Navigating Snow In A Ford Ranger

A caller on the Feb. 19th, 2011 show wanted advice about putting a home-made snow plow on her Subaru. In the discussion she noted that her husband’s Ford Ranger p/u had no traction in the snow. I drive a rear-wheel drive, 4 cyl., 5 speed Ranger. Every year, just before the snow season begins here in MD., I load six 40 lb. sacks of gravel on the truck bed, over the rear axle. The mighty Ranger has no problem what-so-ever in snow up to 12 inches deep.

What tires do you have on your Ranger?
Yours are most likely better than hers are, so it might help, but not be enough.
His might also be one of the 6 cylinder engines, too.

She might also just be a bad driver, and not know how to do anything other than smash the accelerator to the floor.

BC.

Weight there! Good place to add it.

I had on 03 ranger, It was light years better than the toyota pick up. I never had any weight added and was happy with the original tires on it. I would not try and drive any car in 12" of snow, if there is that much on the roads there will be no where to go anyway. Maybe plowing is better in our fair city, and I use a snowblower to clear my driveway and sidewalks.

I’ve never driven a 2WD Ranger that was any good in snow, weight over the rear axle or not. The only thing I ever found that worked was tire chains.

My current 4WD Ranger can’t make its way off wet grass unless 4WD in engaged.

Tires are OEM Continentals (It’s too dark out there right now to get a read on the tire style). And yes, smart, reasonable driving goes a long way in the snow.

What year? Is there a possibility the 2wd has antispin differential for my 03 with a manual transmission? I put mud grips for year round use on the toyota as a slight rain made driving difficult.