# Snowstorm and Icy Roads...No Problem!



## Grug (Aug 20, 2009)

Well, we got our first real N'oreaster here in Atlantic Canada. On the drive home from work, the rear wheel drive was givin' me a lot of grief fishtailing on the greasy roads. Stopped, turned the hubs, shifted to 4WD and problem was solved! And my tires are less than great, too (probably why I was fishtailing).

Even tried 4 Low goin' up my steep driveway...was like drivin' a tractor!

Anyways, don't have a question...just wanted to share. 

Cheers!


----------



## tkisling (Oct 27, 2008)

Same here, got our first big snow here in WI. I tease my friend at school for buyin a big old chevy 2WD! Nissan HB's rule!


----------



## nissan4x4.27 (Jul 8, 2009)

i would have done the same but cant cause mine is not running right


----------



## TRAVIS75 (Oct 30, 2009)

never had a truck big or small, 4x4 subaru SW mostly. What would your guys's recomendation be for amount of weight in the rear. I've not had a problem once I put it in 4x4 as far as moving but holy crap is braking a scary freakin ride. Most everything has alway been front wheel drive for me.


----------



## Grug (Aug 20, 2009)

I've got a fibreglass cap on the back of my truck which does add some weight (maybe 150 lbs?). In my old 2WD I used to have the cap and two 40lb bags of traction sand positioned directly over the rear axle. Not carrying the traction sand in the 4WD...at least not yet.

I think the biggest thing goin' for my old 2WD was that in the winter I put on the winter rims which had Michelin X-Ice tires. They were great on ice.

My 4WD has Good Year Wranglers which are about half worn so I know they're gonna' give me grief. Still lookin' for winter rims and a good ice tire (maybe Good Year Nordics).


----------



## TRAVIS75 (Oct 30, 2009)

well went and bought 3 55# tube bags of sand, put one each just inside of fender well and one dead center. Just in time, we got our first "measurable" snow of the year last night. The stuff we got last time was like a 1/4 inch, but holy christ did it ice over quick and make it slick! Seems to stop better and even gets movin better with the weight. Curious to see what it does to the already not so good gas mileage.


----------



## Grug (Aug 20, 2009)

I don't think you'll see any difference in your mileage. I think it would take a considerable weight increase or substantial change in drag to affect your mileage. 

In fact, I swear the gas mileage I get might be even slightly better when the fibreglass cap is on the truck as opposed to off the truck. Must change the aerodynamics of the truck in a positive way...despite the increase in weight.

But yes, the gas mileage on my 4WD 4 cylinder is lousy! I know people with big V8 4WD trucks with gobs of power and torque that get better mileage. Then again...they're not drivin' a Nissan! : )


----------



## tinworm (Aug 20, 2009)

Pretty impressed with even the 2wd version in the snow. I also have a cap, an older aluminum utility, and that might help, but over a 300 mile drive (which took 9 hours) in heavy ice and snow, the HB was reasonable to control. 

I was even able to pass a few people, and on a few icy grades, passed a semi that was spinning 8 tires, and a number of other FWD cars who were spinning like crazy. I was amazed.

In a bit of poetic justice that I am still chuckling over, a couple of kids in a subaru rolled up right behind me as I was doing about 45 in the fast lane, blew their horn, flashed their lights, and gave me the finger a couple times until I was able to move over, then flew by at about 70, assuming they were invincible with the 4wd. 

Within 5 hundred yards, they spun out, went through the guard rail, down an embankment into a narrow ravine and totally messed up their car. Then the kid made it worse by just flooring it and burying all 4 tires. 

I gave him a friendly toot as I rolled on by.


----------



## Oldnissanguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Great story!


----------



## zanegrey (Dec 5, 2005)

hey tin ,
u said u gave em a toot but i thought ur forn did not work...


----------



## tinworm (Aug 20, 2009)

had to fix it to pass NY state inspection. They let me slide on the parking brake cause I knew the guy, but all other stuff had to be fixed. Wipers too, for gods sake! Like you need those things!


----------



## Grug (Aug 20, 2009)

The Subaru story...hilarious.

The provincial inspectors here in Nova Scotia are pretty tight on inspection...especially parking brake! And now it's law that the rear drums must be pulled to inspect the rear brakes.


----------



## TRAVIS75 (Oct 30, 2009)

wow...we have it easy here in Washington State. At least in the town I live in, no inspections. No smog, brakes etc. However if your involved in an accident especially a fatality. They almost always inspect.


----------



## tinworm (Aug 20, 2009)

no safety inspection? wow, thats kind of scary. I have to say, honestly, I would prefer the state inspects all vehicles vs the alternative, as much as I bitch. In my work experience, 1 in 5 vehicles in my area is suffering from brake problems, even with yearly inspections. 

I got away with the parking brake because I worked at that shop for a while, and because buying two new cables would have exceeded the total cost of the truck, but in general, safety inspections are pretty stringent in NY also. Everything else about the truck passed with flying colors. The 93 is exempt from emissions testing cause its too old, but they are supposed to put it in the air, pull some tires, do a full brake inspection especially for rusty lines.

Interesting though is that according to the NY inspectors manual, a vehicle that has a WET brake line is allowed to pass inspection, a DRIPPING brake line fails. 

The more stringent the better in my opinion, we should all be subject to what Grug has to deal with.


----------



## TRAVIS75 (Oct 30, 2009)

I suppose in larger metropolitan areas that receive more federal and state funding it would be feasible. But in the type of area that I live in I don't see how they could even pull it off. I can think of 3 weigh stations (that are manned by the State) with in 25 miles of my home, that in the 15 years I've lived here, I've only seen open maybe and I emphasize maybe, 2 times. I realize I'm talking semi's not cars, kinda comparing apples to oranges, but if they don't even man these weigh stations, I don't know how they could inspect cars. I know that every single semi thats in an accident and we tow it back to our yard, the state patrol comes in and does an inspection with.

I've always told my wife, I don't worry about my driving, but it scares the hell out of me thinking about how some others drive, and the condition of things like, their brakes, their steering etc. We see cars come in every week that have been in wrecks, and I go to inventory these cars, you see broken lower control arms, disintegrated ball joints, metal on metal brakes etc. 

I to would like to see inspections, for the very reasons listed above. I don't foresee it happening in our are though.


----------



## Grug (Aug 20, 2009)

One of the problems here in Nova Scotia is consistency. Some garages (mechanics) are passing vehicles that other mechanics are failing. New laws entitle drivers to get a second opinion to avoid getting hosed by greedy garages.

A recent study (last summer) took the same vehicle (a Dodge Shadow, I think) to six different garages. The results were scary. They ranged from one garage passing the vehicle to another garage (a Dodge dealership) requiring almost $1000.00 in repairs to pass the vehicle.

Brand new vehicles require no inspection for three years.


----------



## TRAVIS75 (Oct 30, 2009)

Yeah it kinda opens a pandoras box. You'll get less than reputable shops that could take to bribery, or the other end of the spectrum as you mentioned, shops that will "invent" stuff to make some extra money during the slow times, or just because they can. 

Heres a question that comes to mind for me. Is there or should there be some sort of liability for shops. I wouldn't want to have my business signature on an inspection and have some guy go to hit his brakes and find out in some obscure place there was a wear mark in the brake line and it blew out and caused a fatality.


----------



## tinworm (Aug 20, 2009)

I can only speak to NY, but there is certainly liability in this state, ranging from huge fines to jail time if the shop has been found to pass a failing vehicle that later resulted in death or destruction and a criminal act is proven.

You still get a lot of yahoos doing whatever though, and of course you have to prove shop negligence in those cases, so penalties are not an open shut situation. 
The State government does keep an eagle eye on the stickers and input information, all the computers are linked they will immediately call you on a screw up though. Like for instance if you were to keep running emissions testing on car A, while inputting info from car B, C and D which you are passing for your drinking buddies. They are able to track that kind of information.


----------



## TRAVIS75 (Oct 30, 2009)

I can see how that would work. Be a pain in the !%% to enforce or get set up nationwide, but seems like it would be a good idea. The only downside I could see, and its just my tainted perspective because I work at a salvage yard. Would be that it could greatly reduce quite a bit of our sales in used parts. We aim to not sell junk, and carefully inventory our cars (can't say that for every wrecking yard), but if shops have to put their names on the dotted line saying everything is okay, I think they would be hesitant to put used parts in. At the same time, it makes it even more difficult for some already financially strapped families to be able to afford to fix their cars. Just my 2 cents worth.


----------



## tinworm (Aug 20, 2009)

to continue to add to this thread, Ive gone almost the whole winter without intentionally losing control of the 2wd HB yet! 

except for the other day, on a snow covered grade, I made the freshmen mistake of downshifting and letting the clutch out to fast, which instantly slowed the rear tires and they broke free, causing me to do a slow 360 down the hill. 

Fortunately, my illegal steering wheel knob was instrumental in solving this crisis!


----------



## rowdy89 (Feb 6, 2010)

tinworm said:


> to continue to add to this thread, Ive gone almost the whole winter without intentionally losing control of the 2wd HB yet!
> 
> except for the other day, on a snow covered grade, I made the freshmen mistake of downshifting and letting the clutch out to fast, which instantly slowed the rear tires and they broke free, causing me to do a slow 360 down the hill.
> 
> Fortunately, my illegal steering wheel knob was instrumental in solving this crisis!


Glad nothing worse happened. I made the same mistake a few weeks ago and had my HB sideways on ice heading up to hurricane ridge. Me: "I did that on purpose..." Girlfriend wasn't convinced, hah.


----------



## bionicb2r (Feb 4, 2010)

i totally did a 360 on purpose in my HB. it was fun! i was getting a lot of weird looks from people in the parking lot though. 

my little 1986 handles like crap in the snow and ice but i think thats just my tires, they are 100% highway tires. limited slip in the rear is a life saver. it does motor pretty well off road though. 

getting some snow tires this summer so i can actually go some where next winter. i got some locking hubs so it should be much better off road and in the slick!


----------



## joe_yoh (Feb 9, 2010)

how deep is the snow?


----------



## bionicb2r (Feb 4, 2010)

o got stuck in 'bout 2 feet of snow backing out of my barn. i was having issues in 6 inches too, it just didnt want to go at all. 

this is a very minor winter for me too. i know in a normal winter i will be toast.


----------

