San Diego BS Thread.

Nope, just stock right now. Which reminds me, bring hitch pin, though without a good recovery strap that might not be so helpful.

Recovery gear was on my 2011 shopping list but hadn't gotten to it yet. Probably should have made more progress on that but I was thinking I had a few years before the boys would be ready.

 

You can't beat a real snow tire. MT tires are not very good on pavement that has ice/packed snow.

You're 4wd, right?

If you want a good recovery rope for the snow get a kinetic rope. That way the recovery vehicle won't struggle as much for traction.

 

Yeah, bubba rope & shackles was the plan, but I've still been squaring away my front setup b/c (don't laugh) there's about 15" of space between my front bumper and the garage door and I don't want to slam my 46 year old knees on hard recovery points. The truck is mostly parked for days at a time but strollers and bikes go in and out of both of the two single garage doors (dumb design).

I really want to design my own recessed / hidden hitch/recovery point setup flush with the chin with integrated license plate bracket but of course, no time for that.

Yeah, 4wd and rear locker.

 

A hitch shackle mount would be a good solution that is much safer than a strap on a a hitch pin

 

I wouldn't overcomplicate it unless you plan to spend as much time in the snow as possible each season. Grab a good pair of chains, and enjoy it. I wouldn't bother with dedicated snow tires unless you are planning on taking up snowboarding, skiing, ice fishing, etc as a serious hobby or you have money to burn.

 

The off-road should have an adequate front recovery point and a hitch shackle is the way to go in the rear. Also, don't forget something to clear the snow off the truck (roof, windshield, hood, and headlights). I use a push broom for that at home and a smaller combo brush/ice scraper that I keep in the truck.

The snow isn't going anywhere if you can't make it up this weekend. I agree with @2008taco that jumping into a set of winter tires or dropping a bunch of coin on recovery gear for a couple trips a year is silly when you can just plan around the weather. Unless you live in it or are traveling in it often you'll never get your money out of winter tires since they are only good for a few years before you loose traction to degrading rubber and in weather above freezing they will have horrible traction and they will wear them out very fast.

 

Missed a 0, should have been 3K ft.

 

I've been a big time skiier and during my college years, I could only afford a compact car. I've driven through blizzards and been stuck/had to sleep in my car. Best advice I can offer follows:

Chains are an absolute minimum. Locker won't hurt either.

They're going to freeze. Hard alcohol, cinderblocks or anti-freeze (cinderblocks and anti-freeze might be able to be returned). You make the decision.

All good stuff

Plan to arrive during mid morning to early afternoon. Plows will have plowed and tow trucks will be available. Earlier risks unplowed roads. Later risks no tow service or someone on the roadway to help you. That being said, I've been to Mi-Wuk. Though a small town, it's populated enough to have the services/supplies you may need.

See above comment. How well versed are you in driving through snow? Go slower than most - especially with chains on. If you've never installed chains, do it now on dry ground to get the hang of it. You don't want your first rodeo to be on worst bull.

Take it slow and be careful. If it gets to hairy, you can always turn around.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. My evolving thoughts continue the bs part of the thread

I guess I'll have to stash the water tanks in the cab to keep them from freezing? Fair enough. I had hopes since I run a lomax so wind chill will be minimal and a good bit of the drive is on the 5 where temps should be well above freezing so I wasn't thinking more than 2h in the real cold.

On arrival time, exactly my intuition, aiming for 4am departure which would be noon arrival at the earliest, likely more around 2pm with some shenanigans with worst case pushing 4pm and hopefully still some decent daylight and assistance.

My sis's nicest vehicle is the 2013 prius I sold her when I got the truck so she sure isn't coming to help me get un-stuck. I'm on my own or AAA. It's been a while but good to hear that MiWuk isn't the end of the earth in terms of asking for help.

I did a fair bit of snow driving in my first F150 back in 1995-1996 in New Jersey, it had a plow when I bought it (oh the folly of youth right) so I went out looking for stuff to plow. Had some big MT's too. And a bit more in mammoth/tahoe in later years with a different F150 and a Tundra. Don't think I ever put chains on any of those vehicles though and that's some very good advice about practicing before gametime.

Recovery seems like a waste to me right now as I'd need someone to participate in any recovery effort. I'm not going to have anyone around for the trips I envision.

Timing is not something under my control. My sister is quite the alpha and I've been begging for a snow trip for the boys for months now. She wouldn't consider it with stay-at-home and now she's hyperventilating about my safety. They may or may not stay at the house for the following weekend. But I also have to schedule around my wife and this just happens to be a good weekend for her to stay and work at home with the dog. It's a confluence of various interests all tentatively aligning unless this storm becomes a truly massive beast.

I'm 46 and with the money invested in two ungrateful offspring I'm not about to take any risk. I drive pretty slow, vision is good, the only concern I have is no other adult to check my judgement and potential distraction from warring brothers.

So, based on previous chatter and realizing all 5 of my tires are from 2016, I am now the owner of 4 OEM steel spare rims, presumably all 3rd gen. I'm invested $45 total which I am going to just completely ignore because I can probably sell off 4 steelies for close to that down the line or I can just pretend it's a tank of gas. I have 2 days before departure.

So, if I throw on a set of 4 snow tires with mounting and balancing, and I willingly ignore the TPMS light on my dashboard for the trip, I'll be in about $800 ish? Maybe I can get that closer to $600. That's roughly one set of plane tickets for the family which is what this is, a family trip. I use them this time then switch back to my princess wheels until the next trip and stash the snow tires in storage out of the sun. In a storage environment they should last at least 5 years, probably closer to 10. We'll have to see how much the boys like snow but they are highly active so I'd expect the interest to increase. So 1-2 trips over 5-10 years, 1.5 * 7.5 or something more than 10 total trips north at about 1000 mi round trip so 10k total, $80 ish per trip, well within the realm of a reasonable expense.

Perhaps I'm over-estimating the lifetime of snow tires in storage? That may be the case.

Now, if said snow tires eliminate the need to put on chains under "good" conditions then that's even more value added due to time not spent installing and removing said chains.

Feel free to rip me on my thinking. I'm assuming I can either purchase compatible lug nuts or re-use my OEM ones. It's a little tempting to get a set of black ones for the pretty wheels.

 

Hard Alcohol, that way if you do get stuck at least you'll feel warm and happy

 

@daveeasa, why not just get a new set of all seasons mounted on your current wheels? Check the tire rack reviews and find something that performed decent in the snow. Sell the steelies and use that money to buy some snow sleds.

The compound on snow tires will not last more than 5 years...having run several sets I find they start losing traction after about 4 years, even with little use.

Good all-seasons will perform pretty well and you shouldn't need to chain up with fresh tires.

 

I can live with 5 years I think. Big bear, Mammoth, Tahoe, MiWuk. We may do more than 2 trips per year if I can get the wife over the hump of misery from living with 3 boys and a male dog.

I actually think I want to do a round of Michelins on the OR wheels. Because I'm highly likely to be doing purely paved driving for the next 5 years. That would be a practical way to admit reality. But I also feel compelled to get as much out of the OEM tires as possible because my truck sits-in-the-driveway-all-week-long. I go nowhere. I've put 1000 miles total on the truck since I bought it a year ago. This is the sad reality of where I'm at.

Would MT's last longer? Since the steelies are heavy AF, and look like hell, they deserve either a heavy tire or an ugly tire, preferably both. I'll consider them the fun shoes and really it's just a matter of what is the best compromise. One possible alternative would be putting the Wranglers on the steelies but then when would I ever switch over to them? Never. So it'd be a total waste.

I own several bikes and dozens of running shoes. Outside of storage space, it'll be rather fun to have a tire designed specifically for snow when intentionally driving to snow. Outside of trips to snow, we'll take the minivan instead because it's just a much easier vehicle for children.

Another way of thinking about it is projecting out over 10 years. My oldest will be 15 at that point and it's possible our family trips will be nearing the end. So two sets of snow tires and we can maximize the f out of our winter fun. It makes perfect sense to me. That's the one thing the minivan really doesn't excel at, driving in snowy conditions. At just about everything else it's a superior vehicle.

 

MT are not a good pic for packed snow and ice that you'll come across on pavement. If you want Michelins id recommend the LTX2 (or whatever the current LTX is). Those will do great in the snow.

 

I need a good diagnostic mechanic. Tge farther south the better.
2011 AC 4x4 automatic has developed a "clunk" from passenger footwell, only happens when starting from stopped. last 2 days its gotten worse. Engine mounts??

 

@Speedfreak is the one most people on here recommend. He is up in san marcos though.

 

Do you have aftermarket UCA’s? Check UCA bots are torqued and inspect the arms. I had a similar clunk and after going through a bunch of things I found a crack on a weld where the arm connected to the bushing sleeve. When I had the steering locked one way it would put enough stress on it to separate the crack but it was well hidden. So fking lucky that it didn’t break going 85 down the freeway...

 

Stock UCA and LCA. All bolts checked and tight. Can you show me a picture of where the crack was so I can check that area specifically?
@SKULLY

 

They tend to crack where the crossbar section of the arm (the pivot point) connects and is welded to the actual "U" part of the arm.

 

Thanks. I'll check tomorrow in the light. If I cant find something, any chance I could talk you into taking a look/listen?

 

Sure, Im heading out to Superstition OHV either tonight or tomorrow AM so I can take a look at it next week if that works for you.