I have a 05 Dakota Magnum V8 RWD and we are moving from FL back to CT by the end of the year. My question is how will the RWD perform in the snow, my guess would be pretty bad. I don't want to sell it but if it's going to be bad to drive in the winter I guess I have no choice.

 

I would say try it out first, good tires and some weight in the back go a long way.

 

It shouldn't be that bad my old dak got me from Rochester to south of Buffalo in tremendous snow storms and it was a 2wd 4 banger. As long as you take it easy on the gas it should perform fine

 

Sandbags are key. That or just leave your box full of snow!

 

I had a '94 cc w/cap 2wd open diff than ran fine in Cleveland winters avg 55" of snow a year but they sat level for even weight distribution.

My '06 cc hard tonneau 2 wd lsd diff with factory Goodyear's was a POS in the snow. The rear of the truck sits higher than the front so weight transfer leaves the *** end loose as a goose. I had to put Goodyear Fortera Triple Tread tires on it and 300# of sand in the back to level it to get it to do anything in the snow.

[QUOTEGoodyear Fortera TripleTred is one of the first all-season tires to be branded with the mountain/snowflake symbol, indicating this tire meets severe snow service requirements established by the U.S. Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) and the Rubber Association of Canada (RAC). ][/quote]

 

I think if we had 55" of snow on average here i think the world would be ending. My old dak had a rake to it and i would sand bag it not quite sure about the weight because we made the sand bags ourselves. I ran Cooper Tiger paw's and they were the best ones i had for snow in any vechile. I had Cooper wildfire's on my WJ which was the I6. The Tiger Paw's I got for around $65 a tire. It really all comes down to driving ability and knowing what is to much for the truck it all just takes practice. The only time I had gotten the dak stuck was once when we accumulated about 2 feet of snow in a matter of hours and the other was in my driveway when it was a white out and couldn't see where or the round about i was.

If you remember the Octobrer storm buffalo had that knocked it out of commission I managed to drive through that with a little bit of slip here and there but nothing terrible.

 

I ran with about 180lbs in the back last winter in Chicago and got along pretty good. This year, I'll probably bump it up to about 200 (and about as far aft as I can get it). Definately give that a shot before deciding if you want to get rid of it.

 

Thanks for the feedback I will give it a try because I don't want to sell it.

 

The extra weight will work great. Just remember to feather the gas pedal when taking off and allow yourself plenty of time to stop. In a perfect world you will be able to anticipate your stops and start braking softly, gradually increasing the brake pedal pressure.

 

If you're really worried get some Blizzaks, they aren't cheap but they're consistently awarded as one of the best snow/ice tires out there.

The factory Goodyears were utter garbage, I don't even advise running those if you never see snow or rain, they will still suck.