That is one reason why I moved the Jake switch to the stick. It allows me to control it quickly if the rear starts to hop.

A couple of ideas to help it not hop and slide this is mostly for manuals trans...

• Bring your RPM's down low... Around 1,200-1,500 RPM's This will help keep the torque down. (Turn off your boxes!)
• Use your 4WD it does help equalize the braking force from service brakes and/or Jake Brake.
• Light use of throttle and brakes.
• Keep yor speed down.

Either way packed snow or icy roads you can get quite a bit of slide. In the picture above I was at the bottom of a steep grade.

I also took the time to play in a controlled environment so I understand the feel of the truck sliding, hopping, fishtailing, drifting, etc.. So now when it happen it doesn't surprise me now... It all just part of the trip...

 

"I've experienced that regular fluffy snow gives good traction. It's the icy/glazed over roads that is a pain and the exhaust brake is your enemy in this stuff. I've locked the rear a few times and got her sideways just from cracking the brake on slick roads. Snow is different, the rear just starts to hop. "

Same here, snow isn't a problem, while driving on ice is just playing a game of chicken; 'at this speed who will spin out first' :^)

The changing conditions set people up for some spectacular failures, as what works well in deep snow can fail miserably on ice. Limited slips work well on mixed traction surfaces, where a slipping tire engages and gets back on a good surface, but they often help to break the rear end loose on large expanses of slick surfaces. 4WD gets you moving, it seems to minimze the rear end from breaking loose compared to RWD, and with a stick helps with braking in snow, but without decent tires for the situation it also gets you into trouble more quickly. The weight of the truck helps in snow and it also seems to on 'hard ice', but it just makes a water film on 'soft ice' and the few studs if present can't always provide the needed traction.

You gotta think about the situation, you gotta get you mind right :^)

 

I just put seven 10' 1/2 inch tie down chaind in the bed of my truck... around 80# each.

Don't worry they wont be flying out, the loops on them are through a 1 1/4" clevice hooked through the the d-ring to hook gooseneck safety chains to. Supposed to snow tomorrow!

I'll post pick after my wife gets home with the digital camera...

 

I'm actually enjoying the heck out of the truck.. 4 words though: "Bridge freezes before road"..

Was hammering pretty hard across a bridge to make a light before it changed, and though the pavement was only damp, the bridge had frozen overnight.. the truck kicked 20-25° sideways starting at 50... wheeeeeeeeee!!! Let off only slightly and dialed in some counter steer... that must have looked wild from the outside.. Did have a guy in a 3rd gen coming the other way give me a thumbs-up..

 

i have seen greater angles but at lesser speeds. 50 mph is too fast to start going sideways. the wheel spin al lower rpms is something to get used to.

 

Here is what I use for weight...

 

Yeah, those won't fly through the rear window. Just whip you like a cat-o-nine tails

J/K

I love driving my truck in the snow. Not like we get alot of it here in SoCal but i was in Klamath Falls last new years and it was snowing. Dropped a friend off to run in the local grocery store for some beverages and the back of the lot was covered in snow. I couldn't resist. Went back there and had a blast. It's not me I worry about it's the other idiots. I was up in Jackson, WY for Thanksgiving and it started snowing the night before we drove back. I-15 was nasty from Idaho Falls to north of Salt Lake City. Then again from mid Utah (south of Nephi) to just north of the UT,AZ border. Saw 12 vehicles that had rolled in the median and side of the freeway and probably another two dozen marks where vehicles had slid off the road and made it back on. People driving like idiots make me nervous.

 

This is the 10th winter I've had my truck and it's handled wonderful! I usually put some weight in the bed cuz this 4x2 doesn't get great traction when it's slick. With the manual tranny it makes it easier to get it started (I think) without gettin' sideways. Dallas is gettin' iced on right now, so we'll see how the ol' Lake Ray Hubbard bridge is about 10 o'clock tonite....

 

HHHMMM....

I never thought there would be that much difference in drivability going from a 1500 to what I have now....First snow of the year is arriving tonight...I know the wife will want to take the truck to work tomorrow.....I think I'd better get to know it myself and teach her how it feels before I let her drive it during its first ever snow day

She's not gonna like that



BTW...I always shovel the bed full of snow for weight

 

They are hooked back onto them selves, each other, and all knotted up. Cause one of them in the head would HURT!

 

I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.... I'm sittin' it out at work, rather than try it on the roads tonite. I moved my truck to the other side of the building and almost didn't get it out of it's original spot. I parked it facin' downhill and it took several tries to get out far enough to turn the truck to miss the fence I was facing. Don't you just love those North Texas ice storms?! I'd love to have the snow in the photos I've seen in this thread...makes for a lot better traction than the inch of smooth ice we have in the parkin' lot here. I'm done complainin'.....

 

Say What?!

 

Ahhh... first snow of the year and my first trial with a diesel in the snow. This seems to be easy as long as the throttle is featherd. I tried to just tap the right pedal as I was in the some packed snow/ice, man can this truck go into a spin super fast .

 

Best thing you can put in your truck for winter driving.....
....
....
.....
A functional brain

drive for the conditions and stay alert for the makeup puttin on, phone talkin, big mac eatin gassers who think that their little ricer won't fit under your wheels and that physics is something only a high schooler needs for grades.
I love watching some one buzz past me at 65 with the road covered in white only to pass them when they are sideways in the median.

 

Drove in to work at midnight on 10 inches of snow and a little ice.
I got about a half ton of rip-rap sized rock on teh flatbed for weight( 2X12 sideboards to keep it on teh bed), and had no trouble at all. Top speed was about 40, mostly 35-30 where I ussually drive 60-70......

Hope the trip home goes as well, but now there will be other traffic to worry about.