The past couple days in the Appalachains:



That was the most fun 4-wheeling I've ever had. What you don't see, since we're on the top and the snow is mostly melted, is how treacherous that road was. When we hit that road it was a sheet of ice. I made it about 20ft only because the truck had a bit of momentum, after that all 4 tires spun out. The locker did no good. So on went the chains = no problems what so ever afterwards. What the truck wouldn't budge in running 4 wheel drive and no chains the truck would do in 2 wheel drive with chains. I never would have thought.

The crapper to that trek was about a mile from the road we needed to get on that took us to our destination we hit about 800-1000ft of knee to waist deep snow drifts over the road. We clawed through several that were deep enough to throw snow up over the hood, but they were maybe 10ft long. The long run of drifted snow had another truck stuck already - a 1/2 ton with a lift and maybe 35" tires. They had no gear so we helped dig them out - took an hour with 5 people, shovels, and a hand winch.

After turning around we hit the maintained roads again so the chains came off. By the time we made it around to the other side of the area to come in from the opposite direction it was late so when we hit the other forest road I tried it with no chains. The truck seemed to do OK in 4wd so I kept at it. After about 3/4 of a mile of it and having the grade get pretty steep I was really regretting not putting the chains back on. I thought many times we would spin out and end up sliding down backwards. I was afraid to stop - I had momentum so if I hit a slick spot I had a better chance of making it through. If I stopped there would have been no way to get rolling again. My only ditch plan was exactly that - hit the ditch upside of the mountain if I started loosing it. Luckily, we made it up. Though, the next day the chains went back on before I even made it out of the parking area. No way in hell I was going DOWN without them.

Funny thing was, when we were chaining up to leave this afternoon a small truck like a tacoma passed us - the same way we made it up the road... all 4 tires spinning, slush shooting backwards, and sliding all over the road. Then about 7 trucks passed us in a convoy - all chained up too. One of them had a cage in the back with a tranquilized black bear. I don't quite know what was up with that... Park service releasing it back in the wild? I didn't catch any markings on their trucks, like forest service vehicles or anything, so who knows...

Between the run up and across the road pictured above, needing to turn around, and the run down the other end today we ran about 30-40 miles on chains. That is a SLOW boat to china. I held the speed mostly at about 5mph to keep the chains from beating the wheel wells too much.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of the snow drifts. I was driving, the guy with me took more pictures than I did so I'll see what all he got.

 

That sounds like it was a fun adventure.

 

Great adventure! I like the 4 chains pic.

 

That's cool. I carry two sets of chains with me as well. Having lived in Wonderful Wyoming my whole life, and having worked in the oil field and construction, chains are a life saver. I have a set for my four wheeler and snow blower too. Thanks for sharing your pics.

 

I got those chains about 4 years ago and never had an opportunity to run them. We went off through Vermont last year so I finally sized them up for the tires - they came a generic length then I cut to fit. I think I removed about 2 or 3 cross chains on each, and cut the links down.

This trek wasn't supposed to be an off-roading adventure, but I knew we could hit some so in went the gear just-in-case.

The truck did great. I've heard of people having issues in the snow with the intake clogging, etc. We didn't run in to any problems at all. I don't know if that was due to the slow speed or what. The only problem I had was the nasty fuel economy - the average went from 16 over a few hundred miles to get there down to 14 just in the shorter miles of that road crossing.

 

I have a set of tire chain pliers I carry in my truck in case something breaks I can take it out rather than tear something up. I also have large set of tire chain breaks that are about two feet long and are used to completely rebuild/repair tire chains. Better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them.

 

Hmm. Maybe you can answer this question then, Ron. When I sized up the chains last year I cut in to one too many cross chains on one set. I realized it after I weakened one of the attaching links too much, so I went ahead and pulled it off. I ended up holding that cross chain on with a shackle. It worked but I had to stop every so often and make sure the pin was still tight. How would you go about putting another link in instead?

Here is a close-up of one of the chains with a link circled like what I cut off. It also gives you an idea of the road going up - that was right when we hit the ice and threw the chains on. It was about 4-5 miles of that to get up top.

 

Nice post Steve, good write up thanks for sharing!
Looking forward to the rest of the pics.
I always throw the chains on the front only, the rear chains go on when I can't go any further, which that's usually my sign to turn around or I'm stuck in a ditch that was burried under the snow, whoops. Got stuck once with all 4 chained up, your done.

 

I would also reccomend getting some tire chain rubber slack adjusters. They help to keep the chains where they should be. I never put chains on without them.
I also agree with the thought of only putting them on the front as I have also been very stuck with all four wheels chained up.....
I have also gotten out of some very bad situations with glaze ice by chaining up. Once I had to burry the truck 1980 F150 in the uphill ditch after loosing front drive due to bad hubs on a steep, glaze ice forest road. It was tough to get the chains on the tires, but the truck walked right out of the ditch and up to the next switch back, where I turned around and headed back down. Wasn't going any higher with hubs I didn't trust.... So I hunted lower elevations for elk that day and put new mile marker hubs on that night.

Love the look of your truck! I have the same color with a cab high canopy.
Pat

 

Nice post .... brought back a lot of memories. I grew up in western Nevada and my Dad and I had more than our share of 4x4 adventures. One thing he always told me was to stay in 4x2 as long as possible and then use 4x4 to get out. Having been told that, there were, and are, times that one needs to press it for fun if nothing else. I chain up on the front first, but I avoid turning the wheels to the locks where the chains have closer clearances to possibly damage things in the wheel wells, like brake hydraulic lines. I always inspect and repair the chains after I use them, especially if there was some hard surfaces driven on. They can wear rather fast. Flapping cross links in the fender well are not good. And the last thing ..... just replace the elastics every few years ... they degrade with time. Momentum is a good thing when chained up .... many years ago while driving on an old logging road going into a banked tight turn the truck lost traction an slid sideways to the inside of the turn because of not enough momentum. A good guy pulled me out!

 

The rubber adjusters/tighteners sound like a good idea, but I'm a bit skeptical on how well they work.

When we got the chains on the first round I drove up about 200-300ft then we went back around all of them and tightened them up. I learned that running the chains on my dads lawn tractor in the winter time - its impossible to get them "tight" right off without letting them settle in to the tire some.

That having been said, the chains were "tight" when we ran - so tight we could hardly budge the cross chains by hand. The thing of it is, with them spinning around the tire there is a lot of centrifugal force - no matter how tight they are the middle of the chains will spin away from the tire = risk hitting the wheel well. The faster you go the more force and the further out the chains spin. I have a hard time believing that some rubber tensioners are going to hold that back.

I agree on running 2wd and 4wd only when needed. I do that regardless. I don't like running my transfer case unless I need it. That leads to a lot of cycling between 2wd and 4wd so over time I don't know how that will affect the reliability of the components, but the last thing I want to do is blow something out in the drivetrain. The rear axle is meant to drive so that's where I put the load.

I did notice the boost in control on the descents running 4wd too. I didn't need it for lugging traction any, but it really kept the truck on rails. Otherwise the rear end would tend to get a little loose.

I'd be curious how well one set of chains would work, but I think I'll leave the experimenting with that to a less extreme route.

 

Thanks for sharing Steve! I have never been in that much snow, it sounds like you had a blast. I hope you took your secondary heat source.

 

We were out there to go backpacking. We had enough gear to get us below 0 and food/cooking gear for several days, and lead if we had to go so far as hunt for food

Although, it was warm - 40's during the day, 30's at night.

 

Excellent story.... Down here we don't even know how to install wheel chains!

I to would be concerned about the chains causing damage to the fenders and rims, therefore it appears keeping the speeds to a minimum is the way to go.

 

Looks like a great place to go. Nice to see someone that's not afraid to take a king ranch where there are no parking blocks.
You should be able to get parts for your chain at Grainger or any other industrial supply place you can find. You should be able to simply thread the new end link on to the cross rail and crimp it back onto the side rail. I would recommend a good set of chain pliers and bolt cutters be a standard part of the off road kit.
If it is tough to get the chain done up there are a few tricks that can help out. I usually hang the chains over the tires and drive forward onto them with out trying to do up the rails. When the chain is hanging about 1/4 to 1/3 down the back of the tire I stop. I push the chain up over the top of the tire to get some slack and do up the inside as tight as I can. From there I pull the chain to the outside and see what I can get. If there is not enough side rail to get it done up I add 1 or 2 add a links. From there I roll down the road 100 yards or so and stop with the boomer in the same place it was when I put them on. It helps to drive in a straight line and avoid spinning the tires when you do this as they should all be pretty close to where you need them. I straighten out the cross rails as best as I can and tighten up the chains with out the add a links. If you have too much tail chain you can simply loop the last link over the boomer before you close it all the way. This will eliminate the potential of wrecking a fender. Chains will stretch and work themselves lose as you drive for the first while. I kept and eye on them and stop again as needed. If you are going to travel great distances with chains you can also let air out of the tires and get the chains tight before you add the air back. Kind of hard on the tire but you can drive hundreds of miles with out a "*****" from them.

I always used the 2 wheel drive plan as well. If things get bad I would lock up the front end and make plans from there... Most of the time it was work so we had no choice but to keep going.

Along with the chain pliers and cutters you can carry extra chain parts. They can be rebuilt on the road any place easier than waiting for someone to pull you out...

Keep enjoying the hills, it is amazing where you can get a truck if you try...