Texas winter broke my Rebel!

[Willwork4truck]

RAM vs team of two Belgians:

RAM costs $60-79 new.
Team- uhh, maybe $15K, IDK.

RAM is shiny for awhile, needs washing.
Team aren't shiny, need grooming.

RAM goes 400 ish miles in a tank of gas.
Team goes 4 hours on a 70# hay bale.

RAM loses traction on ice, owners cusses.
Team has no issues if shod with winter shoes. (There is such a thing).

RAM pulling out a stranger gets you 1 like.
Video of your team pulling out a semi gets 100,000 likes, endorsements, hugs from attractive women who like horses etc...

RAM costs hundreds or thousands to license and insure annually.
Team costs, uhh, multiple 5# bags of carrots.

RAM seats 4 comfortably.
Team maybe 2, not so comfortable.

RAM goes 100 mph on good roads.
Team goes, uhh, 1 mph on any roads.

Jealous drivers brake check the RAM.
Team sheets on other drivers hood.

License required to drive RAM.
10 year old kid can drive the team.

RAM doesnt usually slobber on you.
Team does.

 

[Code2medic]

The difference is that Texas does not have equipment to clear roads, many houses only have an electric heat pump that uses the Air Conditioner (no furnace), and shedding heat during summer is the primary building objective - not keeping it in. I've driven in Colorado, Wyoming, and Indiana during the winter, often in the negatives... but you could drive on a salted road or through some ruts in the snow and get to a warm, powered destination. In Texas, many had to deal with 40*F temperatures in our homes (ever see frozen ice in a toilet bowl?), no running water (no electricity to run city pumps/ treatment), and often no gas if the neighborhood doesn't have it. Outside, the roads are two inches of solid ice. Highways had construction equipment and sand to clear them, but here in Austin neighborhood roads and town streets were just solid ice - no powder, no chains, just rubber on solid ice.

Before anyone blames green energy, note that frozen gas and coal plants (who aren't required to follow regulations, because Texas isn't connected to federal grids) lost 2x the capacity compared to wind and solar.. which actually produced more than forecasted. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/texas-wind-turbines-frozen/

OP, now that it's thawing out, I would check your grounds by the battery and steering rack that have been problematic for loads of other systems on the truck. Hopefully the truck is still pissed, because most dealers won't do squat unless a code is stored or they can recreate the problem. Unfortunately I can't really offer comparison, because my 2WD truck sat it out while our AWD Hyundai with center diff lock was out doing emergency deliveries.

Actually they do have the equipment .... they were already treating prior to it hitting.
I think I’ll leave my full comment off the internet and just say there are to many excuses being used..... the Midwest etc see far worse yearly 40 degrees is a warm day of shorts for most in the Midwest and cold areas.
Have I ever seen toilet bowl wall frozen sure it’s common...

 

[Code2medic]

Oh, I'm from Moscow - Russia, that is. I know a little bit about winter weather, that's why I'm really disappointed and concerned with what happened to my truck that just turned 10K miles. ))
It's not the first time, either - one time I got a little too happy with the right pedal in 4 Low in the mud and the truck shut itself off for about 2 minutes. Worrisome, yes, but not a huge deal. This time, though, disabling 4WD rendered the truck useless, since I couldn't even get out of my driveway!
The whole underside was an icicle, but all the connections are supposed to be waterproof, so - if this is something that will happen on a regular basis in the cold weather, I am thinking RECALL time!

Lol I’m going to stir the pot here but we have all seen how they do things in Russia with cars

 

[iliazag]

Lol I’m going to stir the pot here but we have all seen how they do things in Russia with cars

If you're referring to the dashcam vids, the rest of the world is catching up - they are your best insurance, really. And the percentage of morons is more or less the same everywhere.

 

[BowDown]

RAM vs team of two Belgians:

RAM costs $60-79 new.
Team- uhh, maybe $15K, IDK.

RAM is shiny for awhile, needs washing.
Team aren't shiny, need grooming.

RAM goes 400 ish miles in a tank of gas.
Team goes 4 hours on a 70# hay bale.

RAM loses traction on ice, owners cusses.
Team has no issues if shod with winter shoes. (There is such a thing).

RAM pulling out a stranger gets you 1 like.
Video of your team pulling out a semi gets 100,000 likes, endorsements, hugs from attractive women who like horses etc...

RAM costs hundreds or thousands to license and insure annually.
Team costs, uhh, multiple 5# bags of carrots.

RAM seats 4 comfortably.
Team maybe 2, not so comfortable.

RAM goes 100 mph on good roads.
Team goes, uhh, 1 mph on any roads.

Jealous drivers brake check the RAM.
Team sheets on other drivers hood.

License required to drive RAM.
10 year old kid can drive the team.

RAM doesnt usually slobber on you.
Team does.

I had a fleet of them on 80 acres in AR, they eat and "sheet" like crazy but they are definitely all terrain and true 4x4

 

[BowDown]

If you're referring to the dashcam vids, the rest of the world is catching up - they are your best insurance, really. And the percentage of morons is more or less the same everywhere.

Yeah, Russia doesn't have a lock on dumba** drivers by any means most just haven't seen videos of dumba** US drivers yet, they are among us.

 

[Drewster]

Never understood why would someone buy a non-4x4 truck. Even if you don’t see snow usually, don’t you want your truck to be capable of achieving the task they are made for? I mean no disrespect, just don’t understand the logic behind that choice.

What task do you think it was "made for"?

I bought my Ram to tow a 3,000 pound car, 1,500 pound ATV, 2,000 pound trailer, 3 friends, and gear on highways to race tracks around the country. 4x4 trucks are still 2WD on the highway, so you're just carrying around and maintaining additional CV's, transfer case, sensors, etc. Why would I pay for all of that when a limited slip is more than enough for 360 out of 365 days in the year?

We always have one AWD vehicle in the family for going off road, whatever.. but why should I carry 4x4 on my tow vehicle to park on the curbs in the mall parking lot?

 

[Mate514]

Haul stuff on job site, lauching fishing boat on slippery ramp, cruising on the snow/ice roads, off-roading, transporting freshly killed moose..... You know, kind of task that the average truck buyer consider doing.

 

[Drewster]

Actually they do have the equipment .... they were already treating prior to it hitting.
I think I’ll leave my full comment off the internet and just say there are to many excuses being used..... the Midwest etc see far worse yearly 40 degrees is a warm day of shorts for most in the Midwest and cold areas.
Have I ever seen toilet bowl wall frozen sure it’s common...

I've lived in Texas for 30 years, I've traveled extensively to northern states, and spend a lot of time in Indiana with my wife's family. Trust me when I say that a handful of *sand* trucks and standard construction equipment to scrape roads does not sufficient equipment make.

I was living in Dallas during the 2011 storm when TX literally ran out of sand for the roads (Super Bowl XLV). Those pointy domes you see for road salt in Northern states? You will never see them here.

As a Texas resident I'm telling you... not equipped.

 

[Drewster]

Haul stuff on job site, lauching fishing boat on slippery ramp, cruising on the snow/ice roads, off-roading, transporting freshly killed moose..... You know, kind of task that the average truck buyer consider doing.

Oh moose, eh? I better sell my truck so I can get in on the next southern ice road cruise

 

[Mate514]

Oh moose, eh? I better sell my truck so I can get in on the next southern ice road cruise

It's not our toilet that are frozen....so ice road cruise are not that far fetched in the south.

 

[SpeedyV]

I've lived in Texas for 30 years, I've traveled extensively to northern states, and spend a lot of time in Indiana with my wife's family. Trust me when I say that a handful of *sand* trucks and standard construction equipment to scrape roads does not sufficient equipment make.

I was living in Dallas during the 2011 storm when TX literally ran out of sand for the roads (Super Bowl XLV). Those pointy domes you see for road salt in Northern states? You will never see them here.

As a Texas resident I'm telling you... not equipped.

I used to joke that my home county in Ohio had more salt/dump trucks for its population of 11,000 than Tarrant County (Fort Worth, Arlington) has for its 2 million residents. But it may be true. And we know TxDOT has nothing on the state agencies up north.

 

[Drewster]

It's not our toilet that are frozen....so ice road cruise are not that far fetched in the south.

Today is 70 degrees and sunny, and aside from having to boil water and not having groceries it's a beautiful day - that's TX

 

[Mate514]

Good for you! Up north, it's still freezing because the groundhog saw it's shadow!!!

 

[Willwork4truck]

Tx dealers start readying to sell:
They haul moose too!



salesman wanted!

 

[saylor]

up innawoods we hada frozen toilet the bowl and the tank were both ice blocks that was messed up.
the stuff INSIDE the fridge froze too.

we figure it was at least -5 or colder. total guess. but the inside thermometer said 30 by the time we got up there.

it was this cold


thats ice busting up out of the ground making crystals

 

[Willwork4truck]

That farmer parked it in 39’ cause’ he didnt have a 4x. His last words were “...it’s not a real truck lessen it’s 4x!”

 

[Trooper4]

Guess nobody ever had to go anywhere before 4x became available.
Theres a whole flame thread on that already...

It’s dumb drivers with poor tires more than anything. As a poster from Austin mentioned, theres 2” of solid ice.
I’d take a car with studded snows or cable/chains before an empty bed 4x with all season tires.

Actually, back when dirt was new, we learned how to drive in inclimate weather, or just stayed home. We had bias ply snow tires(walnut shell/sawdust) and knew how to put chains on and weight in the bed/trunk. There were no front wheel drive all wheel drive traction control ABS computer controlled drive by wire systems that quit when the going got tough and/or made driving so easy it was like a video game and we didn't need to think or learn how to do it right and without calling a helpline to someone in some foreign country that english wasn't the first language and the asked "what's snow"?. If we made a bad decision out in the tundra, a wolf ate us. Problem solved and survival of the fittest prevailed. Oh, and if we were kids and made a stupid choice, dad/mom slapped us in the back of the head and asked us what the he!! we were thinkin'.
Don't blame the idiots, they cant help it. They were raised by liberals and think the government will come and help them out of the spot they got into.

 

[saylor]

If we made a bad decision out in the tundra, a wolf ate us.

^^

our shop teachers always had 9 fingers . .

 

[Trooper4]

Lived in Portland area for 6 years, on ice there’s really nothing you can do except use radial cables, old fashioned chains or studs. 1 more tire spinning doesn't help and a locker is worthless.

Packed snow, loose snow etc then yes 4x helps. Ice just is a disaster waiting to happen...

I noticed that in Portland/Seattle (old construction worker) that no matter how many times it ices up/snows, they never never are prepared for it and have never heard of chains or studded tires. The state turned Sandy Blvd. into a snow zone to keep the idiots from heading to Mt. Hood with S Rated street tires