Snow driving

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Reckless

Reckless

10 Year
Joined
May 31, 2013
Threads
111
Messages
1,543
Location
Chicago
I was driving in 5" snow today and I was wondering how much snow on the ground before I should activate 4WD LO? My understanding is that if I am in lo, my speed needs to be under 30mph? I am driving on pavement.

Do you ever turn on center diff on the snow?

I do have brand new michelin M/S tires currently but I don't like them for deep snow treading.
 
You don't need 4 lo unless you are crawling and need the gear ratio to control your speed over slow obstacles, are stuck and dont want to be easier on the cruiser. No need for 4 lo for really anything expect off-roading IMHO.

Center diff is used when stuck and need to spin the tires without engaging and trac vsc. You should leave the Center diff unlocked in snow so you don't disable these traction stability systems. By doing so, you basically put your 4wd and traction systems into the Stone Age. Again, there is a time and place for Center diff, but regular driving through snow is not one of them.

Sent from my iPhone
 
^ unless its a '98/'99...then CDL is near mandatory in snow...
 
Can you elaborate on that Spresso? I have never used my cdl in snow and it gets around fine. Whats the reason for it being near mandatory on 98/99's? Just wondering if im missing out on something here.
 
Aside from tooling down the flats I find pushing 5"+ plus snow...maybe Sierra Cement has something to do with it :D...is loosey-goosey unless my center diff is locked/engaged. Or maybe its my ~8klb payload.

In center diff open mode as soon as the rear drive wheel breaks there's no traction up front...and no ATRAC to save the day. Of course when I've got chains mounted at each corner that skews the CDL issue a little bit ;)
 
Yup, CDL + snow works great in my 98, too slippy without it. 4Lo only makes it harder for me as I have to pay attention to shift points. When I need 4Lo and I'm not it a 'playing' situtation, I usually keep the shifter in 2 and I hit the 2nd start button to keep it locked in 2nd gear. Works well for me.
 
Hey so something very strange happened to me yesterday while driving home from skiing that fits into this thread nicely.

Here is the scenario... While driving.... on the right side of the truck there was compact snow and ice. On the left there was more slushy snow on top of ice.... I was going about 20 mph because that was what traffic was traveling at. There was maybe 40 ft behind me and about 40 ft infront to the next car.

The road was straight with a gradual decline (this is a highway so nothing crazy)...

All of the sudden I heard crazy beeping (assuming atrac timing out). And my whole car viscously veered to the right which I had to massively steer to the left to correct. Luckily I could save it before I hit someone or drove into the snowbank. All is fine except for my confidence... And the rediculous glares from the cars that passed me after this episode...

After this occurred I locked my center diff. (Mainly to turn off atrac...) because I think that it might have actually cause this problem.

Some background info, I've skied at least once a week since I could drive, so snow driving is not foreign to me. I've never experience anything remotely close to this. I know that my tires are getting close to being replaced but I have driven up skiing with my subaru with near bald tires and never had a problem.

Can anyone explain WTF happened! As this really shook my confidence in my rig!!!

Thank you


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
 
Ahh interesting so in this case, it would have been beneficial to turn on the CDL because it would have stopped the VSC.

This was very specific incidence but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be turning on CDL when I'm driving in the snow! I know how to drive in the snow, and the fact that a "safety" mechanism just about put me into another car/snowbank really irritates me!


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
 
ChrisJosiah said:
Hey so something very strange happened to me yesterday while driving home from skiing that fits into this thread nicely.

Here is the scenario... While driving.... on the right side of the truck there was compact snow and ice. On the left there was more slushy snow on top of ice.... I was going about 20 mph because that was what traffic was traveling at. There was maybe 40 ft behind me and about 40 ft infront to the next car.

The road was straight with a gradual decline (this is a highway so nothing crazy)...

All of the sudden I heard crazy beeping (assuming atrac timing out). And my whole car viscously veered to the right which I had to massively steer to the left to correct. Luckily I could save it before I hit someone or drove into the snowbank. All is fine except for my confidence... And the rediculous glares from the cars that passed me after this episode...

After this occurred I locked my center diff. (Mainly to turn off atrac...) because I think that it might have actually cause this problem.

Some background info, I've skied at least once a week since I could drive, so snow driving is not foreign to me. I've never experience anything remotely close to this. I know that my tires are getting close to being replaced but I have driven up skiing with my subaru with near bald tires and never had a problem.

Can anyone explain WTF happened! As this really shook my confidence in my rig!!!

Thank you


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that has happened quite a few times for me as I have been trying to diagnose a random atrac engagement while normal driving. THis has occurred while driving and perfectly dry roads under regular driving conditions. I would intermittently get error lights on my dash, inclusive of brake, vsc, trac and abs lights all at once.

Digging into this issue and using the diagnostic procedure in the FSM I had traced this to a fault in one of the wheel sensors. It had failed and I simply replace it ($150 bucks). This solved my problem quickly.. start at the source - wheel speed sensor and work backwards. the FSM and diagnostic port are your friends.
 
Well it's weird because I never got any error messages... The dash lights never came on (that I can recall anyways I was mainly trying to keep from wrecking my truck) all I recall is the beeping.

On my to do list is getting new tires, and when I'm snow driving use CDL. If it happens again ill dig deeper. (Sounds like the wheel sensor is a good place to start)


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
 
ChrisJosiah said:
Well it's weird because I never got any error messages... The dash lights never came on (that I can recall anyways I was mainly trying to keep from wrecking my truck) all I recall is the beeping.

On my to do list is getting new tires, and when I'm snow driving use CDL. If it happens again ill dig deeper. (Sounds like the wheel sensor is a good place to start)


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
Click to expand...

the code occurrence on mine is intermittent. At least with the error codes it disables my abs and atrac, preventing it from reoccurring (until I restart). From reading the FSm, the code only gets thrown if there are so many errors in the reading over a certain period of time. It could be the errors didn't fulfil the parameters to have an error light pop up.
 
Hey Jordan345,

Is this A-Trac or VSC? I know the wheel speed sensors work with both. Just making sure I understand and can explain if it ever happens on my 2000.
 
ChrisJosiah said:
After this occurred I locked my center diff. (Mainly to turn off atrac...) because I think that it might have actually cause this problem.



Thank you

Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
Click to expand...

I don't believe locking the CDL will turn ATRAC off. It will only disable VSC.

But, I've been wrong before;)
 
Yeah I think your right, but I think that my issue was with VSC and not atrac (given that one side seemed to lock up/slow down). So hopefully locking my center diff will help alleviate future issues.


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
 
Similar symptom on Honda RECALL

I had a 2007 Honda Van that has a recall for problems with the VSC and spontaneous braking.

They attribute it to steering angle sensors not calibrating correctly when you start driving. Hondas fix, until they have a perm repair is to drive with the wheels straight for 6 feet after you start the car. Apparently this sets the steering angle to
a zeroed value and all is good.

Sounds like same symtom, possibly same cause, proboably not related fix.
 
Just to reiterate what was already mentioned, 4Lo is just a better gear ratio for crawling, steep ascents and steep descents. I can't tell you how many people say "the roads were slick, so I put it in 4Lo and drove right through them". 4Lo doesn't give you any more traction than 4Hi. Anyway, we've had an epic winter in Michigan this year, and I almost never locked my center diff. The truck pulls through some pretty epic snowdrifts without much drama in "awd" mode.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD while navigating gnarly trail. Typos are inherent.
 
Update on my VSC issue. I put new shoes on her (Michelin LTX).

On Sunday it was shiiting snow while heading up skiing. And it didn't even shutter once. I think my issue was worn tires and not a wheel sensor. Still driving cautiously (because that incident really shook my confidence in the 100). But each successful trip will slowly build back the confidence that most everyone else has in the snow.


Sent from my iPhone, please embrace the typos
 
I have had this happen many times in dry weather, wet weather, and snow. My driver front tire used to lock up randomly and VSC would beep wildly for minutes, even after stopping. I found my ABS ring and sensor completely caked in mud and debris. There is nothing scarier than a 100 darting in one direction with no warning. I was driving in the left lane, at 75MPH and the wheel locked up and pulled me almost into the wall. It certainly made me feel nervous driving it for a while, it hasn't happen since. I do get the VSC beep but no intervention.
 
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