Auto Chains

[FireChef]

Who has them?? What do you think of them?? Are they worth the money??

[janesee]

We have them on our rescue and two pumper trucks. Awesome feature. Haven't had to use them yet but have seen the fire trucks pass by my house in the past with the chains on and from what I saw and have heard, they are worth every penny.

[canfire89]

We also just had them placed on our new 4x4 Engine. Haven't had to use them yet, but we will see

[firefighter26]

Had them on our Engine up on the hill. They worked great on the never-plowed side streets. It was always a pain in the a$$ to chain up our rescue the "old way"

[FitSsikS]

I find that when I use auto chains I can't get my door open. :o
On the other hand, tire chains work great.:p

[FLASHOVER05]

I've heard great things about them from rural departments, They can be installed aftermarket

he's a company

www.onspot.com

[Blacknose]

I have heard of these but have never seen them in action. After reviewing the video I have only one concern:
That being they being ripped off when the truck has to go of road. It looks to me that there is little clearence between the bottom of the "Auto Chain" and the ground. Around hear there is a lot of ruts on the non major backroads and you need the clearance to get over them.

Can they be higher when there in the non activated mode?

[4estfire]

Onspot chains definitely are handy and work great in some condition; however they do have their limitations. Deep snow (15cm+) not so great. We had Onspots installed on our new 10,000 litre tandem vacuum tanker and I used them twice this week on calls. The beauty of them, no down time, when you have clear pavement on the main roads and hard packed snow/ice with little or no sand on the side roads, they can be deployed with the of a flip of the switch, and work really well in these conditions. And vies versa, return to the pavement, hit the switch and they return to their stored position, slick. Maximum recommended speed is 55 kPh, however if the road conditions are that poor you probably should not be traveling that fast to begin with. Like I say, I have only used them twice myself, worked great, time will tell the true story.

[Bubba]

Have used auto chains on several rigs,
Moving forward = Awesome
Reverse / Parking = Garbage
Given the choice I would always use an installed chain, no matter how much of a pain they are.

[LTPVFD]

We have "on spot" chains on our engine here, but I don't ever recall
deploying them. When I was in the Okanagan we regularly chained
up our trucks. A couple would stay chained up all winter, as we
had some steep hills to negotiate. We used both regular chains, and
cable chains. Regular chains seemed to work better. As mentioned,
if you have chains on, you won't be making any time enroute to the
call. :frown:

Stay safe !!


LTPVFD

[FLASHOVER05]

What's the regulations in place for Ontario??

the north always seem to get some decent numbers for snow... is it an option in Ontario?

[PellattFire]

What's the regulations in place for Ontario??

the north always seem to get some decent numbers for snow... is it an option in Ontario?
We could use them here.
If we ever get in a position to buy new I would like to have the chain option on at least one of our trucks.
Some of the driveways can be a mile or two long around here. If they are summer residents they aren't plowed in the winter.

Hiking in with a portable pump and three lengths of hose in a rescue sled is a real pita.

I can see those chains getting us into a few of those places that wouldn't be accessible without them early in the winter and early in the spring when we have less than 3 feet of snow blocking the road.

[firefighterfred]

We have auto chains on one of our pumpers they work ok going forward but not backing up. Our chief just got new fitted chains for the truck when the snow gets deeper not that we get a lot of snow here. We will be getting auto and regular chains for our new rescue when it come in February.

[ssian]

We have the Onspots here on some of our Single Axle trucks, they work good, but are really hard on the drivetrain of the trucks, People spinning the tires and engaging the onspots, The truck then strips the ring and pinnion out of the truck! After that the truck is down for at least two days, and the city is at least $5000 in the red for driver error!

[911Caddy]

We have the onspot chains on three of our appartatus. They work well as long as your moving.. Once you stop your hooped! We don't get much snow as a rule anyways. Ice is more of an issue around here.