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Winter Bed Weight

heyguy

heyguy

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Any of you adding weight to your truck beds for winter driving? Wondering if there's anything different to use other than the typical sandbags. Thinking i need to put at least 500lbs in the bed. Duallys totally suck on ice and deep snow BTW lol, even with Duratracs.
 
I always hated when the sandbags would disintegrate, so my go to solution has been a couple of those 12 gallon black and yellow storage totes filled with wet sand.

I haven't ever weighed them to see where they get me, but the sand alone is at least 300, so figure with the added weight of the water and my tools, I'm guessing about 400 lbs.

To dry the sand out in the spring for storage, I then dump the totes into a larger 27 gallon tote and let it bake in the sun for a couple of days (stirring it up as I remember).
 
When I lived up north, I used to put 2 counterweights from a bulldozer in the bed, worked great!
 
I think it would take alot of weight to make a difference. I'd get snow tires, a long handled shovel, and a couple bags of sand.

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Mikes145 said:
I think it would take alot of weight to make a difference. I'd get snow tires, a long handled shovel, and a couple bags of sand.

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^This right here. Them couple little sand bags aren’t doing anything. I used to have a sheet of plate steel at work I would put in the bed every winter, that way I could still use the whole bed. It was 72”x48”x1/2”, so it weighed about 500 pounds. Last winter, someone decided to scrap it on me, so I just went without it. I honestly couldn’t tell any difference in the snow without it, compared to the years that I used it, so I’m not even going to bother putting anything at all back there anymore. Just good tires is all you need.
 
What little snow we get in Raleigh NC, and east, usually is complemented with ice. I used to run 200 pounds of weight in the truck bed behind the wheel wells. I do find that tires with less than 50% tread left do poorly while the 50% or better tread works much better. I try to avoid travel during those 2-3 days a year. ;) :)
 
I’m with the guys recommending snow tires (if you live where snow and ice are regular). There is no comparison to any AT or MT tire (even ones with the snowflake). Snow tires are amazing, and make the roads safer for you and people around you. I also carry two shovels and maxtrax. When someone needs digging out it’s nice to not be the only one digging! I used to carry sand tubes but not since going to snow tires.
 
I have home made sandbags I made out of semi truck tire inner tubes appox 30 years ago.
I cut the tubes into 3 pieces and zip tied the end then filled with sand then zip tied them closed.
The weigh about 50 lbs each, I have 6 so equals 300 lbs.
They made a big difference on my 1/2 tons, an improvement on my 2001 duelly but I haven’t nocticed much of an improvement on my 2018, 2500
 
110gallon slip tank is my answer and I try to keep it full. That and proper snow tires with studs.
 
Im from Texas, and my only experience with snow is that its something that used to come on TV after they played the National Anthem late at night....and its something that when the weather forecasters in Oklahoma mention the word "snow", the entire state of Texas goes into a week-long spasm of paralysis. So my input is of little value in specific relation to snow. However...I do carry weight in my bed (no, Im not being inappropriate. Im talking about the bed of my truck).

Year-round, I run with two stall-mats from Tractor Supply in the bed of my truck. (textured-side down)

I believe it accomplishes a few things:
- Adds a little weight for added traction on slick streets/grass/mud
- Reduced vibration/bounce in the rear-end.
- deadens SOME of the exhaust drone
- protects the bed-liner and bed
- ever so slightly helps to reduce things sliding around back there.
- is essentially invisible, takes up NO space, wont fly-out/disintegrate/get stolen
-its cheap, easy and if ya want more weight....add another layer.

Just a thought, but it works for me.
 
Vroooom said:
Im from Texas, and my only experience with snow is that its something that used to come on TV after they played the National Anthem late at night....and its something that when the weather forecasters in Oklahoma mention the word "snow", the entire state of Texas goes into a week-long spasm of paralysis. So my input is of little value in specific relation to snow. However...I do carry weight in my bed (no, Im not being inappropriate. Im talking about the bed of my truck).

Year-round, I run with two stall-mats from Tractor Supply in the bed of my truck. (textured-side down)

I believe it accomplishes a few things:
- Adds a little weight for added traction on slick streets/grass/mud
- Reduced vibration/bounce in the rear-end.
- deadens SOME of the exhaust drone
- protects the bed-liner and bed
- ever so slightly helps to reduce things sliding around back there.
- is essentially invisible, takes up NO space, wont fly-out/disintegrate/get stolen
-its cheap, easy and if ya want more weight....add another layer.

Just a thought, but it works for me.
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Those stall mats also work great for gym flooring, nothing can hurt them. I’m going to put some in the bed of my truck for protection as well, good idea.
 
Added weight definitely helps. My trucks would go nowhere without weight and/or 4wd in the ice a snow.


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CRToney said:
Added weight definitely helps. My trucks would go nowhere without weight and/or 4wd in the ice a snow.


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Have you tried snow tires? You’ll be able to go anywhere in ice and snow without carrying extra weight. While the weight gives you traction, it doesn’t help you stop. In fact, it’s the opposite: more weight is harder to stop when you start sliding. Snow tires give you great traction for acceleration, great traction cornering, AND they will decrease stopping distance by a significant amount. You can watch tests of snow tires vs AT and MT tires online (like the one below) - so you don’t have to take the word of some dude on a forum :) If you want to skip straight to the part on braking / stopping distance, go to 3:20 in the video:


If you want to watch an impractical - but awesome - video, check out an Audi RS6 going 200 mph on ice, running Nokian studded snow tires:

 
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I would agree that dually pickups suck in the snow. They suck because the front and rear tires do not track together. Everything from tires to weight is just a band aid to this fact. Only time I put weight into the bed is in my 2wd trucks. All my trucks have limited slip differentials or lockers, as a result. I am not saying weight and tires don’t help, but you can’t change the tracking. Nature of the beast.
 
Bozo said:
I would agree that dually pickups suck in the snow. They suck because the front and rear tires do not track together. Everything from tires to weight is just a band aid to this fact. Only time I put weight into the bed is in my 2wd trucks. All my trucks have limited slip differentials or lockers, as a result. I am not saying weight and tires don’t help, but you can’t change the tracking. Nature of the beast.
Click to expand...

Just FYI: All my comments are in reference to single rear wheel trucks. I have zero experience with a dually.
 
stickshifter said:
Have you tried snow tires? You’ll be able to go anywhere in ice and snow without carrying extra weight. While the weight gives you traction, it doesn’t help you stop. In fact, it’s the opposite: more weight is harder to stop when you start sliding. Snow tires give you great traction for acceleration, great traction cornering, AND they will decrease stopping distance by a significant amount. You can watch tests of snow tires vs AT and MT tires online (like the one below) - so you don’t have to take the word of some dude on a forum :) If you want to skip straight to the part on braking / stopping distance, go to 3:20 in the video:


If you want to watch an impractical - but awesome - video, check out an Audi RS6 going 200 mph on ice, running Nokian studded snow tires:

Click to expand...

I live in rural area. A lot of gravel roads & off road driving. Very little city driving. Sipping in winter tires causes them not to last long.

I give myself plenty of space when conditions get dicey. Not much traffic here either. I’m not a fan of traction control either. One gets stuck because of it.


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