Re: Wet Road Driving Comments Sought Please

[IHMagellan@domain.elided]

Mark,

I'm familiar with the Indiana weather you deal with.  I also know that unless
you've moved in the last year, you drive some of the curviest, most off-camber
roads in the Midwest, so I doubt straight line traction what you're really
concerned with.  I've driven a Scout II as well as an S-10 in the Indiana
weather, and I've been known to push the envelop way past stupid with both of
them.  The S-10 was worthless on even slightly damp pavement with an empty
bed, but I took some 2x6s and made a frame in the bed which held 8 or 10
concrete blocks directly over the back axle, between the wheelwells.  The
weight was biased a little toward the rear at rest, and under braking it felt
like pretty even front/rear distribution.  It handled great on wet pavement
with this setup, even on SR42 over around Cunot and Cloverdale.  It did pretty
with up to 3 or 4 inches of wet snow, but would hydroplane badly with any more
than that (it had 235/60s in front and 255/60s in back).

The empty Scout in 2wd has a lot more tendency to come around under throttle
in a curve than the weighted down S-10.  No surprises there, huh?  The empty
S-10 was the easiest to correct if it got sideways, Scout is second, loaded
S-10 third.  Keep in mind easy to correct means easy to get sideways in the
first place.  The empty Scout in 4wd will plow through just about any drifts
if you hit them evenly.  I have a habit of busting the edge of drifts with one
side of the truck.  The snow has been know to spin me around more than once
because of this.  When you do get in trouble (meaning stuck) the 4wd is more
likely to get you out where 2wd won't.  My commute is relatively flat, so if I
screw up and get sucked into the ditch, I just aim jump the ditch and drive
through the field.  It's nice to keep the drive to and from work at least a
little interesting.

Now that I've rambled a lot, here's my advice to you.  Drive the Mazda for the
economy until we start getting heavy snow, but weight it down in the back.
Add enough weight to make your rear brakes only slightly before the front on
slick pavement so you can maintain your steering.  Most important thing is to
make sure that your weight, whatever, it is, can't move around at all.  When
the snow starts getting serious (by Indiana's standards, not Montana's) break
out the Scout, add a little weight over the back axle, and run in 4wd as
needed.  If I remember correctly, Mark, yours is a 4-cyl truck.  If so, it
will get you into a lot less trouble than a V-8 would.

Jerry