Looks fun! I can tell from the pics, just about no one was aired down low enough. get down to 5-10 psi for the snow. You will see a huge difference. (Except that mall crawler... Theres no hope for 20s)This past Sunday - I met up with the local Bronco group for a drive up to the snow - well, we expected to be done by 2 or 3 pm.. we didn't finish the trail until almost 7:30pm.. I didn't get home until almost 10pm.. things did NOT go as planned... but it was a good learning experience, and of course, I got photos and video.. the video is a little longer than I usually like - but there was a lot of content.
There were definitely quite a few recoveries that day, largely a result of a few factors:
1: Rig setup: Not having a front locker - this is a necessity in snow like this
2: Rig setup: Not having appropriate tires- there was a Non-Sasquatch bronco that kept high centering on the snow - with how deep it was, definitely needed the taller tires. Also, there was a Jeep running on mall-crawler tires that had no business being in the snow - he got stuck about every 50 feet for a while.
3: technique: people going too aggressive on the gas when trying to make progress, they just spun tires and got stuck
4: technique: not maintaining momentum going through the deep snow
5: technique/trail etiquette: the more appropriately equipped vehicles in the front of the group didn't pay attention to the people behind them, resulting in the first 2/3 of the group quickly moving away from the rear 1/3 of the group, causing us to have an ill-equipped bronco inadvertently becoming our lead vehicle, and we couldn't get around him to help when he got stuck.
As far as recovery gear - between several of us, we had a few kinetic ropes and soft shackles, which made it quick and easy to pull people out when they got stuck in a snowbank. We also had some shovels and traction boards (I don't think the traction boards EVER worked for us though).
As far as GOAT modes - I didn't use the goat modes - I put it in 4H with rear locker activated for most of it.. .a couple times I activated both front and rear lockers, and in some of the really deep and wet stuff I went to 4L with both lockers activated (and I disconnected sway bar for as much of it as I could too, just to help with ride quality). I was aired down to 15psi, and I personally never got stuck, but next time will probably go to 10-12 psi for the snow. As far as how the tires did in the snow - this is probably my 4th or 5th time going to the snow, and every time I've been REALLY impressed with how the stock sasquatch tires do in the snow. as far as traction control, I really played that by ear.. I turned it off for a while when I wanted to play and get sideways, back on when I needed the help... back off if I felt like it was hindering my ability to give throttle (and maybe spin a tire or two) if needed to get through deep stuff
When we got done with the trail, I was helping one of the other guys air his tires back up after I aired mine up, and I realized how much of a pain in the butt it is to get to the valve stems on the stock SAS wheels with the bead lock beauty ring in the way... another reason I'm glad I put aftermarket wheels on!
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