Snow Equipment Owning/Operating R4's and snow don't mix

[Builder]

I want a set of front and rear lockers for my truck.

Maybe not on ice or slippery snow.
Back in my 15yr era of snowplowing, my company ran several pieces of plowing equipment on different commercial snow removal operations. One piece I had was an F-450 4x4 dumptruck. I had a Detroit locker in the rear and a ARB air locker in the front. When you get on ice and your lockers are engaged, the vehicle will tend to "screw" sideways. Sometimes you wind up doing a full 180 with traffic facing you from the wrong direction.
All it takes is a little goose on the go pedal and around you go and who knows what you'll hit when it happens.

Believe it or not, the best handling plow trucks have open front & rear differentials or a real light limited slip rear. They may not get as good traction burried in deep snow, but they handle much more predictably on slippery pavement. After all, plowing snow shouldn't involve driving your truck though real deep snow. You usually have the plow blade down clearing your path.

I also had overheard a story aout a rich fella from my area who bought a new Dodge "Powerwagon". Apparently they have front & rear lockers in them. He had no real off road experience and decided to venture out into the ice one night to "test out" the lockers.

He wound-up losing control, sliding off RT 1 and totalling his new truck with "lockers".

 

[Knute]

Maybe not on ice or slippery snow.
Back in my 15yr era of snowplowing, my company ran several pieces of plowing equipment on different commercial snow removal operations. One piece I had was an F-450 4x4 dumptruck. I had a Detroit locker in the rear and a ARB air locker in the front. When you get on ice and your lockers are engaged, the vehicle will tend to "screw" sideways. Sometimes you wind up doing a full 180 with traffic facing you from the wrong direction.
All it takes is a little goose on the go pedal and around you go and who knows what you'll hit when it happens.

Believe it or not, the best handling plow trucks have open front & rear differentials or a real light limited slip rear. They may not get as good traction burried in deep snow, but they handle much more predictably on slippery pavement. After all, plowing snow shouldn't involve driving your truck though real deep snow. You usually have the plow blade down clearing your path.

I also had overheard a story aout a rich fella from my area who bought a new Dodge "Powerwagon". Apparently they have front & rear lockers in them. He had no real off road experience and decided to venture out into the ice one night to "test out" the lockers.

He wound-up losing control, sliding off RT 1 and totalling his new truck with "lockers".

With the kind of snow we get around here lockers are a big help, we don't really get icy roads, I don't remember ever seeing an ice storm like the Northeast gets. I also have a 4x4 Suburban which does have a rear locker and even with much more worn AT tires it had far less trouble getting up my driveway and the other hills around here. On one excursion back from town I passed 3 people putting chains on their 4x4 (various kinds) to get up the last hill to my property, the Suburban with rear locker walked right up the hill.

I also became a big fan of chains during our last big snowfall, particularly the diamond pattern chains. They worked extremely well on the worst stuff, even pulling other vehicles out of the ditch.

 

[Builder]

With the kind of snow we get around here lockers are a big help, we don't really get icy roads, I don't remember ever seeing an ice storm like the Northeast gets. I also have a 4x4 Suburban which does have a rear locker and even with much more worn AT tires it had far less trouble getting up my driveway and the other hills around here. On one excursion back from town I passed 3 people putting chains on their 4x4 (various kinds) to get up the last hill to my property, the Suburban with rear locker walked right up the hill.

I also became a big fan of chains during our last big snowfall, particularly the diamond pattern chains. They worked extremely well on the worst stuff, even pulling other vehicles out of the ditch.

They do work better. What I was trying to say is that they can also cause a sudden loss of control if it's a true locker and you accelerate too quickly, the rear of the truck will screw out sideways. In deep snow, I'd rather have a locker. On ice covered roads, I'd rather have an open rear & 4x4.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Thanks for all the posts, some good info here. How about chevy,ford,dodge just kidding. Lungdoc I like your setup, r4's for all around use and chains for the winter months. I just ordered rear duo style chains but with 15 to 65 deg. paths I might still need to get the front set also. I have some 85 deg. quad paths here too but I try and keep the deere away from those ones

I guess you are talking temperature rather than incline.
larry

 

[horse7]

They do work better. What I was trying to say is that they can also cause a sudden loss of control if it's a true locker and you accelerate too quickly, the rear of the truck will screw out sideways. In deep snow, I'd rather have a locker. On ice covered roads, I'd rather have an open rear & 4x4.

I want Arb lockers front and rear, I'm tired of getting stuck on my own driveway. Last time the snow was at the perfect temperature where vehicle pressure would cause melting/refreezing. After 6 hours (F350) had to be winched out for the first time in 20 years (and this was AFTER clearing as much of the rutted driveway as possible with the tractor). My ancient Blazer with an Eaton rear locker might have made it, the Ford only has LS rear-- only good for very mild conditions.

However, front lockers are definitely not for on highway use unless you have a death wish or the snow is colossally deep. For the Arbs I'd only get the manually activated version for the front.

The rear walking sideways is just the way the lockers work-- if the rear diff locks both rears spin so there isn't any traction back there, the back can kick out if the fronts have more resistance to moving forward or the vehicle is on a curve and the fronts can resist sliding sideways but the backs are spinning so they don't have traction. If the rear is centrifugal lock just take the foot off the gas to drop lock. A bigger issue with the Eaton was the occasional sharp turn being on the edge of locking (nuisance 'snagging' in the back).

Of course all I need is a few thousand dollars for a set of Arbs.... not very darn likely in this economy.

 

[Builder]

I want Arb lockers front and rear, I'm tired of getting stuck on my own driveway. Last time the snow was at the perfect temperature where vehicle pressure would cause melting/refreezing. After 6 hours (F350) had to be winched out for the first time in 20 years (and this was AFTER clearing as much of the rutted driveway as possible with the tractor). My ancient Blazer with an Eaton rear locker might have made it, the Ford only has LS rear-- only good for very mild conditions.

However, front lockers are definitely not for on highway use unless you have a death wish or the snow is colossally deep. For the Arbs I'd only get the manually activated version for the front.

The rear walking sideways is just the way the lockers work-- if the rear diff locks both rears spin so there isn't any traction back there, the back can kick out if the fronts have more resistance to moving forward or the vehicle is on a curve and the fronts can resist sliding sideways but the backs are spinning so they don't have traction. If the rear is centrifugal lock just take the foot off the gas to drop lock. A bigger issue with the Eaton was the occasional sharp turn being on the edge of locking (nuisance 'snagging' in the back).

Of course all I need is a few thousand dollars for a set of Arbs.... not very darn likely in this economy.

I loved my front ARB locker. It was the biggest thing I miss about my F450.

 

[Bedlam]

LOL Kenney is that with butter or????

 

[gerard]

I have loaded R1's with duo grip on the rears. Have gotten by ok this way for 9 years but just ordered chains for the front after coming too close to getting stuck snowblowing today. If you have all flat ground it's less of an issue but anytime you start getting slopes you can't beat chains. All depends on your cicumstances but I don't care WHAT kind of tire you have, chains will improve it dramatically.

 

[nightrodjc]

I guess you are talking temperature rather than incline.
larry

I'm not talking temp's...I have some 90's that nothing goes up or down, even the deer stay clear and I'm not talking the john type...

 

[NHbotanut]

I have loaded R4's on my B7610. Last year I did spin a lillte when I was plowwing a good load. I put the backhoe on, and that took care if any issues.

This year, I picked up a rear SB, and a Curtis plow. Again, had some spin, and decided to pick up a set of rear chains. Just straight ladder type, and what a difference. This past weekend, I was able to plow mostly in 2wd, I went into 4wd when I was backing into the plow banks with the blower to move everything back.