First heavy snow

[Ratch]

I saw an F150 or 250 that apparently was parked levelly across a ditch on the bumpers with the tires hanging. The pullout operation was halfway done when I went back to get a closer look. My truck's handling is adequate. In a ditch I'm probably screwed, but I don't expect that to happen on snow. If there's ice maybe I should just stay home and drink hot cooca.

 

[mn_smokeater]

snow is pretty manageable if your rig is set up to run through it and you know what your doing

Ice=even if your a pro driver and have the best equipment can still fawk you hard.


ETA:

Big thing: never drive when you know your limits and to go out would be pushing it way past them.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I survived driving a couple years at college... it was a small town that measured snowfall by the foot. They also plowed once a day whether it needed it or not and never salted. After winter they took heavy equipment around and scraped up the 6-8" of ice off the roads. Never slid off an icy road there - it just took good tires, knowing when to stay home, and remembering to keep your head out of your rear.

I did, however, bump a car once because I couldn't stop on the ice when some girl cut a corner. After that I started running chains on my Ranger (since it was 2wd) and never had a problem.

Driving my one Bronco II (which I made the mistake of selling), I accidently got it stuck once next to a road - I missed my turn and decided to pull a U since there was nobody around. Only thing was, my U-turn was wider than the road. I didn't think anything of plowing into the snow on the side of the road until I lost traction (got hung up on the packed snow where snowmobiles were being run). Only other time I went off the road up there in the BII was on purpose. Was coming up to a stop light and no matter how lightly I touched the brakes, I instantly would start in an uncontrolled slide. So I used the snowbank on the side of the road to stop me. Threw it in 4-low an backed out when I got stopped, lol. Then I inched up to the light in 4-lo.

 

[99RangerBoss]

i got a 2wd drive open ranger with 31's and man those things make the biggest difference is snow i can drive through snow banks and everything with them i feel like it almost 4x4 but not lol. Been driving in snow since i got my license in high school gotta a good feel for it now lots of fun lol

 

[bobbywalter]

wet snow this morning. going down a secondary 3 stuck in the middle of the road vehicles, one in the ditch.

all 2wd. one in ditch 4x4 wind blowing so bad didnt see the stuck vehicles and took the ditch.


drifts too high. all the main road were plowed fooling drivers into running down that road..


happens all the time.

 

[strvger]

i've had more than a foot of snow on the ground here for about a month. most of the roads have been sanded/salted so the freeway and city streets aren't bad really. 'course i live close to 10 miles out of town, end of a dead end class 5 road. road runs north/south so the wind out of the west loves to make big drifts over it all the time. that's why all my vehicles are either 4x4 or awd.

 

[feellnfroggy]

I wish we measured in feet lol, at least for a month or two. We got about 6-8 inches. Lotsa ice though. I have 4x4 but managed to stay in 2 wheel for the most part.

 

[Tedybear]

We get tons of lake effect snow in my area. Last week it was about 40+ inches in a matter of a few days. This week? about 8" tonight and about the same tomorrow.

And my BII has the dummy transfer case and 2wd. LOL. It's all about having decent tires and a firm understanding of what you can and can't do on the roads.

First major snowfall in this area? Just 3" of wet snow and slush. I counted 8 cars/trucks flung off the highways due to drivers being morons. Just because someone has 4 wheel drive and decent tread? It means nothing if you're going to drive like a jackwagon... Slow down and figure out how your car/truck acts on snow and ice. Don't just plow through doing 65....

Then there is the other extreme. The people that bring out the 'winter beaters'. These people are just as bad. They'll hit the highway at summer speeds--not worried about getting a dent in their pile of crap--until they take out someone else. Then it's a whole different thing.

S-

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

We get tons of lake effect snow in my area. Last week it was about 40+ inches in a matter of a few days. This week? about 8" tonight and about the same tomorrow.

And my BII has the dummy transfer case and 2wd. LOL. It's all about having decent tires and a firm understanding of what you can and can't do on the roads.

First major snowfall in this area? Just 3" of wet snow and slush. I counted 8 cars/trucks flung off the highways due to drivers being morons. Just because someone has 4 wheel drive and decent tread? It means nothing if you're going to drive like a jackwagon... Slow down and figure out how your car/truck acts on snow and ice. Don't just plow through doing 65....

Then there is the other extreme. The people that bring out the 'winter beaters'. These people are just as bad. They'll hit the highway at summer speeds--not worried about getting a dent in their pile of crap--until they take out someone else. Then it's a whole different thing.

S-

lol, I know what you mean!

BTW, you do know that it's easy to convert your BII to 4x4, right? All it takes is a front axle, passenger side axle beam pivot, front driveshaft, and a functional t-case. I did it to my choptop, lol.

 

[robmedina]

one in ditch 4x4 wind blowing so bad didnt see the stuck vehicles and took the ditch.

This happened to me one time in Lancaster Pa. They call it "white outs" I wasn't driving a 2wd or even 4wd, but I was driving a Ford...an L9000 18 wheeler, lol.
Well anyway, I was coming down this back road and the wind was whipping, blowing snow across the open fields across the road ways. The road was lower than the fields so the snow would be blown across and just drop, basically taking up one whole lane. So I was coming along and there was a white out- I took my foot off the gas (if I had tried to brake I probably would have jack knifed) then all of a sudden the white out clears and all I see is cars stopped!!! I had only one thing to do, turn into the snow drift in the other lane. Well when my truck finally stopped I had passed 4 cars. Can you imagine if I just plowed right into the back of them? Jeez that would have been horrible.
No damage to the truck- but I did cake up snow on the radiator which caused the heat to go away in my cab and of course I was stuck.
Some front end loaders came by (they were clearing the roads) I asked for help but they just kept driving. Finally a guy in a 10 Wheeler dump truck came by and pulled me out.

 

[Tedybear]

I've considered putting the 4wd option on the BII. It's doing quite well in the snow so far again..And money is always a pain in the rear end.

Had one of the "Gonna kick a truckers A**" moments on the way home however. Middle of full lake effect heavy dump...Can't see more then a 1/4 mile. Roads are passable when this happened. (otherwise? It would be a 20 car pile up). Had one of the local idiots in a semi fly past us in the hammer lane. The snow hadn't cleared the top of his trailer yet, so he was a basically a rolling blizzard. He flies by---Everyone nails the brakes due to NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE ANYTHING!!. Went from 1/4 mile...to Nadda!!

All because some moron had to bust down the hammer lane doing at least 70 in a lake effect snow squall. Thankfully not all truck drivers are this stupid....But this one? Really could have caused a horrific accident.

S-

 

[bobbywalter]

2wd awd 4wd.


IT ALWAYS depends. 2WD WILL NOT GET ME TO WORK RELIABLY


most people get along fine with 2wd. but you cant get away with that where i am at.

when you leave for work from 3 am or so and have a 1-2.5 hr ride everyday and live/work in places where it snows, and work in remote locations, you quickly find out your ass will be looking for a job if you think you dont need a 4x4.

dont matter if you have a 2wd bronco 2 and get around fine in a 40 in lake effect situation....cause your not driving through 5 foot drifts or 40 inches of snow....your driving on plowed roads.


sounds like buffalo area with the lake effect or western mi....glad your life style allows you to get away with it.

i have plowed roads at most points all along the way. its the last few miles that usually give problems.

 

[Black2000Ranger]

I think my favorite time of the year to drive my ranger is when there is at least 5 inches of snow on the road. The ranger is so light it's like it "floats". You can make your right and left hand turns at a reasonable speed (faster than you can in any full sized truck) and there isn't a lot of weight shifting around. With any car you need to have a manual transmission for snow driving. You hit your brakes, you don't stop, you pop it in 1st or 2nd and let out the clutch the truck just slows itself down, and you tap the brake and you stop.
Can't wait for a big snow fall!

I used to deliver pizzas in my ranger, and the busiest times for delivery was when it snowed and I always had the most deliveries, and never have been in a snow related accident. (And this is when I lived in Ithaca New York)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I prefer my F-150 to my Ranger 10:1.

Without sandbags my Ranger floats on top of the crud and all around struggles, even without sandbags the F-150 will sink on its own to get traction. Between my 2 trucks it has much more control.

You have to turn slow with either, they will both spin out if you are not carefull. I learned how to drive in snow in my Ranger and pretty much follow the same theory with my F-150.

Both my trucks are automatics, both have a shifter that allows me to engine brake, although easing on the brake rather than slamming on it hard does pretty much the same thing especially in 4wd.