Rambling Story:Snow Wheeling Turned Rescue Mission

[BangBang]

Agreed and for the panicked 20 year old, that’s a decent excuse. Two of the guys there were probably in their mid 50’s. They have less of an excuse.

The case of Stupid is as Stupid does.

 

[TheTeej]

Gonna be a lot of these morons out this year with covid and the ski slopes requiring reservations. Luckily they tend to get stuck quickly and stay on the trail. I’m sure they all had avalanche gear and you guys pulled the clutch belt before towing?

did you have a backup plan with the truck in case it got stuck? Looks like a blast but I’d want two trucks for peace of mind

 

[SeXualAVENGER]

What tire chains are you using?


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[Badgertits]

If I lived where you do I would run a set of dedicated studded snow tires - Nokians- I have them myself unstudded (ordered w/ studs came w/o then added em after the fact & ultimately removed b/c I don’t wanna chew up my concrete driveway)


BUT there is NOTHING like ripping around in a tuned Raptor in winter weather on studded 35” snow tires. The nokians are no dedicated AT- but they’re way more aggressive & competent offroad then a Blizzak or hankook icebear tire by comparison

I feel nearly unstoppable in the the thing w/ this setup- last winter me and bunch of extended fam rented a ski house in northern NH, had a very long & steep driveway (35-40 degrees) that had been plowed but days before had hard packed snow & sections w/ ice patches.

Subaru Forester w/ non-studded snows made it up but took 3-4 tries as it kept getting hung up on patch of ice middle of the way up- needed more momentum b/c just didn’t have the oomph once it stopped moving

other than that- I had to individually tow up a Honda CRV, a Ford Explorer, a Jeep Liberty (these all were awd/4wd w/ all seasons) only other thing that came close to making it up was my cousins 2wd Silverado that had studded blizzaks & some sandbags in bed- he got like 3/4 of the way but the toughest section turned into ice so needed a boost from there


Lessons learned? Snow tires > AWD on regular tires surprisingly most of the time. The Raptor > all else in stock form in the white stuff save MAYBE a Wrangler rubicon or something

 

[zemuron99]

y'know, I've wondered the same thing...what's a good set up for REAL chains on the front. Back in the day, living in Chicagoland, I'd chain up all 4 on my Tacoma, and felt more or less unstoppable. Pulled my fair share out of ditches with it as well. Would like to have the same feeling of confidence in the Raptor. Taco didn't even have a front Torsen diff, let alone a locker, but it did also have a locking rear, so 3wd at worst. Sure the Torsen in the R will help a bit, but still can't beat the extra bite of a good set of lugged chains. Maybe just enough of a spacer to allow the chains to clear the front suspension, but no idea what size that would be. Anyone have a thought??

 

[Rddakota]

What tire chains are you using?


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Same question


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[Badgertits]

y'know, I've wondered the same thing...what's a good set up for REAL chains on the front. Back in the day, living in Chicagoland, I'd chain up all 4 on my Tacoma, and felt more or less unstoppable. Pulled my fair share out of ditches with it as well. Would like to have the same feeling of confidence in the Raptor. Taco didn't even have a front Torsen diff, let alone a locker, but it did also have a locking rear, so 3wd at worst. Sure the Torsen in the R will help a bit, but still can't beat the extra bite of a good set of lugged chains. Maybe just enough of a spacer to allow the chains to clear the front suspension, but no idea what size that would be. Anyone have a thought??

chains make sense to me in pac NW & areas where it’s lots of powdery fluffy snow that’s constantly there, in places like chicago & certainly a lot of the NE chains are a liability (& outlawed in some states) where the terrain changes constantly from salt caked dry patches you’ll lose your ass on w/ chains to black ice to hard pack snow to slush to normal snow & back all over again

that’s why I think snow tires >>> chains, only place chains do better is in really deep fluffy snow

 

[zemuron99]

chains make sense to me in pac NW & areas where it’s lots of powdery fluffy snow that’s constantly there, in places like chicago & certainly a lot of the NE chains are a liability (& outlawed in some states)

After a day/two when they've had a chance to clear the roads, and salt/sand 'em down, I completely agree. When it's coming down an inch an hour, and d'bags in their Corollas, CR-V's and Priuii are thinking they can still get home despite that, different story. That's when I used to armor up the Taco and go play Good Samaritan.

 

[Roc Nichols]

When I was living in Utah, it was a known fact if you want to buy a snowmobile cheap go out to the trails and find one that was stuck. lol

 

[MileHighRaptor]

Off topic but curious. What trail is that? Always looking for good high speed trails for the raptor!