GodwinAustin

First Pickup I have ever had - getting ready for another NE winter....what does everyone use to keep their yota straight and true in the snow? How much weight? :xmas13:

lee

from boston, huh? haven't seen you on here despite you having 137 posts!

whereabouts?

Emil In Wyoming

I use two tubes of sand from Home Depot or similar. They are easy to remove and add enough weight (Seem like 60 lbs each) to work well. Also CHEAP!

loosehead

Without a shell or anything else in the bed, I'd say you'd need around 250 lbs. 3 or 4 sand "sausages" should do the trick, they usually weigh 65-70 lbs each.

ewarnerusa

4 x 50 lb. of sand, centered over the rear axle. The dogs hate it because it messes with "their" truck bed space. I've heard that you should scoot the weight all the way to the front of the bed, but right over the axle seems to make more sense to me.

GodwinAustin

yeah - sand was my first thought - so I went to home dept and lowe's they didnt have anything but literally plastic bags of sand. I've heard about these sand tubes but cant find em...

How do you guys secure the sand/tubes so they dont slide around?

loosehead

The idea behind the sand bags is to use dry sand in a somewhat sealed bag, so it won't get wet and freeze. I'd call some smaller locally owned lumber/hardware stores and see if they have them. Typically, they are a plastic lined woven fiber tube, thats sewn closed on both ends, and not over filled. This way, they conform to the bed and don't slide around. A regular burlap "gunny" sack will let the sand get wet and then it will freeze rock-hard and either freeze to the bed or roll around like a 60-lb bowling ball.

nees1212

I use the sandbags too. The ones I got were 80lbs, I think. I used 4 or 5 last year, can't really remember though. I've also heard that putting them up against the cab is the best place to put them, even though over the axle makes more sense. You might need to build something to hold them in place as they will slide around on a factory bedliner, because they will most likely freeze. I just used two bed bars to hold mine from sliding. This year I have a shell, so I still might throw 2 in the back.

ewarnerusa

I have a shell, too, but I still use about 200 lbs of sand for traction. I might try scooting them to front of the bed this winter to see if I notice anything. It will at least spread out the load better on the frame, maybe that's the logic.

SLC Punk

When I had my Ranger, I put 200 lbs (approx 5 bags) of water softener salt in the bed. The reason I used this is because it is heavy, sealed in a plastic bag, and my parents have a water softener, so it didn't go to waste (its also good for ice melt)

ewarnerusa

that's exactly what I did when I was a teenager in my first car, a rear wheel drive '77 Dodge Colt!

Ilovemountains

Ive never heard of any one with a 4x4 adding weight to the rear of their truck. I used to use bags of gravel in my old 2 wheel drive for weight and if I did get stuck I could pour it out in front of the wheels, but with 4 wheel drive Ive never thought about hauling around added weight. Huh, why would you reccomend it with 4 wheel drive??

ewarnerusa

same reason you used it in your 2wd. Just trying to avoid driving full-time in 4WD all winter long. also cutting down on the number of times you have to engage/disengage the 4wd.

SLC Punk

The back end of my Ranger was so light, a little bit of ice or snow would make it spin (I had BFG A/T then Dueler M/T and I had traction problems).

EnolaGaia

For years, I've used 200 - 250 pounds of sandbags. I put 'em inside low-profile Rubbermaid plastic tubs (with lids) so they're more manageable. I try to keep 'em over the axle or in front of the axle. I don't know if it's an old trucker wives' tale or not, but I always heard you want to avoid having the extra weight rear of the axle...

GodwinAustin

Well, does anyone know if this is actually an old wives tale or not? Is there a reason to put the weight in FRONT of the axle instead of directly over it?

ANYONE?

yotaluver

if it is in back of the axle it would take weight off the front wheels and make it harder to turn.

toy283

I used the sandtubes, 8 of them. My neighbor uses concrete. He poured a 1" layer of reinforced concrete on the entire bottom of the bed. Added about 150lbs, it doesn't move around, and he lost no bed space. It also provides a bit of protection for the bed. Not an option for everyone but an option nonetheless.

ken.vs.ryu

i saw a product on truckin tv and it was a big flat square bag that you can fill with water...250lbs total weight.

anyone have a link to these sand tubes?

Flamedx4

Yeah, actually there is a valid reason. No it won't take enough off the front axle to affect steering. The reason it's suggested to put weight up against the cab is that weight all the way in the back carries more inertia when cornering - it would make the truck more prone to the rear end sliding out in turns and if it does slide - more inertia to make it harder to recover. Moving the weight forward only reduces its effectiveness as a traction aid a little but reduces its intertia a lot.