Winter's coming...

[bruker]

Winter's coming so it's time to add some weight to the bed of my truck. How much do you add to your truck and do you put it on top of the rear axle or in front of it? My dad built a wooden frame that sets on top of the axle area and we put six or eight forty pound bags of salt in there which seems to work pretty well.

 

[MUDDING B-3000]

ya i gotta put something in my truck this year i didnt put anything last year an that was fun. i can tell ya no wieght an a open rear diff is not fun, i couldnt move in my driveway which is flat in 2wd.

 

[Jay FX4]

Over the axle and/or in front of it. Back when I had my Tacoma I think I kept about 3-400 lbs in it.

FWIW, I don't find it necessary in my FX4 Ranger. I have a tonneau on it so the box wasn't even filling up with snow and I got around fine - in some major snow.

If I felt I needed to add weight, I would have. But even with the light rear end of the Ranger, the truck understeers in 4wd.

 

[daniel3507]

i need to make one of those wood frames. i didnt add weight last year and couldnt even get up my steep ass driveway. eventually made it around halfway but was almost completely sideways.

 

[AllanD]

against the headgate you get the traction wthout increasing the trucks
total "moment of inertia" about the vertical axis.

AD

 

[Nhaz]

Last year I used 6 bags of concrete. At 60 pounds each that equaled 360 pounds. which was just about right.

This year I am going to be using 300 pounds of broken bricks stacked against the back of the cab and then a couple big bags of salt.

 

[JohnnyO]

I think more than 300 pounds is counter-productive. Just more weight that you've got to haul up that hill.
.02.

 

[strvger]

since mine has a fiberglass topper (about 175#), i'll only be adding another 2 bags of salt (80#), and 2 bags of floor dry (100#), for a total of about 355#. this doesn't include the usual winter survival gear: tools, jack, full gas can, etc. which will be about another 75-100# or so.

 

[3literEarl91]

I really do not add weight. I got around the past few years just fine. Heck I even got out when my Contour wouldnt move.

 

[hoosier1104]

I was planning on making a removable wooden rack. That way I put it in when I think I need it and take it out when I do not.

 

[92ranger2wd]

I use four, seventy pound bags of dry sand around the rear axle. That way when I get stuck, I can lay some sand down for traction. I make sure it's dry sand, and not wet, so it doesn't freeze into a solid block of sand. As you/others have mentioned, make sure you make some sort of secure rack to contain what ever weight you use. I have personally seen the damage caused when "winter weight" comes flying into the cab during a head on collision. It's not pretty.

 

[Roadkill]

I've never bothered and have never had a problem. Guess it's all in knowing how to drive in the stuff. LOL

 

[Downey]

if your truck is 4wd wtf is the point of killing your gas mileage worse by adding weight in the bed when you could simply put it in 4wd when you need it?

 

[88gt]

wieght or not, if you have 4 wheel drive with automatic hubs, make sure they work so when the stuff nails you, and the hub doesnt explode when engaged like mine did last winter
otherwise, i think weight slightly forward or against the back of cab is the most productive region to add winter weight

 

[souldoubt88]

Yep I dont put anything in my bed except my toolbox which is around 100 lbs. that and I let the snow pile up back there and with 4wd I have had no problems.