We had a huge snow one winter in the mid 80's that I had my lifted Jimmy. There were drifts over 13 ft deep which is a lot for around here.
Found it would easily go thru/over snow deeper than it was tall. Laughed at the other 4x4s that would sink up to their frames in the deep snow and had to dig out. The tire size, traction, weight, and power was just right. It would start to spin in the snow, start sinking, but before the got up to the frame it would pack the snow enough it would grab and jump forward, then repeat indefinitely. Also pulled other trucks and cars out of ditches on snowy and even ice covered roads on the downwind side of lakes.
Even pulled two trucks out at once. They were chained together the second having gotten stuck while trying to pull the first one out. Just hooked up the the front one and while they were still trying to decide what to do, jumped in and pulled em both out.
Also used to get a kick out of climbing up and over 30ft high piles of ice and snow the plows made in the parking lots they cleared. It would high center as it went over the top of the pile. We would just get it rocking and go right on over. Wonder what they thought about the tire track going up and over their big piles.
It had rear positrak and a locking transfer case, but a regular diff in the front. That means it had to spin three tires, and if it did start losing traction it left one front tire that wasn't spinning to steer with. If all four would loose traction and spin it would just slide down hill, whatever direction down hill was. The only problem is if you made too many turns in one direction in a row driving around a parking lot to park, it would take up all the slack in the diffs and it would stop. Had to back up and make some turns in the other direction to take out the slack.
http://www.zipbang.com/Cars/jimmy2.jpg
Oh yeah, learned I could stop it faster on snow/ice than on dry pavement. Slam on the brakes locking up all four, shift it to revers, floor it, then let off the brakes. It was amazing how quickly it would stop while throwing snow and ice out in front of the truck. That Jimmy was like a snow cat, it could go anywhere in the winter.
Not long after I got it I found the front locking hubs did not work. Lost a U-joint on the rear drive shaft. Threw it in the back, lock the hubs and transfer case, then instead of going it just made gravelly grinding noises. Took it to a 4x4 place and found the front hubs were packed with mud instead of grease and the springs that hold the hubs locked had just turned to rust. It was because the previous owner had used only too big shocks to lift it. I fixed with a proper 4in lift kit that angled the drive shaft to keep it from breaking the u-joint.
To test the 4x4 to make sure it was all working after the fix they took it to the fairground where they had a huge mud pit setup for mud races that weekend. Back then they didn't have monster truck ralleys like they do today, instead the raced thru mud bogs. They told me they were really impressed as it was one of the very few trucks that made it all the way thru the pit. I was just upset that they didn't tell me so I could go watch.
Also drove it down a flooded road where the water came up to within an inch of coming in the window opening. The flood water was still and not flowing so I was in no danger of getting washed away. It made it the length of a football field with the water up to over the door handles. The next day I checked the diffs, tranny, and block for water. There wasn't any, but, the huge stock air filter was completely waterlogged and weighed what seemed 50 lbs.
My oldest brother, the UFO guy, just hated it because I had this truck that would go anywhere, a fantastically trained dog, and didn't even go hunting.
Took my Dad four wheeling in it once. He never said a thing. 2 Months later 3 different 4 Wheeler magazines started coming with subscriptions in my name.
Now I'm just happy to have a 4x4 with all season tires that's comfortable, handles great, and can get around if I need to.
