It took 7 hours in total to fabricate the chain.
BHPian unpopularxplorer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
DIY Scorpio-N snow chains!
I am someone who loves travelling and on my trips, I prefer to carry as much as I can. I am planning a trip to the mountains hence, I needed snow chains. I also didn’t want to burn a hole my pocket plus I was having the right resources so this DIY.
Started with some calculations,
Circumstance of the tyre, link length, total number of etc.
Total length of the chain per tyre came around 350 inches a link at every 6 inches.
We own a utensils store and we do sell steel chains(purposely made for cows and buffaloes) so I took heavy quality chains (or bail as we call in Hindi). Snow chains start around 4.5K however, the chain I have used are really heavy duty. A chain in the market with the same quality would be around 8-10K. One chain weighs around 7 KG
I made the calculations and the chains on the stepney as I was not sure how long the process will take + stepney on Scorpio N is same as the regular tyres.
There is little space in the tyre wells, I was not confident if the chains will fit or touch the inner lining. I did saw two Scorpio n on internet with Snow chains at the rear tyres. And the only way to confirm was to try it.
Started by making the circular ring for one side of the tyre and then the other side. Then used plastic rope to create link to get some idea! It looked good, Created 13 inches links and welded after every 6 inches, tested on stepney – a perfect fit. No rope needed as it was not loose at all. Replicated it and now we have two chains – it took 7 hours to build both of them.
Using the chain in real world:
Followed the easiest way by reversing the vehicle on the chains, didnt go well as our chains were a perfect fit.
We jacked up the car, and with a bit of chain adjustment we got it fit on the tyre, perfectly. Again no ropes. But on the other tyre, we had to add an extra link to fit the snow chain. No rope used either.
Tested on concrete road 35psi, even drove till 30KMPH, the ride was bouncy (expect) but the chain didn’t break or loose. We did jacked up the vehicle again and removed the chains. Chain looks good with the scratch marks.
I have taken two extra links, just in case if needed. I don’t think I have to jack up the vehicle as tyre pressure would be around 20-25psi, reducing the diameter, giving us a few millimetres, but in worst case, I am prepared to jack up and in worst case: jack + the extra links.
The wheel well gap:
I believe the most interesting part for most of the readers is this. So, the right side had no issue at all. Enough space, no signs of any contact with the lining, no articulation. Not sure if the car will articulate in real world test and how the chains will act.
Left side was little challenging. I had installed mud flaps as an accessory at the time of delivery and never compared the right and the left however, as we have the def tank on the left side, it is missing a rivet. I found no hole means, a rivet was never there and the mudflap was loosened from the inner side. So we did a hole in the lining and screwed the mud flap and it didn’t pull apart in the testing.
Hoping to get a chance to out the chains on in my coming trip to the snowy mountains.
Keyword: How I made snow chains for the Mahindra Scorpio-N myself