I have a bed liner in my truck and sand bags work nice but I mainly throw some logs in the back. The normally all freeze together in a big snowy pile mess so they ususally dont go any where. But I know what you are saying about the stuff moving around as I was hauling one of my giant pumpkins and breaking quickly can throw a lot of weight at the cab!

 

I'm not sure about this but I've always heard that if you put weight in the back, put it forward of the rear wheels or your truck could start playing crack the whip. It sounds right but I've always done it that way and don't want to find out the hard way that its wrong.
Floyd

 

That is correct, don't put it behind the wheels if you can. It is tempting to put it back there because it takes less weight to get the desired weight balance but weight in the ends is bad. It increases the moment of inertia of the truck which is bad if it gets bumpy and can be problematic in a spin.

 

no matter what you end up winter driving I recomend "practicing" in a large barier free area(the abandoned wallmart parking lot could work) with the first real snow. I think it's important to find the limits of your vehicle and how it will react when pushed beyond. Yes I am recomending pulling a few donuts to get familiar with the vehicle. I do that every winter and it really kind of amazing how much you can forget about snow driving over a summer.

As for the weight in the bed I see it as a personal preferance, the only time I've ever liked it was in my old 2wd chevy and that was just because it wouldn't move without it. Otherwize I see it as if your paying for 4wd then you might as use it when it's need like when the roads are slippery.

 

My 94 2500 4x4 did fine in the snow. Even bombing around on Lake Winnebago, punching snow banks, and pulling my buddies out. Nice to see a fellow Oshkosh Native on the site

 

That's some great advice right there.

 

That is probably the best advice so far. I make a point of doing it every winter both because of it being fun and because it is actually safer (though that might be hard to argue to a cop).

 

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of good advice. It seems like the these trucks are good enough in the snow if the driver is up to snuff.

It certainly is nice to see an Oshvegas native on such a fine forum as this quadstar.

 

lol driving in snow is second nature to me-get to spin for free without arousing the cops ire (no smoking tires :-)
wieght in the bed should be directly over the rear axle- I plow in the winter so I load up the salt bags along the back against the tail gate; I know my trucks limits & parameters so its no big deal-usually 12 bags of 80lb rock salt for the spreader-helps MUCHO when pushing snow. Unless we get 5" or more I usually plow in 2wd. I take lots of practice drifting in empty parking lots to keep my skills sharp for when the local moron pulls out in front of me with bald summer tires & can't get going >:-( most problems come from all the other unprepared drivers. Salt or sand bags usually don't move around much. If you have a 1/2 or 3/4 ton I would put 500-600 lbs MINIMUM in the back. Just drive sensibly, & slow down before you come up on an intersection. If its bad out you shouldn't be driving that fast anyways..... winter is my fav time to be behind the wheel :-)

 

my 94 cummins goes thru the snow like no other. only times ive got it stuck were when i was playin around in 18" of snow in 2wd an doin fine til i went a lil father over an drove into a 5 foot snow bank lmao. the mastercraft courser ct's on my truck do great in the snow. i think what tires you have on it will make all the difference.

 

some weight in the back will help get you going, but remember it also adds to your total momentum and i worry more about being able to stop when i need to rather than start.

i live at the top of a very steep road (1000'/1mile) and have done it both ways.
the weight in the back helps a little going up but then it makes me pretty nervous going back down when the road is slick. all in all it's not worth it for me. if you're just driving on relatively flat roads then some weight might be convenient so you don't need 4x4 to get off the starting line though. seems to smooth out the ride a little too...

your best option for really bad conditions is chains. otherwise just 4x4, decent tires, and some skills and you're good to go

 

I agree and I personally am not a fan of weight in the back of a 4x4. I know my truck sucks when it comes to 2wd and snow, so in those conditions I just put it in 4wd and go till I dont need it.

I've gotten my truck stuck on some back country 12,000 feet elevation mountain trail in 3 feet of snow when I went slightly off the trail the snow just pulled me in....but other than that my truck is a beast, even with the 305s I was plowing through 15-20 inches of snow just as long as I kept the momentum up....but honestly that was about its limit using those wide tires. It was tricky keeping it on the trail and not hitting any trees. A couple times I had to stop on the trail to prevent hitting a tree and then I had to back up and get my momentum again. I was thinking the whole time that I was gonna get stuck....and eventually I did.

 

mine does great in the snow. i had mine not long ago in about 15" with a trailer on a hill and it made it out just fine. only time i ever really got stuck was on a long steeeeeep snow covered dirt road again had the trailer on and little did i know but there was about 4 inches of the smoothest ice i have ever driven on under the snow. made it 20 feet from the top and started to go backwards FAST. nothing seems to help on ice... haha