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My take is that a RWD pickup with winter tires is pretty near useless in mountain snow driving unless you put a LOT of weight in the bed. Like 1000 # or more.
Without heavily weighting the bed - - on flat lands, minimal amount of snow, maybe OK. Driving up mountain roads to ski areas, good luck.
If this question is a disguised "should I buy this 2WD pickup that I found a deal on, and can I get away with 2WD in winter if I buy snow tires" - - just pass, buy a 4WD.
Forget the 2x here are so many 4x4 PU's available now days so just get one.
I think back in the day they would load a bunch of weight in a 2x pu bed to get up to the hill
most of it being skiers to push & shovel
One of my first employers working in the woods only supplied us with half-ton ford 2WD. Chains, shovel/Pulaski, and jack-all in the back, weight was whatever we could find - firewood, building stone, old hardened bags of cement, or if really lucky we had the company Honda big red trike. Boss was cheap, and we learned first how to put on chains in under 5min, get unstuck, and finally not get stuck. This was the late 80’s. We don’t bother with 2WD pickups in the field anymore.
Company vehicle. Selling my rig for various reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Chupacabra
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
Up here > 9 out of 10 trucks especilay interiour of BC are going to be 4x4 and excab or crew cab,
if I see a single cab and or 2x it is very likely from the USA or somebody ordered it like that
I grew up driving RWD cars and pickups in the snow.
I now have a 4wd truck but I still drive in 2wd as much as I can. I make it like a challenge to myself.
So did I but I will sometimes switch to 4x4 cuz the vehical rides better especilay on washboard so the ride is less rough so it beats the vehical gtes beat uup less and i got it so why not thinks I
IMO, this is the worst part of RWD for ski vehicles. You need to be very aware of conditions where you park, particularly pitch and surface; parking nose downhill and trying to back out will result in needing assistance more often than not, and you really want to have a decent space cushion on both sides so you don't make contact if getting out of the space results in sliding.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
A great many ski race programs use RWD vans and make it work. I'm sure most coaches would prefer AWD/4WD, but as long as you're sticking to maintained roads and can use your brain, the issues are manageable. Plenty of 4x4 truck owners like pulling stuck vehicles out, so if you have your own tow strap hooked up and wave it at them, you'll probably get a taker if there's much traffic at all.
The only times I can think of where not having 4wd would've changed my ski plans involve either really unusual storms (12"+ of wet slop in Maine), unplowed USFS roads, or trying to earn turns outside of lift season (and thus outside of regular parking lot plowing season).
A great many ski race programs use RWD vans and make it work.
they have 15 well trained atheletic kids in good shape to push
Just like riding a sled in pow.Quote:
Originally Posted by anotherVTskibum
And a sled is about the perfect weight in the back of a p/u. Sorta sells itself.
I'm pretty sure it was a full sized truck with 4x4 but it must have had shitty rubber cuz it was stuck in the ski hill p-lot where you don't wana park on that downhill side cuz you get stuck without studs and i pulled it out with my lowly ranger avec studded haks
It's a max of 14 athletes pushing, the coach still has to drive. For race trips, you're also not likely to have 14 kids in the van--when each kid has between two and five pairs of skis, plus 150-ish liters of luggage, even eight can be tight. But eight FIS guys is plenty to push a van on mostly level ground. If you drop a wheel into a ditch, that may be another story.Quote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
And really, a full van is far less of an issue than an empty one, so the "park a sled in the back" theory isn't without merit.
ok then you ^^ tell us how they make it to races and i don't think its with a sled in a 15 passenger
Nokians on a loaded van is almost always fine unless you pick a crappy parking spot. Slick roads can be annoyingly requiring of focus when you have varying traction and the ass end will try to step out if you catch a slick spot on a corner; AWD would be so much nicer in that regard (and some places do have AWD vans, and I'm sure I'm not the only coach who is a bit jealous).Quote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
If you have second-tier or worn tires, hopefully you're either really good at managing slippage or you've got a friend with a 4x4 and good tires (I'd carry a tow strap in the van with lesser tires).
Trying to deal with an empty van and an inclined driveway sucks. This includes getting to the passenger pickup points at some ski areas.
My first vehicle was a 4x2 Nissan Hardbody 5 speed. I would throw about 300lbs in the bed and a 40 lb bag of cat litter. I did okay with w/studded winter tires but still carried cables, not chains. I got good at putting those on going up the passes (Snoqualmie, Stevens and Crystal) Personally, if you can get a 4WD PU, that's the best option. But, if not and where you live does not allow studded tires, then get a really good set of winter tires and a set of chains and practice putting them on before the season starts.