George2615
Super Member
You are absolutely right. You do need a good set of tires with at least an all season tread or something more aggressive plus the weight. Its always worked for me.
Winter weights for a pickup
- Thread starter aczlan
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You are absolutely right. You do need a good set of tires with at least an all season tread or something more aggressive plus the weight. Its always worked for me.
jimainiac
Platinum Member
I have to ballast my pickups for snowplowing, so I fill 5 five gallon buckets with sand/salt mix and line them up accross the back end of the bed in front of the tailgate. I secure them with a cargo bar in front of them, and keep lids on them to keep the sand dry. Each bucket weighs 85 pounds X 5 = 425 pounds. And in a pinch you can use some of the sand under the wheels for traction. It's easy to take them out if I have to haul something. Last winter the beds were also usually filled with snow.
Iplayfarmer
Super Member
Why is everyone so reluctant to use 4 wheel drive? Didn't you pay the extra money for 4X4 when you bought the truck? Don't you pay a few extra dollars everytime you fill up with fuel? Are you not going to use it now when you need it?
I've got an extended cab long bed Silverado 1500 with the "Auto 4wd" feature. Like nearly everyone here, I'd have a hard time going very far on snow or ice in 2wd. I drive on county roads most of the winter that are only sometimes plowed, but I probably drive 90% of my winter miles with that auto 4wd on.
OP
aczlan
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very true, and I don't have a problem using 4wd when it is necessary (why have it if you never use it), however why put needless wear and tear on the drivetrain by kicking it into 4wd to get out of the driveway (almost flat, and only 3x the length of the truck) and kicking it back out as soon as you are on the road when it is possible (and safer) to have enough weight in the back to keep the back end from sliding around when it gets even the slightest bit snowy?
Aaron Z
ampsucker
Platinum Member
i figured the "wear and tear on the 4 wheel drive system" was because "someone" who drives the truck often, "sometimes" forgets to take it back out of four wheel drive when the truck is out of the driveway and on the clear roads!
if that isn't the reason, i would definitely just engage 4x4 to get in and out of the drive rather than take up valuable bed space and burn extra fuel by hauling around an extra 4-500 pounds!
i still think proper winter tires are still the best answer. nobody has addressed the issue of actually stopping or turning the vehicle with the extra weight you put in the bed and 4x4 has nothing to do with that. bottom line is best winter performance all around is from dedicated winter tires and a vehicle designed to work in winter conditions.
amp
if that isn't the reason, i would definitely just engage 4x4 to get in and out of the drive rather than take up valuable bed space and burn extra fuel by hauling around an extra 4-500 pounds!
i still think proper winter tires are still the best answer. nobody has addressed the issue of actually stopping or turning the vehicle with the extra weight you put in the bed and 4x4 has nothing to do with that. bottom line is best winter performance all around is from dedicated winter tires and a vehicle designed to work in winter conditions.
amp
Northland
Platinum Member
I use 4WD on my Toyota Tacoma (manual transmission) several times per week from Nov through March but without weight in the back the truck is neither stable or safe to drive where we live.
Our road through to town snakes down the mountains and is like a bobsled run on some days. Even the logging trucks slow down.
On Monday, on her way to work, my wife watched a 4WD F150's back end slide around on a curve in the road, do a 180 and slide off the road into a rock face. The driver was OK but he didn't have any weight in the back end of his truck and he was driving too fast.
My wife drives a manual transmission AWD Subaru Forester and we have winter ice radials and rims for this car. It handles way better then a 4WD truck/SUV evey could in the winters here.
My next vehicle will have skid control and traction control for sure.
Northland
Platinum Member
A few years ago my wife and three other (female) high school teachers drove a rental Jeep Liberty down to Nashville to take part in a training course. Apparently someone at the the rental agency had left the Jeep in 4H and the ladies drove it down the I-75 like that all the way to Nashville. It was toast by the time they got it down south and they had to drive another rental back to Canada.
I never get tired of telling that story but my wife gets angry with me when I tell the story in front of her
Northland
Platinum Member
Dargo
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I've noticed a lot of Subaru vehicles up north and particularly in the NE part of the U.S. I don't know why they aren't big elsewhere. They look like really good vehicles.
Handling of vehicles has changed a lot. I grew up driving my first couple of winters in a 1962 Biscayne. The car was actually unbelievable in snow and mud. Besides the amazing traction it got with a set of steel studded mud grip tires in it, it was the ultimate in being able to control a skid. At 17 years old I could slightly twist the big wheel (no power steering) and goose the throttle to put it into a controlled slide. I could drive it that way literally for miles. It would also go through snow until it pushed snow up over the headlights, but then it always seemed to be able to back it's way out. With no power brakes and no power steering, it was amazing the amount of control I had over that car. I could get up hills and places that 4X4 vehicles couldn't go if they didn't have the right tires.
Now cars are mostly front wheel drive and handling is completely different. Still, I can get a front wheel drive car up a hill in reverse that I can't going forward. Current rear wheel vehicles just don't seem to have the balance and control anymore either. They sort of remind me of a CJ5 Jeep. Man, you get that thing sideways just a little, with it's short wheel base, and you were going around! Pickups are so off balance with the front to rear weight ratio that it makes them hard to control as well. I can slide them just fine, but there's no putting them into a controlled power slide for a half mile like that old Biscayne. That's why I think it's important to have proper balance and why I like (pick the name) posi-trac, limited slip, locking etc. rear differentials. Some don't like them because they will always go sideways if the road is on an angle, but I'm more used to handling those vehicles. Yeah, I welded the front differential together on an old '78 pickup once to see if it would go through more snow. It would as long as you didn't need to turn.
I know they save gas compared to a 4X4, but I just can't imagine myself having a 4X2 pickup ever again taking into consideration where I go with my trucks and how easy it is for me to get stuck in 2 wheel drive in just wet grass if I'm pulling a trailer. I think the last 2 wheel drive pickup I had was a '63 stepside Chevy. It handled much like that Biscayne and also had the 3 on the tree shifter with the 235 six. Maybe the lack of power helped.
deere755
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I usally just run in 4 high when the roads are slick and have no problems. If I did not do this I would have to add weight in the bed.
