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Posted: 10/16/2021 3:05:21 PM EDT
My youngest spawn now lives in Montana, and he took a 2x4 F-150 with him when he moved.
I am getting him chains for the truck so he can get back and forth to work without going into a ditch, but as stated, I'm clueless on the topic being a Floridian, and there seems to be a wide variety to choose from. Open to suggestions, information, anecdotes... What do I need to know before I pick some random set off of amazon? |
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[#1]
https://www.tirechainsrus.com/
Chains are very application-specific; if he plans on using them on snow or ice covered pavement then highway chains are the way to go. If he's offroad or on gravel roads then something like the diamond 4x4 chains would be better. |
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[#3]
Walmart.
But I would suggest 4 snow tires and a few hundred pounds of weight in the bed. |
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[#4]
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[#6]
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[#7]
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[#9]
I would absolutely never own a 2wd truck in a snowy environment. Chains or not.
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[#10]
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[#11]
Tell him to hit whatever tire shop is in town and get some proper tires first.
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[#13]
Quoted: Get snow tires. View Quote This! Quoted: But I would suggest 4 snow tires and a few hundred pounds of weight in the bed. View Quote ...and this!!! Quoted: Sell the truck in Florida and get a 4 X 4. View Quote Truly, this is the answer though. |
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[#15]
Quoted: This! ...and this!!! Truly, this is the answer though. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Get snow tires. This! Quoted: But I would suggest 4 snow tires and a few hundred pounds of weight in the bed. ...and this!!! Quoted: Sell the truck in Florida and get a 4 X 4. Truly, this is the answer though. Another vote for this. Chains should he the last piece of the puzzle, not the first. |
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[#16]
as stated, I've got no clue about this. He is driving around the city streets in Billings Montana.
I HOPE he is not bombing around off road in a 2WD truck in the snow. He has weight in the back, but with the tires on the truck... Off to google to try to educate myself on snow tires... |
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[#17]
Snow tires and a few hundred pounds of sand for the back of the bed.
Fwiw, I've had better luck with awd suv or a fwd car. |
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[#18]
Quoted: This, and get the tire chains from Les Schwab. Fully refundable in the spring if not used. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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[#19]
2wd truck is about worst case scenario for winter driving.
Sell it, but something that is 4wd, AWD, or at minimum front wheel drive. If that isn't an option, General tire makes good snow tires for trucks, have a set myself. Get them on all 4. Also, you have to make sure chains are legal where he is, and they always suck to drive on, and they severely limit your speed. If you hit dry pavement, yikes. That said, I always keep at least a pair in the trucks. When you need chains, nothing else will do. Make sure he has his coolant tested for winter temps. Odds are from Florida, it is mostly water by now and will be a block of ice in winter. |
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[#20]
He is in Montana. He can go to Les Schwab and they will sell him the proper chains for the application. Neither of you need to know anything about chains. If He doesn't use them he can sell them back in the spring. The quick fit chains they sell work well on pavement in light duty use. For towing and off pavement use I would go with traditional ladder cam chains and spider tighteners.
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[#21]
Quoted: Walmart. But I would suggest 4 snow tires and a few hundred pounds of weight in the bed. View Quote This or buy a 4x4 if he plans on hitting the back roads. 4x2 will work fine in town,he will only need chains if he plans on going off the beaten path. I would recomend a set of studded tires and add some sandbags for weight. <<<Works for a tire shop as the alignment tech/mechanic ETA Nokian makes some of the best snow tires,they invented them |
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[#22]
Quoted: as stated, I've got no clue about this. He is driving around the city streets in Billings Montana. I HOPE he is not bombing around off road in a 2WD truck in the snow. He has weight in the back, but with the tires on the truck... Off to google to try to educate myself on snow tires... View Quote Yeah if he's only doing city driving chains are definitely not needed. Heck as long as he's has tread on the tires he should be fine. It's not 100% wild west up here. We do have paved roads and electricity. |
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[#23]
Quoted: as stated, I've got no clue about this. He is driving around the city streets in Billings Montana. I HOPE he is not bombing around off road in a 2WD truck in the snow. He has weight in the back, but with the tires on the truck... Off to google to try to educate myself on snow tires... View Quote pretty happy with 'em. https://www.pewag.com/shop/en/snow-chains-2.html |
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[#24]
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[#25]
Quoted: Yeah if he's only doing city driving chains are definitely not needed. Heck as long as he's has tread on the tires he should be fine. It's not 100% wild west up here. We do have paved roads and electricity. View Quote This is his second winter there, and when I left him there last year, he had 4 brand new tires. He states that the weight in back is not enough, and that he NEEDS the chains. I am 2700 miles away and have lived the entirety of my life in places where more than just a slight dusting of snow was enough to shut everything down. I dont even know what I dont know when it comes to driving on ice and snow. |
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[#26]
Quoted: This is his second winter there, and when I left him there last year, he had 4 brand new tires. He states that the weight in back is not enough, and that he NEEDS the chains. I am 2700 miles away and have lived the entirety of my life in places where more than just a slight dusting of snow was enough to shut everything down. I dont even know what I dont know when it comes to driving on ice and snow. View Quote New tires? Unless they are snow-specific it won't make much difference. |
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[#27]
Quoted: This is his second winter there, and when I left him there last year, he had 4 brand new tires. He states that the weight in back is not enough, and that he NEEDS the chains. I am 2700 miles away and have lived the entirety of my life in places where more than just a slight dusting of snow was enough to shut everything down. I dont even know what I dont know when it comes to driving on ice and snow. View Quote i can't imagine he needs chains for just driving around surface streets in billings in the winter. i'd go studded snows. (currently have bald all season tires on my personal cah ). |
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[#28]
Quoted: This is his second winter there, and when I left him there last year, he had 4 brand new tires. He states that the weight in back is not enough, and that he NEEDS the chains. I am 2700 miles away and have lived the entirety of my life in places where more than just a slight dusting of snow was enough to shut everything down. I dont even know what I dont know when it comes to driving on ice and snow. View Quote *IF* they're M+S rated all-seasons then he'd be Ok most of the time *IF* he had an AWD/4WD vehicle. 2WD with a n00b winter driver isn't gonna go well - and it sounds like it didn't. Should be able to find a tire place that will swap and store tires for him - take his summers off and put them in a warehouse and put his snows on, then reverse in the spring. Personally I have no intention of ever going back to any FWD/RWD vehicle regardless of where I live - once you've driven AWD there's no comparison. Understanding that's likely not practical, get him into a set of snow tires, get those sandbags for the bed of the truck, and consider investing in training for skill and confidence enhancement. E.g. https://winterdrive.com/ |
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[#29]
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[#30]
There is no way I would live in MT (or anywhere in the Rockies) without 4x4 and especially RWD only.
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[#31]
I might not live in MT, but I seriously doubt he NEEDS chains for driving around town. And FWIW I've driven around WI in a 2wd truck for most of my life...
Are the tires bald or nearly bald? The only situation where good tires & weight won't be enough is if there is ice AND elevation change. |
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[#32]
4 studded snows
Tube sand over axal Build box to keep sand from shifting Former western NYer |
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[#33]
Unpopular opinion but tell him to trade the truck in and buy an Outback.
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[#36]
Quoted: This is his second winter there, and when I left him there last year, he had 4 brand new tires. He states that the weight in back is not enough, and that he NEEDS the chains. I am 2700 miles away and have lived the entirety of my life in places where more than just a slight dusting of snow was enough to shut everything down. I dont even know what I dont know when it comes to driving on ice and snow. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Yeah if he's only doing city driving chains are definitely not needed. Heck as long as he's has tread on the tires he should be fine. It's not 100% wild west up here. We do have paved roads and electricity. This is his second winter there, and when I left him there last year, he had 4 brand new tires. He states that the weight in back is not enough, and that he NEEDS the chains. I am 2700 miles away and have lived the entirety of my life in places where more than just a slight dusting of snow was enough to shut everything down. I dont even know what I dont know when it comes to driving on ice and snow. |
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[#37]
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[#38]
One more vote for studded snow tires in the winter, and swap them for normal tires in the summer. I would save chains for emergency use only.
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[#39]
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[#40]
Quoted: I would absolutely never own a 2wd truck in a snowy environment. Chains or not. View Quote I've never seen a worse vehicle for snow myself. I had a friend get stuck in 2 inches of snow on a relatively flat driveway.. luckily he had 4x4 and got out but I was shocked at how bad it was in 2x4.. I do think the suggestion of added tailgate weight and snow tires can substantially help.. but its just a bandaid when you really need 4x4 with snowtires and wieght. Sure as shit don't want to get stuck on a highway death trap |
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[#41]
Quoted: My youngest spawn now lives in Montana, and he took a 2x4 F-150 with him when he moved. I am getting him chains for the truck so he can get back and forth to work without going into a ditch, but as stated, I'm clueless on the topic being a Floridian, and there seems to be a wide variety to choose from. Open to suggestions, information, anecdotes... What do I need to know before I pick some random set off of amazon? View Quote Costco in Billings may have some......... |
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[#42]
I can't remember if there is a Les Schwab in Billings. If there is they are 75ish and will buy them back if unused after he finds they are no use.
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[#43]
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[#44]
Quoted: I would absolutely never own a 2wd truck in a snowy environment. Chains or not. View Quote Learned my lesson back in 1993 when I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB SD. Bought a 2wd Chevy pickup down in Mississippi. Went driving around the Black Hills one winter and almost went off a small cliff while trying to back down a hill I was spun-out on. Went down the next day and traded it in on a Suzuki Sidekick. Not a bad little 4wd vehicle back then. Drove it around SD for a couple years, the UK for 3, then NJ for a few more, before trading it in for a Jeep. |
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[#45]
Quoted: I might not live in MT, but I seriously doubt he NEEDS chains for driving around town. And FWIW I've driven around WI in a 2wd truck for most of my life... Are the tires bald or nearly bald? The only situation where good tires & weight won't be enough is if there is ice AND elevation change. View Quote My Tacoma is terrible in the snow in 2wd. Open diff and no weight is a bad combo even with good tread depth. I do have a transfer case though... That being said, a FWD car with snow tires if far better than the Tacoma on all seasons in 4WD. |
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[#47]
Do southerners actually think people use tire chains up here? |
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[#48]
Quoted: My youngest spawn now lives in Montana, and he took a 2x4 F-150 with him when he moved. I am getting him chains for the truck so he can get back and forth to work without going into a ditch, but as stated, I'm clueless on the topic being a Floridian, and there seems to be a wide variety to choose from. Open to suggestions, information, anecdotes... What do I need to know before I pick some random set off of amazon? View Quote First he needs a 4X4 and chains, and a few chain straps for emergency use when hung up and can't get the chains on. Unless he lives in the city then he will have to use an electric bicycle with sissy bar scooter helmet. Brandon has said nothing but electric scooters for everyone. Up here in the mountains of the Missouri Ozarks 4X6 and 35's minimum. And we use special shop made chains with double Z cross pattern. They keep you running straight with no lateral movement. They work up to 26" then Super Terra Grips or Dynatorques with heavy link tractor chains. |
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[#49]
I had a 1991 F150 . North IN
Thing was crazy light in the rear end . 2wd . I finally got STUDDED Snow tires and about 300 lbs in the bed . The gas tank was Right over the rear axel so when it got down to half tank I would top it off . Things got better after that . |
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[#50]
Decent snow tires are worth their weight in gold in the winter. You can get by with just the rear tires bring snow tires, but handling won't be great. Weight in the bed helps too. I know that this doesn't answer your original question, but if you're new to the concept of driving RWD in snow, it's definitely worth considering.
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