Given that the F-150 was the first vehicle where I've ever had to sign a "tire chain disclaimer" at purchase, I'm looking for alternatives that won't void the warranty. I've had a couple of recommendations (plus good Amazon reviews) for autosocks (link below) and was wondering if anyone has them for their truck?

As a background, if I know I'm going into "tire chain" conditions, I'll drive my 4WD 4-Runner (which I have chains for). However I want something for my truck (2WD with locker) for "emergencies". For instance, I like to go fishing in the Sierras a lot in the Fall, and it's not uncommon to have an out of the blue early snowfall that activates the 'chains required" stuff over various road/ highway passes. So I'm just looking for something that will get me through them and not something that I'll be putting a lot of miles on.

Autosocks have the CA DOT "thumbs up" as snow chain equivalent, and they seem to be pretty easy to put on while taking minimal storage space. They're apparently quite popular in the Scandinavian countries, where they know their snow.

AutoSock ? The Alternative Traction Device

 

Those look...strange. Never heard or seen them before. Not sure how effective they might be.

There's been talk about it voiding the warranty around the forum, but I just did a seach in the manual and it talks about how to properly use snow chains and snow cables. Not sure about the warranty part, but seems like it's okay to me.

 

Never heard of autosocks. We got cables for ours. Tried them on and they seem to have plenty of clearance.

 

Good to know on the cables. Warranty aside, I just ordered some diamond pattern chains with the "S" class (for low clearance applications) for my 4Runner. 265 vs 245 on the truck, but I might try to "fit" them just for a test to see if that style chain will clear stuff. Not driving with them or anything - just checking space. Otherwise cables are certainly cheaper for the "backup emergency" option.

On the autosocks, given that they are "chain equivalent" for CA, I thought they would be a good, easy to store solution for holding up to the CHP officer at control stations when they activate chain restrictions before any snow actually hits the ground.

 

Benwalt, would you mind sharing how the "S" class diamond chains appear to fit when you get them? And your tire size? I'm still trying to figure out what chains to get for mine. I'd never heard of a truck that you can't put chains on until I finished trading in my old Silverado...

 

Sure, no problem. It'll probably be early next week. My tires are 245 70R17. Heck, I should check them against the chain model # for the 4Runner anyway. May be the same thing for 245/265 for all I know (4Runner is also 70R17).

 

Hey Norcal, I tested my 4Runner chains on the truck this morning. Image is below, and from what I can see, there seems to be a lot of clearance. The chains are obviously loose since they're made for a 26570R17 versus the truck's 24570R17 tire, but even so, clearance to components seems to be more than adequate.

The chains are the S class TUV diamond chains from tirechains.com. URL below is to the chains that fit the 24570R17:
P245-70R-17 Tire Chains

I rechecked my owners manual. and the manual itself says that S class chains are fine for all tires except those specifically listed in the manual as "do not use chains" (they are all larger, taller tires). So I have to wonder if that whole chain disclaimer thing shouldn't actually apply to many of the OEM tires, and maybe dealers, either because they don't know better or are covering themselves, make everybody sign it, even for tires where it doesn't apply that are specifically listed as okay for S class chains in the manual.

Anyway, I can't see any reason not to use S class chains on mine. Caveat is I have a 2WD, so only tried on the rear. I don't know if there are clearance issues on the front for the 4WD folks with my size tire.