HOW-TO: make tire chains
 

i've searched and didnt really find a decent thread on how to make rc tire chains so i thought i'd make a thread. so let's get started.

Tools Used in this procedure:
- 2 needle nose pliers or 1 needle nose and 1 regular pliers


First you need to get some chain, it takes quite a bit of it, i bought 14 feet of #16 jack chain from my local canadian tire store ( hehe got my cousin to cut for me since he works at CT in the hardware section haha:lmao:).

I'm using a Pro Line 1.9 Flat Iron tire for my honcho. Now wrap the chain around the sidewall treads and slightly bend one end of the link open then your section of chain will far off. you need 8 of these for 4 tires, duh haha. now you need to decide how many cross pieces you want, i went 8 because it looks better, you need 32 of these.. i made all my pieces first, so it should look like this

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...eChains001.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...eChains002.jpg
^^ cross tread pieces. i'll save ya'll the headache i had and use 3 cross links. when i did the cross pieces i had 4 links in them and it was WAY too loose!!!

Now you can start your "ladder". i started from right to left but it doesnt matter. bend one link end open of the cross piece, hook it to first link on either end of sidewall chain. then repeat process 7 more times, putting cross piece on every 2nd link. so now it should look like this

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...eChains003.jpg

here is the final result and this is what they should look like.
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...eChains004.jpg
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...eChains005.jpg
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...eChains006.jpg

you might have to fiddle around with it a bit but they are nice and tight and wont flop around. so far i've only gotten this one done but i was so proud of myself and thought i'd share"thumbsup":mrgreen::lmao:. btw these take a little while to make so allow yourself enough time, also its good clean fun and you can have a beer while doing it!!! haha.

A few other tips:

(This tip stolen from Rubbaneck) Make a "jig" for these while you are building them. Take a piece of wood, tap in 4 finishing nails at the corners of where the "ladder" you make will be. This does three things:
- holds the longer chain sections while you put the shorter cross sections in,
- allows you to make all 4 exactly the same,
- and is a place to store the chains (tangle-free) while you aren't using them.

I'd have made the circle around the tread one link shorter, to bring the cross chains a little more over on the sidewall.

Tire chains give great forward traction in snow, but absolutely no side-hilling. A few diagonal cross sections will help with that. Or you can do what Rubbaneck did and put some crown washers in (they look like little crowns.)

You want the chain to be tight around the tire, if it is loose, you can drive out of it, or get it caught on chassis or suspension components, causing a lot of damage. Also, keep in mind you need a little more clearance in the wheel wells.

Hope this helps some people out there in their chain making attempts.

thats some good info right now!!! have been thinking of making a hanger to hang the chains on when im not using them so they dont get all tangled up into a ball.:mrgreen: i also had to take one out of the circle chain to get them to tighten up a bit.

Love the jig idea, Ive been making chains for years and never even thought of that. Man do I feel dumb, I guess you can teach a old dog new tricks.

All credit for the jig idea goes to Rubbaneck (or whoever he got the idea from) but it's a great one.

I made one chain, got it to fit, made sure it was how I wanted, then made the jig from that, and the other 3 went together so easy. I stack the 4 chains on the jig when I'm not using them, and never have to worry about tangles or anything.

I'm going to start experimenting with diagonal cross chains, and different chain types and washers soon.

On a set of my Clod wheels I added a rubber band like on 1:1 chains but they are extras and I never take them off. But hold great and never slip. I saw on eBay a guy had criss cross pattern chains.

^^ let us know how that goes, grab some pics of the progress too haha. it took me about 1.5-2hrs to cut all the lengths for 4 chains and to make one chain, just because i was flying by the seat of my pants when making them. i didnt use a jig or anything, just made sure that the cross chains were on the same link on every tire chain. without a jig i finally got it down to 30-45 mins to make a chain and put on the tire and nice and tight.

to the post above, im going to have to add some rubber bands to keep them tight.

I made the exact sets of chains 10 or 11 years ago. The jig is the only way to go, it's so much easier. I had a set on my T-Maxx back in the day and even sold 4 or 5 sets on E-bay. I found I had to use tensioners on the outside face( just like the real ones) due to the wheel speed loosening them up. An o-ring with small hooks worked great. They sure worked good on the ice."thumbsup"

did some testing of the chains yesterday at a friends house and they are awesome... definitely work through some deeper snow. took them off so i can run the honcho in the house... lol

EDIT: took the chains off the flat irons for now, only takes a couple minutes. ordering up some 2.2's pretty soon so the chains will stay on the 1.9's. will get some action pics when i put the chains back on.


definitely happy that i spent the 12 bucks to make them!! a friend is thinking about a set for his ax10. told him i'll make him a set when he wants since he works and i dont.