hunting truck recommendations
THOMAS L. ALLEN, CFRE
using chains on the front only of a FWD truck. I believe it would be a
mistake to use chains only on the front, just as it would be to put
aggressive-tread tires only on the back or to mix the size of tires used
on a FWD. Such a practice will put additional stress on the transfer
case of a FWD when the hubs are locked in and the transfer case is
sending power to the front wheels. I can envision a scenario where the
chained-up fronts would be pulling while the chainless rears are
spinning with resultant wear and tear on the transfer case. This has no
bearing, of course, on two wheel drive trucks and is IMHO. I would be
happy to hear from someone with more automotive knowledge than me if my
concerns are unjustified. Good trucking and happy hunting.
agr...@cray.com
Exactly the opposite of what you envision is what happens. For the same
reason you do not drive in 4wd on dry pavement, you should only put chains
on the front (or back) of a 4wd. If the two axles are not allowed to slip
some, you will build up a great deal of tension (torque) in the driveline
which can cause damage to the driveline, lockup your transfer case, bust
an axle, break a u-joint, or any of a number of maladies.
Al
Alan Grossmeier /`-_
Cray Research, Inc. { . }/ PREVENT FOREST FIRES
Chippewa Falls, WI \ / Register Matches
agr...@cray.com |___|
Dan Sorenson
>During the course of this thread one of the respondents recommended
>using chains on the front only of a FWD truck. I believe it would be a
>mistake to use chains only on the front, just as it would be to put
>aggressive-tread tires only on the back or to mix the size of tires used
>on a FWD. Such a practice will put additional stress on the transfer
>case of a FWD when the hubs are locked in and the transfer case is
>sending power to the front wheels.
Don't worry about it. The only problem is when both front
and rear tires are under good traction. Say, while on the highway
in clear conditions. When you turn, the front tires travel farther
than the rears and the transfer case has to slip one set (generally
the rear) or else the clutches (if you have them) slip. When you're
deep in mud, it doesn't matter as all wheels are slipping and the
ones with traction are the only ones not slipping when power is
applied. In addition, let's say you come out of a mud bog and hit
the highway. The chains do not provide a great deal of traction on
the concrete highway, so they will slip first. This gives you a few
seconds to slip the transfer case out of 4WD.
It's simply a case of allowing slippage where necessary. If
you have chains on the front, the back end will slip while the front
end gives traction. Whenever you go into 4wd you will have tire
slippage; the chains merely go on those wheels best able to get
traction. Otherwise, it is exactly the same as driving over, say, snow.
--
* Dan Sorenson, DoD 1066 vik...@iastate.edu z1...@exnet.iastate.edu *
* Vikings? There ain't no vikings here. Just us honest farmers. *
* The town was burning, the villagers were dead. They didn't need *
* those sheep anyway. That's our story and we're sticking to it. *
Kong
I took the liberty of posting this message to an Offroad list that I
subscribe to, to see what kind of feedback would be generated there. I
have collected all the replies todate, and am including them here for
your reading pleasures...
>During the course of this thread one of the respondents recommended
>using chains on the front only of a FWD truck. I believe it would be a
>mistake to use chains only on the front, just as it would be to put
>aggressive-tread tires only on the back or to mix the size of tires used
>on a FWD. Such a practice will put additional stress on the transfer
>case of a FWD when the hubs are locked in and the transfer case is
>sending power to the front wheels. I can envision a scenario where the
>chained-up fronts would be pulling while the chainless rears are
>spinning with resultant wear and tear on the transfer case. This has no
>bearing, of course, on two wheel drive trucks and is IMHO. I would be
>happy to hear from someone with more automotive knowledge than me if my
>concerns are unjustified. Good trucking and happy hunting.
Commence Offroad Replies -
Reply to: RE>Hunting Truck Recommendations
Such a practice will put additional stress on the transfer
case of a FWD when the hubs are locked in and the transfer case is
sending power to the front wheels. I can envision a scenario where the
chained-up fronts would be pulling while the chainless rears are
spinning with resultant wear and tear on the transfer case.
In deep snow or heavy ice there would be enough slip on the rear wheels that
there would be no harm to the transfer case. In my experience nothing beats
chains on all fours when you are in deep powder. The second best is chains on
the front only. This gives you good steering instead of understeer, and it
tends to dig a trench for the rear wheels to follow.
Another point is that full-time 4WD, with an open center differential, would
make chains on one end only pretty useless.
---------------------
author unknown -
Speaking from personal experience, I would never(99% of the time!) chain up
the rears before the fronts!! The reasoning is as follows:
1. Most of your braking is done by your front end-stronger brakes, more
weight, etc. If you're in the snow, you want chains on the end with more
braking control, i.e. the front!
2. Chains on the front help immensely with your ability to steer in the
white stuff!
3. In snow you would much rather have your best traction end pulling, rather
than pushing you-sort of interrelated to the above two-this is why front
wheel drive cars are much better in the snow.
The situation you describe with the rear spinning helplessly while the front
pulls can't theoretically happen because your transfer case does not
differentiate between between front and rear driveshafts _unless_ you have a
full time system!
I grew up in Ohio(lots of snow!) and the mountains of northern Arizona(lots
of snow and lots of hills) where we worried more about sliding off narrow
mountain roads than we did about sliding into some farmer's ditch! I can
positively tell you that I've avoided numerous collisions because my front
wheels were chained, allowing me both braking and steering control that I
wouldn't have had otherwise.
Many of these same precepts also apply to mud.
----------------
Paul Callahan wpca...@aud.alcatel.com writes-
Ha, someone thinks we know somthing here! Better
get on the hip boots...
This guy is using FWD to mean Four Wheel Drive, not
Front Wheel drive?
It seems to me there is some mixing of two different
states here. Chains are needed when the road is REAL
slick (in a 4x4). The trasfer case don't like to run
the front and rear at different speeds - which is ONLY
a problem if in 4x4, and both the fron and rear have
GOOD traction.
If the road is so icy that you need chains, you can't
get windup from the front and rear turning at different
rates, because the road can't hold the wheels. I can see
where it would be bad to run chains, and be in 4x4 mode
while driving I10 in the summer. But I don't think that
will be the case =8-{.
--------------------
ToddZ '69 Bronco("Broncitis") '51 Willys CJ-3A writes-
This is probably true!! My experience with chains in the mud is that we
used to have to chain up the rear wheels on our '77 F250 2WD to get loads of
firewood out of remote areas on sticky, slippery roads that we wouldn't have
had a chance in h*** of traversing with nonchained tires.
--------------------
Dan writes-
> "During the course of this thread one of the respondents recommended
> "using chains on the front only of a FWD truck.
Both the Jeep Cherokee 1984 and Toyota 4Runner 1994 owner's manual
says to put the chains on only in rear. Never in front. No
explanation, however. Probably simple to avoid munging the fenders.
Hard to believe that on the 4Runner especially that the chains would
contact the fenders.
But, there's another problem. Chains increase your braking power
considerably. (My opinion is that a 2WD with chains is actually in
many ways safer than a 4WD without, since braking on the 4WD is not
substantively helped by the 4WD system. Anyway...) Now your front
end will have *much* better braking than the rear, so the rear will
tend to lock up and might swing around.
Aside: FWD usually means Front-Wheel-Drive, RWD means Rear-Wheel-Drive
and 4WD means 4-Wheel-Drive. Just helps to keep things clear. On a
Front-Wheel-Drive vehicle, chains are usually put on the front (drive)
wheels.
------------------
Jeff Velna 74 Bronco w/71 Boss Cleveland ve...@tidalwave.med.ge.com
I've done lots of mud and snow (living in Wisconsin)...You put chains on the
front in mud, you'll be buying new axles and/or gears soon! Chains are cool
;) for snow but keep 'em out of the mud.
IMHO
------------------
- Steve G. sger...@wsipc.wednet.edu writes-
In reference to the question as to whether or not the transfer case
would be adversely effected with chains on the front or back: I would
say that the TC is too strong for that kind of stress to cause a problem.
If your in a situation where you have to chain up, the surface your driving
If your in a situation where you have to chain up, the surface your driving
on is certainly slick enough to keep the TC from binding up. If your
binding up, then your on a surface that does not require chains. I have
run chains on the front only and on the back only with out experiencing
any binding problems.
As to whether it's better to but chains on the front or back, I would say
that it depends on the situation your in. For climbing hills, you want the
chains on the back since the weight transfers to the rear going up a hill.
Installing chains on the front can be helpfull on icy roads to correct
understear problems (to keep the truck going where you point it).
I install my chains on the rear only since my Scout has a limited slip
differential. I believe having traction to both rear wheels is beter
than having the traction to one front wheel, even with the majority
of the weight of the vehicle being up front.
YMMV
-----------------
and Dan replies again --
> The situation you describe with the rear spinning helplessly while the front
> pulls can't theoretically happen because your transfer case does not
> differentiate between between front and rear driveshafts _unless_ you have a
> full time system!
But the rear wheels could each be spinning at a non-road-speed. Ie.
the right rear could be spinning at road-speed + 30% and the left rear
could be spinning at road-speed - 30%. While the average of the two
has to equal the average of the two fronts, the two rear wheels could
have wildly different speeds.