In another thread, folks began 'discussing' driving in snow, and, for example, whether it's possible to go through, say, four feet of the stuff without a tracked vehicle, and what sort of tires were best, etc.

In addition to having driven through more than my share of the stuff, I studied snow extensively in graduate school. Bottom line is, 'snow' can take on a vast range of characteristics, and the stuff changes from the moment ice crystals begin to form on a dust particle high in the atmosphere, to when the last remaining ice crystal in a snow drift melts away in June, or July ... or August.

I spent some time servicing 'snow courses' in Montana, and have measured water equivalents form in excess of 50% to less than 5% (with 50% snow, 1" snow will melt to 1/2" water, with 5%, it takes 10" snow to melt to 1/2" water). When snow is less than 5%, one can indeed push snow in a fairly regular 4X4 up past the hood if you've got good traction underneath. With 50%, it's more like driving through wet concrete, especially if the sun just dropped behind the ridge and the temp went from 35 F to 5 F in the last half hour.

Wind does interesting things to snow, and the crystals in snowdrifts will actually weld together as the kinetic energy they carry changes to thermal energy on impact. The result can be a snow drift that resembles crumbly styrofoam more than something you could make a snowman or ball out of. Every see pictures of igloos made from almost perfectly symetrical cut blocks?

I've been stuck in 6" and happily driven miles with it coming up over the hood and billowing over and past the cab.

Snow stories .... 'tis the season.

 

Good points and glad you brought it to another thread. I too have found that a wet snow of a matter of inches can quickly bog you down, as it packs together it starts forming a wall where as a dry powdery snow will just bust lose and fly away around you. Around here we get a lot of snow mixed with ice and that can be a little tricky. You may be driving pretty good on the crust then break through into the snow pack and get stuck or it could go the other way and have snow on top, then you get to going and throw the snow off till all you have is a sheet of slick ice. Plus in the plains we get a lot of blowing drifting snow. We can have an actual snowfall of 3-4 inches but drifts of 6-8 feet. So can a truck go through 4ft of snow? Well if it was a dry powdery snow you would probably have a chance if you had good traction and could keep moving. If it is a wet pack snow then there would be no way to get through 4ft of that mess, but if it were drifts you might get up and over them. Tires I think are another thing, in powdery snow a skinny tire that can get through and down to some traction would work better. In a wet packed snow a wider tire that will ride up on the snow and not break through will get you around easier. Bottom line is you have to drive to the vehicle and the conditions. I have seen people get around great in a 2wd while others in a 4wd are getting stuck. And even though a 4wd with good traction may get around better don't forget that when it comes to stopping everyone has the same 4 tires trying to stop on slick roads.

 

What really tickles me is being from a snow belt state and watching a sun belt city when it gets hit with a freak snow or ice storm. Talk about bumper cars ....

 

I like being from upstate NY and pulling people out of ditches with southern licsense plates and big, wide, fat tires on low rider cars.

 

snow? whats that? isn't that the white stuff you see in the glass ***** filled with water and a christmas scene inside?

-cutts-

 

For snow and winter off road driving I recomend the narrowest tires you can find that have side lugs on them. The tread in the middle is not as important as the side lugs. Kind of like the old grip tires people used 25 or more years ago. I also recomend lots of extra weight in your truck. A good posi is a great thing. And of course, tire chains.

 

One of my worst stucks was in (or on) snow. Me and a buddy found a huge snow drift that was at least 6 feet deep about 20 feet wide and 1/8 mile long. Keep in mind, this was very hard packed snow. I wanted to try to drive over it with my old Bronco II. So I got a long run at it and hit it with some speed hoping the momentum would carry me over..........I got stuck 1/2 way. The under carrage was supported by the snow and the tires just basically hung there spinning with several feet of snow under them. We were quite far from home and it was about -20 degrees out side. So we took turns freezing and shoveling the snow from under the truck. It took a real long time to get it out. It was just kind of funny to be stuck on top of the snow rather than in it.

 

I find that offroad on snow my irok swampers do the best but on the street skinny tires are the best and studded snow tires are wicked good on the street.Once maybe 10 years ago i was working for a guy plowing snow.I was driving his ford dump truck that was a 4 wheel drive and put my foot on the brake i hit black ice and the truck must of slid 100 yards no joke and the truck had a big fisher 8 foot plow on it.I went right under a red light and thank god it was 2 am in a snow storm and no car's were coming along i would of hate to see the outcome.chains are good but if they break its not fun.I dont drive my truck with the locker on the street in the winter open works better for me hehe.I 2nd the extra weight in your truck i fill my truck bed with sand.works good if you get stuck to put that sand under the tires to get going.

 

Once upon a time long long ago, in a little midwestern part of the country there dwelt a tire called the penta-tread. Now this was the most effective tire for ice that ever existed. Unfortunately, the legislative body in that era thought that they were too good, and alas, they are no longer available. We bemoan the passing of another good idea.....

 

> and the truck must of slid 100 yards no joke

Even after you dropped the plow?

 

Do you have a picture of the penta -tread tire? If not can you discribe what it looked like? I am not really satisfied with any tread designs out there today, and I have used many on them first hand. I like the old truck deep lug tires that you can not buy any more. I see them on some old trucks in the wreckers and on the farm. Maybe someone knows where to get them?

 

ClatonK,

Only pictures are mental..... If you can imagine a fairly regular tread tire (what we used to call "summer" tread), with a somewhat wavy set of grooves running around the tire. Now, imagine a coil spring such as a screen door spring, say 3/8 inch in diameter or slightly less, embedded in the tread following the wavy pattern. Now, mentally grind off the bottom quarter or so of the coils so that you are left with "C" shaped rings with the points toward the road. Now, harden the coils and presto - a Penta-tread. There were 4 or 5 rows of these across the tire face. Thousands of wire ends sticking out of the tread. Favorite tire of the Minnesota taxi drivers.

 

from my experiance, not considering the snow, the two things that make the most difference in driving in snow is the driver, and the tires they are riding on.

 

well we had our first little skiff of snow the other night and it was tha wet stuff that just packs and turns to ice, well all I can say is that its gonnab e an interesting wintrer if I keep my BFG mud terrains...im thinking of investing in some tires I can stud.

 

have the middles siped. You might be suprised on have much it helps.