I'm a Subaru guy. Have been since 1993 and have owned 11 of them. However, I've been thinking of getting a pick-up as it would be great to have around for home projects, etc. It would have to be my daily driver and I worry about ski season. How bad do trucks suck in snow? I have a season pass to Powder Mountain and that road is just shy of a Himalayan goat path.
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Pick-ups and Snow Driving
- Thread starter Shawn C.
- Start date
Terrible. Unless you get 4wd and put four dead bodies in the back. They're literally 70-30 f-r weight distribution. Brace yourself for the pick up apologists...
What kind of truck? A basic 2WD regular cab with a 8' bed? Yes, like @scott43 says, they won't be ideal in the snow..especially going up and down Powder Mountain's access road. A quad (or extended) cab 4WD will be darn fine for the back and forth...just make sure you have the right tires. If you want to keep your drivability and car like comfort and still have a bed? Honda Ridgeline, I believe it is FWD biased.
I drove my truck around Mosport to try and dry the track for our motorcycle track day. It was frightening. Having said that I'd get a crew cab Short bed 4wd pickup with a cap, some extra weight in the back and winter tires and I'd be ok with it. Problem is you're coming off probably the best snow vehicle there are...
My 19 F-150 is a Mountain Goat in snow. Plenty of room to boot up in comfort with 120 volt boot heater plug in and drive any road in any condition. Drives as well in snow as our 17 Outback. Tires were newish here and will be new snow biased for this coming season again at 32K.
Tacoma=Excellence. Anywhere, anytime.
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2017
- Posts
- 1,471
I have a Tacoma 4dr 4wd they are good in snow while in 4wd, not good when not, they are not always in 4wd like a Subaru,
You often see a lot of 4x4 pickups in the ditch- but not many with the 4wd engaged.
I always prefered to take the wifes Forestor when it had enough room.
You often see a lot of 4x4 pickups in the ditch- but not many with the 4wd engaged.
I always prefered to take the wifes Forestor when it had enough room.
That's a steeeeep road with zero shoulder if you start to spin or slide and want to let others by. I have a 2004 Tacoma 4x4 with good tires and made it up and down a few times last season in various conditions. Utah has newish rules on tire specs on roads like this and LCC. M+S rated tires required, even with 4WD. Details should be on the DOT website.
Pro tip: carry some weight in the back. For me it's a 6'x4'-ish slab of rubber used for flooring in horse stalls.
Pro tip: carry some weight in the back. For me it's a 6'x4'-ish slab of rubber used for flooring in horse stalls.
Currently have a Tundra...but have had F150’s....both are great in snow...
My wife/daughter drives a Subaru....
My Silverado is great in the snow when set to "4wd auto", probably even better than my wife's Subaru. I would never buy any pickup that didn't have a 4wd auto(AWD) setting on the 4wd. Unfortunately other than GM you need to go with a high trim level to get that option in most trucks which is pretty sad since GM has offered it starting with their mid level trim for 20+ years.
Crew cab is no problem. Regular cab is annoying.
Perfect. The Double Cab is king. It puts more weight farther back. I don't put weight in my truck bed but do have full snow tires; Hancook iPikes.
2018 Toyota Tundra...obviously 4WD...snow tires...it’s a beast. I’m back/forth to NY/VT all winter long....I’m pretty confident in this rig as I was my F150’s....Not really set up....just snow tires. I’m obviously not in CO snow/driving.....but if I was I’d probably be driving the same types of trucks.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2015
- Posts
- 24,856
That leaves a lot more room than the bodies. Plus the smell isn’t as bad.
Like @org I have a Silverado with auto 4WD. I love this thing though it's had a few more issues than what I think a Toyota would, and not the resale.
I always add weight and keep a full tank, four 75lb bags of sand will add around 500 lbs total with the full.
Get snows for winter, if buying new see if you can upgrade tires as factory suck.
Member equip if in bedcwill be colder, toppers are not cool to many but I love having one. Had a cover which was nice and if the truck is for home improvement, they're great.
I always add weight and keep a full tank, four 75lb bags of sand will add around 500 lbs total with the full.
Get snows for winter, if buying new see if you can upgrade tires as factory suck.
Member equip if in bedcwill be colder, toppers are not cool to many but I love having one. Had a cover which was nice and if the truck is for home improvement, they're great.
Don't get me wrong. I love driving my wife's Dakota SLT 4x4 pickup in the mountains in the winter. The long wheel base is very resistant to rear wheel slide out with added weight of a low campershell on the back. The campershell provides added and necessary weight over the rear wheels. And it provides safety during a rollover accident like a "headache rack" does.
(I prefer to drive my 1995 Bronco with studded snow tires. But more than that I love our 4x4 converted diesel van which is so heavy it is like driving a tractor with studded snow tires. But it could lose its tall fiberglass top and eject unbelted passengers during a rollover. So, I drive it slow, like driving a van. BTW, I have driven a number of brands of studded snow tires over the past 30 years. The Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac when studded, are IMHO, simply the best.)
Back to conveying this knowledge: Remember when truck doors were inset into the cab and under the roof and the roof had "rain gutters." In that design, the door frames actually supported the cab roof during rollover accidents.
Rollover accidents are pretty common in mountains in the snow.
Just something to consider with pickups with modern bodies where the doors "clam shell" to the sides of the cab roof -- not inset under the roof. Y2KW57 is an industry insider and is famous on the ford-trucks.com Super Duty Powerstroke Diesel sub-forum. The photos below are from one of his threads.
My wife's Dakota is a clamshell door design. But I feel safer driving it with a low campershell on it for both rear wheel traction and for added safety during a rollover.
A little family trivia. My wife's front license plate frame says: "When Hell freezes over, I'll ski there too."
(I prefer to drive my 1995 Bronco with studded snow tires. But more than that I love our 4x4 converted diesel van which is so heavy it is like driving a tractor with studded snow tires. But it could lose its tall fiberglass top and eject unbelted passengers during a rollover. So, I drive it slow, like driving a van. BTW, I have driven a number of brands of studded snow tires over the past 30 years. The Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac when studded, are IMHO, simply the best.)
Back to conveying this knowledge: Remember when truck doors were inset into the cab and under the roof and the roof had "rain gutters." In that design, the door frames actually supported the cab roof during rollover accidents.
Rollover accidents are pretty common in mountains in the snow.
Just something to consider with pickups with modern bodies where the doors "clam shell" to the sides of the cab roof -- not inset under the roof. Y2KW57 is an industry insider and is famous on the ford-trucks.com Super Duty Powerstroke Diesel sub-forum. The photos below are from one of his threads.
If the next Super Duty had the same cab as the new F150, would you approve? - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums
2017+ Super Duty - If the next Super Duty had the same cab as the new F150, would you approve? - If the 2017 model year (or what we've been calling the 2016) F-250-550 Super Duty had the exact same cab, from A pillar to C pillar, and everything in between, as the new 2015 F-150, would you...
www.ford-trucks.com
My wife's Dakota is a clamshell door design. But I feel safer driving it with a low campershell on it for both rear wheel traction and for added safety during a rollover.
A little family trivia. My wife's front license plate frame says: "When Hell freezes over, I'll ski there too."
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Between my Leer topper, my bed slide and my oversized spare tire I don't need to any any weight to mine. In fact when I take it skiing I usually remove at least few hundred pounds of tools first. I've been running Falken Wildpeak AT3ws all year round and added a trutrac LSD when I killed my G80 which is an upgrade I highly recommend.
ETA:I really have a love/hate relationship with GM trucks. The drivetrains will go pretty much forever and they are pretty easy to work on but all the other little stuff will drive you crazy, they all rust out the same way eventually if you live in a place where that's an issue, getting the correct part can sometimes be a PITA(same year will use 3 different part #s and not always correctly tagged to VIN) they have no resale value once you reach about 150k miles unless they are pristine.
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