Best 'bad weather' vehicle?

The H3 is a Chevy Colorado with an H1 style body. The H2 is built by GM on a Suburban platform.
 
SPXTrader said:
The H3 is a Chevy Colorado with an H1 style body. The H2 is built by GM on a Suburban platform.
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AM General builds the H2s for GM, albeit with GM-sourced parts. The platform is not the Suburban but starts with a Tahoe frame that is then modified. It is not just a Tahoe with different body panels. Nor is the H3 just a Colorado although it does start with the Colorado platform.

H2 does have full-time 4WD with high and low range and lockers in the center and rear. It comes with decent tires. However, I have to think that there are any number of better, more economical choices.

4WD or AWD with good tires and driving techniques, or a real 4WD with low range if you anticipate high drifts or being in the ditch, would go a long way. My Expedition had a A4WD setting that you could run on dry pavement and would kick in when you got slippage. I think GM may have a similar system.

I have heard siping the tires can make a big difference but do not have personal experience.

I have been in the 2WD open-diff pickup in ice and hills do suck with that arrangement. Luckily we do not get much of that here. Listen to the guys who get a lot of it, I get only a little a few times a year.
 
1991 Toyota 4Runner (4cyl). I've got 418K Km on it, and, from being my first ever vehicle, it is now my winter vehicle. I solely ride motorbike for 9 months of the year, and put the 4Runner on the road in the winter.

With chains, this thing will go just about anywhere. Heck, if it can't get somewhere, that somewhere probably didn't need to be gotten to in the first place.

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It could be improved significantly with locking differentials and a winch, but for everyday winter driving, it's fantastic.

Travis
 
without reading everything posted, my $.02 as long as you don't believe that 4WD will make you invincible, it is your friend. I usually see more wreaks on snow days in calgary that involve lifted penis compensators than anything else.
snow tires and studs are good, any tire with decent tread will do fine in snow. not any tire will do fine on ice. Mud tires tend to be a very hard compound to resist rock damage, but in cold weather they slide. Winter tires are softer, and grab better, but on warm pavement they burn away. I drove a chevy 1500 and 2500 on oil lease roads last winter, and most of the time was in 2high, or 4low. with BFG ATs and not even a clutch, no problems. I prefer to just drive within the capabilities of the car. if that means 20mph, then drive that fast.

I loved my IH scout for poor weather, mostly because I knew that if some idiot hit me, I was going to do a hell of a lot more damage to them. eating the steering wheel was a cost I was willing to pay.

for a bad day, must get there, I'd go for a subaru, they are as easy as any other vehicle to add lift to, and they are more "full time" than any other traction control system aside from full lockers. most everyone else runs power on demand systems, which IMHO are for salesmen, and people who believe that 4WD will keep them safe. and in my opinion, lockers must be front and rear to really matter, otherwise the front isn't helping you once one tire starts spinning.
 
I learned to drive (in Minnesota) in a 1967 Pontiac station wagon with bald rear tires. My first time on snow, I took it in and out of a split rail fence. Damn near hit a big ol' oak tree too that would have ruined my life, but I missed that.

Ever since the adventures of my youth, anything that isn't a station wagon with bald rear tires is A-OK by me. :D
 
My first taste of winter driving was in my Moms 1967 Buick Skylark,I took it to school that day and it snow while I was in school.I managed to get almost home including taking a friend who lived on top of a mountain home,also but about 1/2 a mile from home,I dropped the right front tire off of the edge of the road and took out a neighbors mailbox.:DA couple years later,I bought my first 4wd,a 1972 3/4t Ford p/u at the time we lived on a secondary road that was plowed by the state,there were times that we would be snowed in for a couple of days but that old Ford almost always made it the mile to the main road that we used to get to town.
 
This gets me around in the show pretty well. Of course, we don't get much show around here, we get ice. It does pretty well on that too.

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'06 Subaru Impreza
 
Growing up in Vermont with old cheap broken down cars of all kinds with bad tires I can say that a 2WD pickup is the absolute worst. One of my law partners and I were "reminiscing" about how when we were kids we didn't have nice SUV's or 4X4's like kids do now and how that never stopped us from driving around.

I also pointed out that i spent half my high school days digging cars out of ditches!

My dear old departed Dad always said "if you need a four wheel drive, you shouldn't be out driving anyway".

What did he drive, you guessed it, a GMC Jimmy 4X4.
 
:thumbup:Ive done the last 4 New England winters with a Subaru Outback and had no problem at all. Even when everyone else was getting stuck. I dont even wait for the snowplow to come any more. It just goes.--KV
 
Pinzgauers are nice......
But a friend bought a Volvo Hägglund a couple of months ago. This thing is fun and unstoppable. 4 tracks, all driven! Articulating, amphibious you name it...
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the thing in the back......

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in the water.... : )

ilten
 
SpookyPistolero said:
I've got a 2wd dodge dakota that is a nightmare in the slightest bit of bad weather. It's literally the only time I ever fear for my life. Since I'll be out of school in a year+, I want (and need, since there are not 'can't come in' days at work) a vehicle that can get me where I need to go.

Especially for those of you who live in the rough stuff (snow, ice, etc) what vehicle would you call 'excellent' in that regard?

I grew up around a lot of jeeps, my dad's Willys was always a champ- geared like a tractor. The CJ7 would do similarly.

So a slightly modded Jeep wrangler, w/ winch?
Cherokee?
Subaru?
Bicycle?
???
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I have a '99 4-wheel drive Tacoma TRD with a Snugtop, and a '79 FJ40 Land Cruiser. Both do very well in the snow, but the truck is more practical. When I was single, I could pack up camping gear and my bike and go anywhere.

We don't have a lot of snow here in northwest Washington state, but this past December we got dumped on. There was about 18" of snow to get through, and my truck was amazing. With the Snugtop on back there is enough weight to help with traction, but the 4-wheel drive is what saved the day over and over. I could go through amazing piles of snow, which was nice.

In icy conditions, 4-wheel drive will help slightly, but you really need chains, I imagine. Subaru's are great cars, and do very well in snow as long as it's not too deep. Get past a foot or so, though, and you're going to start plowing snow. This is where a truck or Jeep type vehicle really starts to shine.

If I could only have one vehicle for bad conditions, it would be the truck. A Jeep, or my FJ40 Land Cruiser, doesn't have much room for extras, and that can be a real problem. The bed of my truck has carried a lot of stuff over the years, and I've slept in it many, many times. I grew up in northern California and went to college in Walla Walla, Washington. On most of those 1,200 mile trips I'd have to stop part way, and it was great to just find a rest stop or dirt road somewhere, pull off and climb in back. I carried a Thermarest, sleeping bag, pillow, and extra blankets, so summer or winter I was set. I woke up more than one snowy morning with the inside of the shell completely covered in frost, but I slept snug and warm. Saves a lot of money on hotel costs, too!

Now that I'm a dad and have 3 kids, those days are pretty much over. With a family, you'd probably be better off with a an SUV of some kind. Four wheel drive is definitely the way to go.

One thing I discovered about lockers is that they're great in sand and mud, but can be a little scary in off-camber situations. One mid-winter day I was going up a snowy road in the Blue Hills outside Walla Walla, ang got to where I couldn't make it any further, so I locked the rear differential. When I started up again, the truck started slipping sideways, towards a drop of many hundreds of feet. Really, REALLY not a good feeling. I was able to back out of there and get turned around, but when you lock your axle, you have both wheels turning so it's easier to slide sideways.
 
Steve Hayden said:
I have owned 4 TLCs, a 68 and a 74 FJ40, a 66 FJ 45 pck up and a 74 FJ 50 station wagon, they were all outstanding vehicles.
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Steve,

I've gotta give you mad props on the FJ's! I love these rigs. It's really too bad Toyota stopped making the short wheel base vehicles. Jeep has done a phenomenal business with their CJ's and Wranglers, and now that the Rubicon is out, they can finally overcome the problems with weak axles and no lockers.
 
The Ford Expeditions are great in snow and mud. It feels like you are on rails when driving even in deep snow. Get the bigger V-8. Plenty of ground clearance and power.
 
Bob W said:
That's a terrible idea. Where's all that stuff going if you get into a head-on accident?!?
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These are commonly used items and when I lived up there I never heard anyone getting hit by 'flying projectiles'. Of course, it is best to attach whatever weight you use together. I prefer single sheet 1/2 metal plate, which doesn't reduce access to the bed as the other items.
 
1"X48"X48" flat steel, cut out to fit around the wheel wells, weighs right at 575 lbs. I have a piece cut for the old K2500. With 4.10 gears, the extra weight makes a world of difference. I've never had the truck on its side or upside down, and that is about the only way you're going to get that sheet out of there.
 
Mountainman38 said:
In icy conditions, 4-wheel drive will help slightly, but you really need chains, I imagine.
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Chains will help you go in the snow but your not going to go fast because the chains will take a beating and then break but they still won't help you stop any faster because,most of the time the tires will stop in between the bars on the chain and still be sliding on the rubber tire.The exception to that is vehicles that you can adjust the rear wheels brakes tighter than the front wheels but most of those have dual rear wheels where the bars on the chain are staggered which makes the spacing close enough so there's always a bar on the bottom.

4wd is a lot better,even than front wheel drive to go in the snow,but they still aren't much on ice unless you can run studded tires.The thing you've got to remember is that they still don't stop any better than any other vehicle and that's where most people get in trouble.
 
whats with this 4x4 stuff? easy way out i says! where is the fun in that? I happen to enjoy setting up 10:1 Z rig pulley systems to winch out my 2WD truck when it gets stuck. Dont get me wrong, i had a wicked 4wd bronco, but i have more fun with a set of pulleys and ropes with my 2WD

YMMV
 
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