Deep Snow – Just had to try! (on Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 snow winter tires)

[MikeUtah]

It snowed 20” while at work yesterday and normally under those conditions when I get home, I walk up the driveway and grab the plow truck. Well, I was ‘lazy’ and said what the hell! I wanted to see just how far I could get up the driveway. To my surprise, I made it on the second attempt! Two videos attached.
Setup:

• 4H
• Multi-Terrain Select (MTS) set to Deep Snow
• Transmission ‘S’ mode set 1st gear
• Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 tires

Sponsored

 

[Four Runner]

Pretty impressive

 

[Minnesota4Runner]

Hell yea!

 

[BadTrainDriver]

MikeUtah wins the "driving in the snow in your 4Runner" contest!!!

 

[Nodak]

its all fun and games until you get the wheels packed with snow and you try to drive faster than 45 mph

but it was still fun though

 

[Dr_Al]

Snow id a funny thing. I've used the wife Rav4 to plow through 15 inches with success and other times 6" is too much. My driveway is uphill too so I always see how far I can make it. One of the biggest issues I have is snow flying over the hood and the light from the headlights reflecting off of it makes it impossible to see. If you didn't get it from the factory I would add a rear locker. With one you'll be amazed just how well you can climb. I bet you were smiling as you plowed your way through the snow. I know I do.

 

[BonRunner]

could've switch to 4L and slowly craw up. No need to gun it

 

[127.0.0.1]

I've done that stuff dozens of times in trucky ('13 tacoma) and sqweeks ('99 4runner)
not interested in doing it to sqweeks2 ('25) it's not my official woods buggy yet

always have a shovel with me 'cuz eventually it'll float up and lose contact
need to shovel out the underside so wheels can touch again

 

[MikeUtah]

Having lived at this location for 25 years, I know if the snow conditions are "Sierra Cement", and as Nodak pointed out, packing the wheels can be a real problem!

Even with “Utah Champagne Powder”, and as 127.0.0.1 pointed out, floating up is an issue. In this case, I was ‘feeling’ the float as the skid plates compressed the snow under the truck. I always carry a shovel and recovery gear.

If or should I say when I have gotten really stuck in "Sierra Cement" on my driveway or near by, I rescue myself with my 1990 Ram plow truck, chained on all fours (can be seen in the video, covered with snow).

I do wish the 2025 4Runner came with the ability to use the rear locker in 4H. My wife’s Wildtrac Bronco has that ability.

 

[127.0.0.1]

you can override the locker and make it engage in 4HI or 2HI...but it is
not recommended. vehicles that can do this from factory usually have
beefier axles, splines, and diffs to handle those forces. 4runner is meant to be 4LO
only and low speed...street speeds and rear locker something might snap if that is done excessively

 

[OnePunchPan]

Dumb question but would you recommend a skid plate for this type of driving?

 

[MikeUtah]

Dumb question but would you recommend a skid plate for this type of driving?

Not a dumb question!

Yes, skid plates are a must in most deep snow situations.
1). While the snow can be soft "Champagne Powder ", you never know if there is a large hard chuck of ice or a rock imbedded in the snow. In my case living in the mountains, we get rocks rolling onto the road on a regular basis. In addition, the snow plows regularly create large berms at the edge of the driveway that I have bust through, often with ice chunks imbedded.
2). As mentioned above, a truck can 'float' in deep snow. Meaning the truck is essentially 'high centered' on the snow. In this case, the snow under the truck is holding the weight of the truck. I'm not too keen on this type of situation without a skid plate.
3). I guess if you are driving in a large 'clean' parking lot with 20" of soft powder, it is unlikely you would damage anything. However, bring a shovel!

Just my 2-cents!

 

[OnePunchPan]

Not a dumb question!

Yes, skid plates are a must in most deep snow situations.
1). While the snow can be soft "Champagne Powder ", you never know if there is a large hard chuck of ice or a rock imbedded in the snow. In my case living in the mountains, we get rocks rolling onto the road on a regular basis. In addition, the snow plows regularly create large berms at the edge of the driveway that I have bust through, often with ice chunks imbedded.
2). As mentioned above, a truck can 'float' in deep snow. Meaning the truck is essentially 'high centered' on the snow. In this case, the snow under the truck is holding the weight of the truck. I'm not too keen on this type of situation without a skid plate.
3). I guess if you are driving in a large 'clean' parking lot with 20" of soft powder, it is unlikely you would damage anything. However, bring a shovel!

Just my 2-cents!

I appreciate you good sir ! Will be adding skid plates that can hold the truck's weight to my list of needs !

 

[127.0.0.1]

Not a dumb question!

Yes, skid plates are a must in most deep snow situations.
1). While the snow can be soft "Champagne Powder ", you never know if there is a large hard chuck of ice or a rock imbedded in the snow. In my case living in the mountains, we get rocks rolling onto the road on a regular basis. In addition, the snow plows regularly create large berms at the edge of the driveway that I have bust through, often with ice chunks imbedded.
2). As mentioned above, a truck can 'float' in deep snow. Meaning the truck is essentially 'high centered' on the snow. In this case, the snow under the truck is holding the weight of the truck. I'm not too keen on this type of situation without a skid plate.
3). I guess if you are driving in a large 'clean' parking lot with 20" of soft powder, it is unlikely you would damage anything. However, bring a shovel!

Just my 2-cents!

yep. back when my '99 4r limited was pretty new, I went bombing around in snow like that and was going into and out of plowed snowbanks. mighty fun...then skkkkriiittttchhhh I straddled a low rock wall that got taller and I high centered the rock wall lengthwise.

oopsy daisy

I was able to fiddle 4wd-lo-locker my way off the wall and checked underneath and my gas tank skid was mashed up and touching the tank. stuck a crowbar in one of the holes of the factory skid and pried it back. front skid, tranny skid, and gas tank skid had new gouges.... but all good it loved it.

No need for skid if you know 100% the snow won't have chunks, rocks, or pieces of logs in there...[or sticks that could pierce a cv boot] it's just water and won't rip cv joints or break pans....but in reality there is rarely super clean snow 'out and about' unless you really know the trail and are familiar with what was there before it snowed.

Sponsored