Stuck in deep snow... recipe?

The other day I got up to my floorboards in snow, and had a hell of a time getting unstuck. I put on chains, put it in 4Lo and locked the rear diff, but I shut off ATRAC because it seemed to be screwing with me. I was able to apply power without much trouble, but my front tires weren't cutting the mustard so I couldn't steer, front tires would plow and truck would just run straight and wouldn't turn out of the rut my right side was in.

I am now wondering in retrospect what I could have done extra.

- Should I have left ATRAC on? Do people find it useful in loose deep snow on top of the locker?

- Would airing down the tires have helped much?

- I know you aren't supposed to put CHAINS on the front, but could I get a set of real skinny Z-cables or something like that?


Also, more generally I should probably consider snow tires more seriously

 

you can run chains up front if you get 1.25" spacers.

 

Break out the shovel. Lots of times a few minutes with the shovel can make life much easier. Knock down the walls that are railroading you. A garden hoe will help a lot if you're up to your floorboards. It works much better than a shovel at getting snow out from under your rig (it usually just slides off the shovel). A nice long handled shovel and hoe will make life much nicer.

Another trick I've used is the hi-lift with lift mate. Life a wheel up, fill in the hole with snow set the wheel back down. Doesn't take long to do each wheel, then you can back up and get another running start.

Then of course, there's always the winch:

 

I really like the tip with the garden hoe, thanks! I would think airing down would have helped a bit...

 

First step is to stop making your situation worse. AKA get off the skinny petal, step out of the truck and look at what is stopping you. I get stuck in snow a little to often and always find my way out.

Soon as I stop moving I get out and grab my shovel. These shovels are worth it! I got a similar one for $20.



Shovel a path that has little to no resistance. Make sure to have clearance for your diffs and anything else that can hold you up. If this doesn't work, then I air down to 10 or so PSI. Re clearance and try again. It may be a slow process but it works. You can also try to add traction by digging to dirt if possible and then sprinkling it in front of your tires. Tree branches can work sometimes but I never had much luck with em.

The best purchase I have made is a pair of maxtrax. I lock the rear and put them both in the back. Then remove the snow from the front and I can get the truck out of the hole I dug myself in. Then its just a matter of being careful and taking my time so I don't sink to my frame again.

 

Maxtrax

 

And when the winch jams...

 

That's Jon's next project..he's going to SAC it..

 

It is just a button push, so not try it?

It does make some serious weird noise in the front, but that is normal for A-TRAC.

In snow, I enjoyed the combination of A-TRAC + the Rear Locker... in that mode, the A-TRAC remains off until you drop below 3 mph (almost stuck or stuck), then goes active for needed traction on the front. Without the locker on, A-TRAC works at all speeds in low range, but in snow with lots of slipping of the tires, there is a lot of grunting noise from the A-TRAC device.

Not deep at all, but you can't expect too much snow here in San Diego!

 

Airing down is key for any off road situation. It gives you a bigger foot print.

http://www.warn.com/blog/2011/04/28/airing_down_your_tires_for_offroad_use.shtml

 

alittle shoveling goes a long way. When I lived in Idaho you were always pulling people out of ditches and even then you had to dig out a path, otherwise you'd just drag them along the ditch instead of back up onto the road.

 

Ha! I had Jeverich with me, he's almost the Chuck Norris of snow travel

 

Thanks for all the great input! We definitely went to town with the earthworks, although we didn't have a hoe, that is a great idea. It was challenging because the "road" was packed snow/ice about a foot tall, and I had fallen off the "road" into the "shoulder" of loose snow. So we needed to ramp the right front up onto the "road", which was very challenging.

SO we got:

- Winch

- Jack up, pile snow under wheel

- Hoe

- Air down

Thanks again

 

Airing down helps with traction and flotation, but from my experience the best thing for snow is a good shovel. Might take some time, but you can almost always shovel yourself out.

 

This is the one case where A-Trac is near useless. When one wheel spins, it stabs the break for that wheel forcing the other wheel to spin. In deep snow your A-Trac would have been going crazy and all of the noise it would have been creating can be off putting the first time you hear it. The problem is, if a wheel did have traction, the other wheel would have to break loose, stab the break, then send power to the wheel with traction, computer releases the break on the spinning wheel, wheel spins again, process repeats several times a second. In deep snow where you "may" have to keep applying power over distance is where I start to worry about damaging the front diff. A-Trac really is amazing, and I use it a lot when off road, but obstacles are often cleared in less than a minute. As a rule of thumb, the order I use is:

1. 4W-Hi
2. 4W-Hi + A-Trac
3. 4Lo
4. 4Low + A-Trac
5. 4Low + Lockers (No A-Trac is needed with lockers on both ends)

I will often skip "steps" if I can see a problem coming, and usually I can, but sometimes the mud is deeper or the rocks are more slippery than expected. I have also been considering the locker "any time" mod. My front locker is after market it is already "anytime".

[Edited for clarity, typing while tired is bad ]

 

Why would you be in 4LO in that snow ?

 

Look at the license plate ...

 

In that guy's defense, I have been known to switch to 4LO when, thanks to whoops, 2nd is too fast and 1st is too slow, i.e. to get more gear choices under 20mph

 

Nice shovel, why the lighter?