2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission winter road driving

[DieselDoghouse]

Here near the Boston area we are finding that the kids who have been involved in performance driving such as F1's junior league cart racing program have a significantly better road preparedness I'd like to think that its because they have learned that the road is NOT a racetrack, and their situational awareness is keen. They have learned a car doesn't just behave with no warning—it tells you something first.

 

[SHobbs]

You should come to Texas and watch the bumper cars when it gets slippery out. Heck the drivers here even get nutty when it rains.

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

I have been to TX and seen the circus! In the Austin area where it freezes once or twice a year..... 100+ wrecks the first morning! Once again, idiots driving like there was no ice and it wasn't slick, driving around smacking into the other brand of idiot driving way to slow! Lucky for me we were working out away from public roads.

 

[Ahopper]

ha ha i know about the rain drivers! here in az when we get rain it comes all at once. all that oil on the road gets wet and people go a smashin! its quite rediculous. thanks for all the help i just got out of the snowy "real winter" weather a little bit ago. the tips did help. only got sqirly on me in town a couple times but not bad. (watched alot of people go into curbs and medians)

 

[SnoKing]

The other thing to remember is you have the weight of a VW bug spinning under the hood, and letting up on the throttle does not happen in a nano second.



Drive like you have an egg under your throttle and brake foot. And turn the boxes down like said above. SNOKING

 

[tgordon]

Like a few of you guys talked, I grew up on a farm and we had cattle to feed as far away as 3 miles, and they got fed 7 days a week. I learden to drive 2wd tractors on solid ice dragging along over 6K lbs. When your children who have been doing th emotor cross and F1 driving get into drivers ed it will blow away the teacher. The only comment I got from him was on the highway I was driving a little bit fast and my response to him was I was keeping up with the flow of traffic. That was the last time I drove and I passed with flying colors.



As to driving these trucks with a tank on the front axle, I got into mine from a CJ-7. The first time I went into a skid it was slow motion because of th elong wheel base thses had relative to the Jeep. I barley ever use 4wd, personal preferance, adn that helps keep my wits about me for stopping and turning. Last spring my wife and I were driving across 90 in the bad storm and after being on the road for 12 hours(Should have been a 11 hour trip) in the car, I told here we were stopping for the night or she was driving. Something about the trucks all over in the ditch, road not being plowed at all, one lane of traffic, two wheel paths(to wide for the car), and the snow scrapping on the bottum of the car I was calling it quites and feeling lucky we made it that far alive.



I would strongly encourage you guys who have limited experiance in these trucks in the winter to get into something smaller and drive that in a parking lot if you can, or take one of these there and get use to it. My wife is completely amazed at how "stupidly" I drive in the winter yet when others are in the ditch I can keep it between the lines. Also do not use products like exhaust brakes, many of th etruckers will agree with that. I have sent my truck into tailspins just down shifting so I even do that with caution in the winter. But it never stops amazing me how fast a vehicle will straighten out if put into neutral/clutch disengauged, if you are not towing something.

 

[cojhl2]

tgordon mrntioned that he does not use 4WD unless necessary. That reminded me of the my post earlier, where I did not apparently explain why that is correct.



If the tires are not exactly the same circumference then you get a slight amout of slip between the road and the vehicle. They are never planted firmly on the driving surface.



I am not worried about strain on the drive train only the "slippage" between the road and tires.



Of course if you need to apply more than a nominal amount of power (uphill, deep snow, etc) then of course 4WD is called for.



As far as exhaust brakes are concerned on slick roads,,, no way!!! Don't ever use them it's just like applying too much power in the oppisite direction.



tgordon also has it correct regarding going to nuetral or applying the clutch to completly remove the engine from applying tractive effort to a slick surface when things get squirlly.



my 03 anyway. .

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

For the 4x4 enthusiasts... . I use it quite a bit in town. Not for "cool guy driving" but because it helps me get around faster and more confidetely. I just read in the owners manual that my t-case can be shifted at hwy speeds of up to 55mph. So, I guess 4x4 driving on the hwy may not be so bad afterall... ...

That being said, I know the argument about not using 4x4 until you are stuck. If you get stuck while IN 4x4 you are generally REALLY stuck!

Just thought I'd throw in the point about shift on the fly 4x4 up to 55mph.



Happy driving and Merry Christmas!!

 

[Tractorat]

I think the best advise Ive seen on this thread is to drive in 4WD, but drive as if you are in 2WD. The absolute worse vehicle you can drive in the ice and snow is a pickup truck. Its bad enough with a 1968 2WD chev 1/2 ton. But these dodges are big and heavy. With hardly any weight in the back. Limited slip helps a little, but I wouldnt depend on it.



4WD will help you with directional control. In some cases, if you start to spin out, giving it a little gas (in 4WD) can help pull you out of the situation. But, be VERY CAREFULL !!!. With all of the power the cummins has, its not hard to give it too much power are really do yourself in.



If you can, STAY AWAY FROM GOING DOWN BIG HILLS !!! You may be going really slow, and think you can stop. But, as soon as you touch the brake, all bets are off.



Good luck



TRat

 

[DieselDoghouse]

All this talk has really whet my appetite for my NEXT Dodge. A cummins running a big*ss alternator feeding 4 traction motors with PWM feedback so the computer can finally do some real traction control—basically an 8000 lb locomotive. NO driveline drag, no u-joints, instant acceleration (nothing delivers maximum torque faster than an electric motor). Mebbe then the wife will let me have a real train horn!!

 

[tgordon]

I just read in the owners manual that my t-case can be shifted at hwy speeds of up to 55mph.

I will say from experiance don't do it while you are spinning, the truck will let you know that it does not like that at all. :{

 

[Bob Cochran]

Ahopper-Glad you are back home as it is worse here now. Started snowing again about 6 pm and looks like it will snow all night and a lot of tomorrow maybe will stop by Wednesday if weather reporters are right. I live between Show Low and St. Johns off highway 61. I can tell you I have never been more stuck than when I was using 4X4. All above advice is correct only save thing to do is stay home and I HATE putting chains on. Rather spend the night in a motel. Glad you had a good save street.

 

[Ahopper]

how much snow have you gotten so far up ther by show low? how high up are you? i think you are in my elk hunting unit. 2A? well at least i put in for it every year and havnt got lucky lately. i know some dont like getting too much snow but i know we need it. we have a cabin in forest lakes off the 260 and we got ditily sqwat it seemed like last year. that made for a dry summer forest.

 

[SnoKing]

Ahopper-Glad you are back home as it is worse here now. Started snowing again about 6 pm and looks like it will snow all night and a lot of tomorrow maybe will stop by Wednesday if weather reporters are right. I live between Show Low and St. Johns off highway 61. I can tell you I have never been more stuck than when I was using 4X4. All above advice is correct only save thing to do is stay home and I HATE putting chains on. Rather spend the night in a motel. Glad you had a good save street.

We stayed a couple days in the fall at the Voyager at Juniper Ridge. Nice area. We enjoyed the drive thru Salt River Canyon going on into Phoenix. At 6,000 feet I guess you get alot of snow. SNOKING

 

[Bob Cochran]

how much snow have you gotten so far up ther by show low? how high up are you? i think you are in my elk hunting unit. 2A? well at least i put in for it every year and havnt got lucky lately. i know some dont like getting too much snow but i know we need it. we have a cabin in forest lakes off the 260 and we got ditily sqwat it seemed like last year. that made for a dry summer forest.

I am not sure this is unit 2A or not as I did most my hunting up on the Blue River Noth and East of Hannigan's Meadow but I have a feeling unit 2A is south of highway 60 around Greenspeak a lot more elk in that area. I am around 6300 feet here and actually a little low for elk and the habitat really is not right. Pinetop/Lakeside had almost 12 inches of snow but most areas right along the rim as usual gets more snow. I think Forest lake is getting as much snow as Pinetop/Lakeside is though. As you go east it gets less and you will get more snow south towards Greenspeak. I guess we got 4 to 5 inches overnight and warmed up today so a lot melted off(muddy now). Maybe we get a fresh batch tonight but I am thinking not the storm is through here this time. Yes we do need the snow and it is a little earlier this year so hope that is a good sign. The old rain gauge shows around 2 inches so far this storm. To muddy to go out to it and be more exact. Last storm we got only a dusting of snow but we got about 1-1/3 of rain for that one.



Have a great Xmas and New Year.

 

[Bob Cochran]

We stayed a couple days in the fall at the Voyager at Juniper Ridge. Nice area. We enjoyed the drive thru Salt River Canyon going on into Phoenix. At 6,000 feet I guess you get alot of snow. SNOKING

Yep know Juniper Ridge not far away. Don't really get that much snow here actually. Usually around 2 inches at a time and warms up and melts fast and we get the mud!!! We do get a lot of high wind though!!!! I went down last Saturday and you would have really loved the ride through the Canyon. Had water falls from the rocks but of course you have to dodge the fallen rocks!!!

 

[JWashburn]

I've driven 95 mph for a short distance on a dead straight snow pack road and no traffic. That seemed to be safe though I wouldn't recommend it. I once was in freezing rain in which it took over 200 feet to stop from 5mph. I got off a hill coated with the stuff by driving with two wheels in the bar pit. I've never had an accident.



My advice: when it snows find an empty parking lot and experiment. As for highway driving. I'd find a highway at low traffic times and see whether you want to 4wd all the time or better yet, find a nice wide gravel road with no traffic and play. Get comfortable with driving in it.



Its fun to to drive in