It’s that time of year again. Off with the mower deck and On with the chains.
I figured I’d to a video on getting these things on right as it can be tricky, especially the first time or two that you have to do it.
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Hey guys it's Eric here at farpoint Farms today I'm going to be showing you One of the more aggravating tasks that There is when it comes to riding mowers And garden tractors that's installing Tire chains yeah it's a nice sunny day And I've got a flannel on but it won't Be about two or three weeks and we'll Get our first good solid snowfall and to Get ready for that I'm going to be switching out the Johnny Buckhead with the Johnny plow and I'm Going to be installing these tire chains I got these on eBay they're uh oncoten The only thing you need to know when Ordering tire chains for your riding Mower or garden tractor is the tire size So these are 23s By uh by 12 by 8. so 12 is the rim size 23 is the overall size and 8 is the Width you want to look to see if the Chains fit that particular one in this Case there were a few options 22 by 11 23s and even a 24 by nine so there's a Lot of options there usually if it's a Riding mower you're going to be looking At 18s and 20s and if it's a garden Tractor you're looking at between 23 and 24. so the first thing you're going to Want to do Is get this thing out of the box and we Are going to have our riding mower or Tractor laid out and you want to Untangle the mess that you're about to
Unbox and lay them out behind the Tractor that's going to get you ready It's going to get everything set up just Where you need it and then we'll back The tractor up about halfway into that Mess and we'll be ready to start Attaching it let's do it As you can see here It's just a mess inside of this it's Just a tangled mess of beautiful shiny Chains so it can be a little bit Frustrating to get these uh apart oh That's nice I can reuse that bag it's a Heavy duty bag so I'll go ahead and lay These out that's what I'm going to be Doing so I'm going to change the camera Angle here and we'll do that On film Now notice for a second if you will That one side of these chains Has a hook and the other side has this Very unusual looking clamp just to make It easier on yourself I usually try to Keep this to the outside Yeah And you're going to want to lay these Out And just cut them as flat and as wide as You can because you're going to back Your tires up over it You want it about centered when we back It up if we need to make any adjustments As far as How far to one side or another we need
To go we can do that as you can see I'm Doing this in gravel you can do this in The snow you can do it on pavement it Doesn't matter I don't know that there's Any easier or harder way to go about Doing this it's just a little bit Frustrating no matter what I'll do the Same with the other one and we will move On to the next step Okay as you can see here we've got them Laid out They're about lined up they're about Even and what the next step is is to Roll the tractor back in this case I'm Going to start it and actually drive it Back you can roll it if you want to pull The uh or if you have a stick one you Put it in neutral but then like I said We're going to get it back they're about Even they're about evenly spaced roll it Back and then the fun really begins Let's do it [Music] Right on about halfway about in the Center and we are ready to move on I'll Move the camera back over this side drop It down a little lower so that we have a Better view of what has to happen next First I'll film the outside then I'll Film the inside give you an idea now I Do have one thing on my tractor that I Bought separately I didn't make a video Of installing it actually I did but it's A long long ago and that is that you can
Kind of see it There is a rubber here's a picture of What it looks like off of it you do have To remove the tire That it's a rubber band with four pink Clips those clips Will take the tension and get any slack Out of these chains once they're on it's Really nice so that it doesn't flop Around and make a racket it really helps And they were about eight dollars extra All right here we go and so next step is To drape These Chains up and over and That is what I'm going to do now this is A pain especially if we're using AG Tires like I'm using here Because as you can see the chain likes To get caught in the bars of the AG Tires And so it gets a little harder but we do Want to try to get these up and as snug As possible so just kind of hold on to It with one hand And move the chains up to a good Position with the other hand and you can Feel the tension Release as I do that you can see they're Still sloppy down there so I want to Pull it up some more I'm doing that working back and forth And I'm getting all the slack hopefully Most of the slack anyway out of these The tighter we get this the less likely It's going to throw a chain
And then the back side I'll show you This on the other one but I'm going to Move my back piece up and I'm just going To hook it On that side anywhere I can just to hold It in place so that I can focus on doing The exact same thing I'm getting these Chains trying to get as much slack as I Can out of it you can see That is actually working pretty well There we go we've got it pretty well Snugged up then you're going to use this Hook and let me get the camera closer in So you can see it I'll zoom in on that You're going to get the hook And you're going to go through And I think that's going to be a little Bit too snug So we'll probably try this this one Right here you roll it through you roll It back Now I've got to get it on the other side Of this chain here there we go You roll it through you roll it back You're flipping it over And if you can get it all the way Through that's what we're aiming for Let's try to get as much slack as you Can out of it it's amazing how tight it Will feel and how quickly it will loosen Up If it's not actually set up right There we go and then you're going to Hook it back through
And lock it into place I've got to get a Little bit more slack out of this Hopefully you guys can see it I know It's not Exactly camera friendly to do this job Because It requires every finger in every place Almost right And this would be a little easier Without the wheel weight on But you're much better off putting your Wheel weight on first because it can be Hard to get a good seat once it's Installed there we go Let me get the camera up to show you how I have that set you can see yeah there's A wee bit of slack but we haven't done Our back yet so that'll also be kind of Snugged up when we pull on the back Can see it takes out but let me get the Camera here and I'll show you up close All right so here it is up close We took our piece we wrapped it around We came up through here and out the Other side Right and that's pretty snug there is a Little bit of slack about a half inch I'd say maybe Yeah about a half inch of slack I'm not Worried about it I am going to Eventually zip tie all this so it just Doesn't pop loose no matter what because If you bump into the stuff with it it Sometimes can happen although it's rare
Though I'm not going to do that yet Because I still need to adjust the Inside it's gonna be a little harder to Show this on film but I'm going to do my Best to get it I can see it right there I'll get the camera zoomed in so let me Show you the back side and then we'll Finish this up okay back here you can See here is the the hook and that's all It is you just get it as snug as you can And hook it in in this case that's That's pretty much where I'm at I do Have more slack on this side than I do On the other side but uh for right now We're going to go with that and see I Have three links the other side I had Three links so that's that's pretty Equal Now some kits will have a little piece Of wire that goes around with four or Five Springs that hook randomly Throughout this but like I said on mine I opted to get these rubber pieces right Here I'm gonna pull it off right now And uh and again here's a picture of Where I got it on Amazon but it the Process the same I'm going to hook in a Couple of locations And the other two are going to be a Little harder to do I'm going to hook in There and that is going to pull These Chains tight so they don't do this as They go around Because eventually they'll kind of get
Offset you'll get two that end up Bunching up but this tension on here That'll stop that so let me do that I'm Going to do the other side I'm not going To film that and we'll wrap this thing Up okay here we are on the other side The process is the same we're going to Start with our sides that don't have Anything We're gonna lean them up under here This can be a bit of a bear Kind of Wiggle them into place but then We've got all this that we have to pull Up and get them over the ax if you're Using turf tires this won't be as big an Issue at all because there won't be all These places for those chains to catch On but it is ultra important if you're Using ATV tires anything that has good Knobs to make sure that we've got the Slack out of it because you can see down Here there's a ton It just hasn't moved There we go A little bit of slot down there but the Chain itself is tight So I'd say that's good move the camera Up I'm going to hook this back chain we Went Three Links before let's try that Again on this side and see if it works For us and while that's supporting the Back side We can do the same we're going to move These Chains up
Holding everything in place right trying To get as much of that slack out as Possible Once we feel like we've got about as Much out as we can The camera again and we'll get ready to Do that I'm going to take this chain here I got Three links right So I'm going to move the chain to that Side Pull it around there Flip this over It's starting to get a little slack in It flip that over and run it through And see how that is hopefully you can See how that is see it right there Now I have to Get the hook here Back behind this and hopefully through It Come on hopefully y'all can see it there We go like that And that's all she wrote right now the Last thing I'm going to do I'm going to Snug that down on the back side like I Did but Um another thing you can do here to kind Of keep stuff from moving around is you Know maybe you want to Run this chain so that it can't really Move all that much I don't know if this actually helps or Not but I usually use two or three zip
Ties just to hold my pieces together You know one on each side on the outside One on each side on the inside Plus that rubber piece I've only had one Chain come off while plants now And it was probably My fault I probably hit something I shouldn't Have knocked it loose and wasn't paying Attention so there you see it's kind of Stuck there now Hopefully y'all can see that okay I'm Gonna move the inside and make sure Everything's snug it should be we Counted three and three and then I'll Put that spacer on and we will wrap this Thing up there you go you can see I've Got my my rubber holder on that side And on that side as well so that should Be it I'll take it for a test drive and Double check that nothing comes apart or Has moved these I will also zip tie I Don't want those beating and banging on The inside of my tire so I'll take any Slack and zip tie those up and that will Wrap this baby up all together not a Tough job it took me about 30 minutes Including filming and of course it's a Whole lot easier to do this in the fall Than it is in the middle of a snowstorm But I've done it both ways Well that's it my friends they are on They are tight no flopping around yeah There's a little bit of slack in some of
These when they get in between the arms But I'm not worried about that in Between these bars what I am worried About is this tight is the backside Tight they are this is the best traction Upgrade you can get putting AG tires on Certainly helps but it is no substitute For a good set of chains especially in Snow or real bad mud add some wheel Weights and you are ready to do just About anything with your riding mower or Garden tractor that'll do it for today My friends take care
