michigan snow

[u2slow]

No studs?! I guess the rules vary, but wow... we can run them from Oct 15 to April 30.

My GF has Nokians on her Cavalier... good tires

Maybe its just me, put I can't deal with a normal 2wd (1 wheel drive ) pickup in the snow anymore. Did that as a teenager. Always stuck. Walking is more reliable. At least with a locker or a welded diff you have a chance of getting where you are going.

... but on the first snow of the year find an empty parking lot and play around, learn the truck if you're comfortable with it you can learn to control it in a slide, hell, I like driving sideways.

agreed

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Yeah no studded tires on Michigan roads.

They're bad enough already.

Everybody else pretty much has it covered.

First year I ran the Beef I filled up my 120 gallon auxillary fuel tank and that was enough weight to keep it on the road.

No getting off the hard beatten path you'll want to avoid since the front end will turn into an anchor real quick.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Maybe its just me, put I can't deal with a normal 2wd (1 wheel drive ) pickup in the snow anymore. Did that as a teenager. Always stuck. Walking is more reliable. At least with a locker or a welded diff you have a chance of getting where you are going.

No studs has been for years, cause they tearup the roads which are already very bad to begin with. I ran mine anyways cause where I lived it would ice over very easy, and the city would not spread the deicer stuff on there, so it was pretty much a necessity.

As for the welded diff, it is my understanding they make the rear end try to come around more if you hit a patch of ice. I do have one tho, I ran it with my old tires, but I dunno if wanna put it back in now - I have a dually with brand new A/T tires and at least 2000 lbs weight tight on the rear axle, a welded diff will wear them tires real quick and also may break something with that much weight on it...

 

[FordGuy100]

I've seen meany a welded diff break the weld, and destroy everything in the pumpkin. And that was on Toyota's. The torque these motors make would only make that worse I would think.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Haha, not a chance that happens with mine - I have all four gears welded to the carrier on both sides, then to each other in the corners, and to top that I inserted some 3/8" square steel plates between the gears against the cross shaft on both sides and welded thegears to those as well. I was more concerned with breaking an axle shaft, not the diff itself. I actually ran this for quite a while on the pavement, but there was no much weight over the rear axle, and my tires were semi-worn so I didn't care much for them.

 

[Dieselcrawler]

the sterling has been welded solid in mine for 5 years. never had an issue. and it isnt like i dont beat on mine. i only welded gear to gear with a bolt stuck in to fill some voids. that way if i ever wanted to put a lunchbox locker in, just gota cut the spiders out and the case is still good.

but yea, a locked rear will go around quicker then an open rear. just gota get used to it.

 

[iverger]

Some of the weight recommendations are way to high. You want just enough to give your sidewalls a little flex and only over the rear axle. Sand bags or fine crushed rock for the reasons mentioned above. And also as mentioned above many times, slow and steady wins the race.

To much weight to far back and you'll be driving a pendulum. That backend will be doing everything it can to take the lead on a downhill grade or when a quicker than normal stop is needed.

Bob

 

[LCAM-01XA]

the sterling has been welded solid in mine for 5 years. never had an issue. and it isnt like i dont beat on mine. i only welded gear to gear with a bolt stuck in to fill some voids. that way if i ever wanted to put a lunchbox locker in, just gota cut the spiders out and the case is still good.

but yea, a locked rear will go around quicker then an open rear. just gota get used to it.

Well, how much does your rig weigh? You think the axle shafts will hold up to four 32" General Grabbers on pavement with at least 3000 lbs (at least, probably 4k actually) right on them? I have 4.10 gears, E4OD so no decent low grear, and no turbo so no good power applied to the wheels either.

 

[Dieselcrawler]

i weighted in the heaviest at 6470 before i shortend the wheelbase. now i weigh in around 5600.


back when mine was 2wd, i had the local quarry load me with 1000-1500 lbs of 1b gray stone(same as in my driveway) and truck went everywere. load was spread evenly in the bed. then come spring time, used the stone to fill in the holes in the driveway.
win win situation.

 

[rjjp]

The no chains thing that I mentioned, according to Michigan law chains can not come into contact with a public roadway, and studs are allowed as long as the manufacture of said studs has proved to the state that the use of the studs does not wear the road any faster that standard passenger vehicle tires, no manufacture has proven this to the state yet so there fore you can not run studs or chains here, legally.

 

[bird hunter]

Like OldBull8 said - leave the damn cement blocks out of the bed and use sand or crushed stone in bags for weight.

 

[typ4]

Weight the back and IfI ever had a 2 wheeler again I would have a valve to limit or shut off the front brakes, so you can steer, snowing here at the job and dang these people are idiots.

 

[grog85]

Yes, those Michelin tires are good in the snow& ok on level icy roads. Not so good on an icy grade, but my boss isn't as good of a driver as he thought he was.

 

[RLDSL]

You can get those Nokian Hakkapellita LT tires unstudded as well and they will still be insanely great snow tires. The things are made with all teh goodies in teh rubber compounds as their friction tires, the studs are just icing on the cake. I've driven on their friction tires before and they are pretty darn sweet . Even on ice that is like driving on a skating rink while someone is shooting it down with a fire hose ( serious freezing rain ) the things track right along and we were the only thing on the road... literally, a fully loaded, chained up snow plow, slid off the side and flipped over, but we kept on going

Another option a lot of folks seem to like are Green Diamond Tires if you can't use studs, thes might be an option. Keep in minds, these are a re moulded tire and all teh reports seem to be best for folks in very cold climates with these things, I wouldn't run them where i live where tehy would get warm, but in MI they should be fine where they will stay cold all season.