Why no chains on rear wheels?

Ace - I'm just north of you in OKC. We had part one of the storm this evening, expecting part two over night. I used my LR4 to pull my BMW off the side of the road. LR4 had no problems on the ice and snow. I agree with other posters, don't sweat the chains, just drive smart and let your truck do what it was designed to do. Good luck with everything!

i hope i am not too late to help here...READ!!!!!

• Snow chains mounted on all 4 with 4WD/AWD - ideal lateral stability, perfect acceleration, crisp steering, super braking. However, part time systems will show some understeer (turns are wider than intended). Full time 4WD systems are best. This is what everyone should have for snow and ice. Be careful anyway.
• Snow chains mounted on front axle with 4WD/AWD - good acceleration, good steering, good braking. However, since the rear wheels have no lateral guidance, the rear end might come around - fast. Not good. Feather your brakes. Go slow.
• Snow chains mounted on rear axle with 4WD/AWD - good acceleration, lousy steering (no lateral guidance), marginal braking (remember, 80% of brake force is created at front wheels and without chains that ain't happening). No fishtailing. Best compromise for 4WD with only one pair of chains. Go slow.

If you only have one set use them on the rear, you don't want to fishtail on a stop..

So you're advice is to do the exact opposite of what the people who built the car suggest? I'd rather be able to steer than to not fishtail, but I'm nutty like that.

HikeNbike said:

• Snow chains mounted on all 4 with 4WD/AWD - ideal lateral stability, perfect acceleration, crisp steering, super braking. However, part time systems will show some understeer (turns are wider than intended). Full time 4WD systems are best. This is what everyone should have for snow and ice. Be careful anyway.
• Snow chains mounted on front axle with 4WD/AWD - good acceleration, good steering, good braking. However, since the rear wheels have no lateral guidance, the rear end might come around - fast. Not good. Feather your brakes. Go slow.
• Snow chains mounted on rear axle with 4WD/AWD - good acceleration, lousy steering (no lateral guidance), marginal braking (remember, 80% of brake force is created at front wheels and without chains that ain't happening). No fishtailing. Best compromise for 4WD with only one pair of chains. Go slow.

If you only have one set use them on the rear, you don't want to fishtail on a stop..

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This. ^^^

roverman said:

So you're advice is to do the exact opposite of what the people who built the car suggest? I'd rather be able to steer than to not fishtail, but I'm nutty like that.

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If only it were as simple as that.

Land Rover hasn't done us any favors where chains are concerned. The clearance for chains between the tire and suspension is more like it would be for a sports car than an SUV. So we have to be careful which chains we choose. Land Rover has "genuine" chains available. That means, of course, chains that could be had elsewhere under a different brand name for a fraction of the price. I have chains for our LR4. They are RUD Grip chains in size 0141, which are appropriate for 255/55R19 tires. As -ahem- emphasized above, Land Rover recommends that chains only be used on the front wheels. Common off-road wisdom says that if you have real 4WD you should have 4 chains. I've read articles and posts which describe "Land Rover Experience" instructors using chains on all four wheels. And where they recommend only using them on the rear wheels. I have fitted my chains to both front and rear wheels, but haven't had occasion to drive with them mounted. Having had them mounted in both places and seen the clearances for myself, and in the absence of personal experience with these particular chains, I tend to favor going with chains mounted only on the rear.

Chains like this don't prevent you from sliding sideways:


Chains like these, with links that go diagonally or parallel to the tread, do prevent it:

I would actually vote for all four. I wish that link that you posted detailed WHY they did just the rears. Barring a rock solid logical reason, like they always get ripped off the fronts because there really isn't enough clearance, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But I"m willing to learn

As HikeNBike said, it has to do with fishtailing. When going down hill if the chains are on the front it encourages the truck to swap ends.

I could see that, still having trouble wrapping my brain around that being more important than steering and stopping power, especially in icy situations where you have the potential of other cars sliding right at you. But I could definitely see the value of not fishtailing when in slow speed, off roading situations.

This is the chain that I bought: http://www.scc-chain.com/tire-chain-finder/traction-product-choices/z-chain/

I didn't actually need them since ice was only an issue when getting to the main roads, after which it was easy to drive in the tire tracks and basically avoid the ice.

Again, I bought these JUST for a specific use/issue, not for off-roading in the snow. When I put them on, i was afraid there was NO clearance. There appeared to be a fraction of a space between the chain and strut or whatever that is located behind the front tire, which is where I installed them; rear seem to be the same issue. However, I drove with them and they did not scrape anything, but it's hard to imagine how given the tight fit.

I cannot imagine that a real chain with links would fit. What I bought is just cable with some brackets that are pretty thin. A full chain link seems like it could never fit between the tire and strut.

CaptainSpalding said:

I have chains for our LR4. They are RUD Grip chains in size 0141, which are appropriate for 255/55R19 tires.

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What year LR4 do you have? When I installed my chains there was only a fraction of an inch of clearance even though I'm usng a "cable" chain, not a real chain-chain. There is so little clearance that my dad and I had to use flashlights and mirrors while inching the car backwards to verify that they wouldn't hit the control arm/strut. I cannot see how an actual chain would clear that space?

With all do respect, many of the above comments seem to be made without considering the original Thread topic (Driving his pregnant wife to the hospital in an "Ice" storm, not snow. We are all aware of Land Rovers advanced traction control system and what benefits it has. But the truth in front of all else mentioned above is clearly what Myself and Captain Spalding posted.