How bad is the open diff in the snow?

[chuck stein]

And if you do get stuck the sand makes a good tractive surface on the snow. Toss a shovel in the truck too. 150 lbs will make no perceptible difference in handling or stopping distance.

Most likely if your 2wd open diff is stuck in the snow, moving sand around will most likely be a good exercise in moving sand around

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[MT19RANGER]

Most likely if your 2wd open diff is stuck in the snow, moving sand around will most likely be a good exercise in moving sand around

Yes, it works great, you just cut the bag open and spread the sand on the ground and in the hole where the wheel is spinning and also a few feet ahead of your intended path and you have a great increase in traction to get out. Used to do that during my childhood all the time when the 1978 Grand Marquis would get stuck
Then we'd swap to studded snow tires and those babies would spark on the pavement when digging snow and ice to get traction.

 

[THLONE]

It sounds to me that alot of you need to be taught how to drive in snow again. Also Traction Control is the same thing as Limited Slip. It just works differently. The spinning wheel is stopped and the wheel with traction gets the power. You want more traction? Concentrate on the connection of the tire and the ground.

 

[Oregon Comrade]

Open diffs are the safest option in the snow and ice since you'll always have a tire that is holding you rear end from sliding out. Limited slip diffs can work great to get additional traction, but on a icy sidehill, like the crown of a road or a sloped bend in a highway, they can absolutely be a liability. Lockers are an accident waiting to happen unless you really know WTF you are doing and have proper tires.

Tires should be priority #1....no questions.

 

[RangerThings]

I used to live in Northern Wisconsin where I drove an old 90s Ford Taurus station wagon and an 1982 Chevy Citation in the snow just fine. I think a 2019 RWD truck will do just fine if you don't drive like an idiot. Brake slowly and early, leave plenty of room between you and the next vehicle, don't drive through snow drifts, and you'll be just fine.

 

[Dokkenmire]

It sounds to me that alot of you need to be taught how to drive in snow again. Also Traction Control is the same thing as Limited Slip. It just works differently. The spinning wheel is stopped and the wheel with traction gets the power. You want more traction? Concentrate on the connection of the tire and the ground.

Either it’s not working here or he had traction control off.

 

[Dokkenmire]

You called PowerTrax?
https://www.powertrax.com/contact-powertrax-traction-system/

I emailed them days ago and no response yet.

 

[DavidR]

Either it’s not working here or he had traction control off.

Neither traction control nor limited slip will work well on a uniformly bad surface where the traction is equally low on all of the wheels. They need to have a wheel or two with better traction than the others to divert power to. Without that, you'll need to increase the actual traction with better tires, airing down, or possibly adding weight.

 

[2.7EcoBoost]

Snow tires and 100-200lb ( cat litter in case you get stuck ) over the rear axle is the way to go. A locker for everyday use on a snowy or icy highway is way more dangerous. The locker is designed for off road or limited traction (boat launch etc) situations and probably disengages at highway speed? A TrueTrac type mechanical limited slip would be ideal, but probably not an option yet.

 

[skibuff]

I’m in California. I’ve driven a bunch of days where chains have been required here and most of the time I leave it 2wd. Unless I’m driving fast in the snow I don’t use it. On typical roads that are plowed it’s been great in 2wd. Deeper snow with a steep incline I’ve needed the 4wd and or locker.

Please note I’ve changed out the tires to a triple peak snowflake AT and that probably made a big difference. If you get good snow tires you will probably be fine.

 

[Gerder]

Exactly. And lets be honest, the key is don't drive like a maniac when its snowy or icy. Accelerate nice and easy and give yourself distance between other drivers. Remember, the type of tire matters also. It doesn't matter if you have 4WD, AWD, LSD rear-end, etc.. if you have the cheap $60 budget tire, you'll get $60 worth of traction....

Oh. It matters when it comes to breaking! Lowering the pressure of the AT tires to 2.2 bar makes the ride smoother and the grip higher. Sandbags make the ride complete.

 

[Dokkenmire]

Yeah its fine. Finally got a little snow this morning.

 

[SandBaja]

Any recommendations for tire chains from our northern cold climate area brothers? I rarely see snow but want set to toss in the back, just in case. Looking for ease of installation followed by weight, performance and cost.

 

[Codimac14]

Yeah I've ran 2wd trucks in the snow before and plan to throw a few hundred pounds back there. Just looking for actual firsthand experiences. So far the traction control has been pretty bad in the rain, I have to lift before it comes around on me.

Let air out, but keep the front a few psi higher. It has torque vectoring to help distribute power to the wheel with more traction. I tested the torque vectoring using ramps on alternate front and back tires. It takes a second to engage on the first slip, but once it does it stays active, so it helps to be steady with the throttle through thicker snow. I took mine through 6" of snow with some snow drifts up to the air dam. I have the Non FX4 4×4 but I never switched it to 4wd. It did great, but like some others have said, it would be great with a sandbag or two in the back.

 

[Oregon Comrade]

Any recommendations for tire chains from our northern cold climate area brothers? I rarely see snow but want set to toss in the back, just in case. Looking for ease of installation followed by weight, performance and cost.

I have some RUD tire chains, they are fairly easy to install weigh a lot and are aimed at more for offroading than strictly hwy travel. They get excellent traction but were not cheap.

https://chainstop.com/truck-tire-chains/grip

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