Winter Drivers & Weight

Welcome fellow Newfie! Studded tires do help a lot for our winters. I agree they are hell, don't look foward to it at all

 

They suck, I had mine on last winter with only about 17k on them, couldn't make it up the local canyon in 4lo locked with the Rugged Fails! Worst tire I have ever had!

I am now running BFG A/T Ko's, awesome tire!!! Yet to have a problem with getting stuck!

 

I have driven my 06 4x4 Dbl Cab long bed sport in the snow without any added weight and it drove fine. (I did have good tires) When they call for a decent amount of snow, I do like to keep a Large Rubbermaid Container in the bed (Caged in the bed extender) I put Salt/Sodium Chloride in it because it seems to be easy for me to shovel my walks and scoop it from the container. I usually put 3-4 50lb bags in there. I just slide it out into my garage when not needed. (Don't like to waste gas)

 

I know I wouldn't have any issues now with the tires I run, but I watched my wife plow through 10 miles of 12-14" unplowed snow with stock tires and no weight.... no problems. You'll be just fine without.

 

I had about 23K or 24K on my Rugged Fails when we had a 14" blizzard here. I didn't even go out until a couple days after it snowed and melted a little. Even then it still sucked.

If the snow is powdery I don't have any trouble, but as soon as it gets packed and icy I'll have some trouble even in 4wd. I couldn't imagine what would happen if we had hills around here. I almost have 30K on them now and I am desperately trying to get enough money for some tires before winter. Don't think it's gonna happen.

 

4X4 and No weight...
Yay sliding around in 4WD

 

You remind me of my snow packed I-80 trip across wyoming with 60-80 mph side winds while triples would pass me on the left, only to see them in a ditch a mile down the road from me. I suppose that would be ONE TIME I wished I had more weight in the back of the truck. I almost lost it twice at 40 mph.

 

not below 3/4 tank????? you must be filling up every hour. sounds a little over board to me, but good on ya.

 

my truck is always loaded with a shit load of tools for work.all year every year

 

Nothing in the back for weight, but then thats why I bought a 4x4.

However I do put on snow tires in the winter - living in the Great White North. I only use the 4x4 feature when it's really slick, like getting going from a stop - maybe 10 % of the time the rest is 2x4 driving, hence the snow tires...can't beat 'em!

Snow tires will do alot better than any added weight using either 2x4 or 4x4. That and taking your time during winter driving makes it easy to get around!

 

Hah. In 4Hi, no, they don't. In 2Hi, the DC LB has so little going for it in rain with the Duncraps.

 

I'll prolly put 120lbs in the bed and go from there.

 

No weight for me, other than the snow that would accumulate in the box (which I do tend to shovel out multiple times per year). I also rarely use 4WD in the winter. I'll use it at intersections that are glazed down, in REALLY deep snow and perhaps on the highway if it hasn't been plowed and conditions are really bad, but other than that, it's generally 2WD for me.

As goofy as it sounds, I actually find that keeping it in 2WD gives me a better idea as to what the road conditions are and I'll then adjust my driving accordingly. For example, if I'm on the highway I'll tend to only go as fast as I would be comfortable driving in 2WD. Same for around town. If it's too slick for a given speed in 2WD, then I'm not going to pop it into 4WD and go that speed just because I "can".

Like one of the other posters said, I tend to rely on 4WD more as a system for getting me out or through problem situations. I don't think I've ever used 4 Lo in the winter, other than one time when we had a dump of snow that was up to the top of the front bumper on my old F-150. That was a crazy amount of wet snow though so it was justified. I usually use 4 Lo for pulling my boat out of the lake when the launches are questionable, going through mud at slow speed, etc.

 

Up here I dont put anything in the back and do pretty well, I just keep it in 4wd for about 7 months, works great.

 

I agree snow tires are the way to go and I have a ARE cap at 200-300lbs.

 

I have a quad cab short bed on 33s and the tires get quite a bit of "snow float" as do the stock ones, so personally what I do is get two bags of 60 pound tube sand and but i right next to the wheels wells and then strap them to the front d-rings. It works really well for me. Last week here in colorado there were about 2 feet of snow on my drive way and a foot on city streets and I could drive around in 2wd the whole time. The $6.00 of sand is totally worth it and with that little weight you prevent rear drifting and dont even affect gas mileage.

BTW, fellow thread posties ya if you load 200 lbs of sand ya you may reduce your gas mileage a little, ....but a little birdie told me 4x4 uses more gas than 4x2....actually significantly more gas waste.... thats just my two cents though

 

I have the same tires and have made 2 trips to snow country, 2 ft plus and icy roads. They did ok for me but was a little loose when going into sharp corners just go lightly or even back off the throttle when going into corners and dont throttle until you straighten out other wise your back end will come around on ya.

 

Alaska here.

I don't put any weight in the bed except one sand bag to use for traction under the tires if it is real slippery (wet ice) or I have to pull someone out, which occurs several times a winter. I do run studded snows since we tend to get a lot of hard pack as the first snow generally never melts until spring. Also I do run 4 wheel drive most all of the time unless the road is clear.

The Rugged Trails are useless in snow IMHO. They Go ok but are very slick when trying to stop on hard pack.

Fresh snow is no problem; its when it gets packed down. But Fresh Snow is where the fun it at! I've been driving on snow for the first few miles of my road for about 2 weeks now so far this year. Picture was from a few years back with the Rugged Trails still on. Not much snow yet this year, but it is snowing lightly tonight.