Would putting sandbags in the bed of the truck really work better or would it be just a waste of money? How many works best? Location?
Also for getting by for one winter, if the tires are good,but not the best,can you put snow tires on the rear for general driving? (94 Dakota 4x4 SLT).Never tried sandbags.I was thinking about say $100.00 for two snow tires, versus $500.00 for 4 and then next spring buy 4.I'm in colorado.Thanks.

 

My uncle always ran 2 snow tires on the back of his 89 lincoln. Never had 2 on the front. Assuming you have a 2wd, thats fine for you too. And sand bags, you'll want them either over the axle or at the extreme rear of the bed. At least 200lbs, probably not more than 4-500, but I have no personal experience.

 

I tie a 55 gallon drum in the back of mine then fill it up. I center it over my axle. When winter is over simply dump the water out and take the drum out. No heavy sand bags to deal with. My drum stays on the side of my house in the summer time. Out of site out of mind

 

you dont want to put it towards the tailgate. if you spin out it could possibly put you in a worse spin(been there done that). i use to put a 700lb roll of paper in the bed of my truck. worked real well by itself but to add to the weight i threw snow in the bed too.

 

I drove a 96 dak with rwd some years ago and found a couple of 35# bags really didn't do much. I'd say definately keep whatever you use over the axle so you don't take any weight off the front wheel for braking/steering. The front wheels will lock up real quick otherwise.

Now if looking for another solution, get some 24x30 patio blocks. they're cheap (10-15$) or used for a few bucks and and weight 100# a piece. Much heavier than bags so harder to steal and they lay flat and don't move around so you can keep using your bed for hauling stuff. Works great for me and easy to store for summer.

 

In my old S10 I used 2 or 3 70- pound sand bags. The difference was amazing. I put them tight against the front of the box because all four tires were bald and I could use the weight everywhere. And also because an emergency-stop event slammed them into that location.

But yeah, no farther back than the rear axle. 200 pounds is about right IMO.



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When I drove my Dakota during Winter I would use 3-4 80# bags of water softner salt. Then would use them as needed and buy new bags, I figured I was saving money because I would use them any way and they had more than one purpose. Also it is pretty easy to build a rack to hold the weight over the axle, just get some 2x4's then measure the distance needed to span the wheel wells and the distance across the bed. With one 2x4 on the front side of the wheel well and one on the back of the wheel well, then screw two braces between them... preferably close to the wheel well and that will leave plenty of room for bags, or whathaveyou, in the middle right over the axle.

 

Last winter I threw four 50pound bags of sand in the bed right over the axle and it helped a lot. Initially I'd go to Home Depot and buy eight bags and take four out at home to use on the patio sidewalks etc. My dad stole the sand bags once for his truck and the next day I just shoveled the driveway into the bed until it sat about level. Worked fine as well.

I used the four sand bags when we got the 4" of snow/slush here right after Sandy, even with the 8" wide tires out back it helped. I'm still looking into snow tires for it if I ever get more than 20 hours a week at work!

 

weight will help. ut 4 winter tires on there, steering is important!

 

I have had similar traction issues in trying to get around in wet conditions. We just moved from Miami, FL to Philadelphia, and my Magnum drives very differently up here.

As FL is mostly flat, I only had rain to deal with as a traction element; hard tropical rain just means driving slower, and having good tires.

Up here in Pennsylvania, there are a host of other things to deal with: More hills and curves, starting and stopping on inclines and declines) and now snow (ice coming soon).

While I'm not going to attempt to drive my car if it's icy, I had to get some more traction overall, to get me around when I'm trying to drive up the regular terrain and moreso when it snows.

I've found that Sandbags are extremly effective! I'm sure it will have an impact on the MPG (slightly) but given the upside of using them, this is a great fix.

I also found a blog that talks about the same traction issues, and they have a post about a "Enhanced Traction Control Unit" upgrade for the Magnum and the Charger.

http://watercooler-blog.info/2012/11...harger-series/