Fishtailing

[ajp80012]

I recently purchased a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. I've never driven a truck before, but have heard about people fishtailing in snowy/icey weather. So they put heavy things in the back to give it some weight. What can I put in the back that won't go banging around but will be heavy enough and will survive the wetness of snow? Any advice would be helpful.

[chevydrummer76]

i know people put sandbags in the bed of their truck. They do that do help get traction........if its icy enough you'll still fish tail, but you'll be able to get going at least with the sandbags.

[Andydg]

Salt bags will work well too.

[domesticdisturbans]

also those plastic ags for pelets ( instead of a fire place some have a pellete stove) those also work well

[Totmacher]

they make a bag that you fill with water to make weight for trucks. It's supposedly strong enough to put pretty heavy loads on top of it. I assume they might have some sort of anti-freeze type stuff to put in it for winter. Sorry I can't remember what it's called. check performanceproducts.com and other places that sell parts/accessories. you might find it.

[CBFryman]

FYI adding weight to the rear may help with traction initially but if yo udo happen to fish tail or spin out around a corner it makes the spin twice as bad...

[speilman]

Personaly, I'd avoid the salt bags, if they rip open, which isn't all that hard to do, they can make a mess of the your truck. And really don't our trucks get enough road salt, without adding to it. I've heard of people just packing the bed with snow, makes for an easy spring cleanup, but makes the bed unuseable through the winter.

[graphicassult]

I wouldn't advise packing with snow at all. Its an "easy" cleanup in the sense that when your drivin down the road the melted snow will fly up on your back window, and if you don't pack it tight enough you'll have a giant ploom of snow following your truck. Plus snow isn't that heavy. I always put tractor weights in my bed, chained down so they don't slide too much. They work extremely well. And fishtailing isn't that hard to avoid. I prefer RWD anyways, i feel its much better in snow, just not if you wanna turn. Salt is bad, sand works pretty well. Or if you can find somethin really heavy toss it in.

[food4me]

Originally Posted by Totmacher

they make a bag that you fill with water to make weight for trucks. It's supposedly strong enough to put pretty heavy loads on top of it. I assume they might have some sort of anti-freeze type stuff to put in it for winter. Sorry I can't remember what it's called. check performanceproducts.com and other places that sell parts/accessories. you might find it.

here's the web site for that bag http://www.shurtrax.com/

[89AccordHatch]

just be careful about putting anything hard in the back. here in NY its illegal to put cinder blocks in the back which people used to do.

[graphicassult]

Illegal in new york for cinder blocks. How gay. Thats states for you though. There are some VERY weird laws. But you might want to check your laws.

[89AccordHatch]

actually, i completely understand the cinder block law, people where using them as weight, but when in an accident, there where cases of them flying through the rear windows and killing the people inside.

[graphicassult]

I guess that could happen, but i always chain my weight down, and people ask me why i do so. Well you can't exactly steal my weight, but i know it'll fly out of there if i were in an accident.

[BleedDodge]

I wouldn't carry anything in the back if I could avoid it. You should be able to make your truck dance without anything in the back. I can, anyway.

A guy I know rolled his truck, and he had a jack-all in the back. The rollover wasn't bad, he would have survived if the jack-all didn't come through the back window and hit him...

[food4me]

i put about 500 pounds in the back of my truck and last night the roads were all ice and i didn't slip once.