homedepot sell 80 lbs tube sand they work great i use 480 lbs in my 84 f-150 short bed

 

ya that sheetmetal off them is paper thin,, i prefer to use their axles and engines for weight.

 

Not good for much else unless your lawn mower breaks. Might have enough power for that .

 

haha, one old ford man. I really like your signiture. I think I can here a chevy rust now. Cheap
Heads
Every
Valve
YELLS!

cheepest heap ever visioned yet
Cheap Hardly Efficient Virtually Runs On luck Every time

 

That would do it!

 

Well, let's see, a couple of tires and wheels work alright,

but

I like moving to Vegas in December, back to Butte in June.

 

afraid i would be tempted to stay in vegas

 

I run ~600lbs in my s/c l/b 2wd. Four 2'x2'x4" concrete blocks at the front of the box. Well, 2 at the front and the other 2 right behind them. It helps keep some weight on the front for steering.
I also have a very good set of studded tires. I was plowing through 2-3' snow drifts at my work. I even had to park in a little over 2' of snow, but never got stuck. Only when the stuff gets wet and my diff starts pushing snow do I get stuck.

 

Glad you liked it. Saw one the other day, can't remember it ( one of the many problems associated with old age ). Something about " Volkswagens " is all I remember. Should write yours down so I have them.

 

what we do in the sandhills area of nebraska: cut an inner-tube in half, so you have two "noodles". wire one end of each of them shut and back into a blowout, so they are already in the bed (they get HEAVY), and shovel em full of sand, wire the other end shut and put em over, just inside of, or right behind, the fenders in the bed. works wonders. im also a fan of regular sand bags, cinder blocks, old wheels and tires (currently using), snowmobiles, ATVs, and the occasional chebby truck (because a Ford, unlike chebbys, can actually take more than the recommended max payload without breaking, or even noticing).

 

600 lbs? That's half your payload (by the book anyway). It seems like everyone has different ideas of how much weight is app, but the majority seem to think 300+ lbs is good. I'll probably run about 300 lbs or so. Now I'm wishing my truck had more of a rake; she sits level. I guess my nose will be in the air all winter. No biggies.

So, what exactly is a snow drift anyway? If they're three feet high, woldn't that damage your truck if you ran into it? How do you know it's not solid? Or do drifts not get solid..?

Thanks for your reply Bud

That's a really good idea. I do have some cinder blocks lying around I could put to use. I turned a pallet upside down and cleaned it up; it is now usable as a "holder" for cinder blocks or sandbags. Just insurance against something sliding around and really doing damage to my truck's box. Also to re-enforce my tailgate I used what looks like three or rour inch thick rubber cut to fit so if anything does slam into my tailgate (like a cinder block) it won't put a large dent in it or worse. The pallet itself is waterlogged and fairly heavy. I'm thinking a couple sandbags and a couple cinder blocks ought to do the trick. I wish I had the money for that water bladder one of the Posters mentioned earlier. Maybe next year!

Thanks again to everyone. This thread has become very entertaining, keep up the friendly banter!

 

A snow drift is what happens when the wind blows the loose snow around and it accumulates into a certain spot building it up. Sometimes they can be bad on the hyways but in general they are the worst on the less traveled roads.

They dont usually get hard packed unless the weather warms up then drops back to really cold. They are usually just soft snow, But just like anything use commonsense while winter driving. If it looks as though you might get stuck, just edge into it some back out of it so you know you can get out then try agaian taking on a little more, or you can shovel it out of the way.

I always opt for driving threw them as there are often more vehichles around to pull me out if i get stuck while at work.

Last winter we got just about 36" of snow in 36 hours. Hyways were shut down and they were travel at your own risk as the tow trucks or snow plow's would not travel out in that weather untill it stopped snowing.

Good luck and Hope this helps out a bit.

On a side note does your truck have a block heater on it? If not you may want to look at getting one if a white misserable cold winter is a new thing to you.

 

i usually go for the snow=floor method. see a snowdrift, bury my foot to the floor, turn on the wipers (if they arent already), and pray to God that i have enough speed to get through! lol. drivin my 93 ford explorer, only got stuck once using this method... it was plowed up on the back side, and it allowed my frame to "ski" up, so the only real traction i had was with the suspension at full droop. in fact, thats the only time ive EVER been stuck...