So nobody really puts sand bags in the bed over winter? Is it a Jersey thing?

 

It was more of a thing back when 2WD was far more common than 4WD. I haven't put sandbags in the back of a truck since I purchased my first 4WD back in 98. Prior to that, I did it every winter.

 

Only on large mountain passes out West.

 

But you shouldn’t be running 4wd if you can see the pavement right? Which is what happened to me last Friday when there were runs of snowy road and then runs of pavement. And some circles that had both.

 

I built 2 - 100lb concrete weights for the back of my truck. I poured concrete in wooden boxes that I built that fit behind the wheel well and against the outside of the box. I designed them so they could be secured by a bolt in to the rear corner-posts of the box. They, along with Hankook iPike RW11 tires and the traction control system, make a huge difference. There is little need then to engage 4WD.

 

You are assuming that the air pressure inside the tire is the limiting factor for contact area. But if the snow can hold 20psi and is 4" deep, the 245/45R17s (9.5" wide/25.7" tall) I ran on my 2wd Ranger in summer are "floating" on snow while the winter 195/70R15s (7.5" wide/25.7" tall) "sink" all the way to pavement as they are narrower and the snow can't support the 20% increase, to 25 psi, in pressure . In both cases the tires are inflated to 30psi. The tires making contact with pavement are infinitely better for traction than the set which aren't. Note: Even the winter set doesn't have the same pressure as they would on dry pavement, so traction is still reduced. Aquaplaning on water is the same effect.

Winter tires (Hakkapeliitta/Blizzacks/etc) make a huge difference too.

Thanksgiving Day weekend, we switched from summer wheels to winter ones; on Easter weekend, we will switch back. Having 2 sets of tires was a lot cheaper both initially and operationally than having 4wd.

I towed a trailer back and forth from Ottawa to Regina during Xmas break, westward over Lake Superior/back east through Michigan Upper Peninsula for almost 10 years, so I saw my share of snow but can't say I ever missed not having 4wd. Larger fuel tank the one year we pushed snow with the bumper would have been of advantage - fuel economy kinda sucked. We should have fueled in North Bay, but we knew gas would be cheaper in Sudbury/didn't know how bad conditions would deteriorate - gas was real expensive in Markstay, but beat being stopped on shoulder.

 

No your assumptions are wrong. Do not run 4WD on dry pavement for an extended period. Pretty much if the road is wet you are fine. The thing you don't want is the driveline binding up on dry pavement. It's really easy with these modern 4WD systems to flip back and forth between 2WD and 4WD on the fly. If you have a higher trim package you can just plop the system into AWD and leave it. The only bad thing that will happen is worse gas mileage.

 

The air pressure inside the tire does determine contact area. Narrower tires will behave differently in how they cut through snow when rotating, but pressure determines amount of contact area. It does not matter how much pressure snow supports. If you have 30psi in your tires, you will compress the snow to the point that it is under 30 psi of pressure.
I never said that narrower tires could not have an advantage in snow, but it has nothing to do with contact area. A narrower tire has a different shaped contact area, but the same amount (with weight and tire pressure being equal).
Contact area is equal to weight divided by pressure. The first Google result that came up was from Boeing Airport Compatibility Engineering, and says: "The tire contact area for any aircraft tire is calculated by dividing the single wheel load by the tire inflation pressure. If the load is expressed in pounds and the tire pressure in pounds per square inch, then the area is in inches squared." (www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/faqs/calctirecontactarea.pdf
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I totally agree. I have run separate winter tires for over 15 years now, and would never stop doing so. When I am late changing them, and have already encountered some winter driving on my summer tires, I can always immediately notice the difference. I purchased Hankook iPike RW11s for my truck this fall, and am very impressed with them. I feel that using 4WD gives drivers a false sense of traction (myself included) and so I try to use proper tires and a little weight in the back of the truck and leave it in 2WD as long as possible. That way I still find out when traction is unexpectedly reduced. The traction control in my 2018 is also terrific and helps greatly.

 

What PSI do you have your Ridge Grapplers filled too? Just curious cause mine are at 35 and in about 2-3” of snow the other day where all over the place. I was fine then in 4wd but couldnt stop spinning in 2wd.

 

There were times I was going home and one side of the road where my tires hit was pavement w/ some dusty snow blowing across it. The other side where my tires were hitting was hard pack snow. The same for some of the turns I was taking. Was I good to just keep in in 4H?

I was only doing 25 mph or so, maybe 30 (obviously not in the turns).