Handling in the Rain

gandalf

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Posts
3,877
Reaction score
1,070
Location
CA &/or Maine
I experienced something in my truck which I've read about but never had happen to me. The description "Pig on ice" , which I've heard before, has new meaning for me.

We're in the middle, or more literally under, the atmospheric river here in the bay area. It started raining last evening, and rained all night. I stayed the night at my daughter's because I helped a friend move, load a rental truck, yesterday. It had started raining by the time we finished, so I decided to stay at my daughter's. Her area is scheduled to get ~ 2.5 inches of rain today, starting at midnight last night. Come time to leave this morning I did a 5 point turn at the bottom of her driveway so I could go out forward, see where I was aiming. I couldn't make it up the driveway, the tires started spinning. After doing that twice I backed up all the way to my parking space so as to get a running start, and made it to the top. The truck was empty, no load. I'm thinking of putting about 500 pounds of load in the bed. That should help.

Here is the driveway.

You must be registered for see images attach
 

gandalf

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Posts
3,877
Reaction score
1,070
Location
CA &/or Maine
You could not drive up a paved driveway in the rain?

That's right. Slick surface, no weight in the bed=no traction. I couldn't make it when starting on the slope. I had to back up to a somewhat level surface to get a running start. Also, Wes is right about air pressure. My tires are aired up for a load, a big cabover camper.

The camper, BTW, is going. It's getting to be in hard shape. Anyone want a camper?
 

asmith

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Posts
664
Reaction score
204
Location
Atascadero, Ca
Something similar has happened to me. Not in my IDI but in my old f250. It is an ‘89 eclb with the 460. Heading home in a heavy rain I was going up the Cuesta Grade on the 101. My tires were pretty worn out and the bed was empty except for a cross bed tool box full of tools, but that sits up by the cab. But if I gave it too much gas it would break the back end loose. I was literally going up the grade fishtailing back and forth[emoji23]. I was scared to stop because I thought I might not get going again. I just kept feathering the throttle to try and keep it under control and still moving forward.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

WAID

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Posts
134
Reaction score
154
Location
PDX
I remember having a similar issue after delivering a load of firewood for a fundraiser in highschool. Dad engaged his autolocking hubs(me getting out and engaging them) and put it in 4wd. Seems to go along with what everybody else said. I weighed my truck recently since I am considering a camper in the back. The front axle had 3900# the back only had 2750#. That was with ski gear, the wife and I, and a full rear and 3/4 full front tank.
 

IDIBRONCO

IDIBRONCO
Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Posts
12,235
Reaction score
10,925
Location
edmond, ks
got a yacht anchor sitting over those front tires
Plus those rear tires are a LONG way behind that anchor. My experience was worse. This was how I lost my first 85 F250. I was driving down the highway in a very heavy rainstorm. I'm guessing that I was going around 40-45. I didn't look at the speedo since I was just trying to see the road. The whole highway looked like a river. It was dark enough to have to have the headlights on, but light enough that they didn't do any good. About 3/4 miles west of town, the back of my truck started to hydroplane. I pushed in on the clutch and the back end came back around. I was thinking that I saved it, but the back end just kept swinging around, pulling the truck off the road. It ended up upside down about 15 feet below the highway, facing the other way. The only thing that kept me alive was the fact that I wasn't wearing a seat belt and got thrown out. As it was, the truck landed about 3 feet beside where I did. While with the same truck on the same tires, I could drive down an icy highway as fast as if it was summer time, the water finally did it in. The reason for the hydroplaning was because there was a field beside the road that was 10 feet or so higher than the road. There was an entrance road to the field off of the highway there that had no ditches on the sides of it so that all of the water that drained off of the field, ran down onto the highway. The sheriff's deputy who came to do an accident report said that he almost wrecked there too. He backed up and looked at the water. He told me that there was 5-6" of water on the highway. You couldn't tell it at all. Mysteriously, a few months later, the Highway Department cut ditches into that field road.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
its a little embarrassing, but i have had to pull my truck out with the tractor several times now from my yard. my yard has a slight slope to it but with the heavy DT and medium duty transmission and no front driveshaft wet grass is like trying to drive on ice sometimes lol the darn truck is about helpless without a load in the bed to give some traction.
 

laserjock

Almost there...
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2012
Posts
8,841
Reaction score
3,129
Location
Maryland
its a little embarrassing, but i have had to pull my truck out with the tractor several times now from my yard. my yard has a slight slope to it but with the heavy DT and medium duty transmission and no front driveshaft wet grass is like trying to drive on ice sometimes lol the darn truck is about helpless without a load in the bed to give some traction.
Still no front driveshaft??? Come on man!!!

LOL

You got several little things working against you that when the all add together it causes a problem. Torque, slope, poor traction, poor weight distribution. This is why I wouldn’t drive my truck on slick road even if there weren’t any salt. My little short bed half ton std cab was a tank. 302 5 speed. Better weight distribution and not enough power to spin the wheels. LOL
 

Thewespaul

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2015
Posts
8,796
Reaction score
8,058
Location
Bulverde, Texas
its a little embarrassing, but i have had to pull my truck out with the tractor several times now from my yard. my yard has a slight slope to it but with the heavy DT and medium duty transmission and no front driveshaft wet grass is like trying to drive on ice sometimes lol the darn truck is about helpless without a load in the bed to give some traction.
Just put another dt in the bed to drive the front wheels LOL
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
Still no front driveshaft??? Come on man!!!

LOL

You got several little things working against you that when the all add together it causes a problem. Torque, slope, poor traction, poor weight distribution. This is why I wouldn’t drive my truck on slick road even if there weren’t any salt. My little short bed half ton std cab was a tank. 302 5 speed. Better weight distribution and not enough power to spin the wheels. LOL

it is on the "things to do list" lol

if it was a simple drive shaft i would probably just have knocked it out by now but the front is going to need a carrier bearing, multiple slip joints and U-joint adaptation to work out. see if i can "math" right and get it working without shaking my fillings loose when i need to use it LOL

not to mention it is cold out and i don't have a garage to work in......yet. i guess i am getting soft in my old age LOL
 
Top