I pick up my new '04 F150 XLT Supercab tomorrow. It's a 4X4 and I also have the 3.55 limited slip axle for 2 wheel operation.

This is the first truck I ever owned (it only took me 61 years to get it), but my dad had an F150 in 1978. He used a couple bags of sand in the bed over the rear axle to improve balance and traction for driving in the snow. An added benefit was that the sand could also be used to improve traction on ice when needed. Is this still done? How much weight would you guys recommend if it is done?

 

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The disadvantage of a limited slip axle in the winter is that BOTH rear wheels will lose traction. With an open differential, only one wheel will, and the back end will have less of a tendency to kick around on you.

But you can compensate for that by throwing a little more weight back there. I'd put a couple hundred pounds back there and see how it does. You can always add more later. Sand is cheap. Concrete also works well.

 

in my sonoma i had 200 lbs of crushed rock and i was ok. but i only had a 2.3 L4 and no 4x4. standard transmission helped a lot though

a 66 lb bag sells for 2 CAN$. go to the hardware store and get the plastic bags of crushed rock or sand they keep on pallets in front of the store. those canvas sand bags they sell at the tire place are expensive and will be a pain to open

like you said it helps to have sand if you're stuck on some ice. if you get stuck in snow crushed stone is good. if you make it to spring you can mix them up with some portland and set fence posts

how much i don't know. a guy i worked for has a f350 with a diesel and a plow in the front, and a dumper box in the back... he must have at least 500 lbs plus another 500 lbs of salt. but that's for a dually and he needs a lot of traction to push that blade

you don't need 1000 lbs. i'd go with 200 lbs. just for the extra traction. if you get in trouble you have the 4x4 anyway

 

I use 8-10, 70lbs sandbags on my f250.

 

Welcome to FTE!

Tires, tires, tires!!!

They have far more impact on traction than a bunch of sandbags.....not to mention the projectiles they become in a accident, when they are placed in the rear of the box....

I'm dang lucky to be alive and posting today....

If you are going to use weight, make sure it is secured well, and placed between in the front most part of your box.

Since you are getting a new truck, I'd talk to the salesman about getting a set of better tires... sometimes they are willing to swap.

 

I always use tubesand, and NO CONCRETE/CINDER BLOCKS. Blocks are dangerous, tubesand isn't. I used to shoot for about 350 lbs in my '90 F150 2wd, open 3.55. The only time I got stuck was when I tried to go through snow that was too deep, got hung up on the spare tire and tranny so that the wheels couldn't reach the ground. I also kept some mild off-road tires on the back for better overall traction. Street tires for the front. And, I disagree with superrangerman--tubesand goes over the rear axle, not in the front of the box. Your front tires have the weight of the engine helping them out, but the rear have comparatively little weight over them.

Jason

 

> not to mention the projectiles they become in a accident

I have seen some interesting things happen when a load of concrete blocks goes through the front of the bed and into the cab, not something you want to clean up afterwards.

Even an unfrozen bag or tube of sand is deadly in a frontal collision, it will go right through the window and if frozen can go right through the cab.

I use to put about 600 pounds of sand into my Ranger. To prevent the sand from turning into a rock, I wrapped the bags in plastic bags and tied them. I laid them all flat and preventing them from moving. Putting a sheet of plywood cut to fit your bed and securing that works well.

That way you can put a load on top of the wood or drop the tailgate and shovel the snow out of the bed. On my plow trucks, I use to have a front end loader dump a load of snow/ice in the bed on the F-350 to give it even more weight.

 

Exactly, fortunately for me, I had a tool box on my truck that stoped that 70lb sand bag from decapitating me. That heay duty metal box has a 8" round hole in it, which was directly behind my drivers side head rest.

The reason you should put the bags all the way to to front is to minimize the posibilty of your weight haveing any acceleration translated to them in frontal accident. And secondly, having the bags in any place before the axel is still putting weight on the rear axel, with a super small fraction translated to the front wheels.

 

Talking about weight in the back of a truck in snow ALREADY?!?

I have seven 5 gallon pails full of sand. Not exactly sure how much that weighs, but someone on here with the right background helped me out, and figured they're about 75 lbs each. So that works out to just over 500 lbs, up at the front of the bed, by the cab. All secured with ratchet straps, and a load lock.

I like to keep the sand up at the front and here's why. The fact that it is in plastic pails, with a tendency to slide around if not restrained. Load shift, slamming all around, and bending the tailgate, and bulkhead. Too much weight over the rear axle will produce a "lifting effect" on the front axle, and that's what you don't want when you're trying to steer. Putting the weight all the way back by the tailgate will make it worse. So having the load up at the front balances the weight over both axles, and that's always a good thing.

 

well here's what i like to do regarding winter ballast. first off, mont the spare in the box, you wont want to have to be getting it out from underneath during the winter months anyhow. i mount mine upright on the left side of the box behind the cab. then, get the largest tire that will fit in the spare carrier, with the tire still mounted on the rim, pull out the valve stem, then take a small funnel, put in the hole where the stem was and start putting in sand. when you cant get anymore in, stand the tire upright and shake it a little to settle the sand, keep going till you cant get any more sand in. then use a blind fastener, i use something called a wellnut, it is rubber, is about 3/8 in diameter and has a nut on one end. put it in the hole and tighten the screw, it will "bunch-up" the rubber inside the rim and keep the sand in. last, put the sand-filled spare up in the carreir. it will be behind the axle for best balance, secure and not going anywhere, and best of all, it wont be taking up any box space. you could even leave it there year-round if you wanted to. it will be heavy, the one for my 3/4 ton was a 9.50-16.5 tire and weighed almost 300 pds. the one on my ranger is a tempory spare from a jeep wrangler 15" rim and weighes around 140 pds. get help to put it up in the carrier, its the worst part of the whole job. whatever you do, make shure its secured, you never know what could happen, and if you come to a sudden stop, loose items will want to keep going. Dave.

 

if you are shoveling snow, shovel it into the back of the truck, unless you need the cargo area. racsan has great advise by filling an extra tire with sand, going to try that myself. BTW 4wd works really well too

 

Tires are a huge part of it. My folks had an 89 Chevy 3/4 ton that would get stuck on flat ground in a powdered snow with over 500 lbs of sand in it, because it had an open rear end and Goodyear Wrangler HT (highway) tires. I have a 77 F100 with cheap mud tires which have just a bit of siping, and have yet to get stuck going up our uphill driveway, with no weight other than my usual crap in the bed.

 

More weight = longer stopping distances.

If I lived in snow country again, I'd have me an impact wrench and a set of steel wheels with the stickiest studded snowies made, and run them in the snow and a good set of mud snow rated tires when it was clear.

I'd probably carry a little sand for the traction thing. But more weight gives you traction, but can take more traction to get moving and to stop, and if it's not in the right place, give your wierd handling.

 

When I lived in the midwest......I carried a few bags of rock salt over the back axle. No really, no one ever stole em.