Offroaders, I have a question for you.

Good point, anyone else wish to chime in, give their opinion?

 

The consistency of snow varies greatly and due to this the performance of your truck in snow will vary greatly. You might find you do excellent on a trail one week, come back a week later and the snow has changed, and you might be having a very tough time.

The depth is a huge thing to. Dragging the skids or dragging the rear takes its toll on your forward movement. Airing down makes a world of difference as well. I tend to go down to about 12-15 psi. If you're breaking through powder a lower psi should be fine, if you're on hard packed ruts you're more likely to break a bead going much lower than this.

Regardless, you're likely to get stuck.

Getting unstuck:

You may be able to "rock" the truck out. Then again this may only make the hole you're in deeper. If not, don't fear. The worst thing to do is to panic, keep a level head and use sense.

If you don't have a winch, but you have sliders or a bumper. A hi-lift makes things a lot easier. Dig out all around you and under as much as you can (TAKE A SHOVEL!). Lift the truck with the hi lift and stack wood/rocks/etc... under the tires to try and lift the truck out of the hole. You can also try kicking the truck over, to shift the truck out of the hole, but this is dangerous and has potential to cause damage.

If you don't have a hi-lift and jacking points, your stock jack may also help. If you can find something to use as a base you can lift the truck the same as the hi-lift but from underneath somewhere. It won't be as quick or as easy though. Stack rocks/wood/etc... and get your frame up out of the hole and good traction for your tires. Pave yourself a path to freedom as well. Usually once you're out of the hole you're good to go again.

If you find yourself going into snow a lot and don't want to add on sliders/bumper/winch etc... a great tool would be some maxtrax or gratemates. I've been thinking of picking up a couple pieces of plywood about 4' in length, 1' wide or so and installing lots of bolts in them to use as makeshift sand ladders. From what I've seen, they work awesome and save you lots of work.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46911


As always, carry the appropriate gear when there is the potential to be stranded. I've pulled out a number of people this winter, and been stuck a half-dozen times myself. A common theme with these people: lack of recovery gear and lack of emergency gear. One guy was trying to dig out his truck with a driveway snow shovel and a 2x4, he had no chains or straps. One guy had spent the night in his 4runner melting bags of snow to drink. Several had no attachment points. I usually have a lot bottled water, lighters, matches, batteries, blankets, extra jacket, extra gloves, flashlight, food, TP etc... in my truck, on top of the recovery gear I keep in there.

As a digression the guy with the 2x4 was a full sized chevy. I was on my quad. There were two 4runners lifted on 35s, without anything but a chain, also stuck. One got out and pulled the other out. They tried to pull the chevy out but had no luck so they said sorry and went on their way. The chevy called his buddy in a raptor, who then also go stuck 15 feet behind him. I went down to get my truck. Got back up there, there was a Bronco that had wandered up, got stuck, panicked and called 911. I, due to some serious driver error on my way up, got stuck, but promptly unstuck myself. By that time however a whole slew of SAR showed up and it was a cluster fuck from there on. It was dark by this time and they wanted me to go down and wouldn't pull anyone out so we had to leave all three rigs on the top of this local peak. Had a local 4x4 club member go pull them out the next day. A Liberty had joined the fray, he had no attachment points and ended up rigging the (synthetic) winch line through the rear doors around the body. Our guy said it's your rig and pulled him out.

Go prepared, don't be like these idiots and stay safe!

 

"2-4 inches of snow over hard packed ice" To the OP, right here should be a clue as it's been my experience that ice is usually the great equalizer regardless of the terrain. A lot of good info and advice has been given but in my experience the best traction aid under these circumstance are chains. I use a set of cleated chains in nasty mud and snow/ice. These are offroad only but the difference is HUGE. Where wheel-spin and momentum where a necessity before, I can usually drive and navigate at a controlled steady pace without alot of fanfare (until I hi-center the diffs). Recovery gear is a must if you choose to go it alone, just make sure you have adequate jack/tow points added to the truck to facilitate your escape.
Oh and, never hurts to have an adult beverage on hand to celebrate your triumph over mother nature after a long night of digging, jacking and hand winching

 

It's NOT about getting stuck.

It's about....emergencies.

You fall and break your leg and can't call for help. How long are you gonna be out there, ALONE.
You have a medical emergency, allergic reaction, heart attic or any medical issue...and you can't call for help.
You have an accident and are unconscious - for how long?
You get bitten by a poisonous snake - how long before you get help?
You fall in a raven, down a cliff or get swallowed up by a frozen lake and drown....

Just sayin....

 

You drive to walmart.

Can't live your life afraid of everything. Take good measures to insure your safety and use common sense.

and usually it is about getting stuck, it's like all the GPS stories you hear.

Family dies in snowbound car after following GPS down wrong road, family dies in death valley after following GPS down wrong road and running out of gas.

It wasn't just getting stuck, it was being unprepared, but...

Not saying it's safe or advisable to go it alone... you do bring up good points.

 

For snow over hard packed ice, chains work only if the truck is heavy enough to drive the chains into the ice...

Personally, I like the tungsten-carbide studs on the snow tires with the mountain symbol...this year I am using the Firestone Winterforce UV with studs, mounted on seperate rims.

Howard

 

Long as you have a shovel, you can get unstuck.

 

I like it...BUT, wouldn't most of that stuff (straps/chains) be useless without the winch?
btw, Is that winch detachable easily?
i would love to have a trailer mountable winch that I could take on and off as needed.
What is the big flat thing that looks like hand cuffs called/for?

 

yea the straps would be usless but i have a hi lift jack with the winch kit for it so...."?plus there great for if another truck drives by to have your own....i have many

and the hand cuffs looking thing is a snatch block it doubles the pull power\\
oh and the winch just sits in my bed in a reciever hitch i mounted in there...and when i need it i take it out and put it in the reat trailer hitch
soon i will have a hidden front hitch coming....so i will be able to use it there as well

 

hand cuffs for his big women.

Also the rangers sticker drops your hp by at least 10 scott.

 

but i will walk up a hill without any problem and look good doing it ......

 

I have about 10 years of offroading experience. I've done a lot and I've seen alot. If you don't believe me, I have shit-tons of pictures. I've read horror stories over the years of people dieing, drowning, or otherwise being trapped in offroad situations that could've been prevented.

Surely, you can never be fully prepared...but having another vehicle IS BEING PREPARED.

As a long term offroad enthusiast, there are certain things that you DO NOT do...and wheeling alone is one of them. Also, you don't blaze new trails, do not wheel illegally, and you leave the trails as they were when you arrived (pickup trash).
http://www.treadlightly.org/

 

It's been said, but airing down helps alot. Limit wheel spin by light throttle control and don't lose that momentum. There are alot of cool tools and stuff but once you are stuck nothing has worked better than splitting one of two 50lb bags of sand from my bed and dumping it under the tires to get a grip on some slick ice. You can pack your own or buy them from les schwab for like 25$ a bag. Good weight in back when your not stuck too. Just be sure to shovel out as much loose snow as you can before spreading the sand otherwise it just flys out.

 

Thanks for the self-aggrandizing lecture Jan, I'd expect nothing less.

BTW... member of the BRC here.
www.sharetrails.org

 

Hmm your advice seems to be very old fashioned, you need to move with time and currently correct preparation for offroad trip includes

1. Grande Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks
2. Collection of Lady Gaga CD's or Justing Bieber CD's loaded to JBL stereo
3. Bluetooth synchronized with iPhone.
4. Zagat guide
5. Appropriate Credit Card with reward points.
6. A Toyota customer service phone number.
7. AAA membership (optional if daddy owns helicopter)





/end Of Sarcasm

 

^^^^ Love it.

all the talk about being stuck is interesting

But i have seen none of the essentials for when you are actually stuck.

for example: Blanket, snacks, tin can and candle, toliet paper

because when you got to go, you got to go!!!