In the trucking business , the industry standard truck chains basically have transport chains and snow chains, while we will see there are more than just transport chains, as we can see that there are sash chains, hot dip galvanized grade 30 chains and more, in the tow and recovery industry, you can’t skip the tow chains, all these chains are made from steel .
When it’s about truck tie down chain we usually talk about grade G70 NACM or ASTM binder chains, some people call them binder chains, you should know that there are 2 standards for these chains, ASTM and NACM. ASTM chains are all short link chains, while NACM are regular link chains. The short link chains are more flexible than regular link chains, when you’re deploying chains under certain conditions, say wrap around tight corner, most likely you will need short links, regular link chains probably will not fit. Tie down chains are mostly seen on the trailers, for the purpose of cargo securement, no doubt you can use these chains for some other purposes, such as towing, etc.
Tire chains also called snow chains in a lot cases , obviously tire chains don’t equal snow chains, for instance, you probably will put tire chains on when the road is icy. 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. Most tire chains are made from steel. You will have to buy the matching size of tire chains for your vehicle, say you drive a coupe, you definitely need car tire chains, You will need truck tire chains if you drive a pickup with big wheels.
When it comes to hardware chains, there are a lot more than you can imagine, you’re going to see all kinds of chains in this family of product. For instance, there are machine chains , twisted or straight link, and coil chains, twisted or straight links, sash chain , hot dip galvanized chains and electro-galvanized proof coil chains , and steel decoration chains, of course there are more steel chain product. Steel Hardware chains are popular due it’s variety and applications, grade 30 chain is the most popular general purpose chain, you can use grade 30 chains with windlass, on the fence, for example.
As for towing chain , there is only 5/16” tow chains with towing rig available, the WLL of tow chain is 4700 lbs, actually this strong enough for almost all cases, due to standardization of tow trucks, only a few varieties of tow chains are needed, for instance we only need 6′ and 10′ long tow chains, long shank J hook and sports T & J hook, I guess this is because of the towing and recovery is standardized business, only a few varieties of the tow chains are required, and this way a lot of problems can be avoided.