Can someone with first hand experience help me out? I live half the time in the mountains of WV (Snowshoe to be exact) and during winter, will be driving often with snow covered roads. Sometimes, as I get closer to my home, these roads are not plowed yet and will need to traverse steep inclines with several inches of snow on the roadways. I always loved the fact the Power Wagon has locking rear and front diffs, however, you are limited in payload and towing (although that's isn't a real issue for me). Would I have any issues with a regular 2500 HD with Anti Spin? Either way, I would be upgrading my tires to Falken Wildpeaks. The PW does give me some confidence of navigating these roadways, however, never had locking diffs. If sh*t hit the fan, and I was in a ditch, I feel the PW would get me out.
Falken Wildpeak AT3W is a great tire, it’s what I run. But it’s not as good as a true winter tire, unfortunately there are very few options for a true winter tire in 35”. Also I’m not interested in changing between a summer and a winter tire on this truck.
Locking diffs...KEEP YOUR DIFFS UNLOCKED IN THE SNOW. I’ve seen other people get themselves into trouble locking their axles in the snow. When both wheels are forced to go the same speed, the vehicle tracks wherever it decides it wants to. The only situation I can really think where lockers will be useful in the snow is off you’re high centered but still have one wheel on solid ground you may be able to claw your way out. I’ve seen people dig themselves into worse situations in snow trying to do this though. Same with keeping your sway bar engaged, snow wheeling is generally smoother than rocks so there’s not really any need, and with a disengaged sway bar in the snow you are more likely to get yourself into trouble.
The rear LSD is nice I guess...I can’t tell when it’s engaging, so it’s pretty smooth. Just helps keep your rear wheels turning if one gets on a slippier section or looses a bit of grip due to flex.
If you’re serious about not getting stuck in the snow, I highly suggest getting Maxtrax or similar, they are super useful in the snow. And a good flathead transfer shovel(not a folding e-tool, not a collapsing avi shovel, not a spade head digging shovel).
Also, tire chains for offroad snow wheeling. I have v-bars ladder chains for the rear and low profile cables for the fronts.
Winch is only good if you have something to anchor to, and un-stucking a framed out the Power Wagon is a major under taking...2:1 or 3:1 pull may be required. You can substantially reduce the mire factor by spending time with the good shovel I mentioned above.
i love my power wagon, but to be brutally honest, full time AWD(Audi, Subaru) with good snow tires is better on snowy highways. Don’t have to worry about engaging 4WD when conditions change, no tire scrubbing in parking lots, it’s just fun to drive.