Winter Slop and Slip OTT Question

I do.
Your MT tires are causing the problem.
I roll on four dedicated winter Toyo Observe GSI tires from late October though mid April in the high elevations in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and I do not have any problems like what you are describing.
I’ll take a Dales Pale Ale silo, thank you!

 

Well,
I figured that as well
Until I drove it a couple weeks. I had the Medium/spicy. Then I decided I didn’t need all that pep on a regular basis. I also have stock size tires. Medium was good and all but it was a little much in traffic. Spicy is more than enough for getting after it. I decided I wanted a little less grunt for everyday driving plus winter coming I didn’t want to get into anything sketchy cuz my truck just wanted to go all the time. I went back to Paul and got the mild/medium. The mild still feels great and no gear hunting. It’s a touch jumpy at low speeds but behaves itself for the most part. Medium is now my ECT button and I can hit it when I wanna pass someone or bang turns on a back road. I like the calmer mild for everyday driving. I have gotten used to it and it’s got plenty of umph for highway driving. All this tune does is remap the throttle and gear response. It’s not a HP booster. Your truck has all the HP. It’s just more responsive. The higher you go with the tunes the faster it shifts and the pedal gets touchier.

You can try a combo you are interested in and if you don’t like it your tuner should re tune it for free. They usually make routine trips to areas

 

Actually the tunes do open up a few other things so that engine and allow you to pull just a little more horsepower on a dyno. Not sure if OTT does this but KDMaxx disables the Atkinson cycle which helps the engine actually perform like it should and not like a Camry.

 

Yeah those help too. I have no tune, 2016 TRD OR. Just got used to the gear changes and use S mode or ECT if needed. Off road, I am in S mode all day. Never comes out of S mode as the trails are bad and constant up and down needing 1st and 2nd gear.

On our city streets, we get skating rinks. The type where in a 30mph limit, anything over 10mph puts you in the ditch. Less throttle the better. I will put it in S mode and 5th gear at stops, less chance for tire spin. My last 3 trucks were all manual shift, and in snow I always started in 2nd gear to reduce slip.

I have used my BFG KO2s in deep mountain snow when it is dry powder, but they are useless on icy streets or wet snow.

In Calgary I drove winters with no snow tires and rear wheel drive. Flat, no hills, and cold dry and sticky snow. These Tacos not very good for winter ice. Fun for deep mountain dry snow.

For the bad stuff we take my wifes RAV4, way better traction and much safer.

My Taco has 500 pounds in the back. No sag as I have rear air bags. Nokian Hakkapellitta LT3 (D load) snow tires.

This photo. On this trip, I could not get up that little incline in 4wd. Warmed and the snow turned wet. A week before, I went 15 miles up that same trail in 2wd. Any added throttle and get out the shovel and start digging.

All snow is different. I thought about a tune, but I am old school and only do the bare minimum of mods to my trucks.

 

S mode isn't a true shift mode, it's more of a limiter. S mode 5 at a stop light is still going to see you taking off in 1st or second.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I was planning on a (Mild/Medium OTT) and have the ECT at hand when needed. I have been driving in S mode and I like the performance it gives over nor AT.

I have brand new GY Duratracs (265/70/17) on the black TRD wheels. I call them muds, but they are All Season/All Terrain and have the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake Designation. I have been running them for for years and haven't had any issues over the years, but like I said this is my first AT Taco.

I had a 2005 and a 2010 with manual 5 and 6spd's and I always had the control I wanted. You all give great info, and gave me just what I needed. The knowing of when the shift will happen is what I needed to hear. I have tried contacting OTT about becoming a tuner, but haven't heard back. They have one four hours away to the East and one in Idaho who comes about a two hour drive away.

And if anyone here is in the SW MT, hit me up and beers are on me.... Cheers

 

anyone running chains on 285 70 17 AT tires? Once in a while I have to go 1 1/2 hr away from home and the police request chains on 2wd. I bought some peerless that are for that size but they are a pain to install because they get caught in the side threadthey are easy to install but the adjustment barely reaches. they seem to be a size too small but that's the biggest size they have.

 

I have 2023 OR. I added OTT after having the truck for 3 weeks. I got the mild for D mode and medium for D in ECT. I like the tune because it minimizing gear hunting but also experience some lurch when initially engaging from a stop. This I can get used to. The shift (S) mode is what I rely on to manage the truck in slippery conditions and when on hills. The engine braking is more desirable on snow as it keeps the truck planted. If the truck didn’t have shift mode, I would not have bought it. Learn to drive the truck in shift mode so you are driving the truck and it is not driving you.

 

Just make sure you put the chains on the driving wheels

 

Yeah but mentally it works fine…

 

We went up to winter out a snow storm in Greer AZ. At 8,000+'ASL it is the highest continually inhabited place in Arizona - primarily a cabin community full of second homes and VRBO's but there are about 100 full time residents that work in the restaurants and bars and inns.

I asked the Inn-Keeper on the phone if I needed tire chains. They said Naaaaaah.
At the time I was driving a 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid - Front Wheel Drive.
Tires were not Three Peak rated - they were energy efficient Hybrid tires.

I got up there with no issues. The people that told us "no chains needed" were floored. They were all rocking 4x4's with winter tires and since the snow and ice was more than expected, most had put on chains. I got up in there easier than most.My only issue was when I got off the main drag, there were places deeper than the chin on my front bumper. Car had skid plates or aerodynamic plates for fuel economy. Once I got past the chin, the car was fine.

I think this is more a tale of weight distribution providing traction than it is propulsion. So when I go similar places in the snow, I like to throw an 80lb bag or three of sand in the bed right over the axle. Gives me a little better weight spread and if I get stuck, I have sand - even though it's not road gravel sand.

 

of course, always on front !!!!