Snow stories

Any topics related to 2005-2012 R51

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Kestral
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Snow stories

Postby Kestral » Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:11 pm

Now that the cold winter season is upon us I thought I would share a snow story from last season. It was the night before Christmas... Lol.. Just kidding.. It was one of the big storms we had here in Western Massachusetts sometime in January I can't recall the exact date but my shop was open we sell Canon office equipment. It was snowing real hard since early am but the boss did not want to close the office until sometime in the ofternoon. About 10 am I get a call from a customer wanting to buy a small copier he said he would take it if I could deliver it to his house asap! I said sure no sweat! Never one to pass up a deal I put the copier in the back of my 2012 Pathy put it in 4x4 there was already several inches on the ground. This guy lived about 45 min away it took me 1.5 hrs to get there with traffic and as you all know people have no idea how to drive in the snow even here in the northeast! This guy lived down a real sequleded dirt (now heavy snow covered) road and there was a "Huge!" Hill I went down or should I say partly slid down. The customer helped me in with the copier and I made the deal it took another two hrs between showing him how to use it and getting the check out of him. This guy was real strange like lurch from the Adams Family strange. Now there is about a foot+ of snow on the ground this guy looks at me and says you will not get out of here until about noon tomorrow as that's when my plow truck comes so I will fix you a place to sleep in the den! .. I was like no freeking way am I sleeping in this freaks house! I said thanks but I am going home. He said son you will never make my hill ! .... I said ya won't to bet!

The drive! ... I got in my Pathy put in 4x4 low 3rd gear on the slush box faced the hill and goosed her! I got stuck once near the hill top when a large bunch of snow got hung up under my truck but luckily it was easy to go a few feet down the hill to get the truck unstuck. Anyway I managed to find some traction and got moving the difficult thing was the line of pine trees on one side of the one lane dirt/snow road and the 50+ feet drop off on the other side! Quite frankly it was not easy I pushed the truck real hard that afternoon but I made it back to the highway my 2012 works quite well in the white stuff I must say. Anyway there was no way I was sleeping with Lurch that night! .... Anyone care to share a snow story?


Kestral
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Postby Kestral » Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:33 pm

I thought I would mention that the best defense in the snow is the tires no matter what truck SUV you have if your tires a junk you usually will not fair so good in a snowstorm. I have had many SUV's and do lots of miles so I buy tires quite often not only for my Pathy but all the cars and trucks at our shop including three SUV's. Dedicated snow tires work best but I have had several A/T tires that have worked quite good in the snow from many brands. The R51 Pathy is quite good in the snow though it seems to have better balance on slick roads then my old Jeep Grand Cherokee and it is way better then my 2006 Toyota 4Runner. My 4Runner did not have a button to shut off the traction control and not to mention the fact that the traction control was way too aggressive! You would pull out into traffic give it gas in snow and "Bang!" It would kick in and grind you to a complete stop! Not fun on snow covered roads with cars coming at you!

azaizai
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Postby azaizai » Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:07 am

My decent snow story came last year, about April. In Mid-Missouri we were hit by about 4-6 inches of snow with a freezing rain on top. It was pretty nasty.

I had taken a small group to a rural corner of the state to watch the 100 Acre Wood Rally knowing that snow was on the forecast, but somewhere between leaving and arriving that forecast added the freezing rain.

All in all, pretty eventless during the day. The snow kept piling up and the (brand new) Cooper Discoverer AT3's didnt skip a beat. About 4-5 that night, when the rain hit, all hell broke loose. Spectators sliding off the roads, the Rally coordinators canceled the races and we were stuck in Tim-buck-two with nowhere to go. So I headed home.

So the main highway we would have taken to get home (Interestate 54) was completely closed due to about a 27 car pile-up. So I had to take a smaller 2-lane road home. It took us about 4 hours to drive 100 miles. The plows were focusing on major highways, so most of the stuff we were driving on was relatively untouched. That means a few things. 1) No lane/shoulder lines. 2) No idea if what you're about to hit is snow, ice or snow/ice. 3) If the highway is banked for a turn or if thats just drift.

Needless to say my knuckles were white the whole time.

Anywho, minus the drama..the pathfinder did exceptional, helped in no small part by the brand new tires (and extra weight of 2 additional passengers). Once we got on the highway, I ran 2wd most of the time and was going about 40 mph when I thought I could. On the gravel and small roads, 4HI was all that was really needed. If I ever slipped the traction control was fixing it before I could think about it. I saw the slip light flash a few times, but stopped caring after a bit.

I work at a car dealership, so I get caught up in the vehicle trading game quite a bit...but I think I'm going to stick with the Pathy for a while.

Unless a v8 r51 comes in...

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disallow
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Postby disallow » Thu Nov 05, 2015 7:24 am

Had some fun in snow in my 05. My bro-in-law and I were heading to rural Manitoba to get an older Toyota pickup in someones back 40 for parts. There was already a lot of snow on the ground, well over a foot, and lots of drifts. Had a run of about 400 ft through a pasture area to get to the Toyota which did not run.

Scoped it out, walked it first to make sure there were no fence posts or other obstacles and to see how deep and hard the snow was. After reviewing, decided to give it a go. The farmer wasn't home, but he had a tractor sitting in his yard so I knew if I needed to get pulled out I wouldn't be screwed.

Took about a 50ft run at the field in reverse with 4wd on at about 30MPH, and made it basically as far as I wanted to. Had about 50ft of rope. At the last moment, I did hang the truck up on a snow drift, so had to spend about 30 minutes digging out of that, but once the wheels got traction we were in business. Hooked the rope up to the Toyota and yanked her out of there and towed it home.

It was a blast. I echo Kestrals comments regarding tires. At the time I had LT265/75/16 Bridgestone Dueler REV02s. These were fantastic tires in the snow, and the extra height of the tire added about an inch of clearance to give me a total of about 10" between the bottom of the diff and the ground.

I've since switched to P265/70/16 (my SE came with these from factory) and miss the extra height which made a big difference.

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NmexMAX
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Postby NmexMAX » Thu Nov 12, 2015 2:59 pm

Good times ...



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Kestral
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Postby Kestral » Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:16 pm

Great pix

It looks like the Goodyear Duratracks are good in the snow are they noisy on dry pavement? My sister has a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Seira and she lives on the side of a mountain this may be her next tire.

BCpathy
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Postby BCpathy » Thu Jan 21, 2016 3:12 pm

Well, winter here in BC, Canada is coming close to an end. Or at least a pause. Who knows what's still to come.
Had my/our first winter with the PF and thought I share my experience.

I live up ontop of a very steep driveway that starts with along, narrow curve which turns away from a 10 ft drop. The curve is followed by a steep part (approx. 10%). After about a hundred feet, that hill then eventually stops at a 90 degree turn towards the narrow gate and the cattleguard. It ices up like crazy when temps are just over 0 celsius in the day and it freezes at night.
Last winter, I shoveled until my back ached like hell. EVERY DAY!!!
My wife had to drive the kids around in our late FWD and I wanted to make sure, they get in and out safely.

This winter, we were armed with the PF and a brandnew set of studded Hakkapelitta 8. I decided to not touch the driveway at all, and gave it a shot at first snowfall.
After a few nervous drives down the hill on the nasty snow and Ice mixture, that had build up from driving on the snow, I quickly found out, that the Pathfinder/Hakkapelitta mixture would save me all the shoveling of the previous year.
It has made its way up and down the driveway in snow and Ice for the entire winter, without a single time feeling unsafe. Even when the snow piles up just under ground clearance level, the Pathy easily plows up the driveway like a tank in 4Hi. I didnt need to use 4Lo a single time. I only engaded it a few times, to make sure its functioning.

I should probably mention, that there were other vehicles, that tried to make it the hill. Me in my 2WD truck, and some visitors in AWD SUV's and FWD. All the visitors and my Truck have snow tires. All ended up parking at the bottom of the hill and walked up to the house. For a few weeks, nobody could reach our house, BUT US. One of my buddies made it up here in his 4x4 truck twice. But on both of those days, the driveway wasn't too bad. Some snow, but no mayor ice build up.
Needless to say, my wife is in love with her PF and says she never wants to let it go.

A few mornings at the end of last/start of this year, when we had a good 6 to 8 inches of snow, and I HAD TO get to work at 5.30 in the morning, the side road i live on, had been neglegted by the plow trucks for over a week.
The ice that had build up under the snow snow felt deadly only walking on it. I had left my 2WD truck right down at the gate. This way I though I could take it to work, without having the problem of bringing it safely down the driveway. It didn't even make it out of the spot, I had parked it a few days earlier, So I had to take the wife's PF to work.
Well, what can I say. I wasn't late at work a single time, not even a minute. One morning, the pathfinder plowed its way through snow, that it pushed flat with its belly. I was literally going through more snow, than i had ground clearance for. Still going like a tank that day. I saw several cars in the ditch on my morning commute on those days. There was even one deadly accident only a couple miles from my work place. Right on that same highway I had driven on only shortly before. A SUV went right into the lake, due to slippery road conditions that morning. That same day, I hardly noticed, that I was driving in snow, going over 40 mph, in 2WD. It felt like pavement to me. The hakkapelittas glued the Pathfinder to the road. The was no slipping at all.

I even towed a trailer with firewood, with a total weight of 2500 lbs (I weighed it at the local scales) up the drive 4 times within two days. Excluding the trailer weight, thats a good 7000 or so lbs of wood, that the PF managed to tow up that iced up, snow covered driveway.

I took the PF up into the hills, on a steep logging road, to cut our Christmas tree.
Up there, the road was solid ice. Walking on it was difficult. The kids were having trouble staying on their feet. The PF on her Hakkapelittas made it up and down all those steep graded and sharp turns without trouble. 4Hi and 20 to 30 mph, and the yellow slip light on the dash didnt come on a single time.
In fact, only our cattleguard makes the slip light go of, when its really icy.

Great truck, that has won our hearts after only being with us for half a year. And if anybody is in a situation, similar to mine. Where you have your family traveling in the vehicle by themselves, through neglected roads and up and down VERY steep grades in icy conditions. And especially, when you don't off road in the winter. Then I would strongly advise the factory studded Hakkapelitta 8 tires. Best tire I ever had. And in combination with the Pathfinders 4x4 system, make you unstoppable by snow and ice.

I hope my winter review will assist others in deciding, if the pathfinder is capable of getting you through, more or less harsh, winter condition.

IMO, a clear YES

Jslatts
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Location: Reading, PA

Postby Jslatts » Sun Jan 24, 2016 11:56 pm

Will load full story later once off phone but just dealt with the 26inch snow fall in Reading,PA. Short verison im a volunteer fire fighter so i help anyone i can just in my nature. 2.5hrs and 5 cars pulled out later i returned home from a quick emergency run to walmart (needed dogfood lol my dog dont suffer) hankook ATMs not amazing in snow but def not bad at all hehe

Btw where about in MA is Kestral from? Born and raised in Raynham,MA moved to reading, pa in 08 at the age of 19.

Kestral
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Postby Kestral » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:03 am

Jslatts wrote:Will load full story later once off phone but just dealt with the 26inch snow fall in Reading,PA. Short verison im a volunteer fire fighter so i help anyone i can just in my nature. 2.5hrs and 5 cars pulled out later i returned home from a quick emergency run to walmart (needed dogfood lol my dog dont suffer) hankook ATMs not amazing in snow but def not bad at all hehe

Btw where about in MA is Kestral from? Born and raised in Raynham,MA moved to reading, pa in 08 at the age of 19.
I'm from the Berkshires Hinsdale MA to be exact about 12 miles to the NY border.

Good for you for helping people out in the snow! I find R51 Pathfinders do quite well in the white stuff esp with good rubber.

Kestral
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Snow squalls!

Postby Kestral » Sat Feb 06, 2016 8:26 am

The other day we had a quick big snow squall here in town about a quick 4in of snow on top of wet roads and it was extremely slick! On the way to work there is a long hill and there were cars all over it stuck also two trucks a 4x4 Toyota Tacoma and a new big$$ Land Rover. I decided to help out since I always carry a heavy duty tow strap.

I was more then impressed with my 2012 Pathfinder in 4x4 low I managed to pull several cars and the two trucks out without much fuss. I find the R51 with good tires is quite capable in snow the truck seems to have a real good balance of traction when you need to put the power to the ground.


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