Winter traction for dually's

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With winter upon us, I am curious as to what you all do to add traction when traveling on snowy and icy roads. My truck handles like an ice skate on snow covered roads.

thanks,
John


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93 D350 LE CC, Auto, 65,000 miles, All stock except beefed up rear springs, 94 11Z Elkhorn Camper

 

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John, I run snow tires year round and just add some weight in the winter. I can get away with running snow tires in the summer here, we don't get much over 90F, and I always check the tire and wheel bearing temps, with my hand, when I stop. Most people that drive pick ups here add weight in the winter, the most common way is to use patio stones, the 24x24 size is about 60# so about six will do, located near the tailgate, these should be fastened down. Another way is to have a steel plate cut, and bolt it in place, steel is about 450# per cubic foot so a 4'x8' sheet 3/8 or 1/2 thick would be plenty and not use up much cargo space. This will improve the winter drivability of your truck, but you must remember, all trucks will slide around in the snow, so the driver also has to do their part aswell.

Neil

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Neil Copeman 92 D250,LE,limited slip, 16cm turbo housing, Isspro gauges, factory tach option, Lear cap, DC crankdown tire carrier
Hadley air horns, Stealhorse leather seats, e-mail (home): bombedcummins@sympatico. ca

 

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I run studded tires and put 9 sacks of sand in the bed. these are the small plastic wrapped bags that are specifically for this purpose. They weigh around 65-75lbs each. I think you are better off to keep the weight directly over the axle, as this will prohibit the trucks tendency to fishtail when the weight is placed farther back in the bed by the gate. Even with the sand, I still have plenty of bed space.

 

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I agree - weight is most important. If you are on icy/snowpack roads, studs too.

A good tradeoff is weight on a siped tire - I ran a Dunlop ATR siped (BFG All Terrain copy I expect) with weight and it did very well on hardpack and ice. Ran very well.

I am running a Desert Dog studded tire for the winter, only because it came with the truck. Dramatic difference on ice and real hard snow back with weight. If they hadn't of come with the truck, I'd have stil been on the Dunlaps because the snow melts on the Colorado Front Range so fast, but they are way better than the Dunlaps.

My opionion,
jon

 

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My Old Man and I sell a little firewood in the winter, so I load up about a half-cord of wood. (2 stacks the length of the bed)I was thinking of making a concrete block about 4'x2'x1' which should be plenty of weight. These heavy 1-tons need about 1,000lbs of weight I think. All I know is that I've been using the salt here in St. Louis. I'm so jealous of all you "W" folks. Anybody want to get me a '93 W250 5-speed for Christmas?
Merry Christmas
Chris Hughes


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'93 D350 2wd Club Cab 5-speed,143,000 miles,K&N,Amsoil throughout,Borgeson Steering Shaft,Isspro gauges(Tach,EGT,Boost,Engine Oil Temp. ),16cm Turbo Housing, "My Dream Exhaust"(5" Chrome Stack)

 

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Hello dually... those duallys can be squirally in the snow cause you have just a small bit of wt in the back end spread over 4 big tires which makes the pounds per square inch of tire area to road much smaller than a non dually. You can go with skinny tires or lots of wt. Id go with lots of wt as skinny tires on a dually would not look so cool... Merry Christmas

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1993 d250 4X4, forrest green club cab, tonneau cover, tach, auto 3. 54. Honda shadow 1100, 1977 vw Bug

 

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weight is good , a expert tow trk driver
always lowers air in rear tires
i deflate them till side walls almost touch
on duelly , this helps, he drivers many a 4x4 jeep in snow sthuc just by lowering air
and driving out, just dont go to low and watch load vrs air , it workd 4 me but even in calif i drive to 4000 ' every day
so weight and low air workd best

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1993 w350 ex cab, banks,nv 4500 in
open exaust, pw Injectors are in. Big rig flaps,tach soon to be in. Its loud and goes ok, for a 93,only beat 1 pwr strk furd. 2 optimas,
love driving it!

 

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I also lower air pressure in the tires to about 15 pnds of air. I just started doing this as I got some valve stem extension that extend the inside tire to the outside for convenience. Talk about a differnce I can do alot more in 2wd.

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93 W350 White 4" stack Headache rack with Lights. Gauges 27pnds boost empty Banks quick turbo.