Best Tire Chains for Plow Truck with 265/70R17 Tires for Use on Steep Asphalt Driveway

Question:

I use my pickup tp plow my asphalt driveway. i live on a reeeealy steep driveway. recently after just 3 inches of fluffy snow, after plowing, i slide a few times into the street even with the plow down. Luckily it was dead of night and no one on the road. I have 200 or so lbs of Ice melt in the bed aft of the wheels. The tires are Grabberfoot M+S and that didnt stop me from losing all traction. I need help knowing if steel ladder chains, or V chains would help me not side, or if rubber chains can do the same. Would steel chains on a plow pickup damage my driveway? What if i got a lighter vehicle like a old Blazer? Would chains on them help prevent loss of control? i need help. I prefer to get chains but dont want to wast money on rubber chains if they really dont help on an incline. i just want to be able to stop before i head into the street.

asked by: Angel

Expert Reply:

I'll start off with what I recommend, but there's a lot of good information below as to why these are going to be the best chains for you. I really prefer the # TC2828CAM because of the V-bar ice breakers, but because asphalt will become more brittle the colder it gets, it makes me lean towards the # TC2326 as the best solution for your plow truck on this particular driveway setup. You could go with a lighter plow vehicle, but I think you may find that you're going to slide around just as much with less traction, if not more.

While it's almost impossible to keep your vehicle from sliding around on ice, snow chains that bite into the snow and ice can provide the additional traction you need to keep you from encountering another unsafe situation like sliding into the street.

I'll start right off and tell you that rubber or cable chains are going to be the least helpful on ice and probably are going to make the situation worse with that steep driveway; those types of chains are designed to provide traction in deep snow, but really aren't going to do much on ice and snowpack since they won't "bite" into the snow/ice.

Your best bet is going to be going with a chain that uses V-bar ice breaker links or a Square/D link chain that will provide more bite and help break up some of the ice under your tires. I understand the concern with not wanting to damage your asphalt driveway, but as long as you take care not to spin the tires on the areas you've plowed, you shouldn't cause any damage outside of some light scrapes as long as you take care not to spin the tires aggressively (in most cases, the plow blade will scrape more than the chains).

Taking all of this into consideration, I recommend using something like the Titan Chain Snow Tire Chains # TC2828CAM which have steel V bar links and come with cam tighteners included to help make installation of the chains much easier. These chains will help provide the additional traction you need when plowing, but as I mentioned, with your asphalt driveway you'll want to make sure that you keep from spinning the tires too much so that you avoid damaging it.

If the V-bar links too aggressive and you're worried that they'll tear up your driveway with extended use, the Titan Chain Allow Snow Tire Chains # TC2326 will also do a great job of providing traction and stopping power on ice and the diamond pattern will provide you with more tire coverage than ladder style chains. These chains have a built in tensioner, so you won't have to worry about losing the rubber cams that a lot of other chains use to keep the chains in place on your tires.