4x4 vs 4x2

What has your experience been on bad winter days when you were in 4wd and rwd cars and trucks were in trouble?...when rwd cars and trucks were doing OK?

Rwd with weight in the back, limited slip differential, and real winter tires on all four corners* is fair as you've probably seen, but nothing like

4wd when you really need it.

*You need real winter tires in front for safest cornering and braking.

Ken

Had an 88 F150 2WD that did pretty well with a bed full of frozen snow and slush, but was pretty horrid otherwise. It'll take a lot of weight to make a difference with 2WD.

Ken,

I realize the winters in the Denver Metro area aren't anything like what you have in New England, but I moved to the Denver area in 1989 with my

1988 4x2 Toyota pickup, and moved back to Southern California in 1996. In the six winters I lived there, I only missed one day of work because of snow (I probably could have gone in that day, but was too lazy).

I had two sand tubes in the bed, in front of the wheel wells. With no shell, when it snowed, the snow built up in the bed giving me additional traction. As the streets cleared, the snow in the bed melted, so everything pretty-much evened out. I had standard mud & snow tires that I used year-round.

As usual, YMMV...

Add weight in back and you add traction, but you also have the weight there when you don't want it. It will induce a lot of oversteer in many situations.

IMO, a 2 WD w/snow tires front and back and w/o the weight is generally ok. It won't be the same as a 4x4 with good tires, tho.

I don't do any real off roading but I do drive on roads with mud, snow and ice, along with dirt roads. I tried weighting down the rear end of my 2000 Tundra in 2 wheel drive and it didn't compare very well with 4 wheel drive on sloppy roads.

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