Snow wheeling. Now I want to re-configure...

[77 K20]

All the new BFG KM3 tires are load range E (except for just one or two sizes). But oddly enough instead of max pressure being 80 psi it is "only" 75 psi.

But even at 75 psi the tire can handle 3,860 lbs each.

For some reason all the tire shops I have ever seen in this state do that on trucks. Guess they figure 5 minutes after getting new tires I'm gonna get the biggest load of gravel you've ever seen and overflow the truck bed with it. Then of course drive 85 mph back to my house...

Probably some law suit/protect your a$$ thing they do.


Although I have overloaded with gravel before. But the gravel pit is only 3 miles from the house and there are paved back roads where I did only 30-35 mph. Front end was floating. This was 5,500 lbs of gravel.

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[Catbox]

How many yards of gravel is that?
I ask as I am going to be needing some in the near future and would like to know about what to expect to be able to carry...

 

[77 K20]

I'm not sure on yards. The local gravel pit weighs you and your truck when you enter. Then they direct you where to go. Then one of the largest front end loaders I have ever seen drives around a corner and grabs a buckfull. My truck is a long bed- and the bucket was longer than the bed of the truck. He dumped quite a bit of it on the ground because the truck isn't long enough.
I was worried my tires were not going to take it. They were at 80 psi for that trip and you can still see them squat a bit.
Realistically half that load is all you should really go for if you have to drive any distance.

 

[Craig 85]

I had an '87 C3500 dually that I fully loaded level with sand to the bed rails. It was about 2 yards. My dually even with the factory over load was almost on the axle snubbers.

 

[77 K20]

Throwing in an update here. I spent the summer re-doing my truck.

ORD 4" front springs with the 1" zero rate. Swapped out my 52" rear springs and 3" block with stock 56" rear springs, a 2.5" shackle flip and the axle relocation plate. Remote reservoir 13.5" Bilstein front shocks, and 315/75R16 BFG KM2 tires.

Spent 9 hours snow wheeling yesterday. The roads we were going up were used by snowmobiles. Snowmobiles have the bad habit of "porposing" which basically makes a huge version of washboard which you find on dirt roads. They can be 5' or so peak to peak. In the past this would bounce the hell out of my truck and when the peak to peak changed slightly both front and rear tires would hit them at the same time- and this would result in my head hitting the roof (which has no headliner. bare steel!). The new shocks and leaf springs soaked up everything.

EDIT: this is what snowmobiles can do to roads/trails...

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When chewing thru the deep snow the truck no longer did the strange hopping/bouncing that it did last year.

Today I'm not sore- no back/neck pain.

Very happy all the work and money paid off.

There was an inversion and we were able to climb out of the clouds and fog. Saw 2 moose on the way. This pic was taken near sunset 3000' above Flathead Lake.

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[77 K20]

Instead of throwing up another post I figured I'd keep adding to this one. Few days ago was our monthly trail ride. This time instead of going up into the mountains we stayed down in the valley along the river. More of just a drive and less chance getting very stuck. Although there were still 5 times someone got stuck- but they were recovered in just a few minutes. I managed to make it all day without getting stuck.

Some of the trip was winding thru trees and the rest was out in the open fields where snowdrifts were an issue. Under the snow was hidden creeks, washouts, rocks. The suspension soaked up everything. Tires were aired down to 8 psi and had tons of grip.

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This part made some of us a bit nervous. I didn't know what this ravine looked like in the summer. It has bad washouts in it. After walking it and falling a lot I gave it a try.

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I need to finish my crossover steering on it. I "ran out" of steering coming down with the hidden ruts under the snow.

 

[77 K20]

A few more:

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The 4 of us on the left are all running 35s, the black jeep is on 38" Iroks, the 4 Runner is running some big wide Boggers. Everyone has F/R locking diffs.

I do need lower gearing for crawling down things like that ravine though. 4 low, 1st gear in an automatic isn't even close to low enough.

I do have access to a free SM465- which would need rebuilt. Then I'd have to shop for a NP205... OR: been thinking about the Atlas 4 transfer case. That would be the best option I think, but expensive. You have an option of different gear ratios:

1.5:1, 2.72:1, & 4.08:1 or
2.0:1, 2.72:1, & 5.44:1 or
2.72:1, 3.0:1, & 8:16:1 or
2.72:1, 3.8:1, & 10.34:1
2.72, 4.3:1, & 11.69:1

 

[shiftpro]

A few more:

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The 4 of us on the left are all running 35s, the black jeep is on 38" Iroks, the 4 Runner is running some big wide Boggers. Everyone has F/R locking diffs.

I do need lower gearing for crawling down things like that ravine though. 4 low, 1st gear in an automatic isn't even close to low enough.

I do have access to a free SM465- which would need rebuilt. Then I'd have to shop for a NP205... OR: been thinking about the Atlas 4 transfer case. That would be the best option I think, but expensive. You have an option of different gear ratios:

1.5:1, 2.72:1, & 4.08:1 or
2.0:1, 2.72:1, & 5.44:1 or
2.72:1, 3.0:1, & 8:16:1 or
2.72:1, 3.8:1, & 10.34:1
2.72, 4.3:1, & 11.69:1

And here we go...!

 

[bucket]

Cool pictures!

 

[shiftpro]

Here's a youtoob channel with lots of deep winter 4x fun. Jeeps on 54s...

https://www.youtube.com/user/TruDesignMedia/videos

 

[77 K20]

Figure I'll keep adding to this snow thread. Last weekend the club went out and saw how high we can make it in the mountains. Made it to the top then down the backside. A Jeep and a Toyota on 39s broke the trail. The rest of us (3 of us) were on 35s. The red/orange Jeep in front of me was having problems on his Goodyear MTRs. He was aired down to 5 psi like I was but was struggling (axles were dragging).
He ceased forward progress at one point and there was a pull out next to him. I figured I'd see if I could go around him. Took 3 tries but I got around him pushing snow with my front bumper. I didn't have issues like he did. And with more weight and a bigger rear axle I was plowing the way for the guys behind me.
The BFG KM3 tires are very impressive in the deep snow. The tire flexes and flattens out so much in the snow there is incredible traction. Didn't get stuck all day- although I was definitely sinking more than anyone else.
I'm now looking to see what it would take to buy some 37x13.50R17 KM3s and maybe beadlocks. Been reading about the pros/cons of them. I still would like to haul weight in the bed (firewood, sand...) and keep seeing that with most beadlocks maximum tire pressure is 25-30 psi. That would limit how much weight I could haul.

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[77 K20]

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[TubeTruck]

I'm so jealous. I love wheelin in the snow. Been a long time for me. Keep the pics and stories coming

 

[77 K20]

I went out with the off road club yesterday again. Was almost 40 degrees in the valley- all the snow down there has pretty much melted. Met at Safeway parking lot and to my surprise the 2 guys in Jeeps that had problems last month are now rolling on 36" Irok tires. Those things are pretty tall.

So there are 2 guys on 39.5" tires, 2 on 36" tires and 2 of us on 35".

Headed up the mountains on a different road than I've been on before. Snow was wet and heavy. Stopped and aired tires down to 7 psi. My truck was really having to work so I put it in 4 low. A bit later I stopped again and found this:

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That 14 bolt rear axle is so big it was doing more than just dragging a bit. Snow was going up and over it. Probably a few hundred pounds of snow being pushed in front of it. Was able to keep going though.

A bit later the other guy on an all-terrain type of 35" had issues with one sport of the road where is was off camber- sloped to the downhill side and with his lockers anytime he gave it gas it just slid sideways. I finally got to use my Voodoo rope that I bought last year. Was able to pull him straight without any issue.

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We kept going and tried to make a fork in the road where it would have been a great place to turn around. No one could make it. A switchback stopped all forward progress. (39.5" Iroks below)

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This 4 runner was awesome- but even he was having difficulty with 39.5x16.50 tires.

I had to turn around right here. Started my 50 point turn and the truck started sliding sideways down the road. I backed up into the dead tree in the pic above. Rear sunk into the snow and I turned the front tires to try and spin the front of the truck downhill. Worked for about 2" then the downhill side of the truck sunk. Was stuck pretty bad.

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First attempt to drag the front end downhill down the road failed- snow was so heavy it wouldn't budge. So 10 minutes of shoveling and he repositioned in front of me. Was able to pop up out of the holes I had dug. I had the truck at just a fast idle while the 4 runner used his winch and that let the tires climb without spinning.

On the way back down all of us stopped at a view of Flathead Lake. There was no visible sun in the sky as it was cloudy but you could see the sun reflecting off of the lake. But instead of just a reflection it was making the lake glow instead. Very weird. Looked better in person than this pic:

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4 wheel parts has BFG KM3 37x13.50s on sale and ProComp steel wheels on sale. Tempted to buy them and do some light grinding on the bottom of my rear diff to smooth things out a bit.

 

[78C10BigTen]

I went out with the off road club yesterday again. Was almost 40 degrees in the valley- all the snow down there has pretty much melted. Met at Safeway parking lot and to my surprise the 2 guys in Jeeps that had problems last month are now rolling on 36" Irok tires. Those things are pretty tall.

So there are 2 guys on 39.5" tires, 2 on 36" tires and 2 of us on 35".

Headed up the mountains on a different road than I've been on before. Snow was wet and heavy. Stopped and aired tires down to 7 psi. My truck was really having to work so I put it in 4 low. A bit later I stopped again and found this:

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That 14 bolt rear axle is so big it was doing more than just dragging a bit. Snow was going up and over it. Probably a few hundred pounds of snow being pushed in front of it. Was able to keep going though.

A bit later the other guy on an all-terrain type of 35" had issues with one sport of the road where is was off camber- sloped to the downhill side and with his lockers anytime he gave it gas it just slid sideways. I finally got to use my Voodoo rope that I bought last year. Was able to pull him straight without any issue.

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We kept going and tried to make a fork in the road where it would have been a great place to turn around. No one could make it. A switchback stopped all forward progress. (39.5" Iroks below)

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This 4 runner was awesome- but even he was having difficulty with 39.5x16.50 tires.

I had to turn around right here. Started my 50 point turn and the truck started sliding sideways down the road. I backed up into the dead tree in the pic above. Rear sunk into the snow and I turned the front tires to try and spin the front of the truck downhill. Worked for about 2" then the downhill side of the truck sunk. Was stuck pretty bad.

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First attempt to drag the front end downhill down the road failed- snow was so heavy it wouldn't budge. So 10 minutes of shoveling and he repositioned in front of me. Was able to pop up out of the holes I had dug. I had the truck at just a fast idle while the 4 runner used his winch and that let the tires climb without spinning.

On the way back down all of us stopped at a view of Flathead Lake. There was no visible sun in the sky as it was cloudy but you could see the sun reflecting off of the lake. But instead of just a reflection it was making the lake glow instead. Very weird. Looked better in person than this pic:

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4 wheel parts has BFG KM3 37x13.50s on sale and ProComp steel wheels on sale. Tempted to buy them and do some light grinding on the bottom of my rear diff to smooth things out a bit.

Awesome views! That truck really goes places!