Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives chains,wheelwells,oversized tires

i hunt in country that require chains on all four wheels, at times. with snow or gumbo mud or a combination of both. it is amazing what a truck chained up can do. all you hunters re-tire-ing your trucks with oversized tires please keep in mind that you will need to check the clearances in the wheel wells to run your new larger chains, that go with larger tires. also brakelines can be to close to your larger tires also. i'm being real selfish here, because the better you are prepared when hunting in areas i might be, the less time i'll spend pulling you out of nasty sidehill gumbo mud slides or snow banks and the more time i'll have for hunting. feel free to install locking differentials and winches also. bring lots of chain rubbers and repair crosslinks, i may need to borrow some <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> 30' tow strap might come in handy also, with your new handyman jack and blocks of wood for a jacking base. please feel free to add to the list of things, you might need to allow me to keep hunting

You know, the worst thing you can do for getting stuck is getting a heavy and long rig. Like a 4 door longbed diesel. When the little Toyota's are just rolling along, the big heavy rigs sink right through the mess and rut things up to the point of impassability. Or they high center.

When I was still driving my little 2wd Tacoma, I could go quite a few places, chained up, where some of the big rigs just could get too, because they sunk too deep.

Weight and size are your first and biggest enemy. We've got one kid running around here in a Subaru Brat that goes places the big macho rigs can only dream of going, and he rarely chains up. FWIW, Dutch.

When I was a kid of 21 or so, we used to take my old beat-up VW Bug into the darndest places...places that would scare me today, with just about any 4X4.

Today, the "dress of the day" is the biggest possible tires. Often this compromises the ability to use chains. That is the reason that my Duramax will continue to wear its OEM 245 ten-ply tires.

Steve

i did go to 255-85-16 on my 91 f250. but the chains still clear. now a few more thing for your list of must have's. two full sized spares, and a jack that will fit under the axle when you have a flat, and lift high enough to put the spare on without resetting, something i have personal experience with. if you have a winch, and you hunt in areas with no trees to tie off to. a few things to know, with a posthole digger and a post, you can make a pull point, another one is axle shafts out of old cars,or steel t-posts drive them into the ground, they will work as a pull point in some soil, or dig a t trench put a post or axle in the short side, run your winch cable in the long side. also, jumper cables, i may need a jump, so don't forget them

If you run chains, you will get clearance in the wheel wells <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Good point on the chains. We have taken dads old deisel with 255/85's and chains on all four some crazy places. Usually chains on the front is all that is needed if we get snow/ice in eastern oregon during the elk hunts.

I just bought a new tacoma and was not aware that you cannot run chains on the front. I was thinking of doing 2" lift and stock size tires so I could run chains, but didnt know that the chains will hit the UCA on the front. Oh well. Guess we will still be using the old deisel to get up the mountain....

Baltz,

The BFG ATs I have are rated for severe weather use, which means they can be operated without chains in places where lesser tires are required to chain up. Having said that, I will take a set of chains for the rear tires when transiting such areas. I know the troopers letting vehicles continue in heavy snow don't always agree with the idea of the "severe weather" rated tire--though having used both chains and the BFG ATs, my money says a naked BFG AT will have better traction than a chained up highway or trail tire. YMMV

However, I do agree--don't just stuff oversize tires on your rig and not worry about rubbing. If you want tires more than one size larger than stock you will have to at least "level" your truck, install cut-out fender flares, or install a suspension lift.

Running chains only on the rear of a 4x4 can cause steering problems in some conditions. The chains increase tire diameter by about an inch so they're turning faster than then fronts. That can cause the fronts to slide.
Putting the chains on only the front will pull the rears but that won't affect the steering.

Dick

Blaine,
I have to disagree with your opinion. I run BFGs ATs myself, and also keep them on my wife's Grand Cherokee. They are a good compromise tire between on and offroad use. As good a tire as they are, they aren't a match for a set of chains when it comes to pure traction. I've chained up after getting stuck too many times to believe that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Growing up on a farm and working in the bush and oilfield all my adult life bears this out. Farm tractors, skidders, oilfield trucks, sows and Commanders all have tread that make BFGs look like smooths, yet when the work starts the chains go on. Now, I hate putting chains on as much as the next guy and hate the damage they often do to body work, but they have a purpose. I have watched bed-trucks go from spinning bare tires to twisting off axles and drive shafts after the chains were put on. I would go as far as putting any tire chained up against any bare tire regardless of make. I am curious what application has led you to the opposite conclusion? Would it be sand or bottomless mud?
Model70guy

Well you have certainly done it more than I. I just haven't had great luck with chains but have had excellent results with the BFG ATs, as have folks I know that have really put them to the test. I suppose things change when the snow becomes hardened to the point of being like ice...............

Blaine,
It also changes when there is dry traction somewhere underneath slick mud, which is the key to the whole thing. The majority of 4 wheeling fits into this category. I like and run BFG ATs as well, considering them one of the best compromises between having some traction and still retaining some tread life. My wife also has them for driving around town. The old MT is a better tire offroad, but doesn't last worth a darn for road use where the majority of miles get racked up.
Few days go by that I am not in 4 wheel drive at one point or another at least momentarily. I don't like putting chains on either, but they have saved my ass too many times to count.
Model70guy

Yep, whole different game. And chains are it.

As much as I dislike putting them on, no tire will outpull chains in any kind of really bad stuff, you just got to look a little harder for some really mean stuff to try them out in...Needing chains on all four is when the times are getting tough and the hunting is getting good...

The ONLY thing I will EVER do with 4 chains on is try to get home. Getting stuck with 4 chains on doesn't leave you many options......

In the gumbo around here, chains don't even get you out of many problems. I once came back from a grouse hunt, and pulled up behind a tractor trailer, loaded with cattle coming off State land. The driver was standing beside the rig, and it was obvious he had been spinning. I offered to help him put on chains, but he looked at me with a pained look, and related to me that the cowboy had told him: "the only thing chains will do for you is make your rig taller". At 6 p.m, the only choice was to wait for the temp to drop below freezing.

Some times going home before getting stuck ain't such a bad alternative. JMO, Dutch.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> you made my day, that is a funny line saying naked bfg tires work better than chains, either you have not run chains in real bad terrain or deep snow or you just (dnhac) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

had to poke at you a little there blain, nothing personal. back to the list: anti freeze you are going to need a couple gallons incase i blow a hose, speaking of hoses, please change them more than every ten years. i hate losing hunting light while driving 190miles round trip to the auto parts store to buy a hose you should have replaced 2 years ago!!!

now for a type of chain, for highway use over the pass every couple of years type chains, like cable or easy install types that the les schwab stores (quick fit) do not bring them . leave them in the wifes trunk where they belong. find you some heavy duty truck type chains at your local napa store or truck parts supply house

I'll disagree with you on the Les Schwab quick fits. No, they aren't built for spinning or for trucks pulling 8,000 lbs horse trailers, but I have run them for years and years, and they work great. The best part is that if the snow sticks you, you can put them on without having to drive onto them. I'll always have a set with me for two tires, just for that reason. Sometimes "stuck" just jumps out and gets you, and then it's too late putting on regular chains. JMO, Dutch.

tools, you need a basic set, and a slight understanding on what they are for, wire crimps and crimpers for when you pull out all your tail lights on brush or when the gumbo builds up so heavy it pulls connections loose. spare fuel line and clamps. seen a guy in the steens last year who had one of his fuel tanks fall out, full of gas. hard to plan for that but a simple inspection before the hunt may have caught it.

Dutch, I didn't say I started out to hunt with four chains on, but I sure have stayed long enough in Northern Idaho to need them to get out of camp.....And I do like hunting when everyone else has been smart enough to leave, and no I have never had to leave a truck for the winter, I get out before that....As far as gumbo, I agree that chains at times won't help, but I do try to avoid those times.

there is a difference between gumbo mud and being in the slop sitting on the frame rails. the only thing that works for the slop mud is not driving in it, staying on the high ground in the gumbo with chains on. other parts of the country have different names for types of mud. here in the high desert we have slop, gumbo, soup, slushy gumbo, snow, sugar snow, slushy slop snow, wet slush, drifts, side hill gumbo slush, has the highest pucker factor of all in my opinion