It has been raining so much, in my south home, that when I tried turning the Kodiak round, I got well and truly stuck. The front sank about 6 inches, and the back maybe 4 inches. I left the beast overnight, and called a tow company this morning. To get it out, they wanted $200 without even seeing the problem, so I thanked them and said no..

My TYM Tractor was sitting on the low boy gooseneck, ready for hauling out today, parked waiting for hook up, so I needed to attach another vehicle's weight to the front, to unload the tractor. Useful things, those safety chains. The truck became unstuck with no effort whatsoever, using LL 1 4x4. I do need to put a driven axle under the front of this truck though.. I wonder how much that would cost.... Hindsight is a wonderful thing.. I should've bought a 4x4.

Mylash

Mylash,

You can call Monroe Truck Equipment at 1-800-892-7052 (Joliet, IL) to find out how much a conversion would cost. You can see some pictures of some of the conversions they have done (and a listing of 4x4 C4/C5s in their inventory) at http://www.monroetruck.com/index.asp.

Whatever it is, it would require more investment to convert a C4/5 than to purchase one ready made. However, if your Kodiak is C6/7/8, then Monroe would be the way to go.

Hope this helps.

$11,000 If I recall..... sell yours and buy a new one is cheaper way to go if you really want 4wd....

It is about 8k a different shops to convert a van to 4wd.
ALOT of money!

The Kodiaks were never good off road IMO. Even with 4x4. The problem seems to be no way to reduce the ground pressure enough to keep from sinking in. By contrast, the Internationals I have owned do very well. Could be one of the reasons the State and several of the utilities use them.

Oh, forgot. Flotation style front tires go a huge way. I bought a pair for my Brigadere and it did a world of good keeping the front end on top of the dirt/mud when I was empty.

The Kodiaks were never good off road IMO. Even with 4x4. The problem seems to be no way to reduce the ground pressure enough to keep from sinking in. By contrast, the Internationals I have owned do very well. Could be one of the reasons the State and several of the utilities use them.
My topkick 2005 5500 4x4 is doing well in the snow:) ( 1300 miles on the truck and 500 of them have been plowing)

Snow is a different matter. Ground pressure is good for going in the snow. Off the pavement, not so good.

Fingers,

I hear what you're saying "Flotation style front tires go a huge way. I bought a pair for my Brigadere and ...", it would be the way to go. However, I cannot find 19.5" rims or tires for super single or front floatation anywhere. Have you got a lead that you can post here?

However, I disagree with you on this "Snow is a different matter. Ground pressure is good for going in the snow. Off the pavement, not so good."

Factory C4/5 4X4s come with traction tires all around (where the 4X2 generally get spec'd with highway treads on the front to reduce noise). This allows the front to "climb" up and out of most conditions.

These trucks get stuck more easily than a 3/4-T 4X4 due to the "floating" of the rear duallies. I had a long wheelbased (CC/LB) Chev. K3500 4X4 that had that problem in deep snow, as the rear would not sink down as much as the front, and it would tend to slip and slide easily in icy conditions. More than once, i've had to get the wife's 3/4-T GMC come out and give me a gentle tug to get me going again.

However, in beach sand or deep mud, I never a problem since wet soil is more easily displaced than the frozen stuff. True, that on wet grass the front made much deeper gouges than the 3/4-ton, but the tire width on dually rims was much narrower than the GMC's singles, and the "Big Blue" chevy weighed a ton more, mostly on the front axle.

As for this..."The Kodiaks were never good off road IMO. Even with 4x4." Opinion? Never substitute physics and esperience with "opinions". Someone will always catch it and correct you.

... "By contrast, the Internationals I have owned do very well. Could be one of the reasons the State and several of the utilities use them." How can you make that comparison? 2005 is the first production year for the GM class 4/5 4X4's. Large truck fleets have never, and will never turnover in 6 months.

On the other hand, one outfitter, Monroe Truck Equipment, currently has over 500 4X4's lined up to go through outfiting for State and Utility fleets...check out the "ready fleet" inventory on their site. They've been so busy since the launch of the GM C4/5 that they have had to open two more plants in Wisconsin and one in Joliet IL. just to meet the public and private demands.

Fleet owners and private contractors are very interested in these truks because they can outfit a ready to work GM MDT for $50-70K, where replacement Internationals, Freightliner, etc. would be $85-130K, with little more utility for the bucks spent.

Give it time and you might be stating a different opinion a couple of years from now.

My rims were 20" x 10" centerless split rims (not stock) so I had a wide selection. Only pain was they were tubed rims. Really wanted tubeless. Got mine from the local independent truck tire dealer. Keep in mind the Brigs were class 8 vehicles.

The selection in 19.5" rims sucks.

I should add that 10 miles of dirt road plowing through a 20" of snow in my book with not a single problems is good to me. Today I dropped a front wheel right into a drainage ditch, actually RIGHT off the culvert. I backed out without a problem. My 1 ton would have been stuck and have to be pulled out.



http://chtucker.home.bresnan.net/sidesnow.jpg

On roads like this
http://chtucker.home.bresnan.net/whereheaded.jpg

And driveways like this
http://chtucker.home.bresnan.net/driveway1.jpg

I'm positive you could get a set of 20" budds for that truck and get some floaters...if you wanted to.