Winter driving advice

[CanadianRanger]

I purchased an '08 4x2 Ranger and I was wondering what kind of advice is available for winter driving in Canada (snow, freezing rain and ice).

I did install 4 winter studded tires with steel winter rims already. But I am hearing I should throw some weight in the back too. If this is the case, what kind of weight? 100lb, 200lb, 300lb etc. Any advice from experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Broncodude]

I used 200 in a dakota. More helps but too much causes the front to be light and sometimes weird steering too. I kept my weight towards the front of the bed so I kept some weight on the front wheels. What about a locker for traction?

 

[Snowplow]

Locate the ballast weight rear of the axle and use something to keep it in place. If you have a bedliner, most have grooves cut in that you can slide a 2x6 into to keep the weight from shifting. Using bags of sand is best, because you can take it out and pour it around your tires for traction if need be. As for how much weight, just keep putting it in untill your rear end is level or a little lower then your front. This will give you max traction as it will be putting 60% of the trucks weight on the rear drive axle.

For years I drove a 2wd ranger like this with no issues. Now I have a 4x4 with a plow, so I really have no issues.

 

[Broncodude]

I still feel that putting the weight in front of the rear axle will give the truck better grip for the front end. Try a slick corner with the weight behind the axle and you are looking to slide if your not careful.

 

[derekj]

A locker in the rear can make winter driving a little scary for the inexperienced. A positraction would be a little better for first timers. Also when it snows alot don't shovel all that snow out of the bed - the extra weight helps. Just take your time and you will make it to where you are going in one piece. I dont know how many times i have seen trucks rip past me in the snow and found them off the road a few minutes later. I had a 2wd ranger last winter and made it up my hill to my house every time.

Derek

 

[jlloyd]

You will be fine with 260 lbs. of tube sand from home depot.

 

[CanadianRanger]

Thanks for the advice guys. I went bought five 60 lb bags of sand and put 3 bags just ahead of the rear wheels for now. If I have to I can add the other bags as necessary.

I had a '98 F150 RegCab and '00 F150 SuperCab both 2wd. But I had them loaded with tools and gear for work. So traction was never a problem.

The new Ranger is just a daily driver...so anyway, thanks again.

 

[dirtywheeler1988]

dont waste any money on sand bags and go trade the truck in for an 07 4x4 jkjk sorry i live in colorado and we dont even get a lot of snow and except for towing purposes i dont see the appeal of 2 wheel drive trucks

 

[JohnnyO]

Good snow tires and the 260# of sand should do it. If you need more then seriously consider adding a limited-slip. For whatever reason, Ford does not offer a limited-slip as an option on 4-banger Rangers. Where I live we get some snow, not a ton, but it is very hilly and in the winter a 2wd truck with an open diff is as useful as the proverbial screen door on a submarine.

 

[PARKINGLOT]

I had a little wooden thing I built for my old 2wd Ranger. I simply ran two boards, one aross the front of the wheelwell, and across the back, from one side of the bed to the other. I then put two other pieces, facing front to back, along the inside of each wheewell. Hammered it all together, put some sandbags in the middle. that kept them over the rear axle and kept them from sliding. Only took me about 1/2 hour and like $20 to build.

 

[JohnnyO]

Like this?

I cut it down to fit in my Sport Trac, I had it in my Ranger before. The horizontal pieces were in front and behind the wheelwells, the vertical pieces ran along the wheelwells and I screwed them together.

 

[PARKINGLOT]

yeah, that's more or less the exact same thing.

 

[metalmacguyver]

FYI: i had 300lbs of sand in the bed against the tailgate of my 1996 ext. cab 2wd 4cyl. along with some tools and stuff in the cab, on the scales it measured out to 2000lbs on the front axle and 1940lbs on the back. it handled great in the snow.

 

[86ford]

Good snow tires and the 260# of sand should do it. If you need more then seriously consider adding a limited-slip. For whatever reason, Ford does not offer a limited-slip as an option on 4-banger Rangers. Where I live we get some snow, not a ton, but it is very hilly and in the winter a 2wd truck with an open diff is as useful as the proverbial screen door on a submarine.

i agree on the limited slip or locker for any place hilly. especially pittsburg because you cant get enough traction to climb most of the driveways much less the streets.
i believe everyone missed a very important qestion, are we talking about a manual trans or an auto trans. i never used sand nor have i had studded tires but all 3 of my rangers have had manual transmissions. i have lived in cleveland my entire life and delt with some bad snow. we dont have hills like the pittsburg area but we do get lots and lots of snow very quickly atleast once a year(i am talking 6inches or more in a few hrs). i have found that if you are good at driving a manual transmission you have less trouble in the snow because of the extra control you have. the 2 trucks i have driven that had significant weight in the bed got good traction but it worked as leverage against me when it would start sliding sidways and i tried to recover due to ice or excessive acceleration. my best recommendations are stay away from everyone on the road and dont be afraid of the gas! getting stuck sucks alot more than having to recover from sliding around.

PS to all the 4x4 guys who drive 60 miles an hr in the snow because the have traction and no one else does, you have no more stopping power than anyone else so be ready to be in the ditch or another car just like derekj said.