Driving through 2 feet of snow

[fogby]

My JL Rubicon is far and away the worst "four wheel drive" vehicle I've ever driven in the snow, no exaggeration, It's terrible. My xDrive 4 series BMW does better.

I used to routinely drive through 2 feet of snow, or more, in my 4Runner and it never had any issues. I'd drive through this field to make a path so I could walk the dog. My JL would not have made it six feet in even half that much snow - I tried.

Why do you think the Rubicon was the worst? What technical characteristics make it worse than the 4series?

Sponsored

 

[Deviant]

Why do you think the Rubicon was the worst? What technical characteristics make it worse than the 4series?

Too light, tires too wide, not enough weight in the back, CG too high? Not sure what it is but it's noticably worse than other 4x4 or AWD cars I've driven. It slides a lot on the road and I've gotten stuck in snow that my 4Runner would have laughed at.

Maybe the JLU is better or maybe narrower winter tires would fix it. But my 2dr is the suck in the snow.

 

[fogby]

Too light, tires too wide, not enough weight in the back, CG too high? Not sure what it is but it's noticably worse than other 4x4 or AWD cars I've driven. It slides a lot on the road and I've gotten stuck in snow that my 4Runner would have laughed at.

Maybe the JLU is better or maybe narrower winter tires would fix it. But my 2dr is the suck in the snow.

Thanks a bunch. We're moving to CO mountains before winter and am likely getting a 2dr Rubi. This is good info to know. You're reasoning makes sense. We have a Land Cruiser and it looks like that'll be the vehicle of choice during snow fall.

 

[MileHigher]

Ask Monday. We are supposed to get 1-3 feet of snow over the weekend...

 

[Hogdreamer]

Rode in a friend's 2018 JLUR this January while in Wisconsin ice fishing. I was shocked at how poorly it handed the snow and ice. Got stuck in about 4 inches of snow as the base was packed and slippery. Not unusual in a 2 wheel drive car but this WAS a Rubicon. The King of off road vehicles.

My Liberty is much better than that Rubicon in snow. The best vehicle I ever owned for snow was my Dodge Ramcharger with full time 4 wheel drive. I tried but could never get it stuck in snow.

When I ordered my JL last month I went with a Sahara Altitude with the full time 4 wheel which of course comes with the LSD. I expect it to handle snow much better than that Rubicon.

Why? I think the Rubicon tires are too aggressive for snow. The lockers are great for crawling over rocks, not so great when you're in 4 wheel high when they can't be locked. (I believe you can now have the differentials locked at higher speeds on the 21 Rubicon which may help)

Plus any JL or JLU aren't that heavy compared to vehicles of yesteryear. The transfer case alone on my Ramcharger weighed a ton. I found that out when I replaced the transmission. No aluminum case on that baby. Making a vehicle light for gas mileage hurts its traction in snow.

Granted, my time in that Rubicon was limited. Maybe the snow situation we were in was the perfect storm for bad traction. I actually expected that JLUR to handle snow like it had blow torches in front of each tire melting it into a pool of water and splashing through it. I was extremely disappointed.

 

[Headbarcode]

Long Island rounded out its winter season with 2 decent sized storms, each of which dropped upwards of a foot in some areas. I've operated heavy equipment, for the last couple of decades, that gets deployed after the push plows get overwhelmed. That tends to pull me out during the worst traveling time before the roads are cleared. It also happened to be my 1st experience with the jeep in snow.

I've test driven a slew of Saharas, back when I was comparing motors, but all that was in the warmer months. However, my previous vehicle was a Nissan Juke with both standard and torque vectoring awd, which is comparable to the function of selectrac. With a fresh set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires, that car was unstoppable in the snow. Its only limiting factor was how much I wanted to risk damage to the front bumper cover and grill. It required only minimal driver engagement, because it handled all the thinking and all I had to do was not aim for a tree or another vehicle.

The Rubicon actually handled pretty well, as long as I was paying closer attention to reading the road and the type of snow I was going through. If I didn't shift in or out of 4h early enough, things got squirrelly, but all in all it did great and I found that 4wd wasn't needed as much as I originally expected. Also, I never locked axles and had Trac kill engaged to completely shut off the nannies (via the Tazer Mini). Again, the big difference is the amount of driver engagement. I kept the radio low or off, and kept a closer watch on the road, snow type, and the tach to guage wheel spin.

Although the Rubicon served me well, I'll still admit that the Juke had a lot of qualities that add up to a noticeably more composed snow rider. I once broke 80mph in over a foot of unplowed snow on the long Island expressway, without breaking a sweat. As kinda stupid as it was, I would be an imbecile to attempt that with my Rubicon. It's simply not setup for being the hare in that situation. Tortoise is the the key to winning the snow race.

A tad longer than planned, but at least I broke it into paragraphs. Hahaha!

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Thanks a bunch. We're moving to CO mountains before winter and am likely getting a 2dr Rubi. This is good info to know. You're reasoning makes sense. We have a Land Cruiser and it looks like that'll be the vehicle of choice during snow fall.

The Land Cruiser is an excellent vehicle to own around here. Just get tires that are 3PMSF rated and you’ll do great in the vast majority of conditions. (3PMSF - 3 Peaks Mountain Snow Flake)

Ask Monday. We are supposed to get 1-3 feet of snow over the weekend...

Starting to look like 2-4 feet in the Boulder area. It’s gonna be an interesting weekend.

 

[rallydefault]

Yea, kinda going with some other people in the thread recently, my JLU has been... pretty good in the snow, but far from the best vehicle I've had in it. That honor would go to my little Renegade; that thing just ate snow for breakfast. The only limit on that puppy was the snow being deeper than the front bumper. It would just handle so solidly in the snow, like that's what it was born in lol

I've been through four winters with my JLU now and it just doesn't feel as confident in the snow, unfortunately. I don't have the full-time system, so you have to be really on top of when you go to 4hi. It just takes a lot more attention and seems more prone to swinging around, which is obviously not fun when driving in the snow.

Now, just crawling along on snow-covered trails and stuff in 4lo, then yea a wrangler is awesome at that. But road and highway driving with significant amounts of snow has been way more iffy than I thought it would be.

 

[Traktor31]

Too light, tires too wide, not enough weight in the back, CG too high? Not sure what it is but it's noticably worse than other 4x4 or AWD cars I've driven. It slides a lot on the road and I've gotten stuck in snow that my 4Runner would have laughed at.

Maybe the JLU is better or maybe narrower winter tires would fix it. But my 2dr is the suck in the snow.

I have always been told the 2 door wranglers arent good in snow because of the short wheelbase, it slides around a lot. I am not saying if its true or just some assumption made by people, but I feel like I have been told that all the time over the years.

 

[Traktor31]

Yea, kinda going with some other people in the thread recently, my JLU has been... pretty good in the snow, but far from the best vehicle I've had in it. That honor would go to my little Renegade; that thing just ate snow for breakfast. The only limit on that puppy was the snow being deeper than the front bumper. It would just handle so solidly in the snow, like that's what it was born in lol

I've been through four winters with my JLU now and it just doesn't feel as confident in the snow, unfortunately. I don't have the full-time system, so you have to be really on top of when you go to 4hi. It just takes a lot more attention and seems more prone to swinging around, which is obviously not fun when driving in the snow.

Now, just crawling along on snow-covered trails and stuff in 4lo, then yea a wrangler is awesome at that. But road and highway driving with significant amounts of snow has been way more iffy than I thought it would be.

Another assumption but, has anyone put dedicated snow tires on their JLU in winter and done some snow highway/regular driving? My guess is that it is going to make a world of difference compared to any other type of tire.

 

[rallydefault]

My guess is that it is going to make a world of difference compared to any other type of tire.

Oh absolutely, 100% Tires are your greatest tool when driving in snow.

I have a friend who has owned a Celica (I forget what year) all his life. He throws snow tires on that thing every winter and he's never had a problem. He's not romping through totally unplowed snow or anything, but the stuff most people get on the roads after the plows have been through hasn't posed any issues to him.

It just goes back to every time there's a thread on here about being unstoppable with a 4x4 vehicle in the snow, you always have to chime in with the common sense stuff: 4x4 doesn't make you invincible. Your tires are your most important tool, followed by driver skill and experience. But even here in PA, there are plenty of people who have never owned a 4x4 vehicle and they've never had issues getting around in the snow in their Corollas and Cavaliers and whatever.

 

[Crawldad]

tire chains ftw

or if you have 5k to spend:

 

[MrMischief]

Maybe the JLU is better or maybe narrower winter tires would fix it. But my 2dr is the suck in the snow.

Can confirm. Every Wrangler-style Jeep I have owned has not been great on snow/ice. Don't get me wrong, I was always able to get through, but the short wheel base makes it much more of an adventure. My JL is the best Wrangler-style Jeep I have owned for snow/ice, but my Commander was much better and my Ram 1500 while probably not as capable was much more stable feeling due to its long wheel base. I've never owned a 4 door Wrangler, but just due to the extra weight and length I expect it to be better on snow/ice than a 2 door. 2 doors are great for going over rocks, or around trees, not so great when you're trying to get to the mall on snow packed and icy roads.

 

[aldo98229]

Just don’t be this guy

 

[Headbarcode]

Just don’t be this guy

Sponsored