Securing Sandbags

OffroadToy · Nov 6, 2022

I put 200lbs of sand in the bed of my 07 every winter and just lay them on the bed mat over the axle area... never moved or had a problem in 15 years.

ColoradoTJ · Nov 6, 2022

Thatbassguy said: ↑

I agree with this. I don't think sandbags are meant to compensate for bad tires, or replace 4wd, though. It's just a way to get some more weight over the rear axle.

Tires are definitely the most important thing. I cringe when I see folks running MT's in the winter. They can be great in deep snow, but they're generally garbage on packed snow and in icy conditions.

Even a lot of AT's suck in snow. I nearly crashed my 4Runner within 2 weeks of buying it due to the junk Dunlops. I replaced the tires with 1300 miles on the odometer.

I only buy 3PSMF all terrains, but even those aren't created equally. So far, the best AT's I've used in snow have been the Yokohama Geolandar AT-GO15's.

Your options are pretty limited, as I assume you have to run load range E on that diesel. From what I've seen, the LT versions of tires tend to have less siping than their SL counterparts.

FWIW, I have the AT3's in load range C and I think they're decent in snow. They're wearing well, and pretty quiet.
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I agree and as you know (we are in the same city), lots of "off-road" outfitted vehicles or to the other extreme a bunch of military personnel that have Hellcats/1LZ/Mustang's for daily drivers.

You are correct, Load Range E are required in a Load Index of 124 minimum (LT265/70/18) and the reason I plan to go up to a LT275/70/18 to get the Load Index Rating of 125.

You have sparked my interests in these Yokohama Geolanders. I have always heard these are really good truck tires. I have to ask though, do they flat spot? I can't stand that and I have had a few brands that have (Cooper/Continental). The Coopers worked really good in snow, but the flat spotting and they wore so fast. At 20K miles they were worthless.

https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/geolandar-a-t-g015

Thatbassguy · Nov 7, 2022

ColoradoTJ said: ↑

I have to ask though, do they flat spot?
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I don't recall that happening at all. And, it sat pretty regularly for a few years when I was in a service van at work, and we had bought a Scion TC and used that a lot more than the 4Runner for a year or so.

Of course, these were SL tires, so I can't speak for the LT versions.

Tread wear was pretty good, IIRC. I don't recall exactly how many miles I had put on them before I traded it in, though. I also never rotated them, so that doesn't help, either.

EatSleepTacos · Nov 7, 2022

ColoradoTJ said: ↑

Been meaning to get back to this thread. I'm sure the weight in the bed does help with some traction but I have not experienced weight in the bed out perform 4wd with good tires for the conditions.

Here is what I am talking about. Now in this image there are 4 additional tires/rolling resistance to overcome (and 16K lbs) to get started, but with the pin weight (3600 lbs + truck weight) there was around 7000 lbs on the rear axle...so plenty of "sandbags". My tires were at 50% (Michelin LTX AT2) and to get the truck moving in deeper snow (2-6") it would take the front axle in conjunction with the rear locker (G80 is locking until 20 mph).

Now Michelin AT2 are a decent at best all terrain, but at 50% they are about worthless. See below:

Newish tire with less than 1000 miles:

Same tire at 50% or ~30K miles:

Looks like I need to get the tire groover out and add some siping for the winter months. Forgot how much I chewed these tires up this summer from hauling fill dirt all August or just go spend 600.00 on two new tires. I'll probably just groove/sipe the tires since I am moving up to a 275 from 265 to gain more tire capacity.

I actually lose traction on pavement on an overpass (steep uphill start) that I get stopped at just outside of the material yard. We have to give it more fuel than I like to get moving and once the VTEC kicks in yo...the tires start barking. Makes me cringe every time since I realize my tires are being ate up quickly.

In my opinion tires matter a lot more than weight. Some of you also have HD diesel trucks and can relate how easy it is to spin tires on pavement...let alone snow. Lord forbid if you are tuned and have 500+HP and over 1000 #ft of torque. Hard to find a "do all" tire that lasts. I'm not so worried about the cost as availability. This summer I had a bit of bad luck with nails and had two tires replaced under warranty that took weeks to locate and get shipped or I would have moved up in size and maybe a different brand (looking at Toyo AT3).
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Holy smokes, 3600 lb tongue weight?! Those are some big boy numbers.

JJ Diablo · Nov 7, 2022

I keep my bags in a couple of those large Tupperware plastic bins. Keeps the weather off them and they stay put on the mat .

ColoradoTJ · Nov 7, 2022

EatSleepTacos said: ↑

Holy smokes, 3600 lb tongue weight?! Those are some big boy numbers.
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Max is 3808 lbs so I’m pretty much at the limits.

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OffroadToy old, forgetful, and decomposing

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OffroadToy old, forgetful, and decomposing

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