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Jeeps in snow?

7K views 68 replies 26 participants last post by  John Strenk 
#1 ·
#4 ·
I consider driving a jeep "Play Time" so it is always fun and enjoyable no matter what the weather. With that said some are better than others in given situations(a Quadratrac Wag is better in the snow than a CJ but both are fun).
 
#6 ·
drive in ice and snow here 5-6 months out of the year for the past 23 years. mine even have a detroit locker in the rear. no problems.
it's really a no-brainer that it's not so much "what" you drive as "how" you drive.
 
#13 ·
I bought mine mainly because of snow. NE Ohio can be so unpredictable anymore in the wintertime that one day you have winter warnings for 4-8" of snow but then the next day it is pouring rain. This means I want to be ready for anything. I also got tired of replacing vehicles after a few years from them rusting out beyond repairing safely. This is why I got the CJ and not another F150 4x4 - I wanted fiberglass body parts that wouldn't rust! I can replace/repair anything mechanically on it, but I am not a body-guy. I figure slowly change it to fully fiberglass, have it painted once, and it'll last for years. As for snow and ice? Best set of tires I've bought yet are the BFG A/Ts, they are snow rated and have gotten me through many environments.

I am interested in the locker setup that Strvger01 mentioned. I'd hate to spend the $$ for it then wipe out the first snow, but I would love to put a locker in. Front locker is out, as I leave the hubs locked in whenever there is a threat of snow on the ground.
 
#14 ·
I drove snow in the Sierras for years with the club.. we all had trucker chains with large cleats.. NEVER let a little snow stop us.. when I lived in Denver, actually on Shiloh Mtn at 9400', I drove snow over half the year.. never had a problem, ICE, that's another story.. unless you have screws coming out of your tires and a good prayer, black ice is a 2mph trek and pray.. drove through a blizzard in Northern Cal, we went in, couldn't go back out the way we entered, so with CB's to communicate, since we couldn't see each other, we drove across the lake to a ski resort and came out there.. had ALL of the Sierra Club waiting along with 1/2 the forrest rangers to cite us.. one of those "we had no choice, we left no trace, but ENVIROMENTALISTS are a$$ holes".. back to SNOW, if you can't drive your jeep in SNOW, what good is it? the Salt they use back east is detrimental, otherwise, go enjoy..
 
#15 ·
Speaking of tree huggers..


On a snow run a few years ago, we passed a couple pulled off to the side in a Subaru. They said they were documenting the environment destruction by 4x4 vehicles. I gave them a :rolleyes: and we went on our way. Fast forward a few hours, were on our way back down, and here sits envirogeeks in the ditch. We stop and offer to pull them out. But not before we took pics of how they tore up the ground trying to get out. Before we did pull them out, we made sure to show them just how little a properly equipped 4x4 with lockers actually tears up the ground (little to none.) I about ripped the rear bumper off pulling them out, but we did and went on our way.. :laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
#16 ·
Speaking of tree huggers..

On a snow run a few years ago, we passed a couple pulled off to the side in a Subaru. They said they were documenting the environment destruction by 4x4 vehicles. I gave them a :rolleyes: and we went on our way. Fast forward a few hours, were on our way back down, and here sits envirogeeks in the ditch. We stop and offer to pull them out. But not before we took pics of how they tore up the ground trying to get out. Before we did pull them out, we made sure to show them just how little a properly equipped 4x4 with lockers actually tears up the ground (little to none.) I about ripped the rear bumper off pulling them out, but we did and went on our way.. :laugh::laugh::laugh:
2Thumbsup!!!!!

Dave in Muskegon
 
#19 ·
I drive mine all winter long. I leave the front hubs engaged from the first snow, to the last. This way, I can "shift on the fly" while moving, as needed.
In fact, this was also the main reason for installing a twin-stick. It makes it really easy to switch from 2wd, to 4wd, quickly while moving.

and I keep my tow strap handy all winter as well. Originally in case I got stuck... but in the last few years, I've pulled out probobly 20 or so stuck cars.
My greatest "achievement" was winter storm "NEMO" last year. We had 3-4 feet of snow, and the state declared "no cars on road, except emergency".

But I had to work at 4am. Before the plows were even out. THe snow was so deep in places that it was coming over the hood as I plowed through it. But as long as I kept the momentum, it carved a "jeep size tunnel" through, and kept going. The fan belt howled like a monkey, as tons of snow probobly filled the engine compartment.


My only issue is the defrosters are terrible. The wipers are terrible. The visibility becomes terrible as the "clear spot" on the windshield gets smaller and smaller as a drive during the snow.
 
#41 ·
I drive mine all winter long. I leave the front hubs engaged from the first snow, to the last. This way, I can "shift on the fly" while moving, as needed.
In fact, this was also the main reason for installing a twin-stick. It makes it really easy to switch from 2wd, to 4wd, quickly while moving.

and I keep my tow strap handy all winter as well. Originally in case I got stuck... but in the last few years, I've pulled out probobly 20 or so stuck cars.
My greatest "achievement" was winter storm "NEMO" last year. We had 3-4 feet of snow, and the state declared "no cars on road, except emergency".

But I had to work at 4am. Before the plows were even out. THe snow was so deep in places that it was coming over the hood as I plowed through it. But as long as I kept the momentum, it carved a "jeep size tunnel" through, and kept going. The fan belt howled like a monkey, as tons of snow probobly filled the engine compartment.

My only issue is the defrosters are terrible. The wipers are terrible. The visibility becomes terrible as the "clear spot" on the windshield gets smaller and smaller as a drive during the snow.
Well I live in Memphis, where we get an inch or two every few years. But we get a few inches of rain in a few hours on a fairly regular basis, year-round, so I know a little about foggy windshields.

There are two pretty straightforward fixes that will do wonders. Three, actually; the first is to make sure your duct is intact. When I bought my '83 I discovered that the duct was rotting out and most of the air was escaping behind the dash.

The first actual mod is to replace your blower motor. There are a few threads on that around here, but if you don't want to go scrounging just go to any parts store such as AutoZone and get a replacement - all the new ones are the larger more powerful model. That will make a huge difference in the size of the fog-free hole.

Second, get a set of YJ wiper arms, and cut the ends off. Cut the ends off of your CJ arms (or a spare set) and weld the YJ ones on. You will then have adequate wipers.

And there's always Rain-X.
 
#23 ·
I'm pretty sure I'm in the CJ section of the forum, but I have to say...And I hope I don't get flamed for this, my XJ is great in snow. I slid it off my driveway (tried to make it up in 2wd...Bad idea) and it pulled itself out of the snowy ditch and up the hill, without needing a running start (like mom's Kia)! But I do find it hilarious that in the picture that says "It gets you there even in deep snow," there's literally less than 3 inches on the road, and the snowbank is only a foot high! We have to be careful around here because sometimes you can't even see full-size trucks around the snowbanks! We're supposed to get snow this week, and they aren't sure yet if it'll be counted in inches or feet. Northern Maine has had more than 4 feet in a week before. Like snow up to the stomach, BEFORE it's plowed into banks...
 
#24 ·
In one of the blizzards of 96. (When we had one every Wednesday for 5 or 6 weeks)

My buddy asked if I was off that evening cause of the snow. Of coarse I sad yep! He came out in his snowmobile and picked me up. We played all night. He has a buddy artic-cat.

He was telling me about his neighbors. They won a law suit and bought their house and two jeeps. (Wranglers or TJ's whatever was new that year). It was the typical 24-28" of snow blizzard we were getting. I saw one day they were stuck half in the road and half on the snow bank.

He said it was funny. He had come home the evening before watching them trying to get over the snow bank the plow had created to get to their garage. (House is only 50ft off of road) he said he sat and watched a few min. Then busted through a higher snow bank on his side of the road with his 1976 Wagoneer and drove up his 500ft driveway with drifts 4-5ft high to his garage. He said they watched him drive up to his house.

I'll say this, its easy to drive through fresh deep snow. It's when the cold and wind pack it tight then its a lot harder. I've driven through 3day old snow 3ft deep in my cummins that was a hard drive. My skid plate had the snow packed so hard I left no foot prints on it walking my tracks. I would not have thought about the CJ unless I though I could drive on top of the snow.
 
#25 ·
Haha funny story^! Yeah heavy snow is the worst. The winch on our King Quad was having a hard time holding up the plow, because the snow stuck to it! Gonna try some spray-on snow grease stuff to try and keep it off...Semi-unrelated but my neighbors had a full gas snowblower on their roof all winter last year...
 
#27 ·
JeepaholicNinja said:
Haha funny story^! Yeah heavy snow is the worst. The winch on our King Quad was having a hard time holding up the plow, because the snow stuck to it! Gonna try some spray-on snow grease stuff to try and keep it off...Semi-unrelated but my neighbors had a full gas snowblower on their roof all winter last year...
Just have a few cans of silicone spray. Use it liberally.
 
#31 ·
I was watching TopGear when they made the plow out of a combine and they said diesel fuel works.

My CJ had factory posi front and rear, it does great in the snow. Much better than my truck. With the short wheelbase I would not want to drive it fast though.

We just took it out on a road with ~6" of snow and it did most of it in 2WD. Had to go to 4 going uphill, the snow packed to ice when you spin too much.
 
#32 ·
I always found my previous Cj7 to be twitchy in snow, it wanted to swap ends too easily because of the short wheelbase.

Of course I was used to my F250 utility body full of tools, a 2 yard sander in the bed, and a Fisher plow. The truck weighed in over 10k pounds with sand in the sander. Not a fair comparison :)
 
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