How much weight are you putting in bed for snow

50 lb sand tubes over the wheels, and a couple of 35 lb cat litter boxes in the back bed corners.

Ermergency supplies in the back of the cab (including 1 snow shovel), snow shovel (or two) in the bed in case I to help move some silly git out of my way...er, out of the road.

Pro-tip--watch out for anyone in front or across from you in an old-people or muscle car, with big engines and RWD. I've had 1 Mustang, 1 hooptie Crown Vic, and 2 Chargers this past season try to commit suicide in front/across from me, and while I fully support their Right to Die, I hate it when they try to take me with 'em!

 

Last winter I wanted to try the 4WD option assuming it would save on gas over adding weight. I left home and driving down the street hit a patch of black ice and the rear end slid out from under me a bit. I went straight to the hardware store and picked up four 70lb bags of sand. Never had another problem the rest of the season, doing it mostly in 2WD.

 

Same thing I've used for the past 15 yrs. 6-40# bags of good old dirt across the center of the bed. When a bag breaks fill a hole in the yard, hit home depot and buy another $1.29 40# bag of dirt.

 

Well, of course,, The use of "Studs" was not mentioned in the post, on Ice there is nothing better than Studs,,, jmop

 

Think about this. The weight transfer is going to be greater with the car pointing backwards it is pushing the weight up the hill by doing so it shifts the weight down hill placing more weight on the drive wheels instead of dragging the dead weight up hill.

 

Try it and you'll prove yourself wrong

It's very true. I used to hav to do this all the time to get home up a crazy steep snowy/icy driveway. Backed right up when I couldn't make it forward. Used it all the time when I had a fwd car

 

Who makes chains for our trucks? 265/75/16

 

I get the theory. Just not convinced.

Next time I'm driving a FWD car, I'm gonna give it a shot. Chances are it won't be mine, so IWGAF if I break it or get it stuck.

 

All the armchair physicists and self proclaimed mechanics experts (motion and forces, not turning wrenches) in here makes me want to cry.

Without using google, how many of you even know what N2L and FBD are shorthand for?

If you don't know then your evidence is anecdotal at best, dangerous at worst.


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Wut?

 

My guess is who cares

Weight in the back helps in snow

/thread

 

You might be right, you might be wrong. Most importantly however, you have clued some of us into what you consider evidence, i.e., some guy on the internet said so .




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No dumbass , it's not cause some guy on the internet said so , it's because I live in an area where we get snow and have driven my Tacoma in it many times with and without weight in the back , and having a bit of weight ( ie 200-400 lbs ) makes the truck react in a more positive fashion .

Real life is evidence enough for me , try it yourself , maybe you'll clue in

 

Dumbass? Good one brah!.....got anymore? Every time you make an ad hominem attack, I smile a little knowing that the only tool you have to deal with your frustration is name calling. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.

You obviously know where I live and how much snow driving experience I may or may not have. You obviously know my back ground as well. This goes directly to my previous statements about your way of knowing being inherently flawed.

 

This is my first winter in a Tacoma, so ive been interested in this thread. I probably wont put weight in the bed unless its just so bad i have to give it a try. However, i suspect it will handle much like my xterra did. Though it may not look like it, its got a very lightweight ass end. My tacoma has 2' extra length in wheelbase, so i suspect it will be slightly better in that department. What im getting at is it slid out from behind me all the time because the rear wheels could spin and therefor lose traction. Its winter, dont drive like an idiot in the snow (at least when other cars are around) 4wd will give you the traction but it wont keep you going straight. One thing i hope i dont miss from the xterra is the traction control. If the ass end started to swerve, it would easily get the vehicle back straight. Hope the tacoma does that well too

 

. Oh and about 236lbs does it for me. Goes in at the beginning of winter and stays in till spring.

 

Nope , not assuming anything about you brah

Not really sure how actual driving experience is " inherently flawed " either broseph

 

After thirty years of living and working in Wyoming, traveling in oil field mud, snow filled tracks of all sorts - mining roads, long stretches of interstate snowpack, fire roads etc. And doing it in all sorts of sometimes "equipped" - and sometimes not - vehicles, I can truthfully say....... in the worst conditions, chains usually work. They can also tear the daylights out of your outfit if they aren't fitted correctly. Learn to install them at the right time and place. I carried the loose chains in in a "sliced" anti-freeze bottle - and always carried a piece of 2X6 (or two) to park the wheels on while stretching them. A handful of bungies is useful to tie up the slack - but only as a temporary fix.

Weight on the wheels always helps. When I've needed weight - in a hurry - the best source and easiest to get - is softener salt. Usually 40# bags in really tough plastic - and mostly less than $3.00 each. They are found just about everywhere - even the neighborhood grocery. In fact I once went to the store to rescue my wife ..... in her FWD car that was helpless on glare ice (couldn't find a decent spot to tie my outfit to either) - put two bags on the front fenders and sprinkled another as a 'traction aid" to get going ............. and drove the danged thing out of there. The open dif on the front of a FWD car is about as dangerous a situation as you can find yourself in, steering on glare ice - totally out of control.

 

I toss a 50 pound bag of sand behind the wheel well against each side every winter...it does help...but for the amount of driving I do when it's really crappy...more than that is not warranted.

 

from a decade of personal experience - weight helps. /thread