim and 265s, it looks like you have a tahoe or a denali? you run a pretty tight fit with that combo in the rear wheel well. unlike a pickup where the wells are deep and wide, i think your suv could have a clearence problem. it might look alright just sitting still in your driveway, but you could run into problems when your suspension starts to cycle as you drive down the road. a tire chain contacting a fender wouldnt be pretty.

xsports33 · December 25, 2006

I can't speak from a Yukon owner stand point, but back when my truck was stock with similar tires I had to put chains on the front to get around in 3 ft of snow. Obviously it would have been best to put chains on all 4 tires, but i only had a pair and i put them on the front because of the weight. I had no clearance issues, but then again it's a Silverado 1500 4wd, not a yukon.

yukon4wd · December 29, 2006

Thanks guys. That is sort of what I was guessing. I imagine there to be a big difference between rubbing a tire and rubbing a chain, I guess it could tear out a lot of stuff.

I have two needs for chains, one is that I am planning on doing some skiing, and a couple of the the places I want to go wont allow any vehicles up the mountain unless you have chains. In that case the chains would be on just for a short time traveling at 20mph on flat road, so I would probably get away with it.

But the second is that I get stuck in deep snow a lot, and spend many hours each winter digging my self out. I was thinking of chains for this, but this would be pretty aggressive driving, and would probably use up all the wheel well space, so chains I guess are out. It would just be too risky. I think a snow anchor and a portable winch are the answer here.