Ice down shifting

This weather got me wondering. Last year I was driving and the roads looked wet. I drove around a while , cars were going slow so I was driving slow. I came to an intersection and was in 4th gear shifted into 3rd gear and the torque of the engine broke lose the back tires (icey intersection) and made the back end go to the right. I was in 2wd at the time since i was driving around a while without any problems. I have firestone airbags (always have 20psi unloaded)with no weight in the back at the time. Is this normal? I put 200 pounds of sand in the back now just in case.

 

I've had a similar thing happen , pretty normal , its basically the same as applying rear brakes

 

I slid sideways about 5 car lengths till it stopped. Didnt hit anything luckly. The dash was flashing like a christmas tree. I wonder if it was in 4hi would the back tires broke loose like that?

 

4wd doesn't help the truck stop.

 

Though maybe it would distribute the torque of the shift to all four wheels evenly so it wouldnt break the rear traction.

 

I wonder what tires you're running, Magnum922.

 

Our subaru has all wheel drive and never breaks traction when downshifting. I think the tacoma shifts harder since its more heavy duty thus breaking traction.

 

running original dunlop tires.

 

There's the biggest issue, especially 5 year old ones. Yes, using 4wd will help prevent skidding when downshifting, but if you loose traction in 4wd you've lost all your traction and your steering ability with it.

 

The truck has about 27000 miles on it. The tires look brand new. I hate to get rid of them until they are worn out.

 

You can use the downshifting with the brakes to adjust the balance in 2wd, its what I do. Also go out and learn left foot braking in a slippery parking lot. That helps with front end understeer in snow and ice.

 

Tires are the only thing that help with braking in snow and ice. You need a dedicated set of snow tires if you do a lot of snow driving during the winter. As far as ice you just have to brake easy and slow down way before the stop sign/traffic light. Or you could always run a set of studded snows, but for most areas that would be excessive.

 

Mine had 5000 miles on them when I replaced them, and I've been reel happy ever sense!

 

thanks for the advice guys.

 

I hear ya magnun922. I still have my OEM Ragged Fails with about 12k miles on them. Still plenty of tread left. Don't seem to handle the rain as well as they did new. Whatever tire I replace these with will be good in the rain.

 

Sorry, I just looked at it the tires are Bridgestone Dueler.

 

Mine were the "Dunlops", just got my 2015 in August and I've already got 12,000 miles on it, that's why I changed so fast I want something I could depend on. I just went to Cooper A/T3 265 and there quieter, and smother, than those Dunlops were, that's why I'm so happy.

 

You're right. It's because the extra engine braking from downshifting was going to the rear wheels only. In 4wd, it would go to all four wheels, possibly causing you to understeer instead.

 

I had similar happen when switching out of 4wd back to 2wd on an icy-ish road. Power went from 4 wheels to 2 and gave me a nice drift.

 

Let the clutch out gently when driving on ice. Brake gently when driving on ice. Accelerate gently when driving on ice.

In other words, drive like you are driving on... ice! It's slick, Slick.