My truck was pretty much worthless in 2wd on snow last year with some cheaper 265 M+S tires but I just put these 265/75-16 Hankook MT RT03 tires on it and I'm hoping they will help some. The bigger problem is the amount of weight sitting on the front tires in 2wd and I'd rather run around in 4wd when I need to than carry extra weight in the bed.

 

If your rear end is coming around, you are using too much power for the amount of traction that you have. Better tires will help but also using less throttle will help a lot too. If you limited slip is tight, it will make your truck much more likely to spin since you can break both tires free instead of only one. Limited slip is good because you get more ultimate traction to get you moving but it makes the back end much harder to control once you start spinning.

Tire pressure is important in snow but you need to run the right pressure for the right conditions. If you are off road and making your own track, airing down is the way to go. However, if you are somewhere that is a little more heavily traveled and the snow is sloppy, you want to be aired up. The reason for this is that your tires can bite down through better and get to the pavement or whatever is beneath. There is a reason why snow tires are not super wide.

Tire tread is also important. If you are going to be slogging through really deep snow off road, a mud tire or something with big lugs is great. However, when the roads are sloppy, these tires grab the slop and throw the truck around so you want something with slightly smaller lugs. On ice, you want a lot of siping. The best snow tires that I know of for these trucks are Cooper Discoverer M/T.

Both my roomate and I have quad cab long box dodge cummins and as long as we drive smart, we don't have any problems. I run BFG All Terrains because I don't like having to change tires for the summer and my roomate runs Cooper Discoverer M/T's. We have plowed a lot of snow and driven in a lot of snow with these trucks and have no problems. I don't shift 4wd until I can't get the job done in 2wd.

 

Tire width is huge. I run toyo At 265/75/16 during the summer then during the winter i go real narrow 235/??85??/16. Until i change tires this winter my i was breaking traction all the time in the rear. Narrow tires onsentrate the weight more pounds per inch. or something like that, take my word on this one if you want tires for this smaller narrower tires are the way to go.

 

So is 400lbs. about how much weight I'd wanna throw in the back of my truck? The backend of mine was a little squirly on me last winter when running empty, and I had the tire pressures around 55psi. I think my limited slip is about shot though, i can't get it to jump sideways at all in the rain. Any difference in fuel mileage with the extra weight in the back?
Also, anyone get a little drivetrain binding when going around turns in the city? mine hops pretty bad unless its a real gentle turn.

 

Ok so what do you northern guy's use for weight in the back of your truck's I need some idea's and picks of interesting setups, also what do you use to block off the radiator from incomming air

 

No weight, Front end is plenty heavy to tote you around on the slick roads, I use a peice of cardboard between the rad. and intercooler.

 

Sandbags...if you do get stuck on slick roads...or backing your trailer up an icy slope, you just cut open the bag and throw down some of the sand, works like a charm. I've seen guys keep salt with them, does the same thing just takes a bit longer, and if it spills in the truck you'll have rust everywhere in the spring.

Theres also a bladder you can fill with water that holds up to 400lbs in the bed, but why bother with water? All it does is freeze and then its useless.

Cardboard painted black is all I run in the winter...its cheap and does the job, if it warms up in the spring I cut out an extra square (only on 3 sides, then duct tape the flap open) to let some cool air in.

 

Is your driveline binding in 2wd or 4wd? If it is 2wd, your limited slip is real tight and that is part of the reason that you can break your entire back end free. If it is 4wd, that is perfectly normal.

If you need to add weight to the back of the truck, sandbags are the way to go. I get my weight from carrying tools, tire chains, recovery gear and some other stuff like that.

 

As for blocking air coming through the grill, I just put on my home-made winter front. I cut 4 pieces of cardboard to fit the grill, then covered them in duct tape (to weather proof my cheap winter front). just use real thin wire and poke holes through to attach to the grill. It looks better than I thought it would, but if I did it again I would have used black duct tape to make it look better.
Just put it on today for the second winter, the duct tape/cardboard held up all winter last year just fine, even through several car washes.

 

I fill the bed with cinder blocks and it gets along just fine, no 4wd option for me.

 

nice thread keep it comin'...

so for you 4x4 guys out there, when do you switch from 2H to 4H? It was snowing today and I was driving around town doing some errands around 3:30pm and the truck did just fine in 2 wheel drive mode...no weight in the bed but my tank is near full so that helped I guess...I was surprised, I was light footing it and it's got the stock Michelin original tires 265/75-16 which I've heard were supposed to be bad in snow/slush/winter...

first winter with the truck, still learning!

 

so whats wrong with looking out your side window to see what is ahead of you while your truck is pointed at the curb? maybe the fairly new BFG all terrains arnt enough traction... or i should put it in 4WD and take the skinny pedal off the floor.

 

Sand bags are always good, but in reality anything heavy will work. Right now i have about 500lbs of wet red fir firewood, we had a number of trees fall around our place and the last pickup load to the wood pile about a third stayed in.

I use to use the cardboard method, bailing twine works...it really makes a fashion statement especially when its blue. Use what ever you got basically.

I now use this though it real nice. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...133&hasJS=true

The other screen that comes with it is real nice during the summer. You would be suprised how many bugs your radiator eats.

Just my .02

 

I can feel it binding in 4wd only. My LSD is either super loose, or the clutch backs are shot cause the only time I can even get it to think about jumping sideways is if I give it to much throttle around a snowcovered turn. It wont even jump sideways in the rain, but if I jack it up and spin one wheel, the opposite one spins the same way, so I know it definately has one in there. But back to my binding issue, I just drove it in some snow tonight, and its not quite as bad as I remember it being, but its definately noticeable, especially if I hit a dry patch of road. My buddy has the same thing as me, but his is a 98, and his doesn't hop at all. I had a Jeep wrangler that didn't hop at all either, and thats a much, much shorter wheel base. And I changed both front axle u-joints last spring and my drive shaft u joints are still good. It does have a leveling kit in the front, don't know if maybe that increased angle on the drive shaft is whats doing it or not. I know having 2 different gear ratios in the axles will do this, but you'd think it would do it in a straight line too, but shes nice and smooth when going straight. I guess I'll just have to live with it.

 

As for a cold front, I have Lund's Cold Front, or Winter front, what ever they call it. I think I payed $46 for the four grill panels. I'm thinking about getting the bumper panels too as I have a short drive to work thru town, and even warming it up for 10mins., it just barely gets the thermostat open by the time I get to work. I'm not so sure on the real benefit of these things though. They say it'll improve your warm up time, but when you think about it, theres no coolant flowing thru the radiator till the thermostat opens up anyways. I guess maybe if you drive out on the highway/open road a lot in severely cold weather it would help you maintain a higher operating temp.