If you wanna talk about moving sandbags...oh man I have moved plenty.....

 

Here is a couple of things that you guys might think about:

When I was running my 2wd f150, I generally put about 300-350 lbs in the back. That is about enough to offset the motor weight in the front. I generally put it over the wheels, and if I got stuck, I'd put them to the back.. I also kept sand or gravel (generally sand, its easier to work wirth) so if I got stuck in snow or ice, I could just dump some out on the ground, and boom, unstuck (not gonna help when you are laying on the frame though )

Now if you put like 1000lbs lbs in, that will definatly cause you to swap ends. Makes the steering too light.. Heck, mine does that when its not snowing out!.

the other thing that is morally important on icy roads: When you have to brake hard, coming down a hill or coming to a stop or when it is super slick out, make sure you put your car/truck (FWD, RWD 4x4 which ever) in neutral, or push the clutch in. why, you ask??

When you apply the brakes when your vehicle is in gear, it will lock up the ones that aren't driving, and the ones that have power will keep spinning. This causes you rear end to either push to one side or another or to keep plowing ahead without being able to steer. This can happen with ABS, although, if it is a good system it shouldn't. I guarantee it'll happen with a RABS system.

this also will happen with a front wheel drive. I was following some lady going down a hill (she has a new honda, obviously one without abs) in my work astro van (sorry, my company supplies the van ). She was going about 5-10 mph, put her brakes on, her rear brakes locked up and the front wheels kept turning over, since she did not apply her brakes hard enough. Since the hill was on a slope, her rear end got pulled sideways down the hill, just missing the guy who just slid into the ditch on he's way up the hill.

bottom line- make sure you have it in neutral when stopping. If you don't believe me, try it in an empty parking lot. It makes the difference, especially if you drive beaters (like me) that are too old for ABS.

 

Agreed numbers would be useless with out all the variables, good thing I to, have as much experience in the snow. The other thing…….it is OK with me……….to agree, to disagree.

Take care

 

You have to go find a large parking lot, and be careful
and learn
and have fun………in the snow.

 

The correct way to handle a skid is to ease up on the gas and steer into the skid. For example, if the rear end is sliding to the right, steer to the right. You always want to keep the front tires pointing in the direction you wish to travel. Never slam on the brakes; doing this stops the tire(s) from rotating and when it's not rotating it doesn't steer, but rather skids and this increases you chances of loosing control completly. The longer it takes the tire to get up to rotating speed the longer you will have crippled steering abilities, however many people simply panic in a skid, nail the brakes and hope for a "soft landing". This is the worst thing that can be done.

As for the variables and studying the impact of the weight and how much it reduces the downward force on the front tires, well, this can be evaluated very quickly. All you need to know is the wheelbase (it's a given for every make and model), the weight on the front and the rear tires (together they give you total vehicle weight), and finally the weight and proposed location of the sandbags. That's really not too many variables, in fact, they are givens. Now you can see one of your friendly engineer buddies, or run the number youself using high school physics

BTW, the guy that mentioned moving the sandbags to the rear only when stuck for more traction; I like that idea, good one!

 

as far as weight is concerned more is better this comes from 8 yrs driving tractor trailers, and I can tell you a lite load is much more likely to slide, both starting, and stopping have actually seen empty trucks blown off the road by wind or just the camber in the road but not a problem with a truck loaded to 80,000lbs

 

I have heard of this happing, of course with overall area of a trailer it becomes a huge sail.

 

I actually saw this happen to a truck one time.

I was standing there in front of it talking to the driver, when it just started moving - SIDEWAYS.

Man, it was like something out of the twilight zone! The driver and I both about had a heart attack.