how many of you guys drive them in the winter? this is going to be my first winter.. and i was looking for advice.. ive heard sand.. any input helps

Thanks,
Andy

Shovel snow into the bed to weigh it down. Quick and easy to do while you shovel or snowblow the driveway. Plus, you probably already have a couple of inches in there from the snowfall to begin with. When the snow melts off the roads, so does your "traction weight."

Ditching the outside rears helps in cutting through the snow as well, and keeps the back end from "floating" but looks goofy as hell, and renders the truck less useful if you tow or haul. The rears don't directly follow the fronts like a SRW, so you still have to cut a new path through loose powder.

Snow doesn't weight enough and if you use your bed then it would be already full. Add 500lbs min. to the bed centered over the axle.

As dozerboy says sand bags are good. Mine are innertubes size that I can lift. Run across the scales and weigh your truck even side to side. Battery warmers are good and if fairly cold block some of your rad unless you tow alot. Syn oils are always good to use. Let you temp gauge come off of the pin and let it sit for a few minutes before you shut it off.

Drive slow and easy. Don't do any jerking motions with your breaks and steering. A big one, don't throttle to much when your going UP hills...Your back end will spin out from underneath you when your going up hills if you give it to much throttle.
Like others have said, weight the back end down some way shape or form. I usually load my quad in the back on bad storms to get around better. Sand does work well for the space/weight ratio.
This year I am thinking about bolting a 4X8 1/4" sheet of steel in the bed of the truck.
Also, no idea how cold it gets where your are but because winter fuels don't have the lubricity, running stanadyne (or another additive) in blended or #1 diesel will help lubricate things and also lower the gel temp.
Good luck.

thanks guys for the advice.. i will definitly pick up some some sand then and throw it over the axels... it goes anywere from -10-30º up here.. they have an additive in the fuel at a few of the stations but i will have to pick up some additives aswell..

I have a oil heater and block heater so that will be better.. i run full synthetic amsoil.. all around diffs and motor..

ive also heard dropping down to a stock tune so that your not putting tooo much power to the tires. also on the weight... could u go back towards the tailgate also? u say right over the axel which i will but if i wanna go heavier would i go more towards the tailgate? thanks again

Andy

I have the fortunate of not having to drive my truck in the winter. Around here they use salt and sodium chloride, which supposedly tears up metal on these cars and trucks. Not healthy if you are in back of a truck putting down the sodium treatment on the streets here where I live...

Maybe I'm just hardcore and too young :p: But I do absolutely nothing to my truck to adapt for the winter and it's a freaking blast, be it tight donuts in 2WD or massive powerslides in 4WD the truck is great. Not as good as my suburban for handling purposes due to the DRW, but for what it is I don't see any problems at all.

I'm only in CT though, but even on our 2 foot nights when the parking lots at work are a mess it doesn't have a problem at all!

mine is 4wd and have never had any problems or worries i love it:D

also on the weight... could u go back towards the tailgate also? u say right over the axel which i will but if i wanna go heavier would i go more towards the tailgate?
Andy

Do your best to keep it centered over the axle. If you get a bunch of weight towards the tailgate it makes the truck "handle" worse.

4WD is great but I would much rather add weight then drive around in it. In fact I never use 4WD unless plowing or in deep snow.

Use the opportunity to practice your drifting skills, I do.

I never needed to add wieght to the dually that I sold. Even driving through 3ft drifts, but I had tires that had pretty good bite. And yes, snow does help in the bed, its not the best. But, it does help if you are in a pinch.

I do nothing other than run winter blend ( a must here) and JD fuel treatment for winter. I am getting my new tires put on today so I can't wait for snow. I hope we get more than last year which was a couple inches from being a record. Also I make sure to plug my truck in and if it is really cold just let it run. I was trying to burn off a bad blend of winter fuel when it was -40* outside last winter so I let my truck run for over a day and I hardly burned any off.

On a side note keep an extra fuel filter on hands at all times, you never know when you might gel up and need to replace it. Also if you are unsure of the miles on your current fuel filter replace it before it gets too cold just to be on the safe side.

My truck does fine on the snow. My only issue is the crazy Neutral Backup Switch thing on the side of the transmission. Too much snow and it gets wet every time. Once it gets wet it fails. It is only a 20 minute job to replace and not too expensive of a part, but come on, a one ton truck should not have this kind of issue in the little bit of snow we get in KY.

My truck does fine on the snow. My only issue is the crazy Neutral Backup Switch thing on the side of the transmission. Too much snow and it gets wet every time. Once it gets wet it fails. It is only a 20 minute job to replace and not too expensive of a part, but come on, a one ton truck should not have this kind of issue in the little bit of snow we get in KY.

It must be the salt on the roads they use. They don't use salt in Alaska, and I've never had that problem. I have one of those bladders that hold about 30 gallons of water. I made a cover to go over it that weighs about 75 pounds so I can still throw stuff in the bed. Eventually the water in the bladder will freeze until spring. Works good for me.

One bad thing with water frozen is that it then becomes a projectile in that it doesn't adhear to the floor of the truck.That is why I figure that sand/ gravel is better for weight. So far over the years I have never had a problem.

Being I plow with mine all winter, My counter balance is 1800 lbs... plow in 2 wheel most of the time... :D

I need to add weight but don't know what yet. I spin going up wet hills with low acceleration speeds. It kinda scares me when it does cause the ars end almost makes it to the top of the hill before the front sometimes. And to say one thing I HAVE GONE UP A HILL SIDEWAYS ITS REALLY FUN BUT DANGEROUS lol the drifting in the snow is also fun especially in the Wally-World parking lot after a big snow lol. Any advise for counter weight in the bed? Sand,Gravel,Steel plates? Wonder how much steel plates would be to put in.