My company vehicle is about to go from a 2002 Chevy AstroVan all wheel drive to a 2006 Dakota SLT 2wd. I live in New England where we get snow and rain and I'm concerned about how bad the 2wd will be. Is it really necessary to add some weight in the bed and how much weight is typical? I'm not super paranoid about driving in snow but I've heard stories about 2wd pick-ups looping out pretty easily on wet roads.

 

On my 98' dakota, although it was a 4x4, in the winter i would buy 5 80lb (i think) sand bags to throw in the back. Helped out alot.

 

any small hardware store sells 80 lb tube socks. they are filled with sand and doubble bag in plastic than wrapped in a burlap sack. put one over each wheel well and you should be fine. if not they sell a kinda like inner tube that you fill with water but that uses you full bed

 

The tube sock style sounds like it might work out well since it sits on the wheel wells and conserves bed space. We really need the AstroVans for cargo space but Chevy stopped making them and someone in management decided to replace them with pick-ups. The Dakota will be much more pleasant to drive but even with an empty bed it will be a struggle to fit everything I need so I can't have the sandbags hogging up too much space.

 

so you company did away with the vans. how are you gonna keep your belonging safe, are they gonna buy tonneaus or caps for the trucks?

 

Yeah, Chevy ceased production of the AstroVans and the company made the poor decision of replacing them with pick-ups. I'm never going to be able to fit everything I need in a pick-up, plus there's no storage cubbies/drawers to keep stuff organized. It's a good excuse not to work, though: "Sorry, it won't fit in the truck." We have a choice of a cap, tonneau or toolbox so I chose the tonneau primarily for the visibility. The cap has solid doors on three sides with no windows at all which it makes it impossible to see to the sides and rear and it would only be a matter of time before I hit something.

 

I live in Michigan and I have a 2wd.......no problems this past winter at all for me

Just drive carefully is the biggest part

For traction.....I just used four 40 pound bags of rock salt (they come in thick plastic bags).....which were only like $2 each. I put a piece of thick wood across the width of the bed (behind the wheel well) that stopped them from sliding forward and kept the weight towards the back of the truck.
The addition of posi in my truck (didn't have it from the factory) helped a little as well