afoulk,
I think the binding that you are describing is normal. You have connected a bunch of wheels that are traveling different distances together so it should bind. If your driveline is loose, it will cause your truck to lurch a little more but it is nothing to worry about. It just means that 4wd is working.

Regarding when to put it in 4wd, I am a believer in waiting as long as possible. Like one of the posts above said, it is more entertaining to look out of the side window anyways. There are two real reasons why I feel it is a good practice though. One is that if you get stuck, you can shift 4wd and get yourself out whereas if you are already in 4wd, you are more likely to get into a worse situation. The other reason is that it keeps you honest about your acceleration and speed. The danger in snow is stopping and going around turns. If your driveline is binding up, most of the time the traction is good enough that you really don't need to be in 4wd. There are other people who believe in running in 4wd a lot because you are less likely to spin from using the throttle too much and you can accelerate out of the way quicker.

I run the Lund winter fronts as well since they came with the truck. While they don't do much before the thermostat opens(they do block the intercooler), once it opens they prevent the coolant in the radiator from getting as cold before it opens again. If you run winter fronts, you will notice that your temperature gauge doesn't fluctuate as wildly and there will be more heat in the cab once you are up to temp.

 

I keep saying to people that running in 4wd on speed is more dangerous than 2wd. You hit a patch of black ice in 4wd, if all 4 spin out, then you have zero steering since your front tires no longer have traction. You will probably keep pointing the same direction, but start sliding sideways. In 2wd, your fronts still have some traction, so you can still steer. Your back end may be drifting out a bit, but you can still keep control. But maybe its because, deep down, I'm jealous.

As for tire pressures and weight, I run 65 up front, 40-45 in the rear year round. I throw half a ton of steel (4" channel welded back to back with 1" keystock in between, 8' long, 12 pieces), and I get where I need to be. Never been stuck in snow. Wet grass, yea, but not snow or ice.

 

I have much more control in 4wd when sliding sideways than I do in 2wd. My truck is twice as likely to switch ends in 2wd compared to 4wd. Matter of fact it's never offered to even move around in 4wd. I run 4wd on the snow and ice for stopping and not going anyway. 4wd ties the brakes and driveline together so the truck will actually slow down instead locking 1 set of tires up and sliding sideways. Especially at intersections. These silly things will start spinning the rear tires at intersections with your foot on the brake setting still if not in 4wd. At least they due down here where as soon as the snow stops we have water on top of the ice. Speaking of which they just upgraded our forecast today for 1/10 of an inch of ice followed by 2 inches of snow. Oh Joy.

 

Running in 4wd might not help you stop on ice and you can't let it give you a false sense of security but if you do loose control in 2wd there isn't much you can do except hold on and hope for the best but in 4wd alot of the time you can drive out of a skid. I had a Suzuki Samuria and because of it's short wheelbase in 2wd it was tough to keep the rear wheels behind the front ones but in 4wd it did pretty good and because it had a whopping 60hp if you did go into a slide in 4wd you could get on the throttle and drive out of it almost every time.

 

If I am on uneasy ground (soft gravel) or trying to have fun with the snow, my rear end bucks like no other.... traction bars in order?? because of this I am not impressed with this truck in the snow. Coming from my Dakota, which I never had trouble in the snow, I am looking for ways to improve bad weather handling. Tires and Traction Bars?

 

In my opinion the limited slip is not good for snow and ice. You need one tire to trail and one to drive in the snow or ice. When both are driving it is too easy to have the rear end come out from under you. The limited slip is great for off roading but super slick muddy side hills and snow and ice are not good for a locked up rear end. Limited slip will only slip if one tire has great traction and the other tire poor traction and torque is applied. After the rating of the springs or clutches in the diff is overcome then you have differentiation.

 

No way anyone is going to convince me that you have more control in 2wd!
99% of the time, you can power out of a slide in 4wd by giving it a little throttle.


Truckman, get those bighorns sipped, or switch them out for some different tread in the winter. Traction bars will not help much on the ice and snow.

I had Maxis Buckshot mudders before these Definity Dakotas, these Definities are ten times better on the snow and ice.

I drive a lot of ice in the winter. I usually drive 800 miles each way to go home for Christmas and Thanksgiving from Utah to Washington. In bad weather, that road can have packed ice for 650 of the 800 miles. I can drive 65 mph on the ice with good tires in 4wd and remain fully in control. Wet ice is a different story, wet ice is 30 mph unless you got studded snows.

 

Got to admit I like the Definity's. I was worried at first about how well a Pep Boys tire would hold up but I have over 60,000 miles on them and they have done great. I have ran the Dynamic balancing beads in this set and got quite a few more miles out of them than the previous set though. And they hook good at the track to. I've went as quick as a 1.66 60 foot time on them and a ton of 1.70 to 1.74s.

 

Anyone running the Green Diamond Tires? They're the ones with carbide bits impregnated in the rubber. They're made just an hour from where I live, but the biggest tire they make is 31", which is a little small for my trucks.

 

What are these balancing beads that you are talking about? Where do you get them and how much do they cost?

 

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

Cost about $35 for a set of 4 tires. I've been contemplating this for a while. If it will extend my tire life 20k miles then it might be worth it, but if it's a little difference like 5k miles, I don't know...

 

Those green diamonds would be a killer set of snow tires! I'm a member on a snowplow forum and everyone that uses them loves them. If you want the ULTIMATE in snow traction, I'd get a set of Green Diamond retreads in size 235/85R16. I'm not that big of a fan of how that size looks on my truck, but they sure do outperform the fatter tires.

 

Some rubber compounds won't grip snow and ice, and more weight in the bed only helps a little. Grip depends more on rubber compound than on all the other parameters discussed in this thread. All tire rubber is not the same, some rubbers are designed to wear longer, some treads are designed to grip in snow or mud, but only a compound designed to grip ice and snow will do that job. Just because a tire is labled "All Season" doesn't mean they used a snow compound. They could use a snow tread and a summer rubber so you get more miles on it, but the snow performance will be terrible. Unfortunately, often there is no way to know what kind of rubber is in a tire, until it won't go in the winter. You can make a well-informed choice by reading independent tire tests from Consumers Union or others, but there will always be a tradeoff between summer performance, winter performance, and milage. The Green Diamond sounds good, as does carbide studded snow tires, but you wouldn't run them in the summer.

 

My 2002 QC / Long-Bed has an open rear diff and pretty much sucks in the snow. This is with 600 lbs. of sand in the rear (behind the axle), 55 lbs. of pressure in the tires (265/75R16 Bridgestone Dueler REVO's). I live just outside of Syracuse NY, and we get about 135" of snow per year. We have a long (150 yard) uphill driveway, which is concrete paved. With a Western 8' Pro Blade on the front (about 600 lbs with frame) and the sand in the back, it begins to approach reasonable. I think the biggest problem is the open rear diff - it keeps the back end from coming around (has never happened in either 2wd or 4wd) but renders the truck useless if I drop a wheel off the driveway or it's icy - truck just sits and flails one wheel in front and one wheel in back. I'm going to purchase Blizzaks for it this winter (SOON!) and chains for the worst days.. if this doesn't solve the problem I'll hit it with a selectable locker in the front.. I got stuck in the driveway tonight while plowing - stopped on an uphill section (forced-to by conditions), and couldn't get going forward again - had to carefully back down and then take a run at it - not fun in blowing snow with low visibility. For comparison sake, I've driven Audi Quattros, Mitsubishi Eclipse AWD, Ford Ranger 4WD, Toyota P/U 4WD, and currently own a 2000 GMC Jimmy 4WD, and they all performed better than my Dodge (difference between Jimmy and the Dodge is night and day). Quattro is an amazing system for cars, and the fly-weight Toyota P/U (1985) with BF Goodrich T/A's was the best EVER - completely unstoppable.. Don't get me wrong - I love the truck and need it for hauling our boat in the summer, firewood in the fall, snowmobiles and plowing in the winter, but it just flat-out doesn't do well in the snow.. I also think that the weight, combined with massive torque and standard transmission is a challenge - There's no "easing into the throttle" - the smallest movements on a snowy incline will start the truck sliding (happened tonight - started sliding sideways down the hill).. If you're unfamiliar with how your truck will handle in the snow (and actually you should do this at the start of EVERY season as your skills will be rusty from the off-season) you should head to an empty parking lot and get a feel for your stopping time and distance.. If it's your 1st 4WD you NEED to do this to realize the massive difference between your 4WD acceleration traction and regular braking traction (a common "gotcha" for new 4WD owners). Nothing worse than having the pedal to the floor, ABS pulsing away while sliding into an intersection or the back of other vehicle.

I'm open to suggestions from others as to how to improve the handling / snow performance - starting with tires and we'll go from there.. by the end of last season I was ready to buy a self-recovery winch ...

 

Easy fix.....Pull the small lever back,end of problem,UNLESS,you use a heavy foot.

Man..
You guys here in this thread scare me,LOL.Ladder bars to stop the rear hop and a taller,narrower tire would be the biggest help.285's are terrible in snow due to their width so if your a height guy you switch in the winter months to a 255/85R16.They are the same height as a 285/75 but are 2 inches narrower in tread width and will go thru snow better because of that....Andy

P.S.-I guess then if I tell you I use the small lever in the rain to control the truck with 285's due to the low end torque you would think I am nuts?.