If I'm not mistaken, most of us who own 2WD Rangers don't switch to winter tires so we usually just stick with our all-terrains and load the bed down. I'm just curious though, what else do you folks do to prepare for snow and ice?

We had a few trees topped this past summer so we have plenty of 100+ pound logs in the backyard. I'm going to throw about 5 or 6 of them in the bed and try to situate them over the rear axle the best I can. Other than that I might pick up a pair of tire chains to be safe. So what's say you?

 

I dont plan on doing anything this year.. its gonna be fun although, I did slide off the road and into the woods one day in the rain, imagine the fun in snow and ice

 

i went out and bought a cheap 4x4 and built it up to be a bullet proof winter rig.....

 

Tires are the most important thing... a little extra weight in the bed will help some. But other than that just learn to drive in snow.
I've had a couple of 2wd trucks and have never really had any problems in the winter.. I always have good snow tires, and just drive carefully when the roads are slick. That's all you need.
I have a 4x4 now, but to be honest, I hardly ever use 4x4 at all in snow...

 

I just put about 300 pounds of sand in the bed. Like others have said, just drive safely. Don't go out if the weather is too bad.

 

I did almost 200 lbs last year in my bed but this year I have my 8.8 L/S and expo leaves so the truck beds hauling weight it a ton more. I might go more or keep it the same.

I bought a bed liner that had 2x4 holders on it that hold the sandbags in place. When and bought a 9 foot 2x6 and cut it up to fit. YEAH no more sliding sandbags.

 

A set of tire cables is a good start. A few hundred pounds in the bed will definitely help out. After running BFG AT T/A KO a couple winters (and getting stuck many times over in my RWD), I now recommend a set of four winter tires (studded if legal and required).

Even with my FX4, I get the same stuff except the tire cables.

Dave

 

If you deal with snow i'd definitely get a set of winter tires. I drove a 240sx for 3 years in Ottawa and had to be at work by 5am. So if it snowed at night i would have to drive thought unploughed roads. With a couple sandbags and the cheapest winters i could buy i never once got stuck and had a lot of fun in empty parking lots at 4 in the morning. Since I live in Seattle i didn't pick up any winter tires because snow is rare and doesn't last for more than a couple days to a week so i picked up a nice pair of Geolanders, i'll buy a couple sand bags and drive carefully on the few snow days we get.

 

it really doesnt snow here, but once or twice a year. but, I'll be in the mountains twice a week, so I guess I should be smart about it :) I'll hopefully have a 4x4 beater, or a cheap 2wd that I can throw around in the mountains.

 

When I lived up north the only thing I did to help in the winter was slow down.... drove from MI to CT in a blizzard following the semi's because I couldn't plow through the snow embankments like they could.. took me about 35 hours but I made it...

 

If I drove my 88' Mustang GT 5-spd through a central Canadian winter on mostly worn out low-pro street tires, a 2wd Ranger will all seasons/all-terrains in VA shoudn't be too bad with some weight and dropped tire pressure.

 

I'm gonna go ahead and ask this to get it out of the way. If you have a 4x4, do you still need to put weight in the bed as well as slap on a set of snow tires or is the 4x4 combined with a set of all terrains all you need?

 

with a 4wd weight doesnt hurt to have back there anyways, esp with the added power the v6's have over a 4cyl truck

anyhow, i usually dont do anything, but most of the stuff i hit is plowed, or doesnt have a lot

 

Last winter was rough for me, so i decided a 4x4 swap might help me out this year

 

man, its so nice to see some snow that's not plowed and then dumped with 3 inchs of salt...

 

yea that pics a dirt road, but ca doesnt salt the roads regardless, sand only

 

The thing with all-terrain tires is that they do just fine in snow, but not so good in icy conditions. I ran all-terrains on my 4x4 the first winter I had it, and since then I've been using winter tires. It really makes a difference and personally I think it's worth the money.
I guess it really depends on the winter that you have in your area. If you only have to deal with a few snow storms, then a good set of all-terrains will be fine if you take it easy. But if you have a long winter or lots of freezing rain and ice, then I would consider winter tires.

 

I put 4 50lb bags of sand in the bed.. and drive slower than normal be extra careful

 

To be honest, last winter was the first time I wasn't able to make it out in my Ranger. It didn't help that I didn't have any weight in the bed, but with over 3 feet of snow on the ground not even my neighbor with a 4x4 Dodge Ram was able to get out. The last winter we had like this was back in 96 as we usually just get maybe 6-8 inches two or three times a winter.

That's why a gas guzzling 4x4 pick-up wouldn't really make sense for me. Anyway, that's why I started this thread. For now, I'll just stick with my all terrains with plenty of weight in the bed. As long as we don't get a repeat of last year or 96 then I should be ok.

 

I hope my ranger does as good as my 08 Subaru did with snow tires but i highly doubt that.

 

I go into the winter with a fresh oil change, check the anti-freeze, and a wax job. I don't add any weight or anything special and I get by just fine.

 

Yup, just one more reason not to reside up north. Thank God I live in Georgia were it will snow once maybe every 6 years, and be gone in less than a day.

 

that is why im moving to south carolina after i graduate in the spring and get some money saved up