my grams 2003 Tacoma, weight in the bed for winter?

holy cow. Do I put it over the axle, or at the tailgate!!

 

don't be silly, the law of physics is the same anywhere lol.

now if you want to say the traction is better when its over the axle rather then by the tailgate then I cant speak to that part of your argument

 

The axle is your fulcrum, the position of the weight in the bed is your leverage. It's pretty simple, moving the weight fore or aft of the axle will transition the effect of the weight.
Kind of like loading a trailer tongue heavy or tail heavy. You want it centered or just a tad forward.

 

Apparently they don't apply to you. Unsubbed. Good luck to the OP, your grandma will be fine.

 

since you whole goal is to get more traction, I would follow his lead and put it between the humps right over the axle. even though im not convinced it would make any difference, we are not talking about a huge difference either way so better to go with direct point of weight needed rather the convenience of loading and unloading it

 

exactly my point, the weight is 100% all on the rear axle when its at the tailgate and as it moves forward it shifting the weight to the front of the truck and less on the rear axle. ie - the law of physics

that's why you shift boats forward of the trailer axle so the load is shared by the truck bumper and not just on the trailer axles

 

just remember, anything in front of the rear axle is being shared by front and rear of truck diminishing its effectiveness for just the rear axle

 

Ill agree with over the axle or slightly in front. What he's referring to is like when you have a heavy trailer sometimes the steering can get light which you really dont want in ice/snow.

 

and apparently you know nothing about loading trailers or how leverage works since your own words disagree with the thing you are trying to say, but then you already knew this so you unsubbed lol.

 

I like to use large bags of sand. The bags conform to the bed shape and then the moisture content will freeze and lock them in place. Come Spring I just cut them open and mix the sand in to the garden.

 

Dude. There is more to winter driving than spinning the rear tires.

Wtf are you smoking?

 

now this point I agree with, that over the axle can help both front and rear traction where by tailgate might only help rear traction

 

In my reg cab Tacoma I used 3 sand tubes between the wheel wells. May want to make a bracket out of wood so they don't slip around. Pretty simply to make. Let me know if you need help with it.

 

I take a lot of Keakar's comments with a dump truck of salt.


OP, you've got all the answers you need, but I will add this: Traction over the rear axle doesn't help stopping and turning. So if you can't stop or turn, there's not much point in getting going. Good tires make the single biggest difference for winter driving. I've always owned two sets of wheels and tires and swap them myself as needed.

 

you make a good point in that its important to understand the hole picture of what is the problem you are trying to solve.

 

agree.
Good snow tires + weight = 4x4 tank.

 

I don't know man... I've been driving in some of the most hellacious CO mountain conditions for over 20 years now, and I find that over the axle works best for me... or as others have mentioned, a few inches forward of it.

It's also like 4wheeling... I'm not a fan of having a lot of weight behind the rear axle. I try to pack most of my weight between the cab and rear axle, with the lighter stuff behind the rear axle.

And like Viking Brett pointed out... it's all about the tires really.

 

Isn't that the crux of this thread?