Who drives their truck in the winter?

[bladerunner]

Blazin - Do you have a thread for your truck? I'd like to check it out, for comparison you see. 

Quite the process you have, but seems reasonable.  Maybe a beater next year and garaging my truck is the way to go.

[zieg85]

I drive my 85 C10 and C20 in the winter as needed.  Never washed the C10, the C20 maybe gets a bath once a year but that will change with the facelift.  The extended cab gets parked by November and put away and insurance gets taken off...

[1978 454 Big 10]

During our 3-10 days of "winter" here in North Central Texas, my (nice) cars stay in the driveway or garage. They don't use salt here, they use a chemical ($$$$$) that is not suppose to harm our cars.   

[Blazin]

I don't have a thread for it sorry. I had only have a few pics here, and there of it as when I built I used my ex's camera for most of them. She, and I ended on a bad note, and she deleted them all off card before I could down load them onto a disk!

[bake74]

     Well I would like to say I feel all your pain.  As you know I live in Ca. and to be honest, the winters are not that bad, so driving our trucks usually don't hurt them at all.  What I do personally  is wash it after going to the mountains.  In Ca. it depends on what highway you drive on to the mountains weather or not they use salt.  ( Yes some districts of Cal Trans use salt in CA.  I work on Cal Trans facilities machines all over CA. and some use salt in the sand to break up ice on the roads ).
     My sister on the other hand lives in Michigan.  She has problems with her cars and rust.  So when she bought a new car I set her up with a under carriage wash for here and her husbands truck for their driveway, set up with a light beam to trigger it, and timers to shut it off and a second timer to blow the water out with air to avoid freezing.
     Now granted, finding a car wash with an under carriage wash will do the same thing and can keep the salt from rusting your vehicles, it just can get expensive.
     Mixing salt and water will create a brine solution, and if not removed will given enough time eat through anything.  We sell electrocoagulation machines at my company (part of the process is adding a brine (salt/water combo) solution to break particles in water out for cleaning purposes ), and it has no problem eating through aluminum or even AL316N Stainless steel.
     If you drive in winter, wash often and use some kind of protection on the metal is the best thing for your trucks.

[bladerunner]

All the car washes in Maine that I ever see, have undercarriage wash. Its a given. Plus the car wash lines are always long after a storm.  Folks in my office actually go on lunch breaks to get car washes or will conduct meetings from their cars. Folks here know to take it seriously.

My dad's last car was an 01 Explorer. He used to be one of those people who never washed his car, thinking it a waste (he had been in the Navy so long he forgot about Maine winters). Anyway he brought that Explorer back here and drove it for 10 years, just replacing it last year.  The tranny mounts rusted completely off and the trans fell right out!  That whole thing was a basket case.  Needless to say, he washes his 2011 Mercury Mariner religiously now.

[gto109]

here in Pennsylvania they use salt and some sort of liquid for the ice.  after all i have put into my truck in these last 2 years and painting it soon it will get parked in the hanger over the winters.  there is no heat but its better then letting it sit in the snow and rust out again.

[Cabcorner]

                         My trucks are far from nice but I try to keep them out of the salt . My winter car is a 2000 beetle . I should get a winter beast squarebody plow truck .

[bladerunner]

Well the rust that keeps forming on the chrome is definitely making me rethink this. I clean it with chrome polish and spray it with WD40 and that keeps things at bay for a week or 2.  I am seriously thinking of cleaning it REALLY good and sticking it in my unheated garage. It should be good until spring when I can give it a once over for rust.

[fitz]

Everyone here has given you good advice.
Now you have to figure out a game plan you can live with.
My thoughts? Mix & match everyones advice. Spray the underneath with oil and drive it as often as you can.
Pick up a $500 beater for those days when the snows comming down and the sanders are out.
As Thirsty pointed out, the more you drive it the more you will get to enjoy it.
Like Blazin said, power wash it often,
In Mass the highways get treated with salt sprayed with
Magnesium chloride
It will eat your truck alive if not washed off.
On snowy days like that, hide the truck in the unheated garage and let the salt eat away at the winter beater

[1979C20]

I drive my truck every day of the year except when its broken. But, I live in Arizona. So it never sees snow. The closest thing it sees to snow is rain in december, or hail. The only rust on my truck is on my passenget side wheel well, about the size of a silver dollar from my ac condensor.   Abd my truck loves cold temps.

[74GMC]

I live in NB, Canada. If I didn't drive it in the winter, I'd never drive it lol

[velojym]

We're in Bama. What's Winter?  Oh, it's the time of year when my wife doesn't use the cab of my truck to bake brownies...

[philo_beddoe]

Ok, so whats a good winter oil. 10w30 or 40? For a chevy stock v8.

Anyway, this is a good thread. Wish i was around when it was active. I just gave my truck a heavy coating. I'm trying to finish off a gallon of wd40, so i mix it with some synthetic oil i had laying around. The cool weather is giving it a thicker feel. I have switched to blaster lubricant though, its thicker and applys well. But no one hates salt more than me. Any of you new englanders know what i mean.

[Stewart G Griffin]

i'm wondering if using huge mudflaps on all 4 wheels might help the situation----because it seems to me that most of the rust is happening where the wheel sprays. (?)

i mean you never see the roof rusted or the hood/trunk/upper body areas etc.

As far as the oil, it seems to me that chevy recommended 10w-30 for small blocks (at least the ones from 70's on?).   So 10w-30 should be good for winter imo.

Although 5w-30 would flow quicker when cold?    Getting sleepy, don't have time to research.