HMMWV in the Snow?

Anyone have experience using their Hmmwv in the snow? Would love to hear feedback. Avoid? Runs great? Slips all over the place? I've seen H1s in the snow, what should I expect?

I live in ND and although this year we have so little snow its really wonderful. But ok back to your question, going through snow generally depends on a few things, 1, being ground clearance, the more you have the better and I am talking about REAL ground clearance like how high up are your differentials etc. 2. is weight of the vehicle, you want the vehicle to be fairly substantial weight is good when it comes to snow 3. tires fairly narrow deep tread is a very good design for a true snow tire, but if you have crappy tires then either replace then of better yet get chains, I hate them but they have saved my butt more than I care to admit! The Hummer does pretty well in all categories, the only question mark I have is the stock tires, they seem a little wide for snow use, wide tires especially trucks with duals really stink in the snow and you can push them hard or you will tear something up because of the wheel hop!
Just my opinion from driving in snow for the last 45 years!
KK

Karl kostman said:

I live in ND and although this year we have so little snow

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Winter (the solstice) doesn't "officially" even start for another few days, but I'm guessing what you mean is that by now you all have plenty of snow usually.

Is your area of ND one of those June/ July/ Winter parts of the country?

I drive my humvee all year round here in Canada. The only things that truly suck are the heater and the tires. I find the knobby tires don't perform well on the frozen road surfaces and are prone to locking up easily and sliding which can be scary when you've got the momentum to deal with and objects in front to potentially collide with. On a good note, more than once i've been forced off of the road- once intentionally to avoid a collision, and a couple of times due to loss of traction- and each time i merely powered into the ditch and back out again at a place of my choosing with little difficulty. Mind you i live somewhat rural so i could get away with that. I've also helped out a few unlucky motorists by pulling them out of the ditches.

My impreza was a snow beast. The hummer is a snow pig.. Get some matt tracks and you're unstoppable. http://youtu.be/mkleAMR3IyI

Another ahab I cant help but chuckle a bit at your comment concerning our weather! Before I restored my Deuce I did drive it in the winter and setup properly (block heater and functional flame heater) it did pretty well except for ice NDT tires are the nemesis for ANY vehicle when you combine snow and ice! But sorry I digress, our summers are usually pretty warm 70, 80 and sometimes 90 degrees and last winter I as usual mounter snow blowers to both tractors and did not even use them once, we had virtually NO snow, and until yesterday it was about the same, I think we got 4 inches over night and it was just enough to blow it but really nothing! The temps this year have been wonderful so far, I put all the trucks into the warehouse in Nov. but could have been driving them till a couple weeks ago, if I had known. We will be below zero tonight through Sat. then into the 30s on Sunday, that is incredible for us. If this were a normal year it would be from 10 degrees to -20 by now and we would have about 4 ft of snow on the ground. That kind of gets OLD! The last two years though I have felt like I have been on vacation down south, so no complaints from here!
KK

Predator42 said:

Anyone have experience using their Hmmwv in the snow? Would love to hear feedback. Avoid? Runs great? Slips all over the place? I've seen H1s in the snow, what should I expect?

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We have not had any snow yet this year to test mine out. I hate snow and cold, but I have been looking forward to the snow this year for that reason. While I don't expect it be like my Subaru, it will be interesting if nothing else. The tires are not conducive to easy driving in the deeper snow, but I'm wondering how the traction will be on a plowed, snow-packed road.

Me and snow do not seem to sync up well.
When my Unimog 404 was up and running we got a good snow 3 times that year. All 3 times it was down for work.
My 1980 GWagon was getting a new motor during the winter so never got to try that.
My 5 ton, No snow while I had it.
Now that I have 2 HUMVEEs they are calling for 60F on Christmas.
Just one storm so I can see how it does, that's enough

springbok said:

Me and snow do not seem to sync up well.

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You could maybe start a business, and rent those out MV's out to places that don't want to pay for plowing and shoveling:

- You could make a mint!

Here is my M1037 that I have had for many years. They can be dogs in the snow if you are not familiar with the hmmwv. BTM is a necessity with them off-roading and momentum is very helpful. After that is tire pressure. Keep in mind with all vehicles in snow, snow pack that converts to ice pack in the drive line and engine compartment is a real problem. Deep snow is a challenge but as long as you keep moving and modulating your brakes with throttle you can go and have fun for awhile. The soft top trucks are very light overall but heavy in the front which tends to allow the rear to spin first even in LL or HL and thus BTM is required to keep moving.

I have found the HMMWVs to have good snow performance. I had to inspect a range to see if it was usable at NAES Lakehurst and we had ~18in of snow on the ground, truck made it through the snow with no issues, it also powered through the 3ft snow pack that the base DPW left on the access road with no real trouble, but momentum played a major role there. Be careful of snow melt, deep mud will stop these trucks. I went back a few weeks later and got stuck. I was able to self recover with the winch, but it took 4hrs and I broke the winch. FYI, the hood slings are a convenient place to coil 30ft of winch cable you cant re-spoil.

I drive ours a lot in snow, a few observations;

1) In powder they handle pretty well, it's all about momentum and energy management. I've tried to get it stuck, haven't yet, but granted I'm not doing serious off-roading.
2) It handles and powers through just about any snowy conditions on roadways, we've pulled numerous cars and trucks out of ditches and other places off the road with no problem, including other 4x4's up to huge dually F-350's.
3) They absolutely suck in icy conditions (so does every other type vehicle), when driving in icy conditions ours tends to have the rear wheels lock up first when trying to stop, then it tries to swap ends. I learned the hard way going down a hill and then sliding completely sideways across a 4 lane highway...............good times.
4) The most important factor to consider, having a kick ass 4x4 does not defeat the laws of physics, believe me, those are the dudes we pull out of the ditch.
5) Last, you do have a kick ass 4x4, arguably the MOST kick ass 4x4, use common sense and have fun.............

In my personal SUV, I've always found downshifting in 4x4 to be much better at slowing down instead of braking. Not sure if that applies to a diesel HMMWV.

2w091 said:

3) They absolutely suck in icy conditions (so does every other type vehicle),
4) The most important factor to consider, having a kick ass 4x4 does not defeat the laws of physics, believe me, those are the dudes we pull out of the ditch.

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There really isn't much of any kind of vehicle (even tracked), that doesn't have trouble on ice; in a nutshell:

- Best to Stay Home

https://youtu.be/Dx7W2LscSJU

Absolutely,
When it's icy I try to avoid using the brakes, especially on hills, where we drive it is almost all hills. I idle down using the tranny, works good for me, along with knowing the vehicles limitations and mine.................

Another Ahab said:

There really isn't much of any kind of vehicle (even tracked), that doesn't have trouble on ice; in a nutshell:

- Best to Stay Home

https://youtu.be/Dx7W2LscSJU

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I don't have a choice, so I make the best out of it.
Heck, I actually enjoy it.

in a word.... TIRES.... will make all the difference.
(another important factor will be the drivers ability to BTM the truck)

just like you would not run a marathon in dress shoes, you need to use the appropriate tires for the condition.
we have been plowing with hmmwvs for 20+ years and have used bias-ply RT II, MT, GSA and BFG all terrain TA tires.
for on road/plowing snow.... BFG's are the way to go.
in 2015 we had 1 storm that dumped 30+ inches of snow and I did not need tire chains (see photo)

I have, in the past, had to use tire chains using the MT tires
(I have not used the tire chains with the BFG tires, but, if I did and BTM the truck properly....
the amount of snow one could move would be impressive.)

if I were to go off-roading in snow, I would use bias-ply RT II with tire chains due to the strength of the tire.
I would also be sure that I know how to properly BTM the truck

tanhmmwv said:

in a word.... TIRES.... will make all the difference.
(another important factor will be the drivers ability to BTM the truck)

just like you would not run a marathon in dress shoes, you need to use the appropriate tires for the condition.

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Chains ARE hard to beat, but I think they're illegal now in my neck of the woods (I think it was how they tore up the roads).

tanhmmwv said:

in a word.... TIRES.... will make all the difference.
(another important factor will be the drivers ability to BTM the truck)

just like you would not run a marathon in dress shoes, you need to use the appropriate tires for the condition.
we have been plowing with hmmwvs for 20+ years and have used bias-ply RT II, MT, GSA and BFG all terrain TA tires.
for on road/plowing snow.... BFG's are the way to go.
in 2015 we had 1 storm that dumped 30+ inches of snow and I did not need tire chains (see photo)

I have, in the past, had to use tire chains using the MT tires
(I have not used the tire chains with the BFG tires, but, if I did and BTM the truck properly....
the amount of snow one could move would be impressive.)

if I were to go off-roading in snow, I would use bias-ply RT II with tire chains due to the strength of the tire.
I would also be sure that I know how to properly BTM the truck
View attachment 599814

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Can you give some details on your plow set up?

its an 8ft fisher minute mount 1
we had a welder cut up the pushplates so there is zero loss of ground clearance
(ideal would be an 8.5ft stainless V minute mount 2 system)
we are using standard hmmwv rear springs in the front.
stock front springs didnt handle the weight of the blade very well
A2 rear springs will not fit in the front