just have to share my most recent experience in the snow with you guys. I was driving up a dirt road, now covered with 4" snow and ice. I know my truck is not that good in snow from the past. A ford expedition past me in two wheel drive and a ford 150 past me too. I was still moving forward just not as fast. Waaaay not as fast. Bed was loaded with items...~ 1000lbs. worth.

I know, I know. I just wanted to share.

 

Yep, they don't track well in snowm mud, or rutted roads

If its any consolation, I almost put the F-550 service truck in the ditch on a rutted mud road this fall.

 

My dually doesn't do well in snow either, and I don't have a box or flatbed on the rear either this winter...cab and chassis right now. I added some weight onto the rear axle to help some, but tracking and traction is still a pain.

I thought about taking my out wheels off the rear, turning the other wheel/rim around and seeing how close the front and rear tires line up.

 

My question is this, if my regular 8' bed runs like this in the snow, how do landscape trucks with dump beds plow all day long and night? I had a dump truck with the plow. But I only plowed my level driveway. I don't seen how they plow on a commercial basis. Right, some of them have salt/sand spreaders but there is a good amount of them running around with their dump beds empty.

I also see dually trucks with only two wheel drive and a plow. Now that baffles me.

Just curious.

 

Almost everyone that plows with a dually has a ton of weight added to the bed or whatever is back there. Those sanding units weigh a lot and the actual sand weighs a lot. But still, they don't handle very well. Really, the SRW guys benefit from some weight too because the plow itself is so heavy when up and so far in front of the front axle.

For anyone just starting plowing, I recommend driving around a short loop of slick roads without the plow, then going and hooking it up and driving the loop again to see how the truck just doesn't want to go anywhere.

 

Yes...A dually is useless in the snow unless its a 4x4..The 4x4 saved my butt several times...

 

Could be worse..you could have been driving one of the fords - . The previous owner put my dually on single wheel mode for exactly the reason you describe. He said it didn't help much either - did it one time, said don't bother.

 

With my 1k lbs. in the back of my duall, I never had an issue of poor traction or bad handling. Once the weight came out though, it wasn't nearly as much fun in the slick stuff. Atleast you guys had 4x4. The tires I have on the dually are great for ice, ok in snow, but suck in the mud. Tire selection is gonna make a huge difference in winter. Tires with lots of siping is key, most A/S and A/T tires don't have that much, and mud tires are non existant.

 

Put four-wheel drive and limited slip under a Dodge/Cummins dually and they do very well in ice and snow - in certain limited situations, better than my built Jeep TJ.

Ironic, but that heavy diesel over the front drive wheels creates wonderful traction... until you break through the crust....

 

Around here, all the pickups with plows are SRW.

City, county & state use single or tandem axle dump trucks for plowing. (If you've driven one they track much better than a pickup.) Even if the bed looks empty there is a few tons of sand in the box.

 

I have never had any problems with my dually in the snow, I keep on of those surtrax water bags in the bed during the winter. Truck does great, course the tires I am running are a fleet tire designed for duallys and for the snow.