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I bought a '97 Ford Explorer for $2k a few days ago, mainly for hauling tools and materials for renovation work on my new triplex.

As it turns out, the 4WD system won't engage properly, and it has two open differentials. Needless to say, it was not very difficult to get it stuck in the snow. Actually, it was quite pathetic. This massive shitbox SUV desperately spinning its tires trying to escape the clutches of ... 6" of snow. It took almost an hour of shovelling, ice picking and pushing to get it out.

In stark contrast, my newly LSD equipped GS-ZE is a monster. I'm running 2 year old winter slaloms that I got used for $300 (< 2000km). I had no trouble getting up hills, over snow banks.. some of which I couldn't even clear (not just exhaust.. the front lip). It just plows through anything.

At one point we considered attaching a tow rope from the front of the MX3 to pull out the truck. Now that would have been funny to see. And I'm sure it would have worked.

NICE, Ive always done pretty good in the MX3 in snow and where I live its very hilly. Even on ice I do alright, But I guess its about the driver too. But I can see your situation with the SUV. We have a 98 GMC Jimmy and the 4x4 went out when we went into town so on the way back, while the roads were progressivley getting worse No 4x4, My Dad ended up getting us stuck, had to call the Girlfriends Dad to get us out with another Jimmy lol.

i drove a jeep last winter, when i bought it i was told the 4x4 worked..i had taken it muddin, through some trails, up some hills, not even knowin the 4x4 wasnt working..until the snow came, and i got stuck on my perfectly flat driveway in about 6 inches of snow..had to get pulled out by my neighbours dodge..was pretty embarassing..so far the mx3's been a champ in the snow

Firstly, snow tires make all the difference, even 4WD can't make up for poor traction from tires that can't grip.

On the flipside, my truck is RWD until kick it in to 4x4, and despite having snow tires, it's not as easy as I would of thought it would of been in 2WD, but it's just the physics, with the rear wheels driving the truck, not only is it lighter and having less weight over the wheels to help with traction, but it needs to push the front tires, and since the front tires aren't helping, they're literally just pushing against the deep snow, almost like a snow-plow effect (that's probably worse with the weight of the 4x4/front drive system, a truck that's 2WD only should do better). Put it in 4x4, and the truck just dominates the snow, but I can feel it when I stop and put it in 2WD...the rear tires basically sink more into the snow and it had a hard time moving, put it back into 4x4, and it just pulls itself out with ease.

Now, with FWD, I've had snow tires on the 626 and Mx-3, and they've gotten me through anything, and I would say that those cars in deep snow did better than the Xterra does in 2WD. With FWD, the weight is over the drive wheels, and they're up front; they dig into the deep snow and uses that to pull itself forward. The rear wheels just follow in the path that the front wheels make. The Escape, although it's AWD, is naturally FWD, and the rear wheels kick in only when the fronts lose traction (or you turn them on), but as far as I can tell, even in FWD-mode, it does an awesome job as well with ease.

The benefit with RWD, is the fun of power drifting and doing donuts

But you can never match 4WD drifts in snow. Right after a snowfall I take my parent's Escape, put it in 4wd and just go nuts. I love how you can go almost 90 degrees while still being in complete control, which the passengers never realize. Although I admit I did sideswipe a few soft snowbanks when I was still learning, but no damage so it's all good.

The MX3 is another story though, once it gets moving it's unstoppable, but getting it to start moving is really hard sometimes.

Your front wheel locks may just need to be cleaned and lubricated. Mine would get water in the bearing/mechanism and it would then freeze and my wheels wouldn't engage. I'd completely repack the front end and it would work fine. I learned to stop driving through rivers and into lakes to dive off the tail gate. lol

Daninski wrote:Your front wheel locks may just need to be cleaned and lubricated. Mine would get water in the bearing/mechanism and it would then freeze and my wheels wouldn't engage. I'd completely repack the front end and it would work fine. I learned to stop driving through rivers and into lakes to dive off the tail gate. lol

The '95+ don't use em anymore. It's fulltime AWD with a computer controlled transfer case and it looks like the clutch mechanism stopped working. I'm gonna tear it out and take a look as soon as the weather improves.

I have found 4x4 on bald tires goes further than 2x4 on any tires.

My explaination is that in true 4x4, all wheels are driving, none are creating only friction. The only force working against the vehicle (at low speeds of course) is the terrain that it has to drive up and over.

Wheras the RWD or FWD has to push or pull on set of entirely useless tires, which likely nearly cancells the pulling power of the drive wheels. Not to mention open diffs are useless.

Espeically true when you're already stuck.

Your probably right, however I've never and my parents would never let our tires get to that point in terms of wear and maintenance, and we're also advocates of season-specific tires.

The only thing that I'd argue is the FWD's rear wheels...they may be useless but they follow the path created from the front tires, so there's much less friction compared to the front tires on a RWD vehicle that need to literally plow and put themselves through deep snow.

Mad Cow wrote:But you can never match 4WD drifts in snow. Right after a snowfall I take my parent's Escape, put it in 4wd and just go nuts. I love how you can go almost 90 degrees while still being in complete control, which the passengers never realize.

Lol, i was the same way last year, the Escape was soo much fun. I honestly haven't done any 4WD drifting in the Xterra, partially for the fact that I have to lock and unlock my hubs and it has alot more front pull than the Escape does, but the main thing is that it's 1000lbs heavier than the Escape, so throwing around a 4000lb truck is alot more precarious.

One thing that I do perfer is FWD...man, I would fly *into* a corner completely sideways. Gotta love the e-brake

Daninski wrote:Your front wheel locks may just need to be cleaned and lubricated. Mine would get water in the bearing/mechanism and it would then freeze and my wheels wouldn't engage. I'd completely repack the front end and it would work fine. I learned to stop driving through rivers and into lakes to dive off the tail gate. lol

For most 4x4 trucks where the front wheels aren't engaging, it's either one of 2 things....it's either never used 4x4 and the system seized, or it's from the lack of maintenance combined with heavy use.

my MX was terrible in the bad weather until I got some nice snow tires + sandbags. Now I can drive though anything with no problems.

Nd4SpdSe wrote:One thing that I do perfer is FWD...man, I would fly *into* a corner completely sideways. Gotta love the e-brake

lol.. for real. I am the master of hand brake turns. Whenever there aren't any cars nearby I'll often do a u-turn into a parking spot on the other side of a narrow road (too narrow for a u-turn) by hand-brake turning into the spot I want. Then calmly, get out, with my shades and leather gloves, hit the alarm arm/remote keylock (chirp chirp), and walk away. hahaha

I work part time at a hog barn, and they have a loop. I always take it on my way out, 4 right turns and right after the last right, a left.

Drift the first three, and drift right and flip over to a left on the last one. Its sexy.

I also slide into my parking spot at home. I loose it if I'm trying to do a 90 turn going more than 50. (Big snowbank )

Getting U turns right is hard too, so you don't wind up going backwards. If you move backwards during your turn = noob