2 wheel drive truck vs fwd car

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by oilpsi2high
Originally Posted by Miller88
Unloaded, my F-350 4x4 is worthless in the snow in 2 or 4 wheel drive and with or without snow tires. If it has 8,000 pounds of trailer hanging off the back, it does great in 2wd.

Even though I live in the "snowiest" city in the country, I still don't see AWD/4x4 as a necessity. Front wheel drive and snow tires never let me down!



Is your truck broken?

My 4X4 pickup on snow tires is the best vehicle ever in the snow. Even better than my FWD car on snow tires with a limited slip diff...

The key is to engage 4x4 as soon as the roads become slick. Waiting until you get stuck is idiotic.


It's a F-350 and it's sprung very heavy so it can tow 10,000 pounds while having 3000 pounds in the bed. It's just too darn light (weighs in under 6000 pounds at the dump) for how heavily it's sprung. It'll slide right through intersections. My dad used to get stuck in his work parking lot with it when it was unplowed, in potholes. , WITH SNOW TIRES, because it just doesn't have any articulation it gets no traction.

Also, it has a part time transfer case --- as do most trucks. Running it around in 4x4 is really not ideal, especially when turning. If it had some sort of center differential or viscous coupling in the transfer case, it would be a better idea.

Until then, I'll stick to my Subaru on snow tires for winter driving

 

[BrianF]

I grew up driving 2wd trucks and large vans. No LSD or lockers in sight. Used good tires and a bit of ballast. I learned real fast about the limitations and how to get out of being stuck. An older brother of mine ran 2wd trucks for many years up in the Yukon, NWT and BC. He showed me how to get in and out of trouble and when to just pull the pin and walk away. Served me well in the army and currently. I seem to be the guy one calls for a recovery. Anyway, many years back I was on a work term with a civil engineering company, which ran a fleet of fwd minivans using summer tires. It was amazing to see what we could go through in terms of snow and mud. Having weight over the drive tires and being able to change their direction makes a world of difference.

For the last 13 years I have been running 4wd vehicles, which I must admit spoils me. All had or now have decent tires and LSD or lockers. My 3500 had the factory TransForce tires removed just after a year of ownership as they proved more than useless on anything but dry, warm asphalt.

I prefer driving rwd or 4wd vehicles but I have a special place in my heart for fwd.

 

[meep]

^^^ FWD minivans can be surprisingly capable. I learned when it got really bad to air them down. One night I go into the grocery in northern maryland and come back out and the van has been plowed in. Woops. The plow was still busy and I'm sure he would've eventually come back around but after spinning the tires and scratching my head I figured I'd borrow from the 'wheeling crowd and try it. Probably aired down to about 12psi. That was enough to push through - it was maybe a 14" berm? I was so impressed I took it for a spin - there was probably 7-8", not real deep but enough to know where the limit was - airing down made a notable difference. Of course, with 12 pounds of air the handling would be slop, but with 7" of snow it's all slop anyway. Aired up 2 days later...

 

[Traction]

The thing I hated about owning 4 wheel drive vehicles, was all of the time I spent driving around with it, and not needing it. It seems like it was such a waste, when good winter tires work so good on everything when needed. Like right now I have 4 brand new Nokian studded tires/wheels still stacked up in the garage in January, and wearing out 2 sets of winter tires on 2 other cars driving on dry pavement. I have been stuck more with 4WD from doing stuff I shouldn't have too. The best vehicle, and most fun I've ever have had in the snow was my RWD
1995 Impala SS running Bizzak 215/70-15's. That thing was a rocket in the snow, and I felt like I was driving a oval track dirt car. The day I bought it I didn't think I could get it home in a 1/2 inch of snow with the all season 255/50-17's that were like 9 inches wide.
My first car was a rear engine/drive 1964 Corvair Spyder, and that was the second best 2WD car I've driven in the snow. No more 4WD vehicles for me ever, and I still prefer RWD over FWD.