Winter driving and adding weight in the bed of a 4x4 pickup?

[jfdube999]

This will be my very first winter driving a pickup truck. I have a 2021 F-150 Platinum (4x4 with 4Auto as well) and live in Montreal. We have real winters up here, I'll tell you that much.

I understand the logic behind adding weight to the back of a 2WD pickup truck in the winter to help the rear wheels get traction. It all makes sense. However, is adding weight useful or recommended when driving a 4x4 which is going to be driven all winter in 4Auto (AWD basically), or 4Hi in the worst conditions? Would doing so be helpful or detrimental (or make no difference at all other than hurt fuel economy)?

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[Kanuck]

I agree with Sundancer330, Never added weight to the back of any pick-ups I drove. Just a reminder, that you will get going but stopping will still not be as good as dry roads. You still have 4000 to 5000 LBS to stop.

 

[Chease44]

This will be my very first winter driving a pickup truck. I have a 2021 F-150 Platinum (4x4 with 4Auto as well) and live in Montreal. We have real winters up here, I'll tell you that much.

I understand the logic behind adding weight to the back of a 2WD pickup truck in the winter to help the rear wheels get traction. It all makes sense. However, is adding weight useful or recommended when driving a 4x4 which is going to be driven all winter in 4Auto (AWD basically), or 4Hi in the worst conditions? Would doing so be helpful or detrimental (or make no difference at all other than hurt fuel economy)?

I am just west of you inside the Ontario border. I usually put a couple hundred pounds right over the rear axle. I find the rear ends quite light on these trucks and it seems to help the rear have a little more bite. I run winter tires and find even in 4wd and turning the front tires will grab and the back end will want to swing around a bit. The slushy crap and hard pack on the streets we get here is the worse, if we just got straight snow A/T tires are fine imo.

 

[ryanc111]

I am just west of you inside the Ontario border. I usually put a couple hundred pounds right over the rear axle. I find the rear ends quite light on these trucks and it seems to help the rear have a little more bite. I run winter tires and find even in 4wd and turning the front tires will grab and the back end will want to swing around a bit. The slushy crap and hard pack on the streets we get here is the worse, if we just got straight snow A/T tires are fine imo.

Second this. Driving 4WD trucks living in the Colorado mountains and now in Montana I've always found a benefit adding weight over the wheel axle. Do you NEED to do it? Perhaps not, but it is a cheap way to add noticeable benefit in winter driving conditions.

 

[jfdube999]

Thanks to everyone so far for sharing your thoughts and opinions which, predictably, vary.

Still not sure what I'm going to do, but if I do decide to add a few sand bags back there, any tips on how to make them stay put and not slide around in the bed all winter?

 

[RJL1400]

Thanks to everyone so far for sharing your thoughts and opinions which, predictably, vary.

Still not sure what I'm going to do, but if I do decide to add a few sand bags back there, any tips on how to make them stay put and not slide around in the bed all winter?

Make a wood frame for them. Nothing fancy some two by fours to stop them sliding forward and then some across to keep them over the wheels

 

[Pedaldude]

If you want to add weight to the rear axle, put it as far back as possible to take advantage of leverage. If anyone has any doubts, stand on the rear bumper and measure how much the distance from the ground and trailer hitch is, then stand between the wheel wells and take the same measurement.

I drove my first truck in Northeast winters until it rusted into oblivion, it was a 4x4 and was perfectly fine without any ballast but once I was on a road with slick mud and couldn't get enough traction to move forward without spinning my inside rear wheel. I grabbed a 90-100 pound flat boulder and placed it on the open tailgate and it was just enough to get traction so I could get to pavement.

I've only driven twice in Montreal during winter and the roads get pretty bad, I think that some ballast might be a good idea, since you're going to want as much of a traction advantage as possible.

Unless you have the AC power outlets, there are ribbed pockets to slide 2X lumber into as dividers, which should hold a few sandbags as long as they are snug.

Here are some pictures that I found with a quick search:

If you have the outlets in the way, there are also screw out and ratcheting cargo bars for securing stuff in empty beds:

Good luck and enjoy your truck!

 

[jfdube999]

Nice setup there, thank you! Unfortunately, I do have the outlets back there (pro power on board) which I use quite often and I also have a swing out bin on one side that has some random tools in it and such, so my back end is already quite busy. A wood frame may not work so well in my case.

Is there any other way to have a few sandbags stay put, more or less, back there?

 

[Pedaldude]

There should be enough clearance under the swing out storage to place a piece of 1/4" plywood, cut it to size to wedge it between the bed sides and behind the wheel wells and ratchet strap your sand bags to it. Several coats of epoxy paint should keep it from warping.

 

[jfdube999]

There should be enough clearance under the swing out storage to place a piece of 1/4" plywood, cut it to size to wedge it between the bed sides and behind the wheel wells and ratchet strap your sand bags to it. Several coats of epoxy paint should keep it from warping.

Thanks! I will be checking out this option over the weekend for sure. Much appreciated

 

[Vulnox]

No, do NOT put it as far back as possible. You want the weight over the axle, not against the tailgate. Their reasoning is flawed. By putting it all the way back, you are lifting weight off the front as a pendulum effect (maybe not pendulum? I feel like I am blanking on what I mean to say, but hopefully you get what a mean. Like a teeter totter, haha) (https://truckbedguide.com/how-to-weigh-down-truck-bed-for-better-traction/). Not a lot, but it is still going to transfer weight from the front to the back instead of just putting more weight over the rear. This isn't even rare knowledge. It's the same reason a 5th wheel is far more stable than a hitch pull trailer, even with they are the same lengths and all other things being equal. Please do not follow that advice. The reason jumping on the bumper causes the rear to drop more is due to leverage action, but you aren't getting that from a static force and even in that leverage action you are still taking weight off the front momentarily. Loading over the axle with result in the most rear weight with almost no weight taken off the front. This is middle school physics stuff.

Winter tires are your best friend if concerned with traction. Because just adding weight also increases your stopping distance. Since your stopping distance will already be poor on all season tires, adding weight just makes the issue worse. But that isn't me saying adding weight is bad, I have done it during some heavier snow fall in Michigan. The lighter rear bed due to the aluminum body has definitely caused some loss in rear traction, and having your rear end swing around on you is not ideal.

The impact of winter tires is immense. This is one of my favorite videos that clearly shows the impact, but there are others including a recent one by TFL that better highlights stopping distance which is your key concern really.


In the above video, it shows them taking Escapes up a ski slope with different tire types (summer/all season/winter) and between FWD and AWD Escapes. The FWD Winter Tire Escape far exceeded the performance of even the AWD All-Season Escape.

Yeah, we aren't driving Escapes before someone jumps in on that, but the mechanics are identical in terms of your key factor being traction from the tires. The wrong tire on the most incredible 4WD vehicle will always be dominated by an excellent tire on an average AWD vehicle.

 

[jfdube999]

I've seen this video before. Great example of how much of an impact good winter tires have on traction. I have excellent winter tires on my SUV (studded Nokians) and it makes it a joy to drive in the winter. Here in Quebec, winter tires are mandatory.

However, for trucks, our options are quite a bit more limited in terms of winter tire selection. Right now, she's on a brand new set of Duratracs and I was hoping they'd fair well this winter. Won't know for sure until I've been there and done that though. The F-150 is not my daily driver but I need the truck to be able to go through Montreal's winters nonetheless without fishtailing at every street corner. We'll see I guess.

 

[Vulnox]

I've seen this video before. Great example of how much of an impact good winter tires has on traction. I have excellent winter tires on my SUV (studded Nokians) and it makes it a joy to drive in the winter. Here in Quebec, winter tires are mandatory.

However, for trucks, our options are quite a bit more limited in terms of winter tire selection. Right now, she's on a brand new set of Duratracs and I was hoping they'd fair well this winter. Won't know for sure until I've been there and done that though. The F-150 is not my daily driver but I need the truck to be able to go through Montreal's winters nonetheless without fishtailing at every street corner. We'll see I guess.

Yeah, I have not yet put winter tires on my F-150s, but while we get a decent amount of snow here, it is SE Michigan, so nothing quite like northern MI or much of Canada. You know your area better than me, and of course how much you are forced to drive in those conditions is a factor. I have never had the truck not get me where I needed, but I have still been tempted to get winter tires because man, the stopping can be sketchy sometimes, and I drive extremely cautiously in the snow. But when someone does something unexpected like pull out in front of you and all you feel is ABS pulse, those winter tires start looking pretty attractive, haha.

Whatever you do, I think you will be happy with the truck.

 

[jfdube999]

Yeah, I have not yet put winter tires on my F-150s, but while we get a decent amount of snow here, it is SE Michigan, so nothing quite like northern MI or much of Canada. You know your area better than me, and of course how much you are forced to drive in those conditions is a factor. I have never had the truck not get me where I needed, but I have still been tempted to get winter tires because man, the stopping can be sketchy sometimes, and I drive extremely cautiously in the snow. But when someone does something unexpected like pull out in front of you and all you feel is ABS pulse, those winter tires start looking pretty attractive, haha.

Whatever you do, I think you will be happy with the truck.

True true. I'm not so much worried about acceleration but rather want to make sure I can stop in time to avoid an accident. That being said, there are some pretty good inclines in this city and I've had bad experiences not being able to make it to the top with my RWD Charger back in the day (even with good winter tires on). Granted, this F-150 is 4WD and all but having a light back end and a lot of torque (hello fishtails!) brings back nasty memories. Hence my original question about adding weight back there.

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