Not very happy with snow performance

Snowed in Seattle for the first time while having my truck so I decided to test it a bit. Not very pleased with how much it was slipping and sliding around. I'm thinking it's possibly tires, open diff or weight distribution. Or maybe just bad throttle control since it snows once a year here. Wanted to see what you guys thought and if you have any suggestions on how to make it at least get up my driveway! From what I've been reading it seems like lots of people are happy with how their truck handles in the snow, what am I doing wrong?

Truck is a 2002 SR5 4x4 xtra cab automatic. Tires are Dean SQ-4 backcountry AT, not sure how old they are or what the mileage is on them; they came with the truck.

Here's a short video from today

Snow was pretty wet and slick, but that's no excuse since my dad's jeep made it up just fine right after.
This attempt was in H4, tried it in L4 as well and wasn't much different.

And here are the tires

 

What PSI are your tires at? I've never heard of those tires before. They could be crap. Maybe they are old and brittle. Could be lots of different things.

 

Psi probably too high at 35, and yeah I'm pretty suspicious of the tries.

 

Those tires don’t look great, you have 1/4 inch of tread. New tires time.

 

Put 150 lbs of sand bags over the rear wheels.

 

All about tires. I've driven in vehicles with brand new off brand tires and I was spinning everywhere and abs activated with the lightest touch of the brake.

With proper tires in 4x4, zero spin and zero abs interventions. Of course you have to drive with common sense too.

Look for tires with the mountain snowflake logo on them. Or at the very least m+s stamped.

 

My Tacoma is totally different in snow with five 40lb sand bags in the bed. Without them, the rear is just too light and difficult to get good traction sometimes

 

Snow is slippery...

you’re going to slide around and spin tires in the snow. Get to know your truck in 2wd and 4wd. Definitely get some better tires.

 

Your tires suck and the driver needs more experience. Even with those tires you can make it up. get some momentum. Take off traction control. Spin your way up if you have to. Nobody was born knowing how to drive in snow.

 

Looks like I'm going tire shopping! Thanks everyone

 

X1000 on the tires. Also, limited slip and lockers would have possibly made things worse. In the snow a locked axle will have more of a tendency to spin out.

 

Tires look sketch.

One thing I remember about driving in inclement weather in Seattle is the locals by and large didn’t know what they were doing.

So, if you are inexperienced like many of your neighbors that is def a contributing factor. That video...trying to start from a stopped position at that pitch and precip is going to be challenging in any vehicle. Knowing how much momentum to build up and how to get there is all about feel.

Driving in snow is all about feel. For the conditions and how your truck responds to them. Learning how to build momentum for untreated hills and what not without over-accelerating, braking appropriately, keeping safe distance from other vehicles etc

My ‘98 4x does great but that’s with it in 4wd as soon as the first flake falls. I’m also 44 and have lived in MO my whole life.

If you are inexperienced I’d take that puppy into an empty parking lot full of snow and get aggressive with it starting, stopping, turning, stopping, etc to get a better feel.

if that packed down snow has turned to ice only a shovel, sand, ice melt, etc is going to help

If you know what you’re doing it’s the tires

 

There’s a reason CO instituted tire tread laws on the mountain highways....

In other words Your tread is dead.

With the slushy snow, your tires can’t squeeze out enough slush in-time and its just compressing it into ice under your tire.

 

Those are the les schwab special. Knock off toyo At2s

Your truck is light.. try loading the bed up and getting tires with more tread..

Edit: also consider airing down a bit.

 

Your tires are crap. Get some new rubber.

 

A Honda Ridgeline would walk up that hill

 

Some decent info in this thread. Might be worth a read:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/snow-wheeling-tips-n-tricks.642121/

 

Uhhhhh, when did Dollar General start selling tires? Our trucks are quite light....

 

Just ahead of, rather than directly over, is better.

 

Crap tires (both brand and wear), likely at street pressure, no extra weight, you must commit to being in 4wd pretty much all the time in inclement weather (you won't hurt it)