06/07 Winter Challenge!

[Tucson T4R]

I posted this on another thread as well, but I thought this also fit this thread.

We had a rare snow storm this week in the Tucson area. I ran up the back side of the Catalina mountains just north of Tucson today and played in the snow. I was really impressed with the traction controls in the snow. Here are a few pics of the day's run.

 

[HAfrica13]

I envy you! I might just go plow through some of the snowbanks at mall parking lots... that is if Chicago EVER gets snow again! (No white Christmas makes Henry sad )

 

[Falls]

Tucson, now that is depressing for me to see you snow wheeling in Arizona........ when we have not even a left over dirty snow pile.

 

[lee]

SOME snow, nothing much

 

[swimmer2361]

Yes, I also live in the Tucson area, it was very interesting seeing snow here.

 

[OUTRNNR]

I'm pretty sure I'd win this competition if I took action pics of having fun in the 30+ inches in my parents driveway. But instead, I was having too much fun seeing how stuck I could get (and I did get stuck). I tried to drive down the driveway, which was no problem, I just didn't want to go all the way down to the road which hadn't been plowed and had at least 2 feet of snow on it for fear that I wouldn't have a place to turn around and/or get back up. So instead, I got about halfway down and tried to reverse up, and slid into a steeper part of the yard and it wouldn't move after that. Got so buried I couldn't even open the driver's side door because the snow was about 6 inches above the rocker panel. After a little digging and a couple of pushes from my brother, I got it backed up to the flat part of the driveway but not without testing the traction control system first. Note: with the center dif locked the traction control system becomes non-functional at full throttle which produced a couple of smoking tires that were in contact with the asphalt. All 4 wheels were spinning freely.

I'll post up a pic of the 4Runner sitting in the driveway the morning after the storm, but no action shots or video due to the fact that everyone but me just wanted to be lazy inside.

 

[Falls]

Yeh, its supposed to 50* and sunny here the next 2 days.......... damn , I LIVE IN WISCONSIN !!!!

Apparently mother nature in Wisconsin does not drive a 4Runner

 

[OUTRNNR]

Here are the pics I promised. Again, sorry, no action shots!

This one was sitting in the driveway facing the road which is down to the left just out of view:

 

[OUTRNNR]

This one is standing in the road facing our driveway (which goes out of the screen to the right). I made it up this driveway the night before with 18+ inches while it was still dumping. Yes, that is a standard height mailbox which means the snow on the road is about thigh deep. The tracks in the road were made with a F-250 with what looked to be about a 6 inch lift and he was still plowing snow with his underbody. Even though I'm confident the 4Runner would've been able to make it down the drive and down the road that day I didn't want to risk not making it back up. The next day the road was plowed by a road grader and I drove down the driveway and made it halfway back up before needing a little push from my brother (yes the 4Runners are that light that someone pushing actually helped). One of the major disadvantages of the 4Runner in deep snow is its light weight (empty) and wide tires.

 

[Tucson T4R]

Wow! Now that be some snow. Nice pics, thanks.

 

[techno]

Love the driveway pic, looks like you've driven straight into a snow drift!

One of the major disadvantages of the 4Runner in deep snow is its light weight (empty) and wide tires.

Why do you think that? I have always found light weight to be a plus off-road and wider tires provide better floatation on the snow.

 

[OUTRNNR]

Love the driveway pic, looks like you've driven straight into a snow drift!

Why do you think that? I have always found light weight to be a plus off-road and wider tires provide better floatation on the snow.

Thanks! Yeah, it was pretty deep!

I subscribe to this because heavier vehicles put more weight per square inch to the ground which is a direct relation to the amount of traction available (given the same tire). Sorry for having to involve physics here, but friction, the force that moves a vehicle, is directly proportional to the normal force (weight of the vehicle) multiplied by the coefficient of static friction (which is greater on dry pavement and much less in snow), therefore a larger normal force or heavier weight means more friction and thus more traction.

Same concept with narrower tires. Since skinny tires have less contact area with the ground which results in the same weight being distributed over a smaller area or more weight per square inch, an effectively greater normal force. Although, the flotation concept may hold some weight with very large machinery, I think that the ability to put more weight to the ground is more valuable that trying to stay on top of the snow, which offers very poor traction. Narrower tires also have a tendancy to dig, which can be helpful if the snow isn't too deep that the vehicle high centers, the tire can dig all the way to the road for better traction.

Of course, good snow tires are a must in snow this deep to begin with, the above analysis is assuming same tires given different weight and widths.

 

[techno]

Yeah, I guess it all depends on the exact circumstances you find yourself in. Certainly in light to moderate snow getting down to a good traction surface really helps, but floatation is what you need when your ground clearance becomes an issue, as it inevitably does in deep soft stuff.
In this pic, the rigs that had the wider rubber tended to slip and slide a little more than the narrower tired rigs since they dug down and had the traction advantage like you described. But as the day went on and the snow depth increased, ground clearance was the key and the 10.5" -12.5" rubber proved to be more capable.

 

[TeCKis300]

Here's my picture contributions from my week up in Mammoth.

In this pic, I was actually stuck. The snow was hard packed and the wheels just spun. My tires even got down to dirt and I still couldn't move. Had to keep kicking the snow/ice out from under the tires before I could more a few more feet. Some nice guys came around and a little pushing from 6 guys got us enough momentum to make it back onto the road. I was prepared to put the chains on right before the guys showed up. I was confident chains would have gave me the traction I needed to get out.

This is the car breaking out of it's bed in the morning.

 

[gizmopt2002]

Well it is COLD tonight, about 25 degrees. But tomorrow I know this industrial place that as alot of the fun stuff, though not snow. sadly. Even though its not snow it still in the winter in a normally snow covered place! So I'm gonna take pics.

 

[Falls]

We are supposed to have some coming on saturday,sunday & monday. They are watching it to see where its going to trac and how much we'll get.

I'll have the camera ready , weather I'll learn how to post a pic at that time is a whole other story.

 

[gizmopt2002]

Yay! Some snow! I went to a construction site and had some fun. I will post pics later.

 

[ajjaaron]

I know this is not a 4Runner but it is my buddies 78' cruser. This was during the first of 2 Blizzards we had in Denver. Wow there sure was a lot of snow!!!!

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[Falls]

ajjaaron ,

Wow that is some deep snow !! Nice pics , thanks for sharing.


By the way , how well does the heater work in that Cruiser ??? ............

 

[ajjaaron]

You would be amaized how well the heater works in those old crusers. Pull the lever to high and let her rip!!!!