How strong is this?

I know this is probably fine for a bridge but could you do the chain as link bars? i just saw it an thought that would look real cool? I know someones tried it.

Wouldn't know about the strength, but it looks cool

That is the corniest thing I have seen in a while. I would not trust it.

Looks cool but scare the hell out of me.

i thought about doing it but keepin the cross bracing that is on there from mTm and just doing that for looks,when i get it back from paint i might try it and see what i can come up with

I actually saw someone who had done it as used it for link bars and all. I think it was on a fullsize chevy. It was a shop in NJ, but im not sure if they are still around.

Another chain setup.

Chain is only designed to be used in tension. Tension is the stress that is created when you pull on something. Most things are very strong in tension, but a bending load (pretty obvious explanation here) or compression (when you try to shorten it, the oposite of tension) becomes a little different. If you were to design a bar that used the chain as a truss, the chain would only be loaded in tension and would work great. But something like what is pictured would see tension and compression loads. Obviously welding the chain liks up would strengthen the chain and aid in compression loads, but in order to be strong enough for continued use, the chain would need to be quite large and would be an engineering disaster.

I know I am going way deeper than one would need to concern themselves with, but the point is that the idea is do-able.

I would say imagine if the links were not welded to gather like that and you put a straight force on them away from the ground then you would have the full stength of that D ring and chains. But you also have to factor in that is the only brace between the rails so its going to want to bend them to gather if there is enough force on it. You will need another form or solid cross brace to strengthen it up. On top of all of that is it going to hold a load besides being a cross brace?

Maby i should have read the first post a little better i just read the headding. I definately would not use chain as a link bar, due to bulk of the required chain size for the strength required, plus it just seems little tacky as an openion.