Winter driving tips?

[JT614]

I had my first snow drive in the JT. It wasn't fun. Not enough snow to use 4WD but enough to make the back end slip out. I haven't driven a RWD Jeep in a few years, but at least that one had Selec-Trac where I could put it in Full time 4WD and get some use out of the front wheels.

Some questions...

1. Does anyone know why Selec-Trac wasn't an on option on the JT? I see it's an option on some models of the JL. This would be a no-brainer purchase for me.

2. I know bigger tires are not the greatest for snow, so should I put smaller tires back on? I currently have 35x12.5 KO2's and a set of the stock Duellers.

3. I'll likely put sand bags in the bed. How much weight would make a difference?

4. With salty roads being the norm now until April, how often do you wash/rinse your car to help with rust prevention? I kind of wish I had a sacrificial winter car

Stay safe, my friends!

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[basicGlad]

@JT614 hoze it down every once in a while and get most of the salt off. Best time is probably on a warmer day after it clears up post storm and salt is no longer being dumped.

Worst thing you can do is go from heated garage to freezing snow and salt roads over and over. For some reason when all the ice melts off your vehicle I think more of the salt gets onto the body or rust happens more with salt+water (over salt+ice).

I'm from Canada and the vehicles I've had the least rust issues+problems are the ones that get a good wash and wax before winter and then are left outside all winter

 

[PyrPatriot]

I had my first snow drive in the JT. It wasn't fun. Not enough snow to use 4WD but enough to make the back end slip out. I haven't driven a RWD Jeep in a few years, but at least that one had Selec-Trac where I could put it in Full time 4WD and get some use out of the front wheels.


4. With salty roads being the norm now until April, how often do you wash/rinse your car to help with rust prevention? I kind of wish I had a sacrificial winter car

Stay safe, my friends!

I know the feeling. My Honda Element 4/AWD was a beast in snow. I made it up some heavy snowstorms in the mountains when cars were littering the ditches/banks.

It is my winter car, but is out of commission for now due to starting issues (doesnt crank at first or struggles to crank followed by dieing after a few seconds l, then takes repeat turns of key with shorter and shorter cranks, pausing between attempts; usually works on 4th or 5th attempt)

 

[Up venture]

Biggest tip is go slow. Doesn't matter if you can drive 65 in 4wd on ice you still can't stop. Give yourself more travel time, more space between the car in front of you. Don't make rapid changes like acceleration, deceleration, or turning.

In the event you that you are slowing to make a turn and your truck is sliding and going to fast and as long as there is no obstruction it's often better to maintain the straight path until your truck stops then back up to the turn rather than trying to make the corner, you will likely slide into the ditch on the other side of the corner.

Down shifts can be tricky because on a slick surface down shift could lock your drive tires and cause a skid.

I'm running the stock Sport S Dueler ATs we've only had a few instances so far with snow on the road. I haven't had any trouble as of yet. I also have many years of experience driving in snow so not to say others wouldn't have trouble. My initial assessment is the truck was acceptable but will need some more snow before I can make a real assessment.

Most important slow down, give yourself room and time.

 

[Flexin]

Has anyone played around with the AutoStick feature of the automatics? Manually down shifting to slow down and upshifting for difficult climbs seems like it would be useful.

Not snow related but I’ve used this off-road in 4 low. It’s was awesome. I would drive the trail in 4 low but in 8th gear and then drop really low when necessary. It was fun having that much control.

 

[Flexin]

This subject was on my mind. We get plenty of snow here in Michigan and did this weekend. In my AWD vehicle I always shifted into low depending on the situation or when I was taking off from a light.

Now in the Jeep I pop it into 4WD HI coming to a light and take off in 4WD HI until I get to 25mph, then I go back to 2WD. This is with snow and ice on the ground. I don’t shift the gear with the manual shifter in the snow on the road. If you go to low of a gear in the snow and going too fast the wheels will lock up, but don’t panic, just go up a gear or two and the wheels start moving again

I have always shifted with AWD transmissions from D to H to L. I’ve just adjusted to the above for my Jeep.

 

[PyrPatriot]

Not snow related but I’ve used this off-road in 4 low. It’s was awesome. I would drive the trail in 4 low but in 8th gear and then drop really low when necessary. It was fun having that much control.

I didnt realize you could go in higher gears in 4L! I need to read up on the mechanics of 4H and 4L...

 

[Zacfrac]

Upfront, uptop here... I appreciate all the anecdotal evidence, but I want to know more of the science on why no 4h on a high traction surface.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/gearhead-101-how-part-time-four-wheel-drive-works/

This explains it all really well.

I had to read into it coming back to an truck with part time 4wheel drive, because I remembered when I was a kid with my old XJ that dad said not to put it in 4wheel in the asphalt or I’d blow it up, but nobody ever told me why.

Long story short it loads up tension in the transfer case if the wheels grip too much to slip, and eventually it has to release somewhere. If your wheel can’t slip before your transfer case explodes is when you get the worst case scenario. Even if it doesn’t go, it could be damaging/weakening things.

 

[Choj]

2. I know bigger tires are not the greatest for snow, so should I put smaller tires back on? I currently have 35x12.5 KO2's and a set of the stock Duellers.

The problem with larger tires is they're normally wider. Narrow tires do far better in the snow. Obviously you can have larger winter tires, but I've found that I skid around in my JKUR way more than I did in my little VW Golf. Throw the Jeep in 4WD though and it's basically night and day.

 

[SleepyJeep]

I had my first snow drive in the JT. It wasn't fun. Not enough snow to use 4WD but enough to make the back end slip out. I haven't driven a RWD Jeep in a few years, but at least that one had Selec-Trac where I could put it in Full time 4WD and get some use out of the front wheels.

Some questions...

1. Does anyone know why Selec-Trac wasn't an on option on the JT? I see it's an option on some models of the JL. This would be a no-brainer purchase for me.

2. I know bigger tires are not the greatest for snow, so should I put smaller tires back on? I currently have 35x12.5 KO2's and a set of the stock Duellers.

3. I'll likely put sand bags in the bed. How much weight would make a difference?

4. With salty roads being the norm now until April, how often do you wash/rinse your car to help with rust prevention? I kind of wish I had a sacrificial winter car

Stay safe, my friends!

I had similar issues but I put it in 4WD LOL. I am surprised however with your KO2s they are supposed to be really good in the snow and all year round all terrain tires.... KM3s are supposed to be better in deeper snow but again you really can't compare the performance to dedicated snow tires... I don't think we need dedicated snow tires in OH .

I am curious to know how many sand bags I need to put in the back too as I will be driving to the north east during Thanksgiving....

 

[PyrPatriot]

I had similar issues but I put it in 4WD LOL. I am surprised however with your KO2s they are supposed to be really good in the snow and all year round all terrain tires.... KM3s are supposed to be better in deeper snow but again you really can't compare the performance to dedicated snow tires... I don't think we need dedicated snow tires in OH .

I am curious to know how many sand bags I need to put in the back too as I will be driving to the north east during Thanksgiving....

Might not need sandbags. A 6x4 rubber horse stall mat for protection of the bed weighs about 100lbs

 

[Flexin]

Might not need sandbags. A 6x4 rubber horse stall mat for protection of the bed weighs about 100lbs

I don’t think we need sandbags, just pop into 4WD to get going. JMO and based on living in Michigan

 

[tbaker]

Stay inside and stay off the roads and make sure you have plenty of bread and milk I live in Georgia and if they mention the word snow everybody buys bread and milk Walmart shelves are empty in no time I guess you mix the bread in a glass of milk and your good

 

[Up venture]

Stay inside and stay off the roads and make sure you have plenty of bread and milk I live in Georgia and if they mention the word snow everybody buys bread and milk Walmart shelves are empty in no time I guess you mix the bread in a glass of milk and your good

That sounds awful I'll stick with pasties and beer

 

[MrJeep]

I think there is a lot of scare mongering going on in this thread around part time 4wd and dry roads and the transfer case.
Doing this makes steering hard and is bad for your TIRES. The tires are being forced to move at a rate incommensurate with the road in sharp turns.
The tires are the weakest link in the chain and will always give before the transfer case gears/chain **(caveat below).
I drove more than one XJ and at least one ZJ with a transfer case stuck in PT 4wd for weeks/months on the road back in the '90s with no issues.

"But MrJeep, what if it grabs a really dry patch and can't move or is caught on a curb, etc?"
Transfer cases get ABUSED when tires get stuck between / on rocks when 4 wheeling. They get grabbed much harder in many situations than a dry patch of asphalt can. That's when the bad stuff happens.
Maybe I'm lucky, but I've never seen a transfer case fail off road; only weak axles with big tires& too much skinny pedal, bad driveshaft u joints, or bad wheel studs with too much backspacing on rims. If the transfer cases can handle the off road, which is what they were designed for, they can handle the road.
The manufacturer recommendations are in there because of the liability associated with the lack of ability to steer as well on dry pavement.

Am I recommending using PT 4WD on dry roads for months?
NO.
But I disagree with why not and what we are really trying to avoid. It's not a death sentence for the transfer case.

Now, the caveat here is that you are running a stock or near stock vehicle. If you are running 200lb 40" tires on each corner, well, I'd be a little more careful, they might no longer be the weakest link.

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