Is it necessary to add weight to the back of a two wheel drive pick-up when driving in snow?
I am going up to the mountains in my 2 wheel drive F-150. I have chains and do not forsee any problems but my wifes father insists that I put a couple of bags of sand in the back to add weight. I am not averse to this idea and I can see how it may improve traction. What I would like to know is whether it is actually necessary and if so how many bags of sand should do the trick. I figure about 4 90 lb bags.
I used to drive an F150 and always had sand in the back in winter. I’ve always felt pickups weren’t good for winter driving because of the lack of weight over the back tires.
Of course it you really want good traction, I found a couple of snowmobiles back there worked really well 
I used to drive a little Mazda truck in the mountains, and there was a definite difference when there was weight in the back. It was much less prone to slip and slide around. I say go for it.
The more weight the better, really, up to a point. What is the load limit on that truck?
I had a small truck when I moved to New England. I learned very quickly that weight over the rear helps a noticeable amount. I suggest you use it.
Great thanks. I am off to home depot to pick up some sand. Thanks for all the responses. Gotta love the dope!!!
Could a mod please remove the reference to which store I plan on getting the sand from. I don’t want to shill for them on the Dope. Sorry.
Remember to put the sand over the axle or slightly in front of it. Placing it behind the axle will cause the front end to lighten up, making it harder to steer and brake.
Another good thing about using bags of sand is that if you get stuck in an icy parking lot or something similar, you can use some of the sand to apply directly to the ground in front of (or behind, depends on which way you’re wanting to roll) the tires for a quick traction fix.
Heed Dag’s advice about proper placement. Far back end by the tailgate is not where you want the sand bags. I like 'em right over the rear axle
The thing about a pickup is, it has the weight distribution of a front-wheel-drive midsized domestic sedan.
That is, 65/front 35/rear.
Except in the case of the FWD sedan, that means it grips great with the drive wheels, in snow or otherwise. Except when pointed uphill. The weight layout also means the car will plow to the outside of the curve in most overspeed cornering scenarios.
With a 4x2 pickup, the rear wheels drive the vehicle, and it is tragically easy to spin the wheels in snow, or even on pavement if you have a big enough engine.
All pickups are basically underloaded vehicles. They are designed around a full load, NOT the bare load. If you load down the bed, they tend to handle better, grip better and ride better.
How do you secure sand bags onto a pickup truck bed? If you just put it there, it’ll slide to the front of the bed the first time you brake, no?
(I don’t know why I’m asking because we don’t get snow here and I don’t have a truck. Just curiosity, OK?)
Well, you want them at the front of the bed; right behind the cab.
The wheelwells will stop them from sliding around. I have bags of concrete back there; cheaper than sand, heavier and don’t take up any more room.
Not if it is in burlap bags. If it does seem prone to slippage, a few carefully placed boards will prevent the movement of the bags forward or back.
I always used a couple of bags of pea gravel when I lived in snow country. Instant traction when I needed it, and weight over the rear axle.
Probably true. I was thinking of those long sausagey tubes of sand designed for adding weight to pickups.
I’ve had the same bags of concrete in the back for several years; they’ve settled and conformed to the ridges in the bed and don’t budge.
The bedliner on my F150 has little notches formed into it so that you can put a hunk of 2x4 or 2x6 across the bed - enables you to stack cargo, keep things from sliding around, etc. I use those to keep the sandbags in place when I go play in the snow. The metal bed of many pickups has the same notches.
I use four 80 Lb. bags of water softener salt.
The bags are heavy weight, water proof plastic. When the snow season is over, I have enough salt for my home softener to last through next winter, when I’ll buy four more.
Timely thread.
I just bought my first truck about 18 months ago. Living in the south, I haven’t had a need for this but I am driving up north next week and I was just thinking about this. I had been planning on loading up the back of the tailgate but I’m seeing from this thread that behind the cab is a better idea. Sand, concrete, salt, (I was even thinking about topsoil or fertilizer …)
Should I just go with whatever is the highest ratio of weight to cost?
Weight is weight as long as it stays put. Pick up some fat hitchikers if you have to.
You can nail together some 2" by 4"s into a frame like an H with two crossbars, where the legs sit astride the wheel wells, and that will keep your weight from skating around. Just drop your bags-o’-stuff right on top of the frame.
Concrete cheaper than sand?
Don’t use bags of concrete. You’ll have real mess on your hands in the spring if you do.
The tube sand should stay pretty well put.
Bags of concrete? Thats gonna break open and get wet? Not a good idea.