As we know that in the transportation business , the most popular chains are transport chains and snow chains, in reality there are more chains products than tie down chains, just name a few, such as machines chains, coil chains, passing link chains etc., of course there is towing industry, tow chains are there to stay, simply put, these chains are mostly made from steel .
If not being specific , tie down chains usually means grade 70 binder chain , we usually say binder chains, there are two different standard bodies governing these chains, American Society for Testing and Materials, and NACM. ASTM chains are all short link chains, regular link chains are made to NACM standard. People use short link chains when they need more flexibility, when you’re deploying chains under certain conditions, say wrap around tight corner, most likely you will need short links, NACM chains won’t work under these conditions. The tie down chains are mostly used in transportation, most of the time for securing truck load, you definitely can put these chains to some other way of uses, as long as it’s safe.
The tire chains mostly used when it’s snow covered, thus the name “snow chains” is also a popular one, but not all tire chains are snow chains, because you will use tire chains when its ice covered. Most of the time the tire chains are in pairs on the shelf, the reason is that people need to chain up tires in pairs. For the obvious reason, all tire chains are made from steel. People will match tire chains to their vehicle tire size, if you drive a sedan, you will need passenger car tire chains, You will need truck tire chains if you drive a pickup with big wheels.
Talking about hardware chains, it’s a big category, you’re going to see all kinds of chains in this family of product. For example, such as twisted link machine chain or straight link machine chains, sash chain , twisted and straight link coil chains, hot dip galvanized chains and electro-galvanized proof coil chain, and those steel chains for decorations, of course there are more steel chain product. Steel Hardware chains are popular due it’s variety and applications, grade 30 chains, a.k.a. proof coil chains, are the popular one, you can use grade 30 chains with windlass, on the fence, for example.
When it comes to tow chain, actually people only offer 51/6” chains in trade size, the working load limit is 4,700 LBS, which is good enough for most towing needs, due to standardization of tow trucks, only a few varieties of tow chains are needed, such as 5/16”x6′ and 5/16”x10′, and hooks have long shank J hook and sports T & J hook variation, since tow trucks all have same design and set up, you don’t need too many different version of the tow chains, this is actually is good thing.
