Steep/Wet Road Advice?

[sleaux_meaux]

First time Ranger/pick up owner experiencing some buyer's remorse and I'm looking for advice or a good resource for what I can do to maximize my trucks ability to make it up a wet/steep road. Everywhere I look about getting up hills talks about snow/ice which is not the problem in my area. Snow is rare average low temperature of coldest month is 36F.

Vehicle: '08 3L V6 Supercab RWD w/ Auto transmission. It turns out traction control wasn't added until the 09 models.
Tires: Toyo Eclipse M+S P225/70R15 100S (appear to be a Les Schwab exclusive but is say made in Japan so I hope that means normal Toyo quality). The treads are like new (10/32nd).

It seems fine if a little slow on a 15% grade which covers 90% of streets in my area but there's a good number of steeper streets around 21% grade. One of which, I literally cannot avoid on my work commute. I tested out a 21% hill near my home and slowly crept 60 feet from a stop before it came to a stop at which point I tried putting more gas and the wheels slipped. I'm about to go to the store to get some sand bags for the bed which is currently empty and I'm fine to buy different tires if there's something better suited. Tire Rack is recommending Firestone Destination LE3s. I'm also curious if there's anything else I can do or add to my vehicle to get it up the hills. This is probably a dumb question but can I change out the differential and would it help? My Axle code is 86 so open 7.5" axle with a 3.73 ratio. Would a limited slip or different size/ratio help?

 

[2drxploder]

weight in the bed for traction, sand bags maybe.

 

[Blmpkn]

Weight, better tires, limited slip.. all will make a difference. Weight will probably do on its own though.

 

[adsm08]

Axle size and diff ratio are going to absolutely nothing for your situation. Limited slip will go one of two ways, depending on your skill level. It will either help a little, or make it a lot worse.

Weight is the first thing you need. Lots of it, right over the axle.

Better tires will help some going up. I looked those Eclipses up, I wouldn't pick that tread. However, if you are going down a steep hill on wet/slippery/icy roads, not much is going to help. Engine braking is your best friend there. Drop it into a lower gear and let the engine do the work, leaving the brakes until the end.

Have you considered moving to the bottom of the hill?

 

[Roert42]

I would get some new tires, even if they are not worn out they can dry out/ harden and lose traction.

If you want weight without carrying a bunch of crap in the back, you could get a fiberglass topper for the back. Weight helps a lot, but I would start with good tires.

Limited slip diff can also help, but those other two things are way easier.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I would start with weight in the bed, I have no horsepower but I experience similar, with the Cooper Discoverer M+S I had on there it would slide sideways around corners with an open differential... just a couple days ago I put on some Hankook passenger tires similar to what you have and it actually helped... weight in the bed makes a difference as well, even a couple hundred pounds over the axle is a game changer... In the past I've gone simple and just put a canopy/topper on my '90 and it was a big difference, a fiberglass Leer or similar should do it.

Seattle and avoiding hills is not a sentence... they built that city on a hill, the whole thing is a hill... last time I went there was 2 years ago and I went on a cruise to Alaska from that port so just going I5 to the port was a hill...

 

[MikeG]

Tires have a rating for wet traction. Look into that, if weight doesn't help.

 

[RonD]

M+S tires should be fine on hills when temp is low

Lower tire pressure in winter, makes for better traction, if you are running 30psi try 25psi, so drop it about 5 to 8psi, on all 4 tires

Yes weight ABOVE THE AXLE in the bed will help alot, use smaller sand bags because they can be pulled out and dumped on slippery sections for better traction when needed
If the weight is too far back it will still help for traction but when you go around a corner the weight in the rear of bed can cause back to slide sideways, can make for some squirrelly driving when roads are slippery, lol


Limited slip would for sure help, but the weight is probably all you need
Open axle sends power to the easiest wheel to turn, so if one wheel loses traction it gets ALL the power from engine
Limited slip sends the power to both rear wheels equally, and if one wheel slips the other wheel gets more power transferred from the slipping wheel(that can't use the power), thats what the slip means in "limited slip"

 

[adsm08]

Limited slip sends the power to both rear wheels equally, and if one wheel slips the other wheel gets more power transferred from the slipping wheel(that can't use the power), thats what the slip means in "limited slip"

The problem here is that the wheel with traction gets 1/2 the power of the wheel without traction. If the slipping wheel has no traction it is still possible to send no power to the wheel with traction.

This is when they get squirrely.

 

[RonD]

Well both wheels get 50% of the power/torque when traction is not an issue, when one wheel starts to spin faster, like going around a corner OR it looses traction the torque is transferred to the slower turning wheel, so say 60/40 split, driver shouldn't even notice that
I don't

I don't think its posible for limited slips to send 100% torque to one wheel, or 0% torque to one wheel

If you are driving on slippery roads and maybe using more power than prudent, lol, any vehicle can get squirrely, never had a problem of it being more squirrely with limited slip or posi-traction, VS Open type
I certainly find limited slip better than Open

 

[97RangerXLT]

when I first got my Ranger 16 years ago, I learned real quick that the Limited Slip can be the devil in a black ice situation. an open differential will spin the wheel with no traction, but a L/S differential will spin both wheels very easily in a no traction situation. when you have both sets of wheels broke loose on the back end, your back end is going to go places other than where you intend it to go. in my case I lucked out and put the back end over on the shoulder of the interstate ramp I was trying to go up, and had the sense to let off of the skinny pedal and *not* stomp on the brakes. definitely woke me up though lol

as mentioned above, sand bags above your axle. and in your case, an actual snow/ winter tire set may be needed. the tread is much softer, has siping to help with wet/ snow traction. get a set of junkyard steel rims and go put a set of snow tires on them and put them on the truck. when the weather warms up in the spring, swap your regular tires back on as snow tires will wear out really fast in dry pavement/ good weather, and even though you do live in Seattle, they will wear faster

AJ

 

[sleaux_meaux]

Weight is the first thing you need. Lots of it, right over the axle.

I've added 3 60lbs bags over the axle and will test it out tomorrow to get a feel for how much it helps.

Better tires will help some going up. I looked those Eclipses up, I wouldn't pick that tread.

Do you have treads you would recommend? The Firestone Destination LE3 tires Tire Rack is recommending don't look all that different from the ones I've got (attached).

However, if you are going down a steep hill on wet/slippery/icy roads, not much is going to help. Engine braking is your best friend there. Drop it into a lower gear and let the engine do the work, leaving the brakes until the end.

Yeah, I learned to drive in flat Louisiana on sedans. I've had to learn a lot more about driving in the past three days. My previous cars were never shifted out of D and used to ride the brakes for hills.

Have you considered moving to the bottom of the hill?

If only. scotts90ranger was almost correct. Seattle was built on 7 hills. I actually live in the valley between two and can get out of Seattle following the valleys without too much issue. My real problem is my company's office locations. In order to park for work I have to drive up a steep hill leaving work and due to bus only and one-way roads it is literally impossible to leave without driving up a steep hill.

 

[MikeG]

I don't know what the 'wet' ratings on tires are, or how to read them, but I know they exist. My mazda 3 was, for many years, really treacherous on wet roads. Like roller skating on ice! And the temperature was not a factor. Finally, when I got tired of it, and had a friend working at a tire store, I had him look up all the tire ratings. Told him I did not care about ANYTHING except wet traction, and he picked out a set of tires that were a huge improvement. Told me they were rated 9/10 for wet pavement.

Anyway, sorry to not be more helpful, but you may have to bend the ear of someone at a tire store (who knows what they are doing) and make sure you are getting tires rated for decent traction, on wet roads.

Or telecommute......

 

[sgtsandman]

The best and easiest way to figure out the wet rating is on a site like tire rack where buyers rate tires. They have overall ratings and individual ratings for each tire and you can look to see what vehicle they were used on to get the ratings they did.

 

[sleaux_meaux]

in your case, an actual snow/ winter tire set may be needed. the tread is much softer, has siping to help with wet/ snow traction. get a set of junkyard steel rims and go put a set of snow tires on them

This part I'm having trouble with. Based on my limited knowledge and research, it seems like siping would be helpful but my understanding is snow and winter tires are designed to pack snow in the treads which rather than expel water from the treads like summer tires. To me this seems like it would be counterproductive to driving in Seattle since we never get snow (<a week a year) and when it does it doesn't matter what tires or drivetrain or anything because the roads are impassable due to other drivers and Seattle lack of investment in snow clearing vehicles. Smart people just don't drive or come to Seattle the few days it snows.

The best and easiest way to figure out the wet rating is on a site like tire rack where buyers rate tires. They have overall ratings and individual ratings for each tire and you can look to see what vehicle they were used on to get the ratings they did.

Yeah, based on MikeG's comment, I've kind of decided I'm just going to call Tire Rack tomorrow for advice.