Couple thoughts…
We all were dumb kids once but we all learned. My dad used to tell me when I was learning to drive a manual that after awhile you won’t think about shifting, you’ll just do it. I thought he was full of shit at the time. Then I learned he was right.
I spent a few years in college in the snow belt. Good old lake effect crap. They plowed the roads once a day, never salted, and at the end of winter used heavy equipment to peel the ice off the roads. I learned a lot about winter driving then. The only truly effective thing on ice is chains. Unfortunately you don’t always have warning ahead of time, your speed is really restricted, and not all areas like chains. Studded snows are probably the next step down but I never owned a set. That said, aggressive AT tires seemed to be the best all-around for me. Worked good on and off pavement and good in snow, especially deeper snow.
Not all AT tires are equal. Hankook Dynapro AT tires are about equal to slicks in snow. Not much better in rain. Remington Rimfire XT was great (no longer available). Sport King AT was also great (and also no longer available). Mastercraft Courser AT works good, it’s what my parents run. Mastercraft Courser CT/CXT works well, it’s what I’m presently running.
Limited slip can make the rear come around quicker in bad weather. A locker is actually a little more controllable, same goes for a limited slip with extra clutches. Down side is a locker can push you straight, so having the front tires digging to pull the front around bends is important.
speed and brakes aren’t your friends. But, there’s a cheat with 4x4 that I use at times in the winter, especially when the driveway is icy. I’ll use 4x4 or 4lo to back down the driveway because with both axles linked by the transfer case, the front disk brake power gets transferred to all 4 wheels. Drums don’t work as well in reverse, and often the front will lock up and start sliding before the rear. In 4x4 it doesn’t happen.
I turn the radio off when it’s really bad out. I want to be fully concentrating on what the vehicle is doing and what sounds it’s making. I have learned over the years to sense the start of a lot of problems just before they happen and can usually react in time. Like sensing the rear start to kick out and come off the go juice before it happens or the road noise from the tires changing when you hit a slick spot even if the vehicle doesn’t react because you pass over it quickly. I also back off the throttle going over bridges in bad weather. More than once I’ve coasted across an icy bridge.
Weight. The more aggressive the tires, the less weight required. Except on hard pack or ice. Then it depends more on the tire itself (soft, hard, etc). Don’t use solid objects for weight unless they’re secured so well you could roll the truck off a cliff and it would stay. The last thing you want is for the heavy object to come in the cab with you during a wreck.
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