97 Mountaineer AWD Bad in snow

Hey guys I have a 97 5.0 mountaineer awd brand new bf Goodrich all terrain tires on it and its terrible in the snow. I feel like im driving a 2 wheel drive truck. I had somebody stand by the truck while I took off and they said the front tires are turning but the back end fish tails and trys to come around just like a 2wd. Im in lower Michigan so im only driving in about an inch or so of snow so far so how bad will it be when there is 6-8 inhes on the road. Any help with this is appreciated let me know what you guys think.

The front wheels rotate while the truck is sitting still, or while it is moving? If the front does have power it should not fishtail. Is it possible you have a front brake sticking?

Is it possible the front drive shaft has been removed?

I'm not a fan of the BFGs in the snow on the street- stopping more so than anything. In mine, they do launch very well. They just don't stop for shi.......

But maybe there's a problem with the AWD viscous coupling in the transfer case? Maybe it's not sending enough power to the front.

front driveshaft is in

when the rear is getting lose the front tires do have power to them they are turning but im just wondering if there not getting enough power to them to keep the truck in a straight line

The engagement of the viscous coupler takes a couple of seconds, because it needs to heat up first...

I have Michelin LTX MS2 tires on my Ex. It goes through snow great. We had 10" last winter, and it was unstoppable. The plows rarely come out in NC, and I live at the end of a country road, so they almost never show up in my neighborhood. I think your tires are the problem, as your truck is pretty much the same as mine. My tires don't have aggressive tread, but they work well in all kinds of weather. Just my opinion.

All-terrain tires don't always excel in the snow. Tires matter more than anything when it comes to putting the power down.

I have great tread on these tires there brand new all terrains there not bf Goodrich they are mastercraft courser all terrains sorry had the bf Goodrich on my old f150

Here's a tip:
Snow is slippery, adjust your driving accordingly.
I can get any vehicle sideways on snow, FWD, RWD, 4WD.
Tires do matter, some are better then others, again adjust your driving accordingly.

I didn't like the Michelins as much as I liked the Wranglers in the snow. But even with the Michelins, the truck was easily plowing through a foot of snow.

What air pressure are you running. For snow you can go real low.

For snow wheeling out here we run about 6-8psi. I wouldn't do that on the road unless you keep the speed under 20mph but you can certainly drop to 15 psi and run up to 35mph.

If you're more than 30psi, I would definitely go at least to 20psi but you may have other issues

im running about 32psi

Just out of curiosity, what kind of rear differential is in your vehicle? I don't know about the Mariner, but the standard on Explorer XLT for those years was an open one, which is not good for snow, with limited slip standard on EB and Limited only. If you don't know how to tell, there is a code on the door sticker (assuming that the diff is original; otherwise you need to take a look at the tag attached to the diff).

panthers06232 said:

Hey guys I have a 97 5.0 mountaineer awd brand new bf Goodrich all terrain tires on it and its terrible in the snow. I feel like im driving a 2 wheel drive truck. I had somebody stand by the truck while I took off and they said the front tires are turning but the back end fish tails and trys to come around just like a 2wd. Im in lower Michigan so im only driving in about an inch or so of snow so far so how bad will it be when there is 6-8 inhes on the road. Any help with this is appreciated let me know what you guys think.

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AP9 said:

All-terrain tires don't always excel in the snow. Tires matter more than anything when it comes to putting the power down.

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Tell that to all the deep snow I have destroyed through the years in ATs. I have used Generals and Sport Kings, and the Generals were pretty good. Of course I don't have AWD but Control Trac.

drdoom said:

Tell that to all the deep snow I have destroyed through the years in ATs. I have used Generals and Sport Kings, and the Generals were pretty good. Of course I don't have AWD but Control Trac.

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I don't doubt it. But not every tire uses the same tread pattern, reinforcements, and rubber compounds. Maybe the BFGoodrich's in question have been designed to be more of mud tires?

Albino 94LTD said:

What air pressure are you running. For snow you can go real low.

For snow wheeling out here we run about 6-8psi. I wouldn't do that on the road unless you keep the speed under 20mph but you can certainly drop to 15 psi and run up to 35mph.

If you're more than 30psi, I would definitely go at least to 20psi but you may have other issues

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I have to disagree with this.

If the snow isn't deep, you shouldn't air down your tires, since the point is to dig down and get traction with the road.
If the snow is deep, you should air them down, since the idea is to float on the snow.

The AWD T-case does about 65% to the rear and 35% to the front, as far as power transfer, so in that case the rear does get more power, so it will tend to fish tail, but under normal driving conditions it will hook up real good in the snow, if you give it some gas it will for sure slip, but everything does. Last year I had 2 year old Hankook Dynapros all seasons on my truck, and it handled great in the snow, unless I have it some skinny pedal, then it made some awesome donuts.

My old '97 Mounty with the same exact tires did the same thing if I got on the skinny pedal too hard, I had to drive more conservative in it than I do in my '03 Explorer Sport Trac and my '13 Tacoma Baja (both are 4wd but rarely put into 4wd). Remember the Mounty is a fairly light weight rig for a V8 and AWD, it'll slide if you let it or push it, just take it easier on the skinny pedal and ease into the turns just like you were driving a 2wd. These trucks have more power than most people realize, especially in slick conditions.

DjDom said:

I have to disagree with this.

If the snow isn't deep, you shouldn't air down your tires, since the point is to dig down and get traction with the road.
If the snow is deep, you should air them down, since the idea is to float on the snow.

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To each his own but I'll air down, even for on road snow driving. I can get down to the road surface just like everyone else, the same way (skinny pedal).

I'd much rather have the additional surface area at the contact patch.

Albino 94LTD said:

To each his own but I'll air down, even for on road snow driving. I can get down to the road surface just like everyone else, the same way (skinny pedal).

I'd much rather have the additional surface area at the contact patch.

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I do air down for winter, but I think 20 PSI is excessive for light on road snow. 35 is a good spot.

Next time it snows, I'll air down my A/Ts to 20 and see what happens. I do remember airing down my old All seasons to about 22 since they were garbage on anything that wasn't dry..