Tire Chain corrosion

[FarmerO]

Whats the word on chain corrosion from mag ice melt on my ringed logging chains. I rinse the chains with a high pressure warm water hose after every application, but driving back to the barn gets the chains somewhat re-coated a bit with the magnesium. I only apply this stuff 6-7 times per year on my gravel drive and very lightly according to application directions. Waiting for the ice melt to melt in to the ice actually helps reduce the amount of Mag that re-applied to my chains. Just don't want to rust em out before they wear out. So far after two applications no real issues other than some rust colored run off that washes right away.

 

[skeets]

Farmer I don;t know what kind of chains your useing, but if they are the ringed skidder tire chains,, Im thinkin they will out live both of us even with sruface rust, my bud still using chains we made up 30 years ago from old truck chains onhis Massy Harris and other than busting cross links or tearing the hooks up the rust never botherd them and they are on most of the year. So I wouldnt let it bother me to much just go and play in the snow

 

[FarmerO]

Farmer I don;t know what kind of chains your useing, but if they are the ringed skidder tire chains,, Im thinkin they will out live both of us even with sruface rust, my bud still using chains we made up 30 years ago from old truck chains onhis Massy Harris and other than busting cross links or tearing the hooks up the rust never botherd them and they are on most of the year. So I wouldnt let it bother me to much just go and play in the snow

Skeets, thanks for the reply. Turns out that everyone I have spoken to believes as you do that these chains are gona outlast all of us. Being new to the tractor world, I was concerned by how much rust was on my chains after just one use. But it seems that with a little rinsing and intelligent use of the chains, I can actually reduce the appearance of rust to almost nil. Biggest correction factor is to apply ice melt in a pattern so as to not have to drive over the ice melt again.

 

[hodge]

They rust because they are just raw metal- no barrier. If you painted, or powdercoated, or POR-15'd them, it would just wear off with the first use. So, the exposed steel rusts. Surface rust is a lot different than penetrating rust. What you should do is use them, hang them to dry after use (so they don't lay wet), and in the spring, drag them around through gravel or sand, or throw them in a cement mixer with sand- it will scrub the surface rust off of them. Then store them away somewhere they can stay dry, even from humidity and condensation. They will outlast your tractor.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I'd say just coat them with WD-40 to keep water and other harsh chemicals off the chains. Its what WD-40 was invented to do. Water Displacement and it took 40 tires to get there...