Engage FWD Required with Chains?

[Dan Williams]

I have a 1997 Subaru Outback. I recently was off road in the mountains and
woke up to 14 inches of snow. For the first time I chained up my fronts
and worked my way back to logging roads and then down the mountain. When I
was telling a friend about it the next day, he asked if I put the FWD fuse
in. I checked the owner manual and it did not mention changing to FWD. It
indicated the following:

Driving on snowy grades or icy roads may require the use of tire chains, to
which case put the chains on the font wheels only. Use only SAE class S
type chains that are of the correct size for your tires so as not to damage
the vehicle body or suspension. When driving with tire chains, drive at
speeds below 19 MPH.

Is it required or is the any reason one should change FWD? At these
speeds and conditions, it seems like the last thing you would want to do.

 

[Rick Courtright]

was telling a friend about it the next day, he asked if I put the FWD fuse
in. I checked the owner manual and it did not mention changing to FWD. It

Hi,

I've been led to believe the FWD fuse is only for "emergency" use so the
vehicle can be towed a short distance on its rear wheels, not for
driving. I'm with you: it seems counterproductive to do under the
conditions you mentioned. I'd stick with the book's recommendation and
not worry.

How often are you likely to have to chain up? If it's a lot, what about
getting a dedicated set of winter/snow tires? Seems the subject comes up
about this time every year as those of you who have "winter" need to get
ready (we don't have real "winter" here in SoCal, so it's not something
I'm that familiar with!)

Rick

 

[John]

Manual or Auto?
I can see why he'd say to put it FWD as the circumference of the front and
rear wheels/tires is now different but you're right, what's the point of
having AWD? I'd say that in 14" of snow there was enough slippage on the
rear wheels as not to cause any damage to the AWD system. Once you hit
plowed pave road that won't allow slipage on the rear wheels, remove the
chains immediatly or if they must stay on, the FWD fuse must be used to
prevent damage.

 

[Dan Williams]

Manual or Auto?

Thanks for the response... automatic.

 

[Guest]

I checked the owner manual ... It indicated the following:

Driving on snowy grades or icy roads may require the use of tire chains, to
which case put the chains on the font wheels only. Use only SAE class S
type chains that are of the correct size for your tires so as not to damage
the vehicle body or suspension. When driving with tire chains, drive at
speeds below 19 MPH.

The author of that manual is an idiot. He is related to the morons
who put "dry clean only" tags on 100% cotton shirts and "do not
insert in ears" labels on boxes of Q-Tips.

Put chains on all four wheels, keep it in AWD, and stay under 25MPH.
I have been doing this for years and have never had a problem.

 

[k. ote]

Put chains on all four wheels, keep it in AWD, and stay under 25MPH.
I have been doing this for years and have never had a problem.

Because that means there is no problem, of course.

j/k