millertime150

Had a chance to test my 2017 2wd Screw and my 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport last weekend in some snow. The fwd Santa Fe was impressive in the snow compared to the truck which was expected.

I will be traveling up to NJ and PA this holiday season and the truck has so much more room inside and I can pack the bed with luggage and presents. So I would love be to take it but I’m worried about the possibility of hitting some snow.

How much would adding about 150-200lbs of sand bags in the bed on the axle help?

WXman

Adding lots of weight to the cargo box will help a lot. However, as you've discovered a 2WD pickup truck is the absolute worst possible vehicle you can drive for foul weather, particularly snow. Take it easy if you run into any.

SteveLord

Get snow tires if you regularly deal with bad winter conditions.

I usually do 300lbs of sand tubes. They're usually only 6-8 bucks each.

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

I'll be the odd guy out, but I wouldn't worry much about only having RWD. My DD is a RWD Ranger, it now has an LSD rear end, about 320# of sand, spare tire/wheel, and tool box with recovery gear in it. Even a 5 speed manual. It has to get really, really bad before the 150 is out.
Some weight, good tires, and know how, and you'd be surprised what you can do. Northern Michigan winters aren't known to be very nice.

millertime150

I live in the south so our winters are very mild. That is why I opted for the 2wd. I called around and I don’t believe anyone around here sells tube sand so I guess I will just buy some regular sand.

I’m still thinking about taking the crossover but we won’t be able to bring everything we want and the inside is much smaller so it won’t be as comfortable for my family

Eduskator

Weight in the box will definitively help! Where I live we get 10ft of snow per winter so everyone has 4x4s and most of them still put weight in their boxes.

bisjoe

My 2007 Ranger with 4WD did great in the snow with 200 lbs of sand bags, but for the F150 I will be adding additiional 200 this weekend. It takes a lot more whrn you have 385 HP as compared to only 207 on the Ranger. The biggest issue on the F150s is the Goodyear Wrangler tires, they are not very good in snow (or rain). The last snow of the year last season I was behind a 2WD F150 in my Ranger and ended up having to pass him going up a hill, every time he hit the gas he would fishtail.

Tom_with_a_Truck

I concur with the others - adding some weight in back will make a drastic improvement in how it deals with snow. I would guess that about 300 pounds spread across the bed would tend to even out the weight distribution and give you some traction without making the nose too light.

bassJAM

When the 4x4 went out on my Frontier I added about 300lbs of weight for the winters because I didn't bother to get it fixed for 2 years. With good tires, I could still go up any steep snow covered hill in 2WD. At first I tried 200 lbs and it wasn't enough for any real snow accumulation.

For the F150 I'd probably add 400 lbs, especially if it's an aluminum body since they seem to be light in the rear anyway. More weight will only help traction, I did snow removal for a couple years and with 1,500 lbs of salt in the bed of the Chevy and Dodge 2500's we ran I don't remember EVER needing 4WD regardless of if I was climbing steep driveways or pushing snow in parking lots. Just remember, that extra weight will increase stopping distance.

OCMike

iTrader: (1)

Very simple....RWD on snow is all about tires.

Mike