[NorthernPrepper]

I have a Jeep Wrangler jk 2010 3.8l v6. My lift kit is 4 inches and I have 37x12.5r17 Mickey Thompson Baja Atz tires. We recently got 28 inches of snow and this was my first major snowfall with this car (I bought it this summer) My friends and I drove to a parking lot to drive around through the deep snow and they drove through it no problem In a Jeep Patriot and truck and I immediately got stuck in an area of just 4 inches of snow. Keep in mind I recently found out that the previous owner for some strange reason has a different gear ratio in the front axle than the back so I didn’t use 4wd but stayed in 2H. I am getting the gears changed to 5.13.1 in the front this coming week to match my back axle but I was suprised at how bad the wrangler drives in 2wd regardless. When we have even just 2 inches of snow on the streets it gets no traction and slides everywhere. again keep in mind I haven’t been able to use 4wd yet so I’m sure it will perform better but I’m still suprised as to how bad it drives right now. I have found some explanations as to why it may be so bad on this forum and from friends. 1 being my tires are wide and not optimal for snow as thinner tires do better. I’ve also heard because wranglers have such a short distance from axle to axle they are prone to slip and slide as well. Just curious to hear anyones thoughts as to if this is normal.

 

[222Doc]

well a 2 door will be more a handful. Snow and sticking to hard pack is more about PSI and tire type. I have a two door on 37s and 4.5. in 4x4 H you have some BLD that will kick in when one tire spins front or back. At least on a Rubicon it uses that unless in low range and then you have lockers.

i only run 27 on street. If we talking a foot or more snow well once it gets two feet your pushing it any way your belly is at best 18"

off road in snow that was 5 feet in few places on the Rubicon but that is spring snow and hard packed. slippery unless frozen and full of water traps. I run MTRKs and they are not known to be a great snow tire but at 8 psi. But they have done snow on fire roads and what will get you is when the roads camber is to great. short wheel base trades ends fast.

the jeep going in wont make it. he winched. so did the rest i was coming the other way and am pulled off right. Fun run when you have snow like this on the Rubicon. was places water was over 2 feet two. cold as hell too. getting out in a pit to pull rope can be wet cold.

 

[Boojo35]

My take is that RWD vehicles suck in snow. I live in Michigan and know that this is fact. If you cannot lock into 4WD with your rear wheel drive jeep you will struggle. Second. Lots of offroad tires are also undesirable in snow. Good snow tires have closer lug patterns than mudders for instance and also have softer compounds and stiping.

When you can actually put your vehicle in 4WD you will notice a huge improvement.

 

[BDW]

Those are not good tires for snow. Airing down may help, but snow rated tires will make a bigger improvement.

 

[JonMopar]

Tires tires tires. I drove a 2wd Cherokee in the winter with studded winter tires. It walked past 4x4s with mud tires lol

 

[Trespasser]

Did you say 28" of snow???? Yeah... 4wd for that would help of course.

Also when I used to have a JK I found the traction control sometimes overcompensated in snow and cut power a bit too much in the really deep stuff.

 

[Shark_13]

Different tires, and use 4hi! That's why it's there.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[NorthernPrepper]

My take is that RWD vehicles suck in snow. I live in Michigan and know that this is fact. If you cannot lock into 4WD with your rear wheel drive jeep you will struggle. Second. Lots of offroad tires are also undesirable in snow. Good snow tires have closer lug patterns than mudders for instance and also have softer compounds and stiping.

When you can actually put your vehicle in 4WD you will notice a huge improvement.

Did you say 28" of snow???? Yeah... 4wd for that would help of course.

Also when I used to have a JK I found the traction control sometimes overcompensated in snow and cut power a bit too much in the really deep stuff.

Appreciate the response and yea lol Buffalo Ny snow never fails

 

[NorthernPrepper]

well a 2 door will be more a handful. Snow and sticking to hard pack is more about PSI and tire type. I have a two door on 37s and 4.5. in 4x4 H you have some BLD that will kick in when one tire spins front or back. At least on a Rubicon it uses that unless in low range and then you have lockers.

i only run 27 on street. If we talking a foot or more snow well once it gets two feet your pushing it any way your belly is at best 18"

off road in snow that was 5 feet in few places on the Rubicon but that is spring snow and hard packed. slippery unless frozen and full of water traps. I run MTRKs and they are not known to be a great snow tire but at 8 psi. But they have done snow on fire roads and what will get you is when the roads camber is to great. short wheel base trades ends fast.

the jeep going in wont make it. he winched. so did the rest i was coming the other way and am pulled off right. Fun run when you have snow like this on the Rubicon. was places water was over 2 feet two. cold as hell too. getting out in a pit to pull rope can be wet cold.

Thanks for the response I’m gonna try the airing down

 

[NorthernPrepper]

My take is that RWD vehicles suck in snow. I live in Michigan and know that this is fact. If you cannot lock into 4WD with your rear wheel drive jeep you will struggle. Second. Lots of offroad tires are also undesirable in snow. Good snow tires have closer lug patterns than mudders for instance and also have softer compounds and stiping.

When you can actually put your vehicle in 4WD you will notice a huge improvement.

Glad to hear I’m eagerly waiting for my 4wd to work I’m sure it will make a huge difference

 

[222Doc]

Thanks for the response I’m gonna try the airing down

i run 25 dry street, if its heavy with gear 27 max, 37s tend to be a heavy tire most are D rated or E. mine are D and each MTR can hold 3.500 LBS at 50 psi. two tires could roll it like a bike. say the jeep is 5k. If we still lived in snow country i would be more like 20 psi tops snow street. If i lived in Tahoe still and it dumps say 3 feet, i needed to say get to town. Yea im going to say 8 psi. It will make it and could do all the speed you need in 3 feet of real snow even hard pack up to say 35mph< i run desert at that speed+ miles.
I started driving a cj2a back in 1975 in Tahoe. They had no anti lock all drums, no lockers, no LSD. You learned to control it or not back then. Surprised anyone lived at all really. no air bags. heck many people were on Bias tires. For fun we used to see how far you can get winter Con., would not today im way to old to be doing that in the winter. But spring snow is fun and no chance of getting buried and be like the Donner party.....

Street you will want a good winter snow tire that wont be like a MT. IN real deep snow we only use MTRKs)MT any will do at say 7 psi, or if beaded more like 4 psi. I did not winch that day on the Rubicon in 5 foot snow banks to climb over and 2 foot snow ruts.

Looks like they got snow in the Sierras; stays deep, might be another Rubicon snow run this year in June. Few people go that time and its the best time too. water is running everywhere. No dust. little muddy.

 

[asmotta520]

i have MT/A's and i do really well in the snow at only 33's. Mickeys are awesome but they aren't good in the snow. From what i've been told by an old timer is that really there is no good snow tires that are also good off road. Snow tires are usually narrow to cut through the snow. With big wide tires you have a lot of surface area which is great in mud or sand and dirt but snow is a different animal. I have a 95 Grand Cherokee with 33 inch good year wranglers and it was the best vehicle ive ever driven in snow ( i live in New England we have lots of snow) i also have a 21 JLU willys and its very good in the snow much better than my old TJ but not nearly as good as my 95 ZJ. While airing down has great effect on sand and mud/rocks i don't think it will help very much in the snow.

 

[sm31]

I run MTRKs and they are not known to be a great snow tire but at 8 psi. But they have done snow on fire roads and what will get you is when the roads camber is to great. short wheel base trades ends fast.

Man you said it! MTR-K's are by far the worst tire I have ever run for lateral traction in the snow. My rig literally skated sideways with almost no provocation whenever the snow showed up. I don't miss those things, and there isn't much positive I have to say about them.

I stepped up to studded dura-tracs for winter driving (in AK) but in spite of the glowing reviews, I wasn't super impressed. And I was really unimpressed with the large hole that got poked in a sidewall, driving home from work one day.

Against my better judgement, I switched to 35" Pro Comp Xtreme MT2's on local advice. Also on their advice, I siped the center lugs & added grip studs ($50 amazon siping tool, removable studs, about 100 per tire... and a little quality time) when the snow came in. To my great surprise, what I ended up with was winter street driving performance on a par with the studded Nokian 7's (some of the best snow tires made) on my other AWD SUV. Where other guys are compromising snow-wheeling performance, changing out wheels, etc... I get to air down & go, just like in the summer time. This is my 3rd winter on that setup and I could not be happier. This technique may also work well on other MT's... but I don't have experience with them.

 

[Thunderstrike]

Looks like you could air down a bit.

 

[miketrock]

I have a Jeep Wrangler jk 2010 3.8l v6. My lift kit is 4 inches and I have 37x12.5r17 Mickey Thompson Baja Atz tires. We recently got 28 inches of snow and this was my first major snowfall with this car (I bought it this summer) My friends and I drove to a parking lot to drive around through the deep snow and they drove through it no problem In a Jeep Patriot and truck and I immediately got stuck in an area of just 4 inches of snow. Keep in mind I recently found out that the previous owner for some strange reason has a different gear ratio in the front axle than the back so I didn’t use 4wd but stayed in 2H. I am getting the gears changed to 5.13.1 in the front this coming week to match my back axle but I was suprised at how bad the wrangler drives in 2wd regardless. When we have even just 2 inches of snow on the streets it gets no traction and slides everywhere. again keep in mind I haven’t been able to use 4wd yet so I’m sure it will perform better but I’m still suprised as to how bad it drives right now. I have found some explanations as to why it may be so bad on this forum and from friends. 1 being my tires are wide and not optimal for snow as thinner tires do better. I’ve also heard because wranglers have such a short distance from axle to axle they are prone to slip and slide as well. Just curious to hear anyones thoughts as to if this is normal. View attachment 4132862
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checkout this video on youtube ... type in the search bar "32psi 16psi or 10psi" then click on the video with an orange JK (i think the color is actually called Dozer). Video is 8:51 long by jacuzzibusguy .

 

[307_pagan]

I have a Jeep Wrangler jk 2010 3.8l v6. My lift kit is 4 inches and I have 37x12.5r17 Mickey Thompson Baja Atz tires. We recently got 28 inches of snow and this was my first major snowfall with this car (I bought it this summer) My friends and I drove to a parking lot to drive around through the deep snow and they drove through it no problem In a Jeep Patriot and truck and I immediately got stuck in an area of just 4 inches of snow. Keep in mind I recently found out that the previous owner for some strange reason has a different gear ratio in the front axle than the back so I didn’t use 4wd but stayed in 2H. I am getting the gears changed to 5.13.1 in the front this coming week to match my back axle but I was suprised at how bad the wrangler drives in 2wd regardless. When we have even just 2 inches of snow on the streets it gets no traction and slides everywhere. again keep in mind I haven’t been able to use 4wd yet so I’m sure it will perform better but I’m still suprised as to how bad it drives right now. I have found some explanations as to why it may be so bad on this forum and from friends. 1 being my tires are wide and not optimal for snow as thinner tires do better. I’ve also heard because wranglers have such a short distance from axle to axle they are prone to slip and slide as well. Just curious to hear anyones thoughts as to if this is normal. View attachment 4132862

So living where I do. I have had the opportunity to run different types of tires in various conditions. On a ram 3500, 05 grand Cherokee, and even a Pacifica.... tires tires tires. I have found that the up and coming extreme terrain tires perform the best accross snow, heavy rain, ice, and moderate trails. The duratrac is in my opinion the best when matched with LS diffs. And the newer tread compound makes room for more miles on the tread wear. I have started messing around with the new firestone x/t and have had some good performance but not as good as the duratracs..... now mind you these were used on daily drivers and not dedicated trail rigs...

 

[Ctrl_Null]

i lived in ohio for 3x years and went to patagonia M/t. those did very well in 2wd on the streets.