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How are these trucks in heavy snow/blizzards?

ryant601

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From my experience, it performs much better then my 2015 Silverado did in deep snow.

I'm going to add sand bags in the bed this year, which should further improve rear traction I think.

How are you planning on securing the tube sand to the bed to avoid it sliding around? Thinking about going the same route this winter as I'll probably have to roll with the OEM Nexen's.
 

Snakes709

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For those that think you out smarted fca with extended warranty on the air ride, guess again. They claim this isnt a manufacture defect and is caused by the climate, therefor it doesnt fall under warrenty. I was waiting for my truck to be checked in when another guy was raging out because his warranty wouldnt cover the bill. His compressor fried as well. Nor would they give him a rental as they didnt have any, to many rams ****ting the bed. So he had no way to get to work.
 

Willwork4truck

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For those that think you out smarted fca with extended warranty on the air ride, guess again. They claim this isnt a manufacture defect and is caused by the climate, therefor it doesnt fall under warrenty. I was waiting for my truck to be checked in when another guy was raging out because his warranty wouldnt cover the bill. His compressor fried as well. Nor would they give him a rental as they didnt have any, to many rams ****ting the bed. So he had no way to get to work.
That really is poor service on RAMS part. A bumper to bumper factory warranty is supposed to be pretty much all inclusive unless there is deliberate misuse or its a wear-out part (wipers, tires). Where does it (the nickel and dime'ing the customer) stop?

It's a known issue (the FCA air ride freeze problems) but like many other makes, they decide to try and avoid covering it. So sad. If other industries tried to pull the same crap, people would be all up in arms, yet on a 50-60k (usd) truck, it's "acceptable".

I've often wondered just how many more units a manufacturer would sell if they simply covered the problems during the warranty instead of trying so hard to deny them. Even if they charged the buyer some % more for the vehicle, pretty soon the word would get out that "so and so make covers the issues, so buy that instead of the other".

About your only defense against all of this is to buy 3-5 yr old vehicles after everyone else has tested them out, but then you are always behind the curve as far as tech and safety features goes. Course you don't get the big first years depreciation shaft either. Life...
 

Rogues Gambit

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Remy doesn't have 4auto, but 4hi and taking it easy does the trick.

Wonder how the Amber dogs will be. Was supposed to get Yellow, but I'm not complaining at the mixup
 

Tarheel14

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Seriously... about a week after I got my truck we went snowboarding in UTAH. Had the trip already planned. I have the Bridgestone Dueler tires. I was nervous of course. After we got north of Cedar city the temp really plummeted into the upper 20s. Snow and ice on the road. (I 15). I slowed down to about 55 and put in Auto 4wd. Once we turned off into Parowan the roads were a bit worse but mostly clear. The road going up to BrianHead is windy and has a few steep grades. My truck did just fine. I believe I stayed in Auto4 the whole time and did not engage the locker rearend. Once getting up the hill the roads did have snow and such and the parking lots as well. No problems. I will probably switch to Michelin tires when its time but driving in the snow was fine. I have not been in a blizzard or roads covered in heavy snow.
 

Willwork4truck

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Seriously... about a week after I got my truck we went snowboarding in UTAH. Had the trip already planned. I have the Bridgestone Dueler tires. I was nervous of course. After we got north of Cedar city the temp really plummeted into the upper 20s. Snow and ice on the road. (I 15). I slowed down to about 55 and put in Auto 4wd. Once we turned off into Parowan the roads were a bit worse but mostly clear. The road going up to BrianHead is windy and has a few steep grades. My truck did just fine. I believe I stayed in Auto4 the whole time and did not engage the locker rearend. Once getting up the hill the roads did have snow and such and the parking lots as well. No problems. I will probably switch to Michelin tires when its time but driving in the snow was fine. I have not been in a blizzard or roads covered in heavy snow.
thanks for the report. Did you have any weight in the bed?
 

ammdrew

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ran all last winter with no real issues with one exception.

Drove through Chicago early Dec in a heavy wet snow storm. Truck stopped going into park because of snow build up on the transmission shifter. Not a huge issue except the check engine light and it got pretty angry at every stop. Only took one day after getting home for it to return to normal. Performed well in the heavy snow and am expecting much better this year as we have swapped out those oem tires for something more capable. No issues with air ride in Minnesota -35 to 110
 

Snakes709

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That really is poor service on RAMS part. A bumper to bumper factory warranty is supposed to be pretty much all inclusive unless there is deliberate misuse or its a wear-out part (wipers, tires). Where does it (the nickel and dime'ing the customer) stop?

It's a known issue (the FCA air ride freeze problems) but like many other makes, they decide to try and avoid covering it. So sad. If other industries tried to pull the same crap, people would be all up in arms, yet on a 50-60k (usd) truck, it's "acceptable".

I've often wondered just how many more units a manufacturer would sell if they simply covered the problems during the warranty instead of trying so hard to deny them. Even if they charged the buyer some % more for the vehicle, pretty soon the word would get out that "so and so make covers the issues, so buy that instead of the other".

About your only defense against all of this is to buy 3-5 yr old vehicles after everyone else has tested them out, but then you are always behind the curve as far as tech and safety features goes. Course you don't get the big first years depreciation shaft either. Life...

its that nickle and diming **** that made switch from ram to gmc. My warranty was just up (500kms) when i went in. But they told me to thaw my truck and recharge the nitrogen i would have been charged as warranty wont cover it.
 

JJRamTX

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After our Snow storms here in Colorado last week, the truck with this being the second cold season does fantastic in the snow and slush and even ice. My Air Suspension hasn't had any issues down to -24F so far. I will say that the -30 Windshield washer fluid (Orange) is a necessity at this elevation (7,000 FT) since the blue stuff would freeze. I do get Ice accumulation on the headlights on the edges but not in the beam pattern and just clear it off at each stop.
 

James1414d

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How are you planning on securing the tube sand to the bed to avoid it sliding around? Thinking about going the same route this winter as I'll probably have to roll with the OEM Nexen's.
Haven't thought of that, but I'd imagine they'd stay put if they were laying front to back over the rear axle area.
 

Rowan611

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I’m getting dedicated snow tires for mine. I have a set of 18” rims off a 2019 Ram that they’ll go on. After years of running snows on my cars in MN I won’t ever drive without them. We’re in IA now, but I love watching people spin wheels and slide around with their “all season” tires. While I just drive along with 0 issues.

And, from what I can read about these stock tires....they don’t do so well in snow. But, reading this thread gives me hope about the trucks performance in the snow. I’ll be getting tubes of sand also.


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Snakes709

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I’m getting dedicated snow tires for mine. I have a set of 18” rims off a 2019 Ram that they’ll go on. After years of running snows on my cars in MN I won’t ever drive without them. We’re in IA now, but I love watching people spin wheels and slide around with their “all season” tires. While I just drive along with 0 issues.

And, from what I can read about these stock tires....they don’t do so well in snow. But, reading this thread gives me hope about the trucks performance in the snow. I’ll be getting tubes of sand also.

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winter tires make all the difference. People think just because they have 4x4 or awd that they are good to go. That **** doesnt help you at all with stopping.

When i had my 05 SRT-10 Ram, my coworker laughed at me and said i was stupid for having a 500rwhp truck in canada. Good set of winter tires and 200lbs of sand in the back, I had zero issues. Went to the gym in the morning during a nice snow fall. Watched him try to leave in his f-150, spinning all 4 wheels and a couple guys trying to push him. I drove by laughing out my window. I even did winter autocross with it. Came first in my class, although i was the only one in my class but thats beside the point lol.
 

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aametzger

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Sorry if this is already posted somewhere else, but those of us with ram boxes what about putting weight in them for winter? I think I read somewhere that they can hold 150lbs each side. There is a nice deep spot in the back corner of each ram box that could hold some weights, sandbags etc. thoughts?
 

Willwork4truck

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Sorry don't know about Ramboxes but I'm sure someone will chime in.

Before cell phones and microwaves existed people used their 2 wheel drive cars and trucks to get through snow and mud.
I know 4wd/awd is basically a "required" option on a truck nowadays but somehow people managed in years gone by with just, uhhh, winter tires and weight in the back.
The tires were either put on and taken off seasonally or you just hummmmmmed down the road all year and then bought another set. Nobody much thought about it, you had steer tires on the front and mud grips/snows on the back.

Dads/uncles taught their kids how to drive in the mud/snow. You learned how to use the rear wheel drive to actually get through stuff. Of course we didn't have traction control and stupid computers that braked the spinning wheel. Sometimes you need to get up some momentum and spin your way through, but I digress.
Back under your rock old man...
 

d19r93

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I live in Central MO and I used to have a Ridgeline. When we had our large snow storm this past winter, it did just fine. It slipped a few times on huge hills because it had highway tires. I'm curious how the Bridgestone tires are going to do. I plan to only use 2wd unless we get a lot of snow (which we have in the forecast). We shall see!
 

Pribilof

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Had my Rebel in a lot of deep snow last year and quite a bit this year already. I have 300 lbs of sand (5x 60# bags) in the bed, over the axle. 2WD gets the job done in light snow. 4WD is like driving a tank in snow. Have yet to need to engage the rear locker.

I have my bed divider roughly 18" from the cab. The sand tubes are against it. This prevents the bags from sliding forward during hard braking. No need to keep them from sliding backwards because I'm not flooring the gas.
 

jkm312

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My first 3 trucks were just 2 wheel drive back in the day. When it got really tough going I put the extra weight in the front of the bed with a 2x6 stretched between the bed sides in front of the wheel wells. Held most of the weight on the back axle and kept from taking anything off the front end, which does all the steering and a lot of the braking. On the truly ugly, nasty, why are you out here days, (cause I had to be) I'd just shovel the bed full of it and go for it. Trucks today give us all a leg up from those days. Today it's a 1/3 the truck set up, 1/3 experience and finally the right mind set to respect the limits of what is possible.
 

ChadT

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I have had 6 months of winter experience with my 5th Gen and I can say with great confidence you would have no issues in any form of winter weather. The stock Duratracs are great in snow/slush and the LED headlights and windshield/wipers all performed in all conditions, down to and including -50°c temps.

Hearing about Vader's experiences up North where they have "REAL" winters was valuable to me!

I had a gen4 Ram 1500 rebel, now have a Gen5.
I live in a coastal state that does get a good bit of snow, I've thusfar not run any weight in the bed, and not found anything that gave the truck trouble in 4x4. (ON road anyway).
 

Clayssport

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Anything with an elocker has the open diff when not locked over 30, which means 4wd will be essential in deep deep snow. This and this reason alone is why i passed on the rebel and got a Canadian sport. Ive had 3 rams with antispin and 4auto and they do exceptionally well on northern Canadian winters.
The air suspension problem stems from ice buildup on the control arm sensor. It freezes and the truck dosen't know what height its at and begins to dump nitrogen into the shock, hoping it will find one of its height presets. When it cant it will go through the whole tank of nitro and cook your compressor. I would completely stear clear of air suspension if u live anywhere with heavy snow or freeze/thaw freeze/thaw type of weather.
Heres my Sport/Rebel which is what they are designated as in canada..
20191011_133146.jpg 20191011_133106.jpg
This way i get the antispin, 4wheel auto and the 360 camera system that you cant get in a rebel. Check the build sheet, it even says rebel 12a package on a Canadian Sport.. Love this truck.
Resized_20190928_123431.jpeg
Just my .02$
Cheers
 

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Rowan611

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winter tires make all the difference. People think just because they have 4x4 or awd that they are good to go. That **** doesnt help you at all with stopping.

When i had my 05 SRT-10 Ram, my coworker laughed at me and said i was stupid for having a 500rwhp truck in canada. Good set of winter tires and 200lbs of sand in the back, I had zero issues. Went to the gym in the morning during a nice snow fall. Watched him try to leave in his f-150, spinning all 4 wheels and a couple guys trying to push him. I drove by laughing out my window. I even did winter autocross with it. Came first in my class, although i was the only one in my class but thats beside the point lol.

lol, awesome truck.

Glad I’m not the only person on here who puts snows on their vehicles. I just don’t understand why more people don’t.

The first car I had snows on was a 2003 BMW 330 ZHP. The only thing I couldn’t do was climb the huge hill I lived on. It was almost never plowed. I had to come down it and slide into my drive way. Lol. But, never had any issues driving it around town. Never got stuck. Was blown away.


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