Student Driver - Page 2

Originally Posted by MattInTheHat

I worked with someone who went one step further, it was cut to fit around the wheel wells and such. Said he could plow almost anything with it.

I plowed the roads for years with a two wheel drive truck that had 20,000 lbs of sand sitting over the driven wheels. Four wheel drive is for pu**ies ! ;-)

Matador speaks some basic truth....all wheel drive aint the end-all.

My taste of 2 wheel drive go-anywhere was with my old mans Volkswagen station wagon. It was one of the last rear engined air cooled volks. He had ice studs in the rear wheels and we could take it to some wicked places as teenagers are known to do. I'm still relieved today to know that I never screwed up and had to bring home a wrecked car!! The one that still sticks in my mind is when a buddy and I went booting out up an old logging road in the early winter. It had snowed and thawed and refroze, so the road was two tracks of ice not a whole lot wider than the car. We spun out on a steep uphill...couldn't go forward and were looking at backing down several hundred yards of dam slippery road. One side of the road was a cut bank and the other side a steep dropoff to a river. Shzt! Now what? Started doing the only thing I could do...try to back down. Got about 10 feet and started to lose it. That car swapped ends so fast that we just looked at each other and said "what happened?".

All we could figure is that one of the studded rear wheels had enough traction to hold us and the other three just slid and pivotted around that wheel. Once we were around that old girl just walked down the hill like it was bare ground. I coulda kissed that car!!

I'll bet Patriot has ice studs on his nags shoes if he can go 20 MPH on 4 legs in snow!! I'm no horseman but the wife is...and won't get on one if there is any trace of ice or snow. She sez she doesn't want to end up on the bottom side of 1200 lbs of flailing horsemeat if they slip and fall. I dunno...I just fix the fences and bale the ha...i mean the horse gas.

Jon.

Originally Posted by sawmilleng

Matador speaks some basic truth....all wheel drive aint the end-all.

My taste of 2 wheel drive go-anywhere was with my old mans Volkswagen station wagon. It was one of the last rear engined air cooled volks. He had ice studs in the rear wheels and we could take it to some wicked places as teenagers are known to do. I'm still relieved today to know that I never screwed up and had to bring home a wrecked car!! The one that still sticks in my mind is when a buddy and I went booting out up an old logging road in the early winter. It had snowed and thawed and refroze, so the road was two tracks of ice not a whole lot wider than the car. We spun out on a steep uphill...couldn't go forward and were looking at backing down several hundred yards of dam slippery road. One side of the road was a cut bank and the other side a steep dropoff to a river. Shzt! Now what? Started doing the only thing I could do...try to back down. Got about 10 feet and started to lose it. That car swapped ends so fast that we just looked at each other and said "what happened?".

All we could figure is that one of the studded rear wheels had enough traction to hold us and the other three just slid and pivotted around that wheel. Once we were around that old girl just walked down the hill like it was bare ground. I coulda kissed that car!!

I'll bet Patriot has ice studs on his nags shoes if he can go 20 MPH on 4 legs in snow!! I'm no horseman but the wife is...and won't get on one if there is any trace of ice or snow. She sez she doesn't want to end up on the bottom side of 1200 lbs of flailing horsemeat if they slip and fall. I dunno...I just fix the fences and bale the ha...i mean the horse gas.

Jon.

Had a Volkswagon Bug in the early days. That and an old 56 Volvo would go through anything. No ice studs on the old nag, she is 1/2 thoroughbred - half quarter horse and eight years old. She does not want to wreck anymore than I do, she knows her limits. First mare that I trusted. Her only fault is she does not realize my height on her back, so dodging tree branches is a constant challenge. We have moved cattle in the mountains, black hills, and prairie without mishap. Now that this is posted, doubt she will be ridden tomorrow. Superstition - no, common sense yes.

Originally Posted by NHscrapman

I have watched a one ton with a 9 ft fisher, SS sander fully loaded, in park, slide down roads with the plow down to the ground essentially plowing by itself.
I have watched tractors with hydro static clutches do the same thing blade on the ground and she starts rolling away.
Grade plays a huge factor in using 4 wheel drive, we have "extremley" steep grades on our routes and I'm going to tell ya, No 4 wheel and you ain't gonna make it one season here. I don't care how many flat roads you have plowed and for how many years you've done it.

< Gentle laughter > I was just being playful bro.

When you're running the little pickup trucks four wheel drive is a necessity for plowing.

I was running heavy metal. An eleven foot Frink on the front and an eight foot wing plow with TEN tons of sand over the driven wheels. The key thing is to maintain your momentum when you're plowing uphill. It takes a little bit of skill but if you know how to run a ten speed the steep grades aren't too much of a problem.

The thing that frigs you up is when the vehicle up ahead of you loses traction and you have to come to a complete stop halfway up the hill. It's iffy about getting a re-start. More often than not you have to back down the hill with the sander on to get some traction.

From what i've seen two wheel drive is pretty much the standard for most municipal and state trucks that plow the roads. I did run one that had a button on the shifter for engaging the differential lock but i didn't like the feel of it. A posi track rear end pushes your truck straight when you're trying to make a turn. Too easy to get into a mess that way ....