truckers advice for winter driving requested

[greywuuf]

i have a couple of single axle tandem dual wheel truck ... one a super short '50 GMC 350 and one is my longer Chevy H70 flatbed. Both have demonstrated a marked tendency to be helpless when the road surface is anything other than bare and dry. I parked my H70 ( 6v53n with 5 speed and single speed rear) in my front yard... on the grass. First snow we had .. literally about 2" and I was unable to get over the slight incline and into the drive way I had to get out my old perforated "landing mats" to get it moving and parked again.

I had planned on using this beast through the winter to haul trash and simple stuff like that but now I am afraid to even drive it. short of putting a huge amount of weight on the bed, or installing the tire chains I have is there something that I should be aware of ? are dualies without weight ( this one has a 16' steel flat bed...looks pretty heavy to me ) totally helpless ? I have heard that pulling the outside dual and flipping the inner ( too keep the track about the same ) helps in slick conditions. granted the tires are old hard bias plies and not the best... but I am loathe to replace them until I can get away from my 20" splits... and that is more money than I have right now. Any recommendations ?

Dan

[63 & 64 Bowties]

I can tell you from personal experience that tandem tractors are very dangerous to bob-tail even on rainy days. So, I'm guessing it's a weight problem.

[greywuuf]

thank you for the response
No one else ? I cant be the only guy living in a snow state. are duals worse than singles ? are chains the only answer ?

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Weight in the truck bed is the best thing. My '62 6500 was fine loaded, but not the best empty on snow, ice or mud. My '71 9500 was not much better. Both were Flatbed Dumps. Chains will help, but I still would recommend some kind of weight. Weight over the rear axle would be the best. Actually Chains with no weight could possibly just throw them.

Funny story when I first started driving the 9500 Tandem Axle. After dumping a load of lumber, I got stuck in the mud. After trying to get out a time or two, I said "I know, I'll just engage the other rear axle and I'll pull right out". I engaged it and instead of 4 wheels spinning, I now had 8 spinning, lol. Didn't make that much of a difference. I got it out though.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by greywuuf

are duals worse than singles ?

By the way, in my opinion, duals are much better than singles.

[greywuuf]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

By the way, in my opinion, duals are much better than singles.

First thank you for chiming in, and secondly I am just going by limited experiences with dualy pickups....seemed like in certain mud, both rears were always trying to make fresh ruts... neither in line with the front one.... there was no going back in forth in your rut and getting a little progress each time. just felt like it was always in a hole.

I have had poor experiences with both of my single axle dual wheel truck, literally getting stuck in the driveway on a surface I could drive a sports car on
we are not talking high centered axle sucking mud... we are talking a skiff of snow and a slight incline both however have ancient hard bald Bias tires on them and I suppose that could make all the difference. I was hoping I could get away with running single in the back as it is far cheaper to only buy two tires at a time. and 22.5's in a decently aggressive tread are NOT cheap in my neck of the woods... nor are they cheap or easy to ship if you find a "Good deal" online.

[alsriv2]

Growing up in Maine we encountered much of the same thing you are encountering up there in Alaska. We always put about 500lb of weight in the bed of the truck close to the cab to give the needed down force on the tires to maintain traction. Most of what you are experiencing is due to basic physics. The grip of a warmer tire on a dry surface always better than a cold hard tire trying to grip a slippery surface. The torque of the engine is easily able to overcome the available grip of the tires in slippery conditions. In these larger trucks, the effect is even worse due to low gearing and larger torque values of the big truck engines. Up in Maine, when we didn't have money to put snow tires on our truck and were stuck negotiating a winter using summer tires, we just added more weight in the bed and usually we were ok.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

On a much smaller scale, my old '66 GMC Pick-up was not very good at all in the snow with regular tires and empty. When the rear tires wore out, I put on snow tires year round. Besides liking the looks of it better, it was also better in the mud year round. But when it snowed, I also put concrete blocks in the bed, as well as letting the snow stay in the bed. Between the snow tires and the added weight, it made a world of difference. I also had a set of chains for it. Between the snow tires, chains and weight in the bed, I could now go anywhere as long as the snow was below my front bumper. Not bad for a 2-Wheel Drive truck.

[greywuuf]

oh I have played the two wheel rive pickup truck game a lot of times in my life, just never with dually. I was just struck at how helpless they both seemed, I mean a toyota celica would easily go where I was " stuck" in both cases. was not a buried issue.. it was a slick surface issue.... yeah I understand the weight thing and the chain option well well. but this thing has a 16' STEEL welded flat bed on it. some how it just feels like a couple bricks are not going to make the difference. I could see 1000 lbs making a difference but now a hundred or two. I have heard a couple of times that running them single makes a difference ( half the surface area .. it is like doubling the weight ) was just wondering if anyone had actually tried it? if I did decide to add weight I would likely trow my Lincoln Range welder up there though I want it next to the cab and it would be better over the wheels or on the extreme back......

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Yeah, with your truck, I would want at least two 1000 Lb Blocks on it, lol.

I also plowed snow with a 1-Ton dump years ago. We would load it with sand before heading out to plow. The sand was 2-purpose. It gave us the weight we needed as well as having the convenience of sand if needed. This truck was a '67 GMC with snow tires on the rear duals (2-WD). The traction was amazing. I don't believe I ever spun the wheels once and the plow was a 7 1/2 footer.