Coming form an tubby awd v8 Explorer, this is my first light pickup.

if its raining, and im stopped, the truck will frequently spin its rear wheels sometimes as far up as 10 mph, even being gentle on the throttle. I can also spin the tires and swing the back end if im not careful accelerating from slow speeds through sharper turns.

its frustrating, because my exploder never did this. While this is occurring around town in the rain, i feel like i might really be in for it once i start heading up to VT for the ski season where everything is covered in hard pack. On hard pack i'll be in 4 high, but i dont feel like i should be needing 4 high in the rain ?!

My first guess was the tires. My tires are 255/70's BF Long Trails, ive had good experiences in the past with BFs on my explorer. These tires have at least 50% tread life left on them too.

when i searched around the forums i found a few posts talking about Traction Bars
http://www.jamesduff.com/broncoII/tracbar.html
Seems like something i might want to look into

all i can think of are: new tires (~$800), traction bars, adding 200 pounds of bed weight for starters

does this regularly happen to you? has anyone eliminated it or at least reduced it?

im def not flooring it off the line or throttling hard, this is under normal wet conditions. does not happen on dry pavement. tips or input welcome, esp regarding the traction bar add on.

 

not to be a dick. but, i'm confident that you can accelerate without spinning if you're a little lighter with your foot. and in the turns, this is a rear-wheel drive, super light pickup, or course if you hit the gas in a curve you'll get it to slide.

put some weight in the bed if you need to, but i don't think traction bars or tires are going to do a whole lot for you in wet conditions. that's just life.

 

no offense taken at all, its a learning curve for me with this truck coming from a much heavier one.

i drive with a light foot and it does it with me, but i became a little more concerned when i was riding shot gun with my g/f and she almost completely lost the back end, i was like uhhh let off the gas, please, on the inside i was about to have a heart attack

 

It happens to me, It was worse when I had my 12.5 tires. It would love to spin them, which is odd to me.

Mine does it in the rain quite often, I just get super light on the gas when it starts to spin.

When I'm hauling hay or something it doesn't unless I get on it. I don't haul hay too often in the rain though.

Id say bed weight for sure, my buddy can squat and lift up the back of mine, that gives you an idea of how light it is. Two average people can lift it. Super light.

Best solution would be lighten up on teh gas, having driven many exploders, they're pigs, I understand how it would be a completely different experience.

 

don't let your gf drive.

 

they are light trucks and prone to spinning tires. a set of good wet weather tires makes a huge difference, look into sipping as well. as far as the truck goes having a Limited slip and a set of James Duff Traction bars helped my truck a ton. I went from a 01 4.0 XLT with an open rear end and no traction bars to my 03 with a LS rear and traction bars and the difference is night and day. its still not as planted as my fiancees V8 expo but it hooks up way better on slick wet roads.

my 2 cents...

 

Thanks Mike
That limited slip is probably key.

Having only owned the truck for 6 months I'm still getting a feel for its differences over my old truck. I think the BF Long Trails have an all season highway tread.

I'm def leaning towards the Duff traction bars

Once windsurfing season is over I'll be using the bed less, I'll put 200 pounds back there

I'll prob order those bars, they seem like a good idea for the money

 

One of the thinks is the rear end is so dang light its easy to spin em. You just gotta learn to ease on the gas. and slow down around corners. its not a sports car.

 

cant see traction bars doing much of anything in this case. get some good tires and put some weight in the box

 

Battery relocation and rear mounted fuel fell or belly tank . . .

 

x2 the traction bars i dont thing will really do much in the rain... i put a shell on my truck and now i have to tr to spin the tires that really helped. that may be an option or you idk if you ever thought about that (they are very useful in the winter, for coverage and traction). but other than that i dont thing you need to get new tires i have nitto terra grapplers and they do fine in the rain and there almost wore out. throw a couple of sand bags back there and be easy ont ehr gas and youll be good. but the beds are super light like stated above

 

I have done a 180 turning left in front of traffic, nothing like backing up into a parking lot to keep from getting smashed head on. That was with fairly new BFG AT's, worst tire I have had except the recalled firestones.

I spin all the time, just needs a lighter touch. A bit of a learning curve too, as far as snow I run a snow tire. Greatly improved traction. After the new converter I have more control off the line to keep from spinning. Not the reason you would install one, but its more fun to drive.

 

Rangers are dangerous in the rain. I have gotten so sideways it scares me sometimes, thus never let anyone drive my truck in the rain. Only 2 people drive my truck my GF (rarely) and my father

 

Have you run them? What didn't you like about them. Mine make all the difference in the world in the rain, and the roads are wet here a lot lol.

 

Same thing happened to me when I first got on the ranger. As soon as it started raining I was swining the rear end all over the road. Now that I got used to the throttle and everything my tires don't spin, unless I want them to.

 

Wirelessly posted

X2

 

I havnt run them but all they do it help stop axle wrap and if you really have that little traction then theres no force there to get axle wrap.
When i bought my truck it had the stock goodyears on it that in the rain doing 50kmh i could spin them now i have 32x11.50 bfg muds and i have to try to spin them, made a huge difference

 

Long trails are garbage tires. Had them on my truck when I bought it, completely made me hate the truck. New tires (Duratracs) and its a totally different beast in foul weather. I would also suggest a 245/75 tire, little more narrow is better on pavement in slick conditions.

You want extra weight, just get a tool box and through a bunch of stuff in it.

 

thank you for that! i think this is what i will do!