Find a junkyard donor truck and convert it to 4WD. I thought about doing that and still might one day.

 

I'm not crazy, I won't do it if there's a risk of hitting anyone (only in cases where I can see what's ahead before turning). Besides, it's not like I'm new to winter driving and RWD vehicles. I appreciate your concern about me and my fellow citizens, but there's no real cause for that.

P.S. As I said, I am not leaving town without concrete blocks in the bed... see, I'm a pretty responsible driver. Just enjoying the white season and its benefits (free slides/"burnouts" and donuts without any wear or mech. damage to anything) while it's here...

 

Dont use concrete blocks, they become a missile in a wreck.

 

I said blocks, but it's more like tiles, actually. They're wide and thin squares of concrete placed next to each other at the bottom of the bed. I figure that any crash that can give those enough velocity to go through the bed wall, cab wall, and seat back will already have killed me from the front...

I agree with you though that in the event of a high speed rollover, I'd rather be "launching" sand bags everywhere than those tiles, especially if there are pedestrians around. But that's pretty unlikely to ever happen. At that point I'd almost be more afraid of getting killed by lightning or a meteor.

I'll eventually get to properly attaching a sheet of veneer over those tiles and leaving it there all winter...

 

Funny anecdote, I went to the southern US with the truck to pick up (large) parts a few weeks ago, and since a good part of the trip was done under winter conditions, I wanted weight in the bed... but on the way back, I would already have plenty of weight (I was actually worried it would be close to the rear susp. limit) and preferred to be able to not carry my winter weight back... so I went and bought 8 large plastic storage boxes that you can compact-store fitting one into another (they're large, so eight = filled the bed) and filled them with water. Water's pretty heavy, ice just as much (well, not for the exact same volume, but that ice did weight as much as the water it used to be), and the whole bed filled with ice was really heavy enough.

After a day in south Texas that ice it had melted enough to be dumped, so I stacked the empty boxes together and tied them in a corner of the bed. Here you go, weight for the way there, no weight for the way back, and it's free.

The US customs guy was really surprised (and amused) at the boxes full of a water/ice mix, he had never seen that... "why didn't you use sand bags like everyone else?" Well, I don't want to bring back unnecessary weight if I can help it, nor waste good sand bags dumping them over there. It actually worked pretty well.

 

It's ok Bill, It happens to the best of us! It's something you have to get used to doing or it'll bother you to no extent. I sit and spin at pretty much every stop sign in town, and hills I won't even do. I will use my 4 wheel drive when I need to, but I'm not driving everywhere in it! Heck on my way back up to school, I hit some black ice and ended up doing a 360 on the freeway going 65. I ended up in the median, in snow up past the doors and used four wheel drive to crawl out, but it wouldn't have helped me otherwise, as I didn't have my hubs locked, and the roads had been perfect up untill I went in a spin. Stay safe buddy!

 

I had stock size michelin LTX tires on my f150 4x4 when i got it and they were somewhat decent in the snow (til i went in the ditch) hah. I put 31 inch bridgestone dueler revo's on my truck which just eat snow. I can drive in deep snow with no weight in the bed with no problems. Yes the 4x4 is a good safety net to have I will admit.

 

Sorry if some of this has already been covered. I just skimmed some of the posts because I'm on here before heading out to work. Bill, you mentioned 4x4 not helping with braking. I've found that it actually helps quite a bit.

By keeping both axles at the same speed, you won't lock up your front wheels while having the back wheels still able to apply more braking power.

If you have weight in the back of your truck and are having trouble braking, make sure your rear brakes are in good working order and adjusted properly, maybe even over adjusted a bit. Putting weight in the rear really helps the traction of the rear axle, so there will be much more demand on the rear brakes, if you don't have them adjusted, it will be a total PITA to stop without engine braking.

Also, I agree that real winter tires are amazing. Last winter, I tried to pull someone out of a ditch with my mounty that has cheap mud A/T tires and ended up sliding sideways and getting stuck as well. I ended up getting pulled out by a AWD crossover that had snow tires. My mounty outweight the vehicle that I was trying to pull out and the vehicle the pulled me out, but I that wasn't as important as I thought.

 

the best snow tires i ever had where wild country radial rtv. not the mud tire but the at tire. i went everywhere in that truck in 2wd, i broke the 4wd so i had no choice. i still prefer 4x4. i agreee with texas on this one. go to a junk yard and get a donor truck and put 4wd on ur truck. it money permits that is

 

I run cheap 31 10.50-15s on wagon wheels in the winter. Mostly becuase of the cheap factor ($200 at the junkyard with the blue stuff still on the white letters!) They do really well because like a dedicated snow tire, they have lots of siping and a varied tread pattern. Come end of winter I may need a new set. They're three years old with about 8000 miles on now and by winters end will probably have 10-12,000.

 

Wow, a bunch of useful information.

Thanks gentleman!

 

Good idea. I've also went to the local landscaping place and had 500-700Lbs of road gravel dumped in the bed. It's cheap and if you spread it out flat & even (as opposed to sand bags) you can still carry about anything in the back. When Spring arrives, I just unload it onto the gravel driveway, alley or anywhere I need some fresh rock. Kills 2 birds with 1 stone!

 

My dad always said 4x4's get stuck in places 2wd's can't even get to.. After owning a 4x4 for a while I found out he was right on the money, LOL.

 

When I was 18, I graciously taught my Dad this lesson with his brand new 1986 F250. He wasn't all that happy about it, nor did he seem as amused by it as I was.

 

This is my 85 2WD. Had it for many years. Love it. Gets stuck constantly.



This is typical of what happens. Weight over the rear would help, but it was early fall and I had a few tools in the bed. Not really expecting to need 500lbs or so in the back. A good mud tire may have helped here. Maybe a 2in level in the front would help to transfer some weight also.



This is what I ultimately decided to do. Get a 89 F250 4WD. I already hate the dash. I'll keep it long enough to decide if I like it.



Here in middle TN we don't get lots of snow. And a FWD gets around pretty well. Our snow gets on the road and melts. Then that will turn to ice overnight and snow will build on that. So what we end up with is a sheet of spotty ice to drive on.

My problem hasn't been the snow and ice. It's wet weather that gets me stranded. A week of rain keeps me spinning for 2 extra weeks while everything dries out.