Driving on streets in the snow, possibly with chains

TJScott

TJScott

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
522
Location
Waterloo, ON Canada
This is my first 4WD vehicle. It’s running with 33” AT KO 2’s with about 1/2 tread left maybe a tad more on them and I have rear lockers only. I live in the high desert, so I can drive in sun and partial cloudy conditions, oh, and wind. But, I rarely get to try snow. I’m considering cruising up to the local mountains tomorrow, where it will be snowing and they may require chains. My chains are old school actual chains and not cables or any of the other variations. I’ve mounted them once in my driveway but haven’t driven on them and if I don’t have to put them on I won’t as they are a pain. But, if I have to and I only have the one set, what tires are best to install them on? Both rear? One front one rear, I assume opposing sides? Is there a better side on the front? Run with lockers on? I have driven some snow in Canada. But, they are better setup for it and it was in a car with snow tires. It was kind of fun. Remember, our snow may only be a few inches deep, possibly up to 4-6”, probably no plows running and no salt or gravel used on the road. I know it sounds like a stupid question, but I grew up and have lived in areas with very temperate climates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
First thing to make sure of is that whichever axle you put them on that you have the clearance to run them. Chains will self clearance anything that gets into their way. From there the question becomes do you desire more steering traction or not? If the trail has a lot of switchbacks I prefer putting them on the front. If you run them on the rear and especially with the locker on you will push the front end around some so you need to be ready for that. I know that people try to run one chain on the front and one on the back but that usually leads to more problems than it fixes. The only situation where that is helpful is when the trail is off camber enough that you could slide off.

Also if you do not have some bungees make sure to get some. Tight chains are happy chains so take the time to make sure they are when you run them
 
Chains can cause loss of traction on pavement. I've personally never used chains despite a few situations where they'd have been a benefit. I'd suggest taking note of speed limits, driving slow on turns, and if you have any slippage let off the gas immediately. Additionally coasting down to slower speed or stop signs allows you to maintain more control than braking. If you need to brake and are slipping on ice, you can typically find snow on the shoulder to gain traction (just don't go too far or you'll end up in a ditch.).

Here is 2-3ft snow with KM2s:

77637
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tomcat and skrelnik
best advice...don't go alone..
have another jeep along...1/2" tread in 4-6" snow should work ok...don't get too deep.
practice with your rear locked..on frozen ground it can get fun if you like 180's
 
Snow is a strange thing when it comes to tires. You want a tire that sheds the snow so it doesn't end up becoming a perfectly round donut in deep or wet snow (like in sticky mud) but the tire should also retain just the right amount of snow because snow sticks to snow which provides traction in light snow and ice conditions. The tire should have enough siping to deal with standing water when on ice/slush above freezing. The siping can also provide more surface area to grab onto rough ice and snow so the tire should be firm enough not to chunk but the tire compound also needs to be soft enough to stick to smooth ice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: skrelnik
Thank you all for the advice. I should have elaborated better. I have about 50% tread life, not half inch. I didn’t think that through. I had recently read about chains making their own room. Kind of scary. Maybe I will just stay out of the snow until I know more about the room issue. There seems like sufficient room looking at things. But without mounting them again and actually moving things around I won’t really know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
We just had a week of 1-2 feet of snow... Well in Seattle snow is really just white mud because it is so heavy and wet. My son drove around every day in plowed and UN plowed streets in our 2004 TJ open diffs with 33x12.5 KO2s. 4x4 mode did great, and never got stuck. He kept finding excuses to go drive in it. [emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I've been driving my 02 TJ with 32" KM2s in a foot or so of snow for a couple weeks now without any problems. It needs the 4wd to keep from swapping ends.
And an 05 Chevy Avalanche with KO2s, which handles the snow in 2nd or 4wd. It even drifts easily.
I wouldn't bother with chains on either. Use the 4wd, gear down & stay off the brakes.
 
I’m sure you probably know, but normally in the sierras a lot of the time they’ll close the roads before they’ll require 4x4 with M/S tires to chain up so you probably won’t be required to do so. Not saying it doesn’t happen but R3 chain control is rare.
 
Top Bottom
Back