I got stuck this morning (Lots of Ice in Portland)

Slid out of the driveway and into the street nearly taking out a couple mailboxes, a scoobie and a beamer.

I feel like I now have a legit excuse to purchase:

• Bull bar
• Winch
• Tool mounts (shovel, etc)
• Tire chains

Maybe it'll be dark next time... better add a few lightbars to the list.

Shit.

On the plus side, these LEDs in the fogs look damn good.

 

Not sure anything would help on ice like that.

 

Need a plate bumper and a winch not a bull bar. check out @RelentlessFab . I slid off the road in the ice 2 years ago strait through a barrier with no damage to the front of my rig cuz of the bumper.

 

Chains or studs

 

Winch would have for sure... There's a tree I could have tied to. I spent like 30 min breaking the ice cause I was unable to move. Ended up have to bust out the cat litter too.

Tell ya what tho, I'm damn sick of people saying shit like "WHY U NO BUY 4x4!?!?!". Cause you know, 4 wheels spinning out on ice is better than 2 apparently. lol

 

http://www.pelfreybilt.com/product/05-15-tacoma-hidden-winch-mount/

Here's a great winch mounting option. A full plate bumper will add a whole lot of weight and your suspension may not handle it well.

 

Studded tires? I don't know... What was the big emergency that you needed to be out in that? Run out of beer? LOL

My folks live out at the border of Gresham and Troutdale and they were sending me pics and video (to make me jealous).

I remember the big snow storm of '04 when parts of the entire Portland Metro Area were completely unpassable... unless you had tank treads.
It doesn't happen often but when it does, those five or six plows that PDX has really can't quite handle the volume of work. I was stranded in my apartment for 3 days on that occasion.

Good luck out there and maybe just sit out the rest of this weather (although I hear it's turning to rain right now)...

 

Traction boards are great for getting unstuck along with letting air out of your tires.

 

My dad hit a patch of ice in my truck and spun it out on a road. Doing around 30mph, hit a dirt bank and only twisted the bumper on the mounts. It dug in the dirt a good 6"

 

I'm on board with a Maxtrax vote. I just bought some and mounted them up in my bed. Should be really useful, especially in snow.

 

Yeah none of that on your list is gonna help for ice.

 

@ 4am I drove to work on that crap just to have our VP close dayshift lol slick mofo I tell you. From Northeast Portland to Northwest Front Ave.

 

Only thing that's gonna help in that is a good set of studded snow tires.

Oh - and Y U NO BY 4BY4???

 

This hidden winch is pretty sweet! As much as I love the look of a big metal bumper, I kinda dig the low-key of this option.

 

Here's another bad ass option that's like the middle ground.
https://www.usoffroad.us/2012-2015-tacoma-version-2-0/

 

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but I'm going to be fair.

I used to live in Portland, ice like that was very rare. In fact, in my years of living there I'm not sure I ever saw ice like that. However it rained so often the streets were often very slippery, having 2wd on some of the bridges is outright dangerous. My buddy had a 2wd ranger, and I had a 4wd tacoma. He always wanted to ride in my truck, and after driving his in the bad whether I understood why.

I do currently live in Utah where ice is very common 4/12,months of the year. 4x4 does indeed help very much.
When I owned a two wheel drive truck here in Utah, it just felt outright dangerous in the winter months.

The thing with trucks is that all the weight is up by the front wheels, and the back wheels have hardly a fraction of the trucks weight on them. Even weighing down the truck bed did little if anything to help when I had a 2wd truck in the winter. The fact is, the rear wheels get little traction due to the weight distribution of trucks.

You say 4x4 wouldn't of done anything to help, but in reality it would have made getting out much easier even if you did need to use some cat litter and a shovel.

When I owned a 4x2, there were times I couldn't even make it to work because I couldn't get out of the driveway. With a 4x4,I've never had that problem.

I know you don't want to hear it, and I don't want you to take this offensively. But I think you might want to consider getting a 4x4, you will often be very glad you did.


Where I currently live, owning anything without 4x4 is not an option. When I lived in Portland, I was often glad I had 4x4,,especially when I went up the logging trails because it was always wet and muddy.

Instead of buying a ton of aftermarket stuff for your truck, you should put that money on a trade in for a 4x4.

There's my .02

 

maybe studded tires might.

 

Which ones out of the ones pictured, worked the best for you?

 

Better to avoid and stay home

 

No offense taken at all! And I get it, I really do... and if I get enough reason to do so I will. This truck business is new for me, so I'll roll with what I've got until the proper excuse come's along

Ugh. I hear that... Luckly working from home isn't a problem for me. I was just going to try taking the lady to work since her job isn't as flexible as mine.

While I disagree with you a little, the point is, I wanna spend time working on the truck lol. You're supposed to support me in that!

Nailed it! My goal was to make it to Division and check the state of things so I could take the lady to work... I was also hoping to stop at the gas station for basic 'shit I'm stuck at home all day' supplies.