After getting stuck in Bent Creek in 4 inches of snow a couple of weeks ago, combined with getting stranded on the Interstate behind giant tractor trailers, in a snowstorm a couple of months ago. I decided to buy some insurance that would help prevent similar situations in the future. The funny thing is that we might never have to use this insurance, now that we have it. But I guess that is how it goes.
I purchased snow chains for our vehicles. We had chains for our cars when we live in Colorado and since we only had two wheel drive vehicles, they were a huge asset.
Saturday was the day to test them out on the truck. We headed out to Bent Creek and up Bent Creek Gap road, until the road went up and we started to lose traction. The snow was about 8 inches deep and there were ruts of compacted snow/slush/mud; a perfect testing ground.
I got out and put the chains on, which took about 5 minutes. As we started moving forward again we were excited to find that we actually had traction...until we came to a sharp right turn that was heavily cambered, to accommodate water run off. The tires spun and the rear of the truck started to slip towards the edge of the drop off. I backed up and tried again a couple of times to no avail.
We backed down the road, defeated, until we found a turn around spot. Not wanting to give up, we looked around for dead weight that we could put in the back. I was figuring that that is why we had failed. After finding a small stack of water soaked pine logs, and throwing them in, we headed back up.
We got to the same spot, and slipped again, although not as much as before. I backed up and took a little bit wider turn, giving the chains some bite outside of the ruts and we eased through the turn! Success. We continue up the road another mile. Up into the trees that were still covered with ice. It was a different quiet world up there.
Confident that we could keep going and make it to the top, I opted to turn around and head back down. I had had my fun, and now it was time to have kid fun.
I purchased snow chains for our vehicles. We had chains for our cars when we live in Colorado and since we only had two wheel drive vehicles, they were a huge asset.
Saturday was the day to test them out on the truck. We headed out to Bent Creek and up Bent Creek Gap road, until the road went up and we started to lose traction. The snow was about 8 inches deep and there were ruts of compacted snow/slush/mud; a perfect testing ground.
I got out and put the chains on, which took about 5 minutes. As we started moving forward again we were excited to find that we actually had traction...until we came to a sharp right turn that was heavily cambered, to accommodate water run off. The tires spun and the rear of the truck started to slip towards the edge of the drop off. I backed up and tried again a couple of times to no avail.
We backed down the road, defeated, until we found a turn around spot. Not wanting to give up, we looked around for dead weight that we could put in the back. I was figuring that that is why we had failed. After finding a small stack of water soaked pine logs, and throwing them in, we headed back up.
We got to the same spot, and slipped again, although not as much as before. I backed up and took a little bit wider turn, giving the chains some bite outside of the ruts and we eased through the turn! Success. We continue up the road another mile. Up into the trees that were still covered with ice. It was a different quiet world up there.
Confident that we could keep going and make it to the top, I opted to turn around and head back down. I had had my fun, and now it was time to have kid fun.
We headed back down the hill to the creek, where we proceed to throw snowballs at each other, into puddles and into the creek until it was time to head out!Rear wheel drive in the snow? Not ideal but definitely possible:
The reason it is possible: ( the chains and the co-pilot)
Hopefully, we will have a couple more whopping snow storms and I will get to put my insurance to good use before the warmth of spring returns!!
Have a great day!!!
2 comments:
Get ya a couple of sandbags and throw them in the back of the truck for winter. Me personally, my trucks even my current Explorer, I know its a SUV always have had four wheel drive.
Last year at Loveland ski area I had my wife's front wheel drive Altima while it showed 18 inches that day. They were pulling out all the rear wheel vehicles for them to only get stuck again. Any front wheel drive like our Altima that had chains...drove right of there.
Studded Snow Tires come next year.
It's definitely time to buy chains.
Where did you find yours ?
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