p'up owners: curious to know how much weight is considered ample for winter travel?
naturally, the answer likely correlates with your location (snow=west, ice=east); this aside, how much is considered accepatble, and do folks generally add/delete weight according to the conditions? i'm currently hauling 150 lbs. of bagged sand, placed directly o'er my rear wheel axle, but still slip-slidin'-away at times. thanks! leslie

The most common technique up here (Alaska) is to just not shovel the snow out of the back! I saw an old Datsun P'up truck in Dutch Harbor with a 1000-pound chunk concrete in the back. But that may have been more about the winds (I've experienced gusts to 127 mph there).

150 pounds isn't a lot compared to a 4,000-pound (or more) truck. I'd be thinking 500 pounds or so. Make it stuff you can use in a pinch (but not valuable, stealable stuff) like sandbags, some 2x8 planks (under the sandbags), some tow chains (hidden under the planks and sandbags).

In some snow and wind conditions, the weight really helps. As do better tires.

On ice, great tires help much more than weight. Driving slowly and staying home during the worst of it helps even more.

Something that California skiiers are better at than most anyone is using tire chains. They're a pain, but make any vehicle as capable as it can be for winter travel. For a winter Midwest or East Coast roadtrip, I'll bring one or sets in my luggage which always gets TSA's attention (especially that time I had a set in my carry-on, but they let me through).

When i had my truck i built an H shaped bracket with 2x4s that made a box around the wheel wells to hold my sand bags in. then once it snowed i would leave most of the snow in there and that froze solid.

Have you tried studded tires? I became a real believer in those things on road trips going from Seattle to southern Idaho. I have heard that some people in ice country think they are for wimps but I don't thing so.

I like to use my old polluting snowmobile in the back.
Duane

In the very back by the tailgate, I have two 50# bags of sand and one old innertube with tire chains inside. Keep newer tires (used for winter only) on front and back, and the let the bed fill with snow and ice.

" For a winter Midwest or East Coast roadtrip, I'll bring one or sets in my luggage which always gets TSA's attention (especially that time I had a set in my carry-on, but they let me through). "

Carry-on? I guess you never know when the airliner is going to hit an icy patch once you get above 10,000 feet.

--B.G.--

"Carry-on? I guess you never know when the airliner is going to hit an icy patch once you get above 10,000 feet."

LOL. I heard of planes going down from in-flight icing, so I wanted to be prepared.

Of course, we have potentially icy ground up to 20,320 feet in Alaska.

thanks all! i tossed in more sand (to total 300lbs), and will heed the suggestion of the "h" frame design (this weekend)! better still, we could use some dang snow! yesterday i skated my way to work! urgh.

Adding weight does add for traction and also to smooth out the pick up trucks ride makes the rear tries last longer.

I use to live in Deluz,Ca. just out side Fallbrook,Ca. every winter the Santa Margarita river would flood after a big rain. My Father made a truck bed liner out of 3/8 inch diamond plate steel we would just drive right across the river with no problem with water up to the door handles. Another old guy had a old 1958 chevy pick up truck he had put in four 55 gallon drums in the back of his truck.He would pump water in to drums at the river crossing. Then drive across and then open the bottom valves on the drums to drain them on the way home. We were the only ones to make it across the river with out are truck floating down the river.
The only car that did not need weight to cross the river was old Citroen from the 60's.
Like Patrick Jane drives in the Tv show the "Mentalist". The car has built in hydraulics shock to lift the car up higher. They also allow the car to drive with only one rear wheel if you get a flat and have no spare tire.

Also back in the 80's SDGE use to used Toyota pickup trucks in their fleet for their meter readers they strapped a custom made cement block over the axle in the bed of the truck to keep the tries from wearing out so fast and to increase traction
Terry.

Edited by socal-nomad on 12/22/2011 10:46:41 MST.