Going to work this morning I hit the ramp a little hot, black ice, back end of the Ranger steps out, I [over] correct, find myself going down the ramp backward looking at headlights, correct again doing a 180' and punch front end first into a snow bank.
This thing is so stinking light in the rear end, a 2WD 4cyl stick. I'm thinking of swapping this thing out for a 4WD Toyota or something. Right now it's in the truckie hospital because I think the fuel pump switch tripped, it won't start.
So the answer is not MIata, and not my wife's "JUST SLOW THE HELL DOWN" response, what to buy?
Dan
Some weight for the bed, and some Hankook Winter i-Pikes
I don't get it...you've already got a Samurai...
I'm assuming you need a pickup. If I were looking for a 4 wheel drive light pickup: Toyota, hands down.
Clem
A load of firewood in the back when it snows.
old running ski-doo (old enough to have bogie wheel suspension). That way if you DO get stuck, you can just drive it out of the bed and be on your way. Worked in my Ranger more than once.
I've got studded snows and two sand tubes tied down in back.
BTW this is the same vehicle my wife beaked into a guard rail just a month or so ago. It's been an expensive winter so far. May I shoud just slow down......
Bwahahahahaha That's funny! I crack me up.
My brother uses a couple of cinder blocks in his Ranger, He also drives like a 90 year old women so that may help. He's very frustrating to ride with though because he's never come within 5 mph of a speed limit.
Uh well lets see, how to put this...if you are speeding on icy roads you are an idiot. Slow down before you kill yourself or someone else. Its just like all those idiots down in Portland that think they can drive at the same speeds on ice covered roads as they do normally and surprise surprise they hit guard rails, other cars, people, trees and god knows what else.
The answer is use your freaking brain.
Glad you're okay but please be careful. People Do rant on this board about others' inability to drive. You don't want to be thrown into that category.
The fuel pump cutoff switch on your truck should be located on the passenger side kick panel. You should only have to push in the red button to get it to work again.
Snow tires. Doesn't matter what they're mounted on. Snow tires.
The only way to speed on ice. 
http://www.nordicskater.com/speedsk8.html
The answer is Miata with snow tires.
I was looking at a I4/5Spd 2wd ranger, if I had gotten it , she would have 500# of salt in the bed and a power trax locker in the diff.
Instead i ended up with another neon, I already know what those can do in the snow.
Keith wrote:
Snow tires. Doesn't matter what they're mounted on. Snow tires.
Snow tires only help to a point but if you are driving like an idiot you are still going to wreck. Especially when you don't have enough weight on the rear end. In my full size Ram I have close to 500 lbs sitting above my rear axel and that not including my truck box that is always back there. Studs are still legal here unlike some place and I have seen people with those still wrecking on the ice because of how they were driving. The ONLY thing that is going to save you while driving is using your head and slowing down.
i guess studded snow tires don't make you invincible just like 4x4 doesn't make you invincible.
You can wreck on a warm sunny day with R-compounds if you drive like an idiot. There's no cure for that.
But snow tires will give you more traction than non-snow tires in the snow. Not just in acceleration, but in cornering and braking. They're not just a marketing tactic. Studs aren't any use in the snow, those are for ice.
Strizzo wrote:
i guess studded snow tires don't make you invincible just like 4x4 doesn't make you invincible.
I have been able to spin all 4 with studded snows on ice last year in my friends driveway.
Wally wrote:
My brother uses a couple of cinder blocks in his Ranger,
Bad. I met a girl at a Christmas party that did a ditch dive with her El Camino SS, she hit the seat, cinder blocks came in the rear window, out the windshield.
Tie 'em off or find another plan...
rebelgtp wrote:
Uh well lets see, how to put this...if you are speeding on icy roads you are an idiot. Slow down before you kill yourself or someone else. Its just like all those idiots down in Portland that think they can drive at the same speeds on ice covered roads as they do normally and surprise surprise they hit guard rails, other cars, people, trees and god knows what else.
The answer is use your freaking brain.
he knows how the drive in the snow. He lives in upstate ny..
calm down chucklehead.
I lived in rochester ny had a 4wd ranger with weight in the bed but still tapped a railing, I was fooling aroudn though..
living in upstate ny, especially by the lakes teaches you how to drive in the snow and how to live it in.. Hell.. My wife grew up there and even though the place can get over 200" of snow a year she can count on one hand all the times school was cancelled from grade school through college.
Keith wrote:
You can wreck on a warm sunny day with R-compounds if you drive like an idiot. There's no cure for that.
But snow tires will give you more traction than non-snow tires in the snow. Not just in acceleration, but in cornering and braking. They're not just a marketing tactic. Studs aren't any use in the snow, those are for ice.
Yep you are right studs help on ice, what the op hit while driving like an idiot. As you stated there is no cure if you are driving like an idiot.
Oh and ignorant you are once again living up to your name. Just because someone lives somewhere that get snow and ice does not mean they know how to drive in it. Obviously the OP doesn't otherwise he would not have hit the off ramp "a little hot", when there is ice on the roads. That is kinda like saying just because someone owns a long gun they are a marksman, or they have a sports car they know how to handle the car.
A perfect example I live in the Pacific Northwest, it rain out here quite a bit (maybe you have heard), you would think that people that have lived out here all their lives would know how to drive on roads with lots of standing water and in heavy rains. Oddly enough every time that it rains by golly there are all of a sudden all these wrecks because some idiot was speeding in the rain. But surely because they live in the NW means they should be able to drive in the rain right? I means its not like driving in ice and snow...right?
ugh.. because people never make mistakes we should ridicule those who do..
and you should call me ignorant because I know more back story than you.. but that's ok..
ignorant wrote:
ugh.. because people never make mistakes we should ridicule those who do..
Hmmm lets see by his own words he hit the ramp fast, by what he says his wife told him that he needs to slow the hell down. That statement right there tells us he has had issues with speeding before, he out right refuses to slow down (he even says so). You know that gives me enough back story to know he needs to think when driving and slow down.
Oh and I've made mistakes, I've slid on ice it was because I was going to fast, you know what? I slowed down when driving on ice, and it didn't take anyone else telling me to slow down either.
I've had friends killed because of how idiots drive. I've been hit because of people driving like idiots on bad roads. I've watched idiots speed down roads covered in ice that pass by school zones and parks filled with kids playing in the snow.
.
wally said:
My brother uses a couple of cinder blocks in his Ranger
That reminds me of a buddy of mine in highschool. He had a ratty old datsun 210? wagaon, that he complained about constantly. Particularly about the way it handled it was too "tail happy". To fix it he piled in a couple of cinder blocks into the trunk (unsecured!).
When riding with him one day (on a dirt back road) he tried to catch air off of a section that had slid a little and had a exceptionally large whoop in it... He didn't actually catch any air but the cinderblock sure did.
Luckly for us it chose to exit through the rear window. 
The funny thing is his rear tires were bald. I had told him that was why he was experencing handeling problems but he had not listened to me. When he finaly got around to replacing the tires he would not shut up about how big a difference they made...
--> back on topic.. It sounds like the OP already has studded snows and some weight in the back so yes, slowing down sounds like the next most logical option.
It sounds like he is aware of that too...
Sometimes when your posting stuff on forums, in trying to make the post interesting or amusing, it is easy to come across as being a bigger idiot than you really are, or a bigger shiny happy person than you had originally intended. We all do it and I don't think any more flaming of the OP is really nessisary
Edit: curse you spelling and grammar... I know its still not right...
