Snow down South

I live in the South and thus do not get many opportunities to take my truck out in the snow but today was one of them and I had a ball.

The roads where I live had a solid 3 inches of snow with a touch of ice mixed in; it was so much fun to drive around the area, go up some hills/curves and do some doughnuts in the abandoned cul/da/sac round these parts..
Kept it in 4H b/c that was all I needed = no issues, even braked/stopped better than I thought.

I only saw a few other sets of tracks

I aspire to do more off/roading for real and this definitely kicked that into gear!
I just kept saying, this is why I bought this - to drive over/in shit that is not normal..
SO MUCH FUN!

 

Agreed, so much fun!

 

Don’t try this in the morning when the roads ice up lol. Snow turned to sleet here.

 

ice = nope

all morning, i was just praying it didn't change to sleet and make an ice sheet before i even got a chance
then i went out and walked on it just to be sure

 

Yes this morning was just snow here for a while, you picked the best time to go out! I don’t have 4WD but a few years ago we went out for lunch from work after an icy snow, friend said he would drive since he had 4WD. Going not really fast around a banked icy curve we proceeded to slide around and did a perfect 180 facing the other way lol. So yeah I don’t do ice either

 

Did you say ice? It is a lot less fun in a garbage truck in an alley

 

Tough drive there, pure ice! As long as you don’t have to stop or turn you’re good to go!

 

I only have to stop at each garbage can

 

Dang first time driving my truck in thick snow and ice, I live out in the country and the roads were bad! I put it in 4lo and drove about 18 miles to get home on packed ice and it made it thru like it was nothing! Man I love this truck.

 

Agreed

 

Generally speaking you don't want low range on snow/ice. It doesn't improve traction it just changes the gearing. If anything, that can be a handicap most of the time. If you're having trouble getting moving from a stop using high range and skipping 1st gear and starting in 2nd gear will prevent wheel spin.

The only time low range is helpful on snow/ice is when going down a steep hill. Low range, 1st gear will allow you to creep down slowly without using the brakes. Pushing in the parking brake a couple of clicks before you start down can also help.

 

This works alright until the hill becomes too steep or the ice is too slick, then you have to get your tires spinning to catch up to your speed. Last year I was doing this hunting with some pretty bald tires and had the truck take off on me in first gear low range, just needed to shift to second to catch up to the speed it was wanting to go and all was well. It's possible to have too much resistance from too low of a gear.

 

Yea, that does not sound fun - at least the alley is straight?
Inch forward, stop, inch, stop - at least you got some mad mass to keep you grounded

But yea, PHYSICS - ya can't stop if you can't get some friction . .

 

No.



Taking it upon yourself to be the master of all driving, is a bad thing to do on a forum were we all drive.



Should I not use 4LO in the snow here?


Or here?

 

Yeah the roads were more like packed slush not ice, the whole road was covered you couldn’t even see where the roads were. So I think 4lo was warranted in that situation.

 

3 inch snow in the South is a show stopper for many.

Here 3" is just a dusting. Most times the snowplows don't come out until at least 2" on the ground and still falling.

Couple days ago, Friday, we had a snow fall of 12-14". Then the bottom fell out of the thermometer. Today, everything is dug out with the temperature climbing into the 30's.

Don't really need 4L. Most important is to not get high centered in a snow drift.

 

You spin your tires, you sink, stuck.

4H will overheat your transmission in just moments with that deep of snow.



4L is for more than you guys think it is.

 

Stop it. Fake news. Send it.

 

I plow with my truck in low range for two reasons it easer on the truck (speed factor) and a spinning wheel has no traction.