4x4 dually in snow. Do I need back weight?

[mwhals]

I have a quad cab dually 4x4 and know that DRW trucks have worse rear traction than SRW trucks in snow. Since mine is a 4x4 with a lot of weight in the front, do I need any weight in the back? If so, how much?



Mark H

 

[CBrahs]

about 600 lbs or more

 

[swexlin]

I live in SE PA (Philly suburbs), and we have some of the steepest hills this side of the Alps, all with traffic lights or stops signs at the start of 'em, it seems.



Put my dually in 4x4, and I've NEVER slipped once - just go easy on the throttle. And that's with the crappy General Ameritracs. No weight in the bed either. Remember, these trucks put ALOT of torque to the wheels, so:



1. 4x4

2. easy on the throttle

3. Rock on!!

 

[bmoeller]

Remember, these trucks put ALOT of torque to the wheels, so:

1. 4x4

2. easy on the throttle

3. Rock on!!

That is my rule of thumb. Never kept any weight on the bed for traction. No problems at all.



Heck, I've even pulled an empty stuck lowboy. He had full locking rears on the Volvo tractor, and still couldn't move in the snow. I hooked up (while in 4 lo) and walked him out at an idle. No added ballast to Ram.

 

[KCJackson]

I live in SE PA (Philly suburbs), and we have some of the steepest hills this side of the Alps, all with traffic lights or stops signs at the start of 'em, it seems.



Put my dually in 4x4, and I've NEVER slipped once - just go easy on the throttle. And that's with the crappy General Ameritracs. No weight in the bed either. Remember, these trucks put ALOT of torque to the wheels, so:



1. 4x4

2. easy on the throttle

3. Rock on!!

I agree. I never add bed weight, and I've never had a problem. I'm still on the original General AmeriTracs as well, and as long as I don't floor it, I can get through just about any snow depth. My 96 had no trouble with snow either, and it had several brands of tires on it... Goodyear Wrangler AT, Cooper Discoverer ST, Bridgetsone M773, and Michelin LTX M/S.



Another helpful hint... make sure your tires are properly pressured for how you drive. If the bed is normally empty, you don't need more than 45psi for the 4 back tires (remember, the 2 up front can handle nearly 6200 pounds by themselves - you have double the tires in back holding up far less weight with an empty bed). If the rears are underinflated, you'll float - overinflated, they'll slide more easily.

 

[Hoefler]

I found that getting rid of the General crap tires to be the best thing I have done. Like KCJackson mentioned above, tire pressure is key. I run 60 in the front and 40 in the rear. I also bought the Cooper ATRs, great traction on snow and ice!!

 

[cojhl2]

Never hurts to have xtra weight on the back end and there is no cost to it.



Pickups and Light trucks are inherently too light in the rear when empty.

 

[swexlin]

Another helpful hint... make sure your tires are properly pressured for how you drive.

I agree. Excellent advice.

 

[BHolm]

I have a srw and a drw, live in the mountains and drive both in the snow regularly. The srw with good tires is better but I have a fresh set of Cooper ATR's on the dually and it is performing really well on the mtn roads with no extra weight in back. I've pulled my little snowmobile trailer up the pass several times, a couple of times in quite a bit of snow. I hook the dually to the gooseneck too often to hassle with ballast, so the bed is pretty empty. No problems, in fact I was planning on buying some chains for it but don't feel I need to anymore.

 

[JVantreese]

A friend of mine has a dual wheel LWB 04 that was a monster in the winter. His wife refused to drive it and he found he needed 4wd if there was more then a heavy frost. He then added an 80 gal aux tank so that he could pick and choose where he filled up. With a tank weight of 120 lbs and 80 gal of fuel at 7. 1 lbs a gal he has found that his truck does much better in the snow. It also does much better on ice when you hit the skids.

 

[JDHenning]

Add the weight

I don't know how many rough washboard roads you see but 1000 lbs or so will keep the rear from trying to pass the front. I have a steel plate thats about 1. 5" thick that doesn't clog the bed but keeps me hooked up. Takes three men and a boy to move it and the forklift to unload though. If you really want to have fun chain her up and go climb some trees Oo.

 

[cojhl2]

2007 Kenworth T800 Wide Hood ISX 565 18spd w/ 4spd aux.

JDHenning,, What is that aux on your new T800. From other posts in this forum I was led to understand they were'nt being built anymore.



Im glad to find they still are as there are time when those really low hole gears are required it seems to me.



edit: My friend has a 2spd axle accompanying a 13spd to pull a Lowboy. In my opinion that is a bad setup. The axle shifting mechanism is too touchy and expensive.



At times I drive a T800 with a 18spd,, it's pretty good but sometimes lower gears to get it started would not hurt.

 

[GShail]

Snow being something of an intimate friend of mine I can tell you that it is certainly beneficial to have the extra ballast in the back in whatever form you can get it. There is a significant difference between how my truck behaves when my accessory fuel tank is empty vs. full, on the snow, ice, muck, mud etc. With an empty accesory tank I have less traction forward and backward plus there is a greater tendency to slide laterally. Put 88 gallons of fuel in said accesory tank, and voila MUCH better all around traction. Yeah you can scoot around pretty good in 4x4 empty, but there is a huge difference with extra ballast. Same goes for every pickup truck I have ever owned.

 

[MAshley]

I have to agree 100 gal of diesel in the rear tank seems to help on the snowy roads I have driven on, But I must admit that I notice a decress in acceleration with said weight, but its nice to have the fuel when needed

 

[CRuth]

Back when I was 2 wheel, I took a large truck inner tube and filled it with sand. Heavy as heck and if you found yourself stuck on ice you had sand readily available.



Whether you need it is questionable, but it sure doesnt hurt.

 

[Yo Hoot]

The steel plate idea is great. I need the ballast in my 2500 SRW for when I run the heavy plow.



I'm thinking about sketching out a plate that weighs 600lbs and having it flamecut into manageable sections that fit together like a puzzle. I hate loosing the bed space with bags of sand.

 

[JRMora]

FWIW, I got around in the "Denver Blizzard" fine with no added weight in the back. I had the opportunity to pull out a Ford with a plow and several other cars with no slipping.



I will also add that the Firestone Transforce AT's did a really good job in this stuff. We had about 27" of snow as well as some dirfts of 3-4 ' where the plows pushedthe snow aside. No problems anywhere.

 

[cojhl2]

The steel plate idea is great. I need the ballast in my 2500 SRW for when I run the heavy plow.

I forgot about that! I have that in my 67 1/2 stepside short box. 1/4 diamond plate tack welded in on top of the bolt heads. We put it in there when the pickup was new as it could not get around the fields at all without it.



I have no idea what the wood underneath looks like after all these years but I suppose it's pretty rotted by now.



My calcs give that at about 240 ibs.



Don't use that pickup much anymore but this summer it's gonna see some use as the Dodge needs brake, radiator and paint work!