2016 TRD Sport - 6' box - Help me build a snow beast!

Hey folks!

Writing from beautiful New Brunswick, Canada. I recently saw the light and purchased a Tacoma. Here in NB, we get roughly 8-12 feet of snow per year and I want to build this truck up to be rough, rugged and reliable in the snow.

I am looking for recommendations on tires, wheels (rims) and other accessories that'll help me get through the winter. Currently running 265/65/R17, but will be adding a 3'' front and 2'' leveling kit hopefully this week.

Looking for something beefy, but not too big for tires! How big do you think I could go???

Any help would be appreciated!

oh and always remember, it's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Cheers,
Tyler

 

http://arctictrucks.com/toyota-model-range/#form

 

Welcome to TW. The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in St John New Brunswick in the 90's

 

Get rid of the factory tow points (upgrade). Carry a real shovel. Chains?

 

Holy hell...

 

Thanks!

I lived in Saint John for a couple years! If you like rain, great place to be...

 

Thanks brother! I'll definitely be upgrading a few things, chains will also be purchased.

 

Ground clearance and low Psi will be your friend, check out some videos of guys wheeling in the snow. MT tires suck on ice but when it comes to deep snow they work.

 

https://www.fourwheeler.com/feature...arctic-trucksbuilt-2017-toyota-tacoma-on-44s/

 

Proper snow tires, obviously! I run Cooper Discoverer M+S (don’t recall what size exactly, 255xxR16). Tall and skinny is good for snow, I think you can get Firestone’s and blizzaks in some good pizza cutter sizes if you want taller rubber.

 

Well hey. This is a picture I took in Iceland. They all run studded tires.

 

Nokian produces snow tires in some larger sizes.

 

We get our fair share of snow in my area too. Snow and ice are two of the most challenging driving surfaces. Assuming you have all-season tires, I think the biggest upgrade you can make is new tires. I don’t have personal experience, but my guess is that dedicated snow tires are your best option, but then you probably want a second set of tires and wheels for summer. Alternatively, all-terrain tires tend to be decent in snow and dry pavement. I noticed a huge difference in the snow performance of the AT tires on the 2020 OR compared to the AS tires on the 2016 SR5.

Maybe this also known to you, but adding weight in the bed will help on mostly dry partly snowy roads where 4wd isn’t practical.

Carry a good snow shovel and traction boards.

A rear locker might help, but I haven’t found it adds anything over ATRAC in snow because it’s generally impossible to avoid wheel spin. But with a sport you have no ATRAC, so YMMV.

 

I’m skeptical low air pressure helps in snow. It’s not really something you can float on top of unless you are driving a snowmobile or a snow bicycle. My general approach is to dig down to the hard surface below the snow and then hope you have enough ground clearance to avoid forcing the snow under the truck and lifting the wheels up.

Even on my skinny tired mountain bike I have experimented with air pressure and not found a significant difference in traction on snow at lower air pressures. I did definitely notice an increase in rolling resistance though.

 

Look at the pressure the guys racing mountain bikes use now, it’s crazy but lower air pressure is faster
If your tires are 35 or 40 lbs psi on your truck your not conforming to the road surface, your riding the tops of your tread blocks
I totally agree that ground clearance is important

 

I’m not sure if you are talking specifically about snow covered surfaces or in general about all surfaces. I’m talking specifically about snow covered surfaces and even more specifically about non-packed snow covered surfaces. I don’t think you can effectively float on those surfaces until your tire contact patch area to weight ratio is well beyond what is feasible on a pickup. Look at a snowmobile for reference.

Even on a bicycle I think you need at least 4” tires. After a new snow, I have to wait for the fat tire guys to pack down the trail before I can ride my bike with 2” dedicated studded snow tires.

 

Agree, if you watch the jeeps snow wheeling they have huge tires.
Our trucks have barely more clearance than a Subaru

 

I don’t think Jeeps are special in this regard. That’s why snowmobiles, snow cats, etc exist.

 

My buddy put 37s on his gladiator with almost no effort

 

No I mean I don’t think they are capable of floating on top of the snow. They’ll get stuck just like a Tacoma regardless of their 37” tires.