This morning I woke up at 7am to study for my mass of tests today. I rushed throughout the day. Finally, after possibly the most frustrating day of my young life, I am headed to this lodge in Park City, UT where I'm supposed to spend my weekend. The problem is, I just had crappy directions on how to get in. So I wander aimlessly, manage to get reception on my phone to call my buddy. Problems solved, right? No. He gives me crappy directions again. I get my 1999 4cylinder 5-speed, 4x2 Ranger stuck about 9 times in the snow trying to climb. I had a quarter tank of gas when I got within 10 miles of the place. I found myself with a dead cell phone battery, no idea where I was supposed to be, no reception, and to top it off, no gas. I was below "E" when I quit and drove the 15 miles back to town. Moral of the story, put sandbags in the back of your truck. I thought I'd be fine because I have the best A/T tire on my truck, but I wasn't safe. To top it all off, I washed my bedding (yes, sheets, pillowcase) and I lost my dang pillowcase. Now I have a shirt ghetto rigged as my pillowcase. Pity me please (not really)

/end rant

It's nice to see that there's still some of the veterans on here

 

Unless your f-350 is a 4x4, it will be worse yet, so you got that to look forward to ha ha. Your from Utall, do you know the Osmonds, particularly "Marie" ha ha? She was my childhood heart throb, I liked Donny to (and no, I'm not gay ha ha) You guy's get some big snows out there. We just got our first one thursday, 8", they get more on the east side of cleveland in the snow belt because of lake effect, they got a foot and a half. I hope your luck gets better and have a "MERRY CHRISTMASS", if I don't talk to you before. I guess you will be moving over to the heavy duty truck forum now huh ?

 

I'm a little young for the Osmonds, but I still appreciate their music lol

The 350 will be 4x4 without a doubt. I don't know if I'll be moving to the SuperDuty forum permanantly. I've been highly considering picking up a new Ranger to pull my chipper and use it as a parts truck and let the 350 pull the dump trailer. But, my partner (which happens to be my brother) tells me that's silly and we should just get a 150 for that. The 150 would be his vehicle and I think he just wants a V8, lol.

 

Instead of Using Sand Bags for weight, You could use a shurtrax water bladder. the compact truck version fills up to 300lbs. and costs about $80-$120.

 

Do I need to fill it with freezing and expansion in mind?

 

i paid $2 a sand bag, at roughly 30 lbs a peice. ten bags at 2 dollars = $20 = 300 lbs.

Matt

 

You might think about one of the new GPS systems when you get your new truck or maybe a add on like tom-tom...good luck bill

 

If you fill the Shurtrax with about three inches of water it gives about 300lbs and gives enough room for expansion when/if it freezes. as for the sand Bags being less expensive. Sand Bags , from My experience, freeze, split and fall apart. this Product is re-usable. all you have to do is drain it and fold it up to store it

 

i like the old square bale technique, but those take up alot of room

Matt

 

I can't stand the straw bale solution. Those things rot and fall apart, they attract birds, cats, and squirrels. At the end of the season they weigh like 800 lbs and are a colossal mess to dispose of. Maybe if you work on farm its not so bad, but I'm a city boy.

 

i havnt had any problems, but i did switch to sand bags because i might need one of the numerous junk items that are littered in my bed of my truck

Matt

 

I central texas 2inches of snow is a blizzard..but i do keep a pair of chains for the black ice we get sometimes..I have never used them but im prepared...lol take care bill

 

I live outside of Chicago, and we just got over the last snowfall(13"--all melted), and I bought those sand tubes-70# each, and I have 5 of them. I also built a makeshift rack out of 2X4's to fit in front of the wheel wells to keep the bags from sliding forward as they always seem to do(never do they go to the rear). I used 4 bags in this last storm and did quite well, and as the roads got better, I pulled 2 out, just enough to help with lousy parking lots, at work, or the mall. Pulled the last 2 bags out this morning. Been doing this for 4 years, always seem to work well.

 

One advantage of sand bags over water bladder, if you get into a situation like ice i a parking lot and can't get moving, you can't very well pour some of the water under your tires and expect it to help you get out.

 

blah, im unmotivated. once something goes in the back of my truck there is a dang good chance it will stay there for a long time. i think it was june before i took the sand bags out last time. im pretty sure ive got about $20 in beer cans and other cans back there.

MAtt