Snow driving in a C10

[akpackfan]

Ok, lots of winter up here and it's real hard to hold out till spring to drive my C10. What wheel and tire combos are you guys in snow country running to drive your 2wd's in winter? I assume the skinnier the wheel the better. We can run studded tires up here so that is probably the best bet. How much weight are you putting in the bed? Any input would be appreciated......

[oldiron]

I have a 71 4x4 c10 with 33x12.5x15's. I had it all set up for snow with a complete engine core strapped over the rear axle and 4 5gallon buckets of dry sand. Plus a set of chains to get up my 14 % grade road.
But as luck had its way I got stuck at work with my car for 4 days.

[cam.man67]

Interested in this, too. We may not get the snow you guys do in more northern regions, but there's a lot of slush.

I've got a bunch of concrete blocks, think I just fill the bed with them.
What kind of chains do you guys use?

[coloradosean2009]

I run 235/75/r16 with a set of Yokahama Geolander AT. The weight is provided by three tubs of sand. Here is a thread I started last year about my weight setup. This year I replaced the tubs and spent only $10. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=366756

The sand is a real bonus if you get stuck in an icy parking lot.

[longhorn396]

I run 285/75r16's on the back of my longhorn. there mastercraft m/t's and they do good

[70cst]

I would offer suggestions but my truck is alergic to snow. Good thread.

[sixtyeightchevykid]

this will be the first winter that my truck will go thru since i have gotten it, but whith my other truck (1992 s10 manual trans) i just put in concrete blocks and run a strap thru the holes and keep them tied down. and i put a 5gal bucket full of wood ashes, they work just as good as sand and plenty of ashes when the house is heated with wood, and i throw in a shovel just in case..

[Lee H]

When I lived in snow country I used skinny (225 x 15) snow (not all weather) tires and had a few hundred pounds of sand bags in the rear of the bed with a 2x6 across to keep them some what in place.

[Alex Hayley]

Looking at my signature it might seem I should not know anything about driving on snow and ice but I have spent most of my life in a cold, snowy area of Canada. Tire selection is different between ice and snow. Snow requires a narrower tire so the tire does not float on the snow. Ice likes a wider tire with more surface area for the tire to contact.

Weight in the back is always good. Use sand backs. Avoid hard blocks. If you end up a panic slide (which is possible in snow and ice of course) and hit someone from behind, the hard blocks could break free and become a real hazard for the passengers. What I used to do is not clear the snow out of the bed and it would provide the weight needed.

[68350]

I drove a 68 gmc 1/2 ton throughout high school and never had any real problems. It had a posi which can help or hurt, depending on the situation. I just threw a few hundred pounds of sand bags over the rear axle and that was all I ever needed. On my 02 GMC(4x4), I bought a set of chains for the mountains from wal-mart and they have yet to fail me. If I had a choice of tires for snow/ice, I would go with BFG All-Terrains, they are the best tire I have had in the snow, although my cooper s/t and uniroyal liberators have not given me any problems yet(both were on 4wds but I can cruise around in town in 2wd).

[Clyde65]

ummm, what is this "snow" you are speaking of? JK, we had 12" last February and my truck did very well in the garage, no slipping what so ever. These people here are nuts when it snows or ices here in Texas.

[DW67c10]

Good winter tires work wonders!

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e+UV&code=yes&

[timjt]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

ummm, what is this "snow" you are speaking of? JK, we had 12" last February and my truck did very well in the garage, no slipping what so ever. These people here are nuts when it snows or ices here in Texas.

You aren't kidding! Driving on highway 635 or the high 5 is suicide when its just icy, and when it snows watch out! People think because the road doesnt have black ice on it you can drive like normal on 2 inches of snow!

[jakeblues652]

alaska with a 2 wheel drive? you have more nuts then id ever have. i wouldnt drive a 2 wheel drive in pa snow.

[78cheyenne292]

your aslmost worst off in a 4 wheel drive.. yah you can get yourself unstuck and make it through some deep stuff.. but if you loose traction with all 4 tires your real screwed.. take it from a canadian.. 2wd does just fine in the snow.. iv been lovin this last week of winter driving..

[jakeblues652]

oh yeah, 2 wheel drive will go alright in snow, but i like my insurance policy when i get get stuck in 2....just pull the lever turn the hubs and off you go.

[cam.man67]

I'm not planning on getting a set of tires until spring, do you guys think my Dunlop Radial Rovers will be ok, provided enough weight in the bed and all that?

[Rob H.]

I haven't got my truck on the road yet but around here growing up everybody had 2wd's (4x4 was just an over rated unneeded option to the old timers here LOL). In the winter of 1977-78 when we were buried here by a blizzard and had 3 ft. of snow on the ground, Dad had a 70 C/20 with a 307 and 4 speed. They had ran bulldozers on the roads too open them but were still packed with snow and ice. At that time he had a set of 700-15 mud and snows and chains and about half a load of firewood. That truck went like a tank the whole time. BFG all terrains would be great I think or a set of Mastercraft mud and snows. A couple of inner tubes cut and filled with sand will give ya some weight and a set of tire chains for when it's really bad, you shouldn't have any trouble.

[jakeblues652]

around here, you're considered a fool without a good 4x4 pickup in the winter. and you always know if the roads are in fact bad enough where you need 4 wheel, that means you're using it to pull the city folk out of the ditch every half a mile.

[cam.man67]

Regarding weight, I've got several truckloads of concrete block at the farm that I was thinking if using to weigh down the back. Is this an ok medium to do so with? I plan on covering the entire bed with one layer block, then running tie downs overtop to keep them in place. Does that sound like an ok idea?

[Rob H.]

I used to use concrete blocks till a few years ago. There was a guy that was killed when he got in a slight accident. The truck could have been driven home, but the blocks in the bed came through the back glass and caved his head in. I wouldn't do it again without a well built headache rack and not sure then. Also, aside from the danger, they constantly vibrate and eat the paint off the bed and wear the metal.

[LilD]

Back in the late 80s I had a 69 with ordinary truck tires that went through the snow just fine. I never added weight and so far my 70 I have now has done the same.

[Jacfourteen]

I couldn't imagine driving my truck in the snow, it won't hook at all in the rain. Even when slightly wet out I can't go over half throttle in 4th gear or its sideways. Even here in sunny Cali I have some snow driving experience (most of it in a 2wd ford ranger) and I say concrete blocks are a bad idea, I've used sand or firewood with good results. I've learned always carry a shovel, if you get stuck start shoveling yourself out and put all the snow in the bed for extra weight. Also if you keep a bag of kitty litter in the truck it works great for throwing down for traction in ice. I had a set of the liberator A/T's and they worked great, great price too. The only problem with them is they take a lot of weight to balance, I had one of my 31x10.50x15's that took 15 oz. of wheel weights to balance out. The tire shop ordered me another one, and that one balanced much better.