Ok, another foolish question for y'all. diesel truck in winter weather....is it any different than a gasser in terms of better/worse handling of it? i'm from south Texas. i only see snow once every few years when i go skiing (which is waht im doing this time). when should i/is safe to use 4wd. driving up/down the mountain if its snowing? or only if i feel it slip? im that guy all the locals cuss for driving way too slow on the mountain...but ice to a south Texan is like....booze to a southenr baptist...we just know know what to do when we're around it.

i apologize for the barrage of dumb questions.....but i do appreicate y'all's help.

 

Good questions! Turn your cruise off if the roads are wet. Go to 4x4 when the snow starts to stick to the road or they are snow packed or icy. Most people wait way too long before using 4x4. IMHO. AND as you know 4x4 does NOTHING to help you stop.

 

I paid for 4x4 to use... I use it whenever I feel necessary... sometimes even when it's just raining out. The added traction in any condition other than a "dry" road is nice... So use it whenever you feel you should, that would be your best bet!

Tony

 

OK, your talkin' snow AND ice- 2 different situations.

For the snow- put some weight in your bed 500-600 lbs, and make sure it won't fly into the cab if you stop short.
When the roads are snow covered, put it in 4x4, that's what you've got it for!
The only way you'll hurt drivetrain in 4x4 is if you drive extended miles on bare pavement

For the ice- BAD Mojo no matter what! 4x4 for sure, studded tires, chains, sipped tires. Most of all- SLOW DOWN (like you do-too bad if the other idiots don't like it) You may be able to get moving with 4x4 and all of the above, but you won't be able to stop!

FYI, up here in ski country it stays cold enough that the snow on the road gets beat down into ice very easily! Be careful!

 

Another little tidbit for ya... when the turbo spools up you'll throw down some power quickly to the rear wheels. If your not in 4x4 the back end will come around real easily. When in doubt throw it in 4 wheel. A few extra dollars avery couple of years to replace worn out 4 wheel drive parts, is much less expensive than paying for a totalled truck cause you wanted to "save" the front end. Weight in the rear always helps (safely restrained of course). Also, when coming down grades, I try to stay off the brakes, and downshift...even an automatic with the o/d shut off will have enough engine brake to keep you under control, and if your slow enough, drop it down into [2]. this lets all 4 tires act as "equal brakes." Also many people I have found, even with their ABS equipped vehicles, pump the brakes when they start to slide...BAD idea. When the ABS kicks in, I just back off the brake a little, this will let the tires start spinning again if they do hit some "dry pavement" and regain control. A locked tire, is the least useful. Most important in the "white stuff" "Slow and Steady." everything you do should be nice and slow, ease into the turns, and throttle. and if you start to spin, dont jerk the wheel, but calmy straighten it out. Diesels take a second to come off the throttle, so when your off the pedal, it still has power for a little, so try to think as far ahead as you comfortably can. "If I start to slide around this corner, heres where I'm going to try to slide, and this is how I'm gonna make the truck get there." Most important, dont kick up the speed just because the ***hole behind you thinks your driving to slow. It not his road, and heck, you gotta dodge, its the drive, not the destination! So sit back and enjoy your truck, knowing the dipstick who just blew by you in his cutless will probably be paying you $100.00 (or more if your like me ) at the next corner when he needs you to pull him out of the snowbank!

 

When it starts acting all weird, blowing and sticking snow, I immediately slip it into 4WD. We generally don't run studded tires here, but when I go up into Montana, it's almost like night and day when it comes to road plow crews. Seems MDT goes home on weekends, leaving nice slushy ice to freeze overnight instead of plowing it off. That's when I wish I had studded tires.

For the most part syped tires don't work much better than studs. There's some that will argue, but I've tried both. The only thing that happens is that syped tires wear out faster.

 

All good advice. One more thing. 4wd and tight turns can be a problem. I was leaving my house one day and when I went to turn out of my driveway on ice I could not get the truck to turn AT ALL! I had the wheel turned but would only go straight forward. I had to put it in 2wd to make the corner. When you make the turn the truck will "skip" a bit due to the difference in distance that the wheels must travel. When you are turning sharp you don't want this to happen as it can cause you to begin sliding.

 

wow....awesome guys. Thanks. keep em coming...im totally taking all this to heart. the few times ive driven up to snow country, the weather was fair...and hopefully will be this time as well...but i wanna be prepared for anything.

for the weight in the bed....what do yall recommend? obviously, it'll need to be something thats not stealable, as ill be on the road (hotels etc.) for a few days. also, i have a rawson koenig toolbox mounted on the truck...does that count towards bed weight? or is being that close to the cab not count?

i feel like a moron kid asking y'all this stuff...but otherwise, i'll never know! thanks again

 

Keep your fuel tank full. Diesel weighs 7.3 pounds per gallon. I use RR Ties in the bed cut to the short bed length. Works great and no one will steal them! If you are caught in the mountains and need to add weight shovel snow in the bed. Needless to say it will melt by the time you get home.

 

There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers! Ideally, I use a thick sheet of steel for weight, that way I still have use of the bed, but with the price of steel, I had to get rid of that! I now use sandbags, not many people will have a need to steal it. I mount them along the sides, infront of the wheel wells, too much weight right at the tailgate puts the center of mass too far back, and if the back end begins to come around that weight helps propel it around.

 

Question....


How much will MPG suffer when running in 4WD as compared to 2WD?

 

How much is a tow truck to get you out of the ditch?

Not that much difference 2-3 MPG if that.

 

Geico266,

I have AAA so cost would be nothing.

 

Over Thanksgiving we drove "Up North." 210 miles up to be exact. It was really nasty out and I was in and out of 4x4 all the way up. Only managed to hit about 65 for very short distances. While up north, we drove around alot in 4x4 and I did alot of idleing since it was about 10° or so. Coming home it was nice and I ran about 70-72 most of the way. When I filled up I hand calculated my mileage out at 18.42 MPG. I was figuring I was going to average out about 12 or so, so I was happy with that! Besides, I'll take what safety the 4x4 has to offer over fuel mileage anyday!

Tony

 

One thing that I've noticed when operating in slippery conditions, is that the Jacobs exhaust brake CAN be used when in 4X4, and is very effective in slowing the beast down. Actually much better than the service brakes can.

Although, if only operating in 4X2 and it's slippery, I wouldn't recommend using an exhaust brake at all. It'll make the back end come around in a hurry.