# Are tire chains safe to use on front tires ?



## bb's bota (1 mo ago)

'08 BX2350, bar tires. I've heard that chains are NOT recommended on the front tires due to an issue with excessive wear on the power steering. I would only use them for snow use. Any thoughts on this?


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Used to work on snow making crews at the ski areas in Summit County CO...... Toughest thing was working on "Black Diamond" runs (Steep as hell). They always iced up really bad because people were constantly turning to control their speed, pushed the snow cover downhill, so we had to constantly shoot fresh cover over the ice. We wore pac boots and logic would tell you the thing you needed was ice crampons for traction on those extremely steep slopes. The downside with ice crampons was that if you did fall, there was no way to stop sliding (we wore HD rubber rain suits), and those crampon spikes would shred your lower legs like you had been attacked by an angry wolverine as you tumbled. The safer thing to do was take short (3/8") #10 sheet metal screws and put them across the ribs of our pac boots to act like hobnails for traction. They worked great on even the steepest icy slopes

If you're running bar tires on your BX2350, I've seen guys do the same thing to create studded snow tires for the front of jeeps set up to plow snow and running military type bar tires. As long as they were in the ribs and not so long as to puncture the air bladders on the tires, they worked fine, and they kept the front end from sliding around if you were turning sharply on an icy surface. End of the winter season, they just took them out.....


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## bb's bota (1 mo ago)

Thank you for the reply. Brain dead me did not think of doing this. Considerably cheaper than buying chains.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

bb's bota said:


> Thank you for the reply. Brain dead me did not think of doing this. Considerably cheaper than buying chains.


Yep..... They'll work good for you in those rib front tires to keep the front end from sliding around when you're making a sharp turn on an icy surface and they are really cheap compared to chains. Here's a 100 pack for $5.36 on Amazon...... For $11 and a 1/2 hour of your time, you can make a poor mans version of studded snow tires for the front end of your Kubota

10 x 3/8 sheet metal screws Amazon


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