When it snows…..

[MRV99]

In Chicagoland we were getting about 3/4” of snow an hour(11 inches overall) and the roads had a very nice layer of pack and mashed potato’s. Needless to say my inner 16 year old was out in full fashion. The roads were basically empty most of the day so I was able to test out different modes and in the snow conditions.

Baja was too no shift/high RPM. I could see if you were full till all the time but for drifting a corner and then driving regular, it was a bit too much.

The snow/sand was a great setting. I did feel with the addition to disabling the advanced track for no nanny’s. (Not just traction off) made it better. The throttle response and the trucks power would allow you to really control the slides with little throttle inputs. This was in 4H (see below)

4A is great for just normal driving but sucks when driving aggressive. You could feel the front lockup for 4h and it was disruptive and the feel would change. I preferred the slides in 2H or 4H much better. Sport mode allowed me to have it in 4A with similar settings as sand/snow.

4H was very predictable and was able to toss the truck sideways without the fear of over rotation or over correction. Yea some has that has to do with my years on the track but still I was impressed. The elocker had the control of a pozi I just with it would stay on at higher MPH.

Overall this truck performs soo much better than my past 3.5 Lariat(with tune). So much more confidence in this truck than the past. If you have never had a chance to really play with the truck, your missing out.

Oh the KO2’s were pretty dam
good in the snow. I never felt they were slipping or floating/meandering in the snow. From a stop, the truck would go with little or no slip unless I provoked it.

For stopping, the preformed like I thought. The stopped when needed no real uneasiness

 

[amREADY]

Good summary and same or similar experience here.

On black ice or slimy snow over a glare ice layer, I'll do slippery, or most often Normal with nannies depending on the traffic, or steepness (exposure) of the mountain logging road. I basically hate the muted simpy beta nannies and/or slippery mode, but it has a place in the toolbox of options.

If I am not getting after it and the roads aren't too slippery (aka less wheel spin), 4A is fine with or without nannies. If it is slipperyer than that or I am pushing the truck more, it is too much to ask of the 4A. Not that it has a lot of lag, but why put all that slippage and compensation through the system when you could just be in 4H and know what you got.

As far as the locker, I've played around with it on and off. I has it's place but being open in the back has advantages too. Without going into detail, it's something I'm still figuring out. I know the local jeepers who are on like 40's + 2psi who do extreme snowwheeling swear by open diffs for most of what they do.. it digs in less. Granted, they are light and are trying to stay on top of the snow, so not totally portable to a full-size on 35s.

I generally use N or Deep Snow and nannies off as my Rx for most snow conditions on and off trail.

Mostly in the snow - I am a shark among seals. Seals that can still slide into you... so head on a swivel. But still.

As far as psi, it depends on the snow. If I am trying to cut 'through' it down to traction 32 psi or more. If I am trying to gain traction over slimy ice etc., then 24 psi and lower. Since a lot of where I go is mixed speeds and traction, I just run at around 25 psi and it covers the range for me most times.

 

[FordTechOne]

We have the same storm here; snow started around 10:00 AM today. We went out to pickup dinner around 6, left it in "NormaL" mode, 4A with Traction Control disengaged. It was quite entertaining. One thing I've noticed is that the Severe Snow Rating (snowflake icon) on the tires makes a big difference, they stop and corner much better, even compared to the General Grabber A/Ts on my Jeep.

 

[Win Seeker]

I guess everywhere is getting hit pretty hard. Central Co got a foot or more in the last 18 hours. My experience after a short time with my Raptor is that Snow mode is perfect for driving in the snow/rain when there are other idiots on the road. If I were alone, I'd have it in 4a + Sport mode without a doubt.

Short story time - a few weeks back, the roads were pretty icy on my way to work, and I work at an ER on top of a hill, both directions E and W heading to my ER were stopped just like this, bunch of idiots going too slow and got stuck halfway up, traffic backed up for a half mile both sides. I went ahead and just popped the curb on the right there in the picture.. drove down the side walk for a few hundred feet, went around the traffic, and weaved through all the people that were stuck trying to flip a *****. I can't imagine all the guys sitting in their "rams" didn't think to themselves, "I should've bought a ford" after watching me.

 

[Sage]

Yeah we got a little.

 

[Badgertits]

I run snow tires so I don’t bother w/ the “weather” mode unless I’m on some really bad twisty mountain roads, generally if snow is a few inches or hard pack everywhere I run 4H normal if it’s patchy snow/dry pavement I run 4A - I’ve noticed TC cuts in pretty quickly so sometimes better to take it off, esp if you wanna engage in some 4 wheel drifting

I was running studs on my tires too but took em out this year they were tearing up my concrete driveway lol…..but you literally can drive as if there is no weather when those were in place, passing highway plows in blizzard conditions doing 75

 

[sixshooter_45]

As I left work yesterday I had it in slippery mode with nannies on and the truck ran fine.

Then I saw a big hill I've been wanting to climb where they're doing demolition to a house at the top of the hill. I turned around and thought I'd try to climb it so I stopped, shifted into neutral, shifted to 4L and drove right up I didn't realize I still had it in slippery mode but it just gave me better control of the throttle which worked out great because I was trying to see if it was capable of slowly climbing up the hill and it just drove right up it no problem, it was a lot of fun.

It's steeper than it looks.

 

[Raptorial]

I was happy with how mine performed here in the Mid Atlantic area. Last month I set out at 4:30am in about 8" (of unplowed snow) to hunt.

On the highway, I was easily cruising around 50mph in 4A. I have to go off-road to park at this spot and the truck didn't miss a beat there either.

 

[Raptorial]

As I left work yesterday I had it in slippery mode with nannies on and the truck ran fine.

Then I saw a big hill I've been wanting to climb where they're doing demolition to a house at the top of the hill. I turned around and thought I'd try to climb it so I stopped, shifted into neutral, shifted to 4L and drove right up I didn't realize I still had it in slippery mode but it just gave me better control of the throttle which worked out great because I was trying to see if it was capable of slowly climbing up the hill and it just drove right up it no problem, it was a lot of fun.

It's steeper than it looks.View attachment 340529View attachment 340531View attachment 340533

That's fun and can get hairy quickly. Trail Control works well for that too if you don't want to manually do it

 

[fordfreek]

Here in the U.P. of Michigan we get snow on a regular basis. I'm always entertained when parts of the country get hit with snow that don't normally see it. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the raptor is awesome in these conditions. My only concern is that it may make me over confident. I absolutely love my raptor when the weather gets nasty. Mostly I run 2wd unless the snow gets deep, then it's4h in normal mode. Hope everyone is staying safe out there. Mostly gotta watch out for the other guy out there.