How to store chains

Zachary Hoyt

Well-known Member
I have about 10 chains ranging from 1/4" to 1/2" and from 8' to 20' feet long. Some have a hook on one end, some on both ends. I tend to pile each chain up on the floor in a little heap but this is not very convenient or neat. I have thought about putting heavy pegs on the wall to hang them or putting boxes on the wall to pigeonhole them, but I have a notion that maybe there is a better way to do it that I have not thought of. I need each chain to be separate and visible, ideally, so I can quickly grab the ones I want on any given day.
Zach
 
How about a bucket?

Mark what chain is in each and if you put lids on them, they will stack in a corner out of the way.
 

I hang them on the wall like you said so they are visible and OFF of the already cluttered floors
 
I made up a simple rack from 1/4 x 2 flat iron and bolted it to the wall about knee high. The rack looks like a U looking down from the top, about 2 foot wide and sticks out from the wall about a foot. Welded that to another straight piece to bolt to the wall and added an under brace. Hang the chains on it by one hook with the other end hooked back in the chain just under the bar. That way you dont have to search for both ends of the same chain.
 
i have a 2x8x8ft nailed to the poles in the pole barn. about 4 ft off the ground. drape the chains over that.
 
What I ended up doing with the tire chains off my tractor is put them in a bucket with some waste oil to help stop the rusting. Then in the late fall let them drip dry into the bucket and install.
 
Zach, at my old place I had a rough heavy wooden box about 2 feet long. Above the box I had a strip of metal (2 inch X 24 inch X 1/4 inch) lag bolted horizontally above the wooden box about waist high. I'd hang the two end hooks on the metal and the rest of the chain went in the box below. Keeping the end hooks for each chain paired together made it easy to grab one chain and run with it without having a tangled up mess.

My present system involves the bottom 2 feet of a barrel. The chain goes in the bottom, with the hooks paired together around the rim. I liked the wooden box and metal strip better - takes up less room - the barrel sticks out in the shop more, plus the chain sometimes tangles a little in the barrel.

I only keep around 120 feet of chain here in 15 - 20 feet lengths, so I don't need anything fancy.
 
Friend uses a variation of that idea: Each chain has it's own 5 gallon bucket, but the hooks are hooked over the rim of the bucket.

That way you can find the ends easily, and see at a glance what size it is and if it has grab hooks or slip hooks.
 
(quoted from post at 20:21:04 04/02/14) I made up a simple rack from 1/4 x 2 flat iron and bolted it to the wall about knee high. The rack looks like a U looking down from the top, about 2 foot wide and sticks out from the wall about a foot. Welded that to another straight piece to bolt to the wall and added an under brace. Hang the chains on it by one hook with the other end hooked back in the chain just under the bar. That way you dont have to search for both ends of the same chain.
I use a similar set up. I also hang my binders on it.
 
I keep one on each tractor. The rest hang on a chain link kennel that has a roof, so they are under the eves. Binders hang there too.
 
We always hung them over the cross trusses in the old machine shed. Kept them off the floor and where they would stay dry until we needed them.
 
I have a open head drum with various lengths of 3 and 4 inch PVC pipe in it. I can drop the chain down the pipe and hook the hooks over the top end of the pipe. With various lengths of pipe i can sort chains by length. Binders are hung on the edge of the drum.
 

I forgot about my chain barrel


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The chains in my service truck hang on pieces of 1/4 x 1 flat bar spaced out about 2 inches, and welded around the inside of the compartment. The ones in my shop also hang off a piece of 1/4 flat bar bolted to the studs on one wall. Works just like the guys who use drums, etc by using the chains hooks to hold it in place and let them hang free to keep them from getting tangled together.
 
I built a rack out of a car wheel with 2-4' legs welded to it. I fastened a crossmember welded between the uprights at the top. Then I took 8" long rods out of each side of the crossmember. This rack will hold more chains than I have. You can also weld some bolts to the uprights to hold clevises and binders. Be careful as this can get quite top heavy to move. If you want a sack to put them it to throw on the cab floor of the tractor or truck, have the wife cut off a pantleg of an old pair of jeans and sew one end closed and run a twine drawstring in and out of slits cut in the other end.
 
Many of my chains ride on the front bumper of a tractor permanently. Very handy. The logging chains are either on the rig or stored on my sled with the saws and logging equipment. The rest of the chains are either in 5 gallon buckets, hung on heavy spikes or over a rafter. The rest of my chains are on the ground someplace unknown, where ever they fell off or dropped when I was in too much of a hurry to do it right!!! :oops:
 
I've stored chains in five gallon buckets. That keeps them seperated and I don't have to bend over as far to lift the bucket by the handle.

Most fast food restaruants get their dill pickels in sealed five gallon plastic buckets. Most get several a week. Some sell them for $1 dollar each with the lid, some will give them away when they have too many and don't want to pay disposal costs. The buckets and lids do smell like pickels for quite a while. If I fill them with water for a week with the lid off, they loose their smell faster.
 
(quoted from post at 10:30:41 04/03/14) I hang mine on a cattle panel nailed to the shop wall, binders also.

Good idea! I've got some cut-offs that have been laying around waiting for a good idea - Thanks!
 
I have used an open top 55 gal. barrel for years. Some hang on the outside of it, some are dropped in to it. Also, my binders and straps are hung in the barrel. I have 100 ft of 1/2" wire rope that is inside of a small barrel inside the 55 Gal. one. Works great for me.
 
2x4 nailed across open studs with those hanging hooks designed to hook over a 2x4 work pretty good for me.
(screw-in hooks always bent)

on equipment, like other posters, a big PVC tube upright
works good. drop em in and hook the hooks on the edge.
(casting one into your loader counterweight is handy too.)
 
Prior owner of my current house left about a dozen plastic milk crates, the 6 gallon kind. I use 2 of these, w/the chain hooks thru the handles.
 
I have exposed studs on the shop that I keep the chains in. I bolted 3/16" x 1" flat bar to the wall studs. Must have put up about 6' of it. Hook the ends of the chains on the flat bar and let the chain dangle. Works great and the binders fit on it also.
 
I took a scrap piece of chain, fastened it horizontally at each end. Then I can hang chains and binders and find the ones I need quickly.
 

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