ATV chains

[erie addict]

Just got a set of cahins from Cabelas for the front and back of my Grizzly. Played around with them this afternoon and can't seem to get them tight enough. I tried letting some air out of the 25" tires, tightening up the chains and then airing back up to 4.5#. still seemed loose. am i missing something here? They don't come off, but seem to clunk around alot. Should i try tightening them up with some rubber bungee straps?

[Pokey Fisherman]

Chains never get tight but how I put them on is just like you did but before you air up the tires, drive it around a little and retighten them, then air the tires. You should never drive at top speed with chains, I might do 20 mph.

[ankorklankor]

Find some short bungy cords and use them to pull the slack out of the chains, two on each wheel should be enough.

[Crankbaiter]

Yes you will need chain tightners. No matter how tight they are while parked, centrigigual force will make them want to expand away from the tire.

[stampman]

Have chains on all 4 tires. Deflate tires first- get chains tight as possible- inflate. Then I bunge cord the chains- never had them come off.

[REW]

Erie,
When I used to use chains on my car, I would always use a pair of chain tightners.

It is essentially a big heavy duty bungee with hook on the bungee. The bungee is of the correct length, so that you simply hook the hooks on the chain around the tire, and the rubber holds the chains tight on the tires.

I don't know if they make such a bungee readily available, but it is easy enough to make one from one or more bugeee cords.

Try to get fairly heavy rubber so that they will put good tension on the chains when the tires are at rest. This will help hold everything in place and minimize clanking.

Take care
REW

p.s.
I see that cabela's had a combination chain and multi spring chain tightner for the typical atv's.
This might be the very best bet of all since you wouldn't have rubber going bad.

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0006612520203a.shtml

[REW]

p.s.
The link that I posted, might be for a car, rather than an atv.
However, if you look at the picture, you should be able to use common hardware store springs to simply cross spring the chains on the smaller atv chains to duplicate these models.

Take care
REW

[erie addict]

Sorry it has taken so long to reply, work has had me busy. make hay while the sun shines my grandfather used to say. I have four sets of chains i purchased for Cabelas. Let a bit of air out of the tires and strapped them on. used rubber bungee cords to tightly secure the chains and got them pretty tight. HAd to secure the loose ends with cable ties so they wouldn't clink around. Just in time for the ice to be gone. At least i know how to set them up for next year. Thanks for your tips and help!!