First, get a large dose of patience.

THEN, put on the chains. It takes me 20 -30 minutes for each 26x12-12 tire to install the 2-link chains by the time I get done realigning the cross chains for several rounds of the tire. When I'm done, chain tightening springs are not required, and the chains are straight across the tread and tight enough to stay in place for their life expectancy (about 800-1000 operating hours), barring leaks.

My tires are loaded and I can't air them down without losing ballast fluid. The tightening sequence is done with the tires at operating (max) air pressure, and getting your fingers between a cross chain and the tire tread isn't going to happen when finished. The hook latch is all that I use for tightening. I use a pry bar to lever the cross chains over the occasional tread block on the turfs.

Where you insert the hook on the inside chain and the latch hook on the outside chain makes a big difference in how tight you can eventually draw them. The hooks can bear on the tag end link in the link that you are drawing tight, or you can move the tag end link out of the way so the hook bears directly on the link that you are drawing. The difference is only about 1/4", but it can mean the difference between good and tight with the hook in the next link, and almost tight with the hook bearing on the tag end link.

As the chains are drawn up, it is not uncommon to have to move the hooks 2 or more links from the starting position. Alternate between inside and outside for advancing the hooks so that the side chains are balanced on the inside and outside sidewalls. You don't want to be driving on the cross chain connectors.

 

Good explanation TUDOR, I did my 26x12-12 unloaded with the wheels off (during changeover of Ag's to turf tires) and it took about the same time as you to accomplish. I ran with the chains on all Summer and probably will continue to do so from now on. My cam over tighteners are on the inside because with the wheels off it really didn't matter but if I was putting the chains on a mounted wheel/tire they would be on the outside.

 

block the front wheels, jack up the rear, release some air out of the tires. then attach weights, chains, now back to step 2 jacking up the tractor. the reason for this is so the rear wheels can spin and i can remove as much slack out of the chains as possible. tighten the chains rotate the wheels a couple times, straighten out the cross links and re tighten, then repeat. then refill you air in the tires. once i figured this out i haven't used tighteners since. now if you have fluid in your tires this will still work just don't let out any air.

 

I let my weights on year round. I also take about 10 mins per tire for chains.. they are not perfect. I usually loop the around the tire and hook the inner hook on the shortest possible option.. then I adjust the chains and pull them tight and set the cam tensioner hook.. They aren't super duper tight bit they don't slip around or come loose. I don't need to use bungies or spring tensioners on mine. I also run 2 link chains.

 

I never run my chains tight, but I also use them in mud and the loose chains allow the mud to fling off...tight just ball up with mud.

I've never used chain tensioners...put them on the same link inside and out, and they will run fine.

Takes me about 15 minutes to install my chains, no jacking off the ground. Lay the chains out flat, roll the tractor over one end, flip the other end around the tire, connect the inside, work the links around and connect the outside. That's a set of 23x10.50, a set of 23x8.50, and dual 23x5.

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I never run my chains tight, but I also use them in mud and the loose chains allow the mud to fling off...tight just ball up with mud.
Takes me about 15 minutes to install my chains, no jacking off the ground. Lay the chains out flat, roll the tractor over one end, flip the other end around the tire, connect the inside, work the links around and connect the outside. That's a set of 23x10.50, a set of 23x8.50, and dual 23x5.

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:ditto:

except I do use tensioners- The ones with a ring in the center and 4 springs work best IMO - I got some rubber ones with hooks last year, and they lasted one season.

 

Loose chains have a tendency to walk off the tire. If you're lucky, they don't get too tangled up around the axle or beat on the fender pan when they do.

I use chains for traction on firm ground and hard packed snow (mostly the snow). If I was playing in mud, I'd use ags. With a FEL on my GT, playing in mud comes under the heading of Bad Ideas.

To the OP's question, if traction is the name of the game:

1) Load the tires with Rim Guard.
2) Install tire chains.
3) If necessary, install wheel weights.

My wheel weights have been gathering dust on the garage floor for over 20 years. The 26x12-12 turfs on my GT carried 160 lb of calcium chloride and 15 lb of tire chains each. If more traction is needed, I have a selection of 3PH implements that weigh between 200 and 385 lb that can be installed. The 40 lb wheel weights aren't worth the effort when the normal complement totals 600 lb with the 250 lb back blade.

My SCUT has the same size tires with 140 lb of Rim Guard in each. With 4wd, chains aren't really needed. It pulls almost as hard as the GT on hard packed snow.

With the smaller 23x10.50-12 tires that can only carry 75 lb of Rim Guard, it's a different story, and the wheel weights would get installed . . . last, after trying the tractor without them. It's always nice to confirm how much benefit each level of ballast adds to performance and wheel weights aren't that hard to install.

The chains on this tire were installed about 2003 (pic is from 2014) and the tractor has sat without turning a wheel since 2006. The calcium has rusted the wheel badly and about 3 quarts has leaked out. It still weighed 188 lb (38 lb tire and wheel plus 150 lb CaCl). There is 300 hours of run time on those chains.

 

Loose chains will not walk off a tire unless you don't have the same links inside and out...if you clip the 100th link on the inside, then you clip the 100th link on the outside, not the 99th, not the 101st. If they run even, they will stay on just fine...I have been running without tensioners and loose chains for many years, I have never had one come off.

Even the highway trucks around here run loose chains and no tensioners in snow.

As far as I'm concerned, tensioners are a bandaid.

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well, tensioners keep chains that may be a tad too long from ripping the fenders on your tractor- I think a little looseness (if thats a word) grabs packed snow and some ice better- I always get better traction with a tiny bit of slack in the cross links.

 

As already instructed, let air out of tire, jack up to get tire off floor/ground. Install chains as tight as humanly possible. Then get them even tighter.

<PROPERY INSTALLED CHAINS NEED NO TENSIONERS>

MU