Ben Swann and his driveway

[Cody Forbes]

They key is that there is no such thing as zero traction unless the  
wheels are off the ground. Even on damp ice an AWD would have twice as  
much go power. Friction is always there, just sometimes it is overcome  
by gravity if on a slope.

Sometimes it's still not enough, but I have not yet found a snow nor  
ice situation I couldn't get my 5000tq out of. I know we get a  
laughable amount of snow here compared to many of you guys, but  
considering that I spent last weekend driving in 6" on summer tires  
with about 1/4 tread left I'm pretty impressed. We ALMOST got stuck in  
a muddy field that was covered in melting deep icy snow, but was able  
to get out without getting my feet wet after just a few minutes.

-Cody (mobile)

On Feb 7, 2010, at 6:09 PM, "urq" <urq at pacbell.net> wrote:

> ... beg to differ on the "no difference between 2WD and AWD"  
> comment ... I
> think it has been proven pretty conclusively that "traction" for a 2WD
> vehicle is different than "traction" for an AWD vehicle.  I agree  
> that for
> braking there is little difference, but even there you might be able  
> to stop
> better in snow with an AWD with locked diffs.
>
> I'll never forget the Christmas my now wife and I drove the urq up  
> to her
> sister's cabin outside Pollock Pines in the Sierra Nevada  
> mountains.  Of
> course her sister's family had a couple SUVs ... and all the other  
> family
> members got a ride up from the grocery store in town.  The last  
> stretch of
> the road was uphill and unplowed, and the urq isn't known for high  
> ground
> clearance ... AND I couldn't find a set of chains when I left town,  
> so we
> were driving on Gatorbacks.  The rest of the drive was plowed and  
> perfectly
> acceptable for the tires I had.  There was one stretch where I  
> almost ended
> up high centered, but I found that if I rode the edge of the ruts a  
> bit I
> could continue to get traction.
>
> Of course leaving was a bit of a different story.  Urq's aren't  
> known for
> liking to start in the COLD cold, and all 4 wheels had compressed  
> the snow
> beneath them to ice.  When I went down to Placerville to by chains I  
> had to
> dig the ice out from under all 4 tires and was back on the way.
>
> The other thing that mystifies me a bit is where do you put that  
> sand?  I
> guess you shovel it on the road?  I'm pretty sure the Plymouth is a  
> FWD ...
> which already puts the weight where you want it.
>
> Steve Buchholz
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> I think you will be amazed at the difference, it is all about ground
> clearance.  About 15 years ago, I had a '89 turbo Plymouth Minivan.  
> I never
>
> measured the ground clearance, it was significant, it would pull out  
> of just
>
> about any amount of snow. That was with just M&S tires. Not to  
> mention that
>
> carrying 1/2 a ton of sand for really bad spots was no problem.  As  
> to the
> AWD's, if there is no traction for 2 wheels, there is no  traction  
> for 4.
>
> Tom Faust
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