After taking my truck on its first winter adventure, I decided that I needed some sand bags.

I spun it out today and fishtailed at highway speeds in a blizzard coming home from ohio. Probably the scarriest moment ever in my life, I spun it all the ways around and slid one foot from the guardrail on the sholder, facing oncoming traffic. Thank God I was on the shoulder and not in the lane, or I would have gotten hit by oncoming traffic.

After white knuckleing the truck home, slowly but surely I drove to home depot and purchased 8 60 pound bags of sand to put in the bed.

I lined them up at the back of the bed near the tailgate.

What is the best way to line them up, and should I put them at the back of the truck, or over the axle?

Is 480 pounds going to be enough, or will I want a few more bags in there.

Just driving the truck back from home depot tells me that the *** end is firmly planted, and it feels alot more secure.

Thanks,
JH

 

if ya drive like me theyll move anyway so as long as theyre in the back of the truck it will work. You dont say what kind of truck you have but what ya did works for me

 

There is an active thread on this topic already & in that thread people have been mentioning the sand bags becoming bed missles by hitting the front of the box.

IMO, You have more than enough weight as it is.

I would day 2 maybe 3 just near the wheelwell is good.

Make sure they are secure though.

 

That will help a lot. I found that 4 or 5 cinder blocks is enough with my ranger and the only place I could secure them was by the tailgate. Over the axle would be ideal, and you probably don't need all that weight. I'm sure someone will be able to fill you in more here, I am no expert, but I would say that more weight is better than not enough.

 

Thanks guys its a 98 Nascar F150 with the 373 trac loc rear end, its a handful in the snow.

I will arrange a couple in the bed over the axle.

Good to hear I have the right amount of weight in there.

 

I use 2 used 3600A motorwheel transport trailer drums to give me some extra weight for traction in the winter. I place them at the back of the box near the tailgate and keep them in place with an old wooden skid pallet so they don't slide around during braking and accelleration.

Gives me alot of extra traction in the snow - I notice a decrease in gas mileage tho - but the trade off is well worth it.

Glenn

 

Up here in the Frozen Tundra, we run around with out snowmobiles in the back of the truck. Plenty of weight to hold us down & you never know, we need that alternative vehicle back there just incase we see a good trail.

 

you want the weight over the axle so it doesn't pivot the front end up and reduce steering control. i threw a 2x4 on each side of the wheel well and then two pieces to connect them together. i throw the sand bags in there so they dont slide around.

 

What I did is jimmy rigged a set up with 2 planks, one on either side of the wheel wells with some rope holding them tight and put the sand bags between them. That keeps them from slidding around

HIH

 

Man, sure glad we don't have all that bad weather down here. If it looks like it might snow the schools close and everyone scared to go out on the highways.
When I was in the Marines my northern buddies would laugh at me. If there were ice on the road I was'nt driving. No big deal to them though.
Bet the body shops make a ton of money this time of year.

 

Look ,100 to 200 hundred lbs is enough. Evenly distributed over the rear wheels not all the way back by tail gate. Box them in or tie them so the can't slide or you have lost the purpose of even having them and the amount you're using if they shift frozen you can do some serious damage to the bed of your truck.

 

sand bags ? who needs sand bags ? when it snows here i just have one of the snow guys throw a bucket full of snow or two in the bed of my truck. then when winter is over i dont have to carry it out or mess with broken bags, it just turns to water and it is gone. plus it is free.

 

If you have a water softener in your house, get a couple of 80l bags of salt and put back there. Than when winter is over you can use them.

 

i dont have any weight in the back of my truck, unless a bed mat and spare tire counts.

my tires spin and back end slides like crazy but ived learned to deal with it. ive never lost control or been in a wreck, i just tough it out.

 

well for winter driveing my truck gets snow tires and 500 pounds of suitcase weights in the back, with only 2 wheel drive here in iowa you need all the help you can get.