Dual Rear Wheels on snow

[merryman]

I have heard people assert the duals are much inferior to single rear wheels on snow/ice. Can there be anything to this other than weight per tire? That is if you add enough weight to the bed of the truck to give each tire of the dually the same weight as a single will it perform the same on snow or ice?? Just curious.



Vaughn

 

[QRTRHRS]

Loading will help some. The problem is, if you look at your front wheels, you will see that they line up with the middle of the duals. What happens then is that the front wheels part the snow then the rear wheels have to ride up on top of it. Running at low rpm with weight, I can feel this squirlling around, give it some throttle and it will pull straight. My problem on ice is getting it anchored weight or not.

 

[WDaniels]

QRTRHRS,

When I had my 96 3500 it was far superior in traction and handling on ice unloaded than my present 2500. Don't know if it was just mine but it performed excellent. Theroiticaly(sp) it should be worse cause you have only half the weight per square inch than single axles. But who can figure it out.

WD

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

This is all antecdotal so no firey flames of passion.



Note: 3500 means dually. When I was considering going to a 3500 I talked it over with a couple of fellars who had dually experience because it was my impression the dually would be poor in snow and slick conditions. One of them has a 2500 CTD and the other a 3500 CTD. The fellar with the 2500 uses a 3500 V10 to plow the roads here at the station (we all pitch in but its mainly his job). We also had a 2500 V10 with the same brand plow. Both thought the 3500 did a better job plowing traction wise. Both like the handling of the dually in the snow. Mind you this is not off-road travel.



I had the preconceived notion that a dually wouldn't work well, mainly from driving stock trucks in wet grass conditions. However, I was very pleased how my dually handled last winter with the stock GY GSAs on on VERY slick roads.



Stick with the skinny 235s (studs are nice too) and don't put phatty tires on. IMHO. I driven, and been scared to puckering, in rigs that had phatties on in icy conditions, but thats another story.

 

[LEPage]

Maybe if we 3G owners could get a decent tire instead of this Goodyear junk, our traction, ride, mileage, and wallets would all be better. I have finally found Cooper & Generals in the 17" DRW size.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

I put a set of Coop STs on for the winter. I guess Cooper also makes Mastercraft which is also available in 235 80 17. Several rigs here have the Mastercrafts and Coopers STs and they have performed well. The Generals are quite a bit less expensive.

 

[bmoeller]

Most people that told me that a dually would stink in the winter didn't even own one. Just hear say. Kinda like the "Ford owns Cummins" BS. Found it to be quite the opposite. I have the Cooper S/T tires also. Work great, on or off-road, at least for me. Had worn out H/T tires on the rear when I bought the truck. Got around great with them, even with only 3/32" of tread left. Very impressed. WILL buy the S/Ts again, assuming they are still being made at the time when they need to be replaced.

 

[QRTRHRS]

With a little weight, my truck will go well with some throttle. It just won't run straight with a light throttle. We typically get wet snow. It's not bad if I am the one breaking tracks but beyond that the rear just won't stay straight. It had new 235 General Grabbers when I bought it. I then put on Michelin LTX 215's and now have 235 Michelin XPS Tractions which gave me the best traction.