Denver snow
- Thread starter veloindy
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There's a grill in that pic? 
Did you get high centered on snow or just no traction? I feel bad for you guys in Denver - I'm gonna feel real guilty now driving home from work with the top down (it's currently 78 and sunny here). My 4Runner spent about half its life in CO according to the carfac when I bought it, I bet the previous owners had fun 4wheeling in the snow with it. Anyway, have fun digging out.
Did you get high centered on snow or just no traction? I feel bad for you guys in Denver - I'm gonna feel real guilty now driving home from work with the top down (it's currently 78 and sunny here). My 4Runner spent about half its life in CO according to the carfac when I bought it, I bet the previous owners had fun 4wheeling in the snow with it. Anyway, have fun digging out.Veloindy - I live up north in Greeley, and we got hammered too. 20" officially, but hard to tell, because of the drifting ... 6ft in places. Yeah, the drive home yesterday was not good, but my T4R plowed through like a champ! Even used it to plow a path between the street & my driveway
veloindy
New member
flyboykg said:Veloindy - I live up north in Greeley, and we got hammered too. 20" officially, but hard to tell, because of the drifting ... 6ft in places. Yeah, the drive home yesterday was not good, but my T4R plowed through like a champ! Even used it to plow a path between the street & my driveway
Hey flyboykg,
I drove home yesterday, no problem. But today, I got stuck on our street! I dug it out easy enough but it still ticked me off.
Question, did you have the center diff locked when you were in the deep stuff? I've never locked mine, and to tell you the truth, I forgot about it. I was just wondering if that would've helped me. I'm dumping the stock tires, I've had it with them!
Inquiring 4Runners want to know. How deep was the snow that actually stopped the 4Runner, and what kind of tires did you have? Also what is the condition of the tires? Was the snow heavy (high moister content can pack snowballs) (med fairly heavy but not very packable) I know it is not light and fluffy. You were very fortunate to have been able to find the limits of the 4Runner in snow. I live in a snow belt and this is the only reason I purchased this vehicle. Please share this information with us. Did you have the center differential locked?
Velo - Nope, didn't have the diff locked, and like you, didn't even think about it ... I need some new tires as well, as the stocks probably only have another 20K on them ...
Our snow up here was heavy, but not what I would call wet by any means. Can't make a snowball, but it was very dense. Shoveling this morning was a definite back breaker!
Our snow up here was heavy, but not what I would call wet by any means. Can't make a snowball, but it was very dense. Shoveling this morning was a definite back breaker!
I would think you should definitely lock the center diff in those crazy conditions. Doing so turns off VSC and therefore prevents the computer from cutting your throttle. ATRAC will still be active applying the brakes but you can overcome that with heavy throttle - giving you traction at all 4 wheels.veloindy said:
veloindy
New member
007Runner said:
Conditions:
Light fluffy snow, will not pack into a snowball.
Diff was not locked. I wish I would've had it locked, just to try it out.
The street had tracks down the middle, just two. The middle between the tire tracks was about a foot. I turned a corner, trying to stay in the tracks, but drifted to the curb. Once stuck, I had to force the door open because the snow was over the bottom of the door. The snow was very deep toward the curb. I simply shoveled down to the pavement on all four tires, and the truck backed right up...
Stock Dunlop tires, with just under 16k miles.
ptung07
New member
Dang, you haven't heard of the hell that I have been having to get to Steamboat Springs, CO from Kansas City. We took the 2001 Toyota Sequoia V8 4x4 instead of my 4Runner.
On Tuesday, we drove on I-70 and about 55 miles before Limon, KS it was raining lightly/misting. We did not have the 4x4 active, and while on the highway, all of a sudden there was about 6-7 police on the sholder of the highway. We were going about 65-70mph and all of a sudden the stearing wheel was jerking. All of a sudden, the beep beep beep of VSC noise occured and we ended up in the ditch. (the divider) However, no one was hurt or the car did not get damaged. After engaging the 4WD, there were cars all off the road and or flipped over. We decided to stop to get gas. Well, the car could brake well, however, my shoes did not have any traction. I slipped and fell out of he car. haha Then after pumping up the gas, the car would not start!! It was completely dead. It ended up the battery contacts had corrison, so we cleaned it up. The next day, wednesday, we were driving through the snow storm in denver. We made it all the way to dillon/highway 40. After some thinking, we decided to drive to Steamboat Springs, CO, as originally planned. The 3 hour drive took 6 hours because of the poor visiblity and slow traffic. After making it here, we spend the night and the next day we went skiing. However, in the morning, the car would not start again!! We had to get it jump started, and it appears the contracts again were corroded. I went to Walmart to get a new positive contact and battery corrosion protector. So, far, the car is running' good
That is my story
On Tuesday, we drove on I-70 and about 55 miles before Limon, KS it was raining lightly/misting. We did not have the 4x4 active, and while on the highway, all of a sudden there was about 6-7 police on the sholder of the highway. We were going about 65-70mph and all of a sudden the stearing wheel was jerking. All of a sudden, the beep beep beep of VSC noise occured and we ended up in the ditch. (the divider) However, no one was hurt or the car did not get damaged. After engaging the 4WD, there were cars all off the road and or flipped over. We decided to stop to get gas. Well, the car could brake well, however, my shoes did not have any traction. I slipped and fell out of he car. haha Then after pumping up the gas, the car would not start!! It was completely dead. It ended up the battery contacts had corrison, so we cleaned it up. The next day, wednesday, we were driving through the snow storm in denver. We made it all the way to dillon/highway 40. After some thinking, we decided to drive to Steamboat Springs, CO, as originally planned. The 3 hour drive took 6 hours because of the poor visiblity and slow traffic. After making it here, we spend the night and the next day we went skiing. However, in the morning, the car would not start again!! We had to get it jump started, and it appears the contracts again were corroded. I went to Walmart to get a new positive contact and battery corrosion protector. So, far, the car is running' good
That is my story
Mark86
Super Moderator
Locking the center differential would have definitely helped. A blizzard should not stop the 4Runner. If you want better traction in the snow, definitely get rid of those Dunflops. Last year in NJ we had a blizzard that dumped about two feet of snow. I didn't have to lock the center diff at all with the Revos! I was even able to plow through a 2.5-3 foot drift in my driveway.
ptung07- that had to be one of the worst days of your life. It is bad enough driving in the snow, but having the car breakdown is even worse! If you are still running on the original battery in the Sequoia, I would definitely replace it with a new one. 5 years is about the life of a battery.
ptung07- that had to be one of the worst days of your life. It is bad enough driving in the snow, but having the car breakdown is even worse! If you are still running on the original battery in the Sequoia, I would definitely replace it with a new one. 5 years is about the life of a battery.
veloindy
New member
Koz said:
I know, I'm sorry, I even had my camera in my pocket, but didn't get any pic's. I was so ticked I got stuck.
I feel I should report back on getting stuck. I locked the diff and obviously turned VSC off on the way to work this morning. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I wouldn't have gotten stuck yesterday if I would've just pushed one button.
But don't get me wrong, I'm still dumping the Dunlops for Revo's!
veloindy said:
I feel I should report back on getting stuck. I locked the diff and obviously turned VSC off on the way to work this morning. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I wouldn't have gotten stuck yesterday if I would've just pushed one button.
Did you feel traction overall improved with the differential locked?
Or was it being able to freely spin your tires that made a difference? Does locking the differential improve ATRAC or does it remain the same. Locking the differential only turns of traction control and vehicle stability control am I correct?
Sorry for all the questions but your blessed with snow, this will be my first good 4wheel drive, and it is the only reason I am purchasing the 4Runner.
Where i live 5 storms a year like the one you got is the norm. But last year and this year the weather is crazy warm like spring never left. Looks like your getting the snow and the ski places in my area are suffering to the point of bankruptcy.
