Snow Driving.. Prevent the slippies

[gofishn]

Use 4Lock ($ HI) or 4 Auto. eitherone will do but I would prefer 4Hi or loci,in our case.
Best thing for not slipping is traction, which equates to good tread depth and weight in the truck's bed to plant the rear end.

other than that, just plain ond common sense, which most do not have, as you will see when drivingin snow storms.
those are the ones who passed you,a t full speed, who you then pass, while their car is in the ditch.

 

[indept]

So somehow I have to convince my mother-in-law to sit in the truck bed during snow storms. Got it.

No not good enough you need more than 1 bag, do you want to borrow my mother in law...

 

[BWL]

Wrong you are trying to displace as much weight as your can. Less lbs per square in gives you more force that can be used before you break the friction. Your tire only allowed so much psi of friction. That changes for different conditions rain snow sand...so on. What doesn't change is getting more contact patch to reduce your vehicle psi to gain the most traction. Basic physics same reason you don't want to brake or throttle the gas to much in a corner your tires are allotted a certain amount for friction and your using lots of it in a corner then you add 2 other variable. Car slides out of control no more friction left.

Then why are ice tires on rally cars way skinnier than the dirt and soft snow tires?

 

[Dinky]

Then why are ice tires on rally cars way skinnier than the dirt and soft snow tires?

 

[Dinky]

Also if you have wide tires you create more friction right?. It will take more power to go fast and cause you to run slower on your top speed. So for racing you find the max traction you need and keep your tire diameters down to lessen the drag. Since they have wolverine claws for tires why run a wide tire. Also like he said they want to fall through the snow to bite the ice...

 

[Cargasm]

Wrong you are trying to displace as much weight as your can. Less lbs per square in gives you more force that can be used before you break the friction. Your tire only allowed so much psi of friction. That changes for different conditions rain snow sand...so on. What doesn't change is getting more contact patch to reduce your vehicle psi to gain the most traction. Basic physics same reason you don't want to brake or throttle the gas to much in a corner your tires are allotted a certain amount for friction and your using lots of it in a corner then you add 2 other variable. Car slides out of control no more friction left.

I can only speak generally since my new to me Ram isn’t registered yet, but driving my 84 Camaro a larger contact patch in snow isn’t great. It’s like wearing snow shoes a wide tire will stay on top of the snow easier than a skinnier one. With a skinny tire my tracks will hit pavement vs a wider tire leaves a track of slick compressed snow. Of course the Ram is MUCH heavier and more likely to push down through the snow to hit pavement.

Best winter advice I can give, besides get snow tires, is practice. If you practice sliding around in controlled situations enough when your in an out of control situation you will instinctively predict your corrections instead of having to think how to react. Sometime there isn’t time for that. Plus it’s a lot of fun.
Another great tip I was given long ago is shifting into neutral in an automatic. If you start sliding letting off the throttle doesn’t mean your not still sending power to the wheels and the can keep spinning. I’ve noticed in most slippery situations dropping it into neutral greatly reduces stopping distances and can help regain traction quicker. Only downside is if your in a slide it may snap straight quicker as you regain traction and can cause over correction if your not ready for it.
I also typically “test” the snow if I’m going out in it. See how much throttle/brake it takes to break traction while in a parking lot or in front of my house. Gives you a good idea of what to expect.

 

[ExpressRules]

On ice it won't matter if you use 4 auto or 4 lock and for that matter 2 wheel. Snow conditions you will find auto and 4 lock will provide you with better traction. Just keep in mind just because you may have better control and may feel more confident going faster at some point you have to stop and it won't help you do that

 

[crash68]

It's been proven that the BW44-44(has the Auto button) doesn't start to transfer power to the front wheels unless your foot is on the throttle regardless of the mode..Auto, Lock. Here is one of the threads/posts on the subject: https://www.ramforum.com/index.php?posts/1920647
This is not the case with the BW44-45 transfer case (no Auto button).

 

[ctdodge]

My understanding (which is always subject to being wrong) is that 4WD Auto uses basically the same principle as traction control. You are in 2WD until it senses slippage at which point it engages the front wheel, thereby "automatically" putting you in 4WD. Once traction is gained you will then "automatically" go back into 2WD.

This

If it was in 4WD as soon as you hit the gas, on dry pavement you would feel the 4WD bind that occurs when you turn. Whether at speed or from a standstill, if there's no slip there's no 4WD. If there's slip, 4WD engages automatically.

 

[Random_Walk]

Continuing from an old post of mine concerning snow driving, would driving in extremely slippy snow using 4WD LOCK 'help' at all in keeping the truck on the road better?

We know the best way to prevent slipping is to drive slower, but is 4WD LOCK any help at all? Im wondering specifically about taking corners better and when you hit those slippy patches on the highway.


Could 4WD LOCK make it even more dangerous for whatever reason?

Us SLT proletariat don't gots no 4x4 Auto, but I can say that 4x4 Lock (4Hi) works just fine on snow and ice. Here's how I normally handle it...

For fresh snow or any moderate-to-severe icing conditions, 4WD Lock works just fine.

For plowed roads or light ice, 2WD is just fine. I do however keep a few (around 10-12) 40-lb bags of rock salt, chicken grit, and cat litter laying in the bed for weight - approx. 400 lbs centered (well, as much as I can) over the back axle.

 

[Random_Walk]

BTW, I checked out that YouTube earlier, then I found this, which seems to show that it's not so much 4WD vs. 2WD, but rather, how decent your tires are at winter weather...

 

[ram1500rsm]

4wd regardless of mode auto,lock,whatever mode, etc will allow to gain traction in any slippery conditions over a 2wd counterpart, but it won't make your vehicle slow down or stop better. To sort most slippery conditons all you need is a good set of tires and common sense, then 4wd or awd if your vehicle has it.

 

[af2018]

My understanding (which is always subject to being wrong) is that 4WD Auto uses basically the same principle as traction control. You are in 2WD until it senses slippage at which point it engages the front wheel, thereby "automatically" putting you in 4WD. Once traction is gained you will then "automatically" go back into 2WD.

Hm.

If it was in 4WD as soon as you hit the gas, on dry pavement you would feel the 4WD bind that occurs when you turn. Whether at speed or from a standstill, if there's no slip there's no 4WD. If there's slip, 4WD engages automatically.

Ill have to try that

 

[Omegasupreme]

Get snow tires. I always have two sets for every car. Makes a huge difference. I had to pull my ram out with my wife's mdx before I got dedicated snow tires .

 

[GrumpyOleMan]

I had to pull my ram out with my wife's mdx before I got dedicated snow tires .

Not too sure I would admit that if it were me...

Better man than me I guess.

 

[TonyMM]

This is the old debate....


As long as you never used real dedicated winter tires you can't tell the difference.

I did this 30 years ago in a winter driving training in Scandinavia and that changes the way I see it since then...

 

[Bigpaul13]

It's been proven that the BW44-44(has the Auto button) doesn't start to transfer power to the front wheels unless your foot is on the throttle regardless of the mode..Auto, Lock. Here is one of the threads/posts on the subject: https://www.ramforum.com/index.php?posts/1920647
This is not the case with the BW44-45 transfer case (no Auto button).

Thanks for sharing that link. I need to sit and read through all of it. I didn't know that power was only sent to the front when the rear is slipping in 4wd lock or auto (I have the auto option). In a recent storm I was driving in auto as the road was pretty clean. I hit some slush and fish tailed. I guess power was sent to the front which actually made things worse as it pulled the truck where I didn't want it to go. I was able to straighten out but I thought I would keep it in lock for future storms but it doesn't seem like there will be much of a difference (from what I've read so far). Still somewhat new to driving the ram and this was only the second time in decent snow. Going to take some of the advice posted here as I wasn't used to driving a pickup with the lighter rear end.

 

[hotrod45]

One of the issues with low profile tires in snow is that the tire wants to get up on top of the snow. There is too much flotation. By the same token, if you let air out of your tires, you are effectively causing the tire to make a larger footprint. Not only is that contrary to what you need to do, the "larger footprint" is using the shoulder and sidewall to do it. Unless you have aggressive tread on the shoulder and sidewall, guess what? And you need "bite," not friction on snow.

 

[crash68]

@Bigpaul13 here is another good post about how the torque is transferred to the front wheels: https://www.ramforum.com/index.php?posts/1963725
With a part-time transfer case(BW44-45) you can anticipate using the torque from the front wheels to "pull" you through a situation. With how the BW44-44 torque transfer can diminish as the demand changes you can get some unpredictable results.
Snow and ice doesn't discriminate either, it will help both 2 and 4 wheel drive vehicles slide into where you don't want to go.

 

[Bigpaul13]

@Bigpaul13 here is another good post about how the torque is transferred to the front wheels: https://www.ramforum.com/index.php?posts/1963725
With a part-time transfer case(BW44-45) you can anticipate using the torque from the front wheels to "pull" you through a situation. With how the BW44-44 torque transfer can diminish as the demand changes you can get some unpredictable results.
Snow and ice doesn't discriminate either, it will help both 2 and 4 wheel drive vehicles slide into where you don't want to go.

Thanks again. I thought I had a true 4x4 but I guess not. Still does what I need it to do but atleast I know how it works now.