3500 in the snow. Anyone help?

[Ramtuf1]

Laughed At!

I think that for a few months out of the year I'd rather be laughed at than pay the deductable and heightened insurance costs after having to repair collision damages. Nice to be able to figure out what a truck wants to do when it gets into a bit of heavy snow.



We just got a dusting of snow here the last few days and a trip to the grocery store can be interesting. Up an incline to get onto the road and even more laughable when you have all four tires spinning with not even any pressure on the pedal. That is laughable. With two tires fewer (disregarding looks) you at least have an excuse.



All kidding aside. I just want something functional for the few months that I have to worry about it. Like to check out the Cooper tires. Thanks. .

 

[RICHIE 2]

DRIVING IN SNOW

I have driven in the snow and mountains for years and I have a 2001 3500 and the michelin tires, and did a trip through montana, 5 ski resorts in 5 days , I have a 11. 5 loaded camper and had the best drive with no trouble at all, only put in 4 wheel drive once comming down from one of the resorts. alls good here.

 

[Briar Hopper]

New set of Michelins on my 3500 4x4 truck, same size & type as what came on it when I bought it new. We got 5-6 inches of snow today, the roads were completely covered, and being Sunday at 6:00a. m. , salt/plow trucks were not out yet. I drove to work this morning, and back home tonight after a full 12 hour shift. In 2 wheel drive all the way, at 40-50 mph. Never did use the 4x4. This is on 25 miles of bad country 2-lane road, a road that gets people killed even when it's dry.

I guess I'm lucky my truck is driveable in the snow. I don't understand why some are, and some aren't, even with the same tires.

 

[HillCountrykid]

RonL, I'm pretty sure you've looked, but just in case, there is a 235/85/16E BFG Mud KM. I don't know if you're set on 215's, but it's pretty close.



Brian

 

[CCBrady]

Briar,

Its real simple. Its almost all in the way you drive, some people can and some people can't. I've never had any problums, as long as I made a deal with my trucks and cars, I wont try and do a 100 MPH in the snow and ice, if they wont dump me in the dirt and stomp on me.

Chris

 

[David Muench]

I love my 3500 in the snow. It's the best truck I've ever driven in the snow, and I've driven a lot. The weight is great for just sinking down through the snow and it tracks like it's on rails, even in 2wd. I've never gotten it stuck yet. If I do, I guess I'll have to winch it out with the Jeep. I've got the stock Michelins on it, not the best tire admittedly, but it seems to work fine. I don't put any additional weight in the truck, but it is a chassis cab with a 1,100 lb steel flatbed and a 38 gallon aux tank.



I'll take a 6x6 any day. Even my old 2wd D350 was pretty good. Only got it close to stuck once, and about 5 minutes of careful application of the right foot got me out of that situation, just barely.

 

[rrl989]

HillCountryKid,



It seems NO ONE in my area is willing to install anything on my dually except the OEM size. I've read in the TDR about experimenting with the 235's and here on the site. I do carry a 4000lb camper, so I can't risk the the clearance issue. I "think" I could get away with 235's but no shop wants to try it. We have WTC tire Co. here, I spoke to them and have proven to themselves the 235's won't work. I saw a Ram 3500 with those tires, looked great, but they were just about touching. I couldn't

have it that way. I'm leaning towards the "Coopers" in 215 or

the same OEM LTX's ( Which were great in the snow when new, but now, they are just about worn to the max at 75K miles)



RonL

 

[Snow man]

Dave,your 3500 is a chassis cab,it hasa much narrower rear axle than the pickup,which is why you dont have any of the problems the pickup owners do. I used to drive a chevy 3500 dump in the snow,it was great,the narrow track,helps keep the rear wheels out of the front tires berms,and out of the snow berms on the edges of the roads.

 

[Miklos]

In the winter, I run Cooper Discoverer M/T's in 255/85R-16 size that are siped and studded. My truck is an '01 so it has the different offset that allows running of larger tires. With my large camper on, there is no rubbing at all. If you could find a set of the newer rims, you could just purchase a set of tires for winter use and leave them mounted. However, it is the studding and siping that makes the differance. You can also try running low pressures in that rear tires to increase traction.

 

[Pit Bull]

Isn't it all about weight versus contact patch plus torque. Mine is a 3500 4x4 with 4. 10's auto and no weight in the rear. If it was a stick I could better adjust the torque by starting out in a higher gear and not breaking the tires loose. All the weigh with a smaller contact patch is in the front. It will pull up a hill, it will push down a hill and the rear is hard to keep hooked up, because of the torque and large contact patch. Not to mention that it rides up on the snow that is pushed to the side with the front tires. The reason you would have good traction pulling a big 5er is the additional weight increasing traction. There is no way these 3500 would be a good snow vehicle without loading the bed up with a lot of weight (having good snow tires on the rear). I just don't drive it in the snow. If I needed to drive it in the snow I would just put a couple of thousand pounds in the bed and it would do a lot better (still not as good as a vehicle with narrower contact patch and 50/50 weight distribution). I think everything I just wrote is obvious to everyone here. I'm just practicing my typing

 

[DDrenkhahn]

All right, I put in my 2 cents. I live in the south, so when it snows, the secondary roads are left as is, and sometimes the freeway too. Last week I had to get out and drive my wife to work when we had a little snow. For my first snow event with this truck, I was more than impressed. It hooked up great on packed snow and ice in 4wd, but go back to 2wd and your screwed. No surprise here.



My understanding is that for 2001. 5 and up the 2500 and the 3500 are the same truck except for the duals in the rear. So why not get a 2500 and get the wheels and tires required to carry more weight if that's what you really need? I'm not sure if the cost is a big factor for this when compared to the 3500 over the 2500.

 

[markn]

My 3500 does surprisingly well in the snow. I ran the OE Michelin M/S tires, which had a large number of sipes until just recently. The truck was more stable in icy/packed snow than my Jeep GC! I *just* switched to BFG A/T 235's, and they work equally well. I've NEVER had a tracking problem in deeper snow/slush; there's so much weight on these narrow 235's that it stays very stable. Most of my driving is in the mountains around Lake Tahoe and down to Reno, NV. The only improvement I could make would be studded tires.

 

[HEYBOSS]

Just my two cents here. Drove my truck all winter last year and with 4. 10 lsd I've ONLY used 4x4 three times, this truck does surprisingly well just in two wheel drive with the Lsd. Just can't understand why others have problems using 4x4 not unless someone wants to drive 100mph in the snow!

 

[David Muench]

Originally posted by Snow man

Dave,your 3500 is a chassis cab,it hasa much narrower rear axle than the pickup,which is why you dont have any of the problems the pickup owners do. I used to drive a chevy 3500 dump in the snow,it was great,the narrow track,helps keep the rear wheels out of the front tires berms,and out of the snow berms on the edges of the roads.

No, actually it doesn't. It has a thicker, longer frame, but the axles are the same as any 3500.



The chevy's did (do?) have an option of a narrow rear axle called a utility axle. . Mainly used for wreckers and other narrower bodies. Won't work on the dodges because the frames are too wide.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

I dunno 'bout useless

3500 4X4 (6x6) With BFG Mud terrains (255/85/16) , NORTHERN VT (Dad's house) 2 feet of powder 3/4 mile driveway with enclinations of 34* AND a 2Spot enclosed trailer with an SRX and ZRT Sleds in the trailer and no problem. HOWEVER Driving Home last night on I-89 fine powder packed maybee a 1/4 inch of it ... . couldnt be more and MAN what a jacknife slidin knucke splitting hair raising short ruining fun time that was!!!

<hr>

Truck Bio:

Y2K+1 3500 4X4 Quad Cab 4:10:1 LSD



Powerpack By Bank's (4 inch exhaust,High ram intake,wastgate mod to 38 psi,ottomind TLC +guages,K&N) ,DTT~93%TC~&~VB~TC Smart controller, Mag-Hytec's Double Deep Trans pan,DD injectors+Van Aken+Autometer Guages. ,Piers Modified PDR HX turbo,Enterprise Engine PerformancePusher pump setup Front End Leveling Kit from Jakit with 255/85R16 BFG http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/ M/T's Custom Rhino Liner (see Tool Man's truck feature)DeeZee Black Diamond Plate Bed Rails And Tool Box , WAAG Side tubes with kick~outs Mopar Performance accessories-Sill plates-hitch cover-cargo aux lamp'n'Power, Hadley air systems 150 psi comp and air storage. DynaMat Sound deadening applied to entire cab and doors, Check out Tool's Stuff#ad


N. E. T. D. P

 

[Snow man]

David,the axle width on the chassis cab 3500 is narrower than the pickup,this improves strenth,and allows bodies 8 ft wide to have some overhang. My dad has a 2001 pickup,it is 8ft exactly top to the outside of the tires,i measured it,my buddie has a 97 3500 dump truck,it has an 8 ft dump dody on it,the tires are about 4-6" inside the body on both sides. The reason the use the extra wide axle in pickups is so the inside dual tire will clear the wheelhouse . They want to be able to slide a 4x8 of whatever between the wheel wells,with a chassi cab,this obvously isnt a problem,since 99% of them have some type of flat bed body installed on them.

 

[Cumminpwr11]

I not sure about duals, but before I lifted my truck big, I had yokamhama's Geolanders M/T and had them siped at American Tire Company. They are also Discount Tires Sales in other states. Same company different names. Nothing but with this set up. Great in the snow. Now my 42 Road hawgs... . they eat everything on the road even other cars. Gotta love that howl!!!!



Chris

 

[David Muench]

Welp, I'm gonna have to measure this, because I am finding what you're saying hard to believe. For sure it is nothing like the Chevy's "utility" axle. A local guy took an old tow truck and built it into a show truck with a non dually bed, and it basically had duals with no tire sticking out of the stock bed's wheel wells. Granted, it had to have at least 4" of lift so the tires didn't hit the bottom of the box though.



Off to find a tape measure, I am curious.

 

[KCJackson]

I've been running Bridgestone M773 commercial all-terrains since 1999 - I put them on when I went to 6 aluminum wheels. They have been terrific in the snow here in NJ. Well spaced tread blocks, nicely siped. They are more aggressive than the Firestone Steeltex AT, but not as aggressive as the Goodyear Wrangler AT/S. The outside tread blocks are only cut half the depth of the inside blocks, so they eventually become a solid rib on the outside, like the Firestone, but that actually helps in the dry handling. I have had no problems with spinning or getting stuck, and I'll probably buy another set of them this year for the stretch run until I buy a 2004 Ram. I run the stock size of 215/85R16E to improve the weight downforce on the contact patch. They go for about $130 or so, but you usually have to order them and wait a few days for them to be sent from the central distributor.



Specs are at http://www.bridgestone-usa.com/products/BSD-M773.htm

 

[Speedo]

I've been looking at the 215s and 235s and it occured to me that

it might be a little bit better to run some 7. 50-16s instead of the

P metric sizes they are as tall as the 235s and narrower than the

215s. They are getting a little harder to find out there but they are still available. Right now I'm running 235s on my 3500 and I

could use a little help in heavy wet snow when I'm empty.