Snow conditions in Tinkham area right now?

[jhc5]

Hi guys -

I'm new to Jeeps and off-roading, but I wanted to try and make it up to the pit near Tinkham Rd this weekend for some 4wd fun and hopefully some target shooting. My Grand Cherokee is at stock tire size. I'd be traveling with a stock xterra and a wrangler with some lift and 40" tires. We've all got front and rear recovery points, but only the wrangler has a winch.

Has anyone gone up there recently and can they comment on the conditions? I don't want to head up if we are gonna spend all morning digging ourselves out 100 yards from the pavement.

Any advice is appreciated. Also if you know of a better spot for some outdoor target shooting in that area that will be easier to get to, let me know. Thanks guys!

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[wsu 5.9er]

Stock tires/no lift and no lockers? Your friend with the Wrangler better have a winch and will probably be towing the stock rigs up there. You might be able to make it up to the pit but I wouldn't go any higher than that.

 

[jhc5]

Stock tires/no lift and no lockers? Your friend with the Wrangler better have a winch and will probably be towing the stock rigs up there. You might be able to make it up to the pit but I wouldn't go any higher than that.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Yes, the wrangler has a winch. I think we'll end up trying it for fun, just to see how far we can get. If we do make it to the pit it will be accomplishment enough; definitely not going further than that. I don't want to push my luck too much.

Any idea how deep the snow is up there? I've been told to maintain normal to high tire pressure for snow to more easily dig into it, but I'm thinking if its too deep then you'd want to try and float on top of it? So maybe air down? What do you guys think?

 

[wsu 5.9er]

I was up there at the begining of December with my Grand Cherokee (2" lift, 31" tires) and I was struggling past the pit. In some areas before the pit, it was pretty deep and the ruts were pretty bad.

Whoever told you to maintain tire pressure for snow was wrong. You always want to air down for off-road use and even more so in the snow. The challenge with stock tires is that the more you air down, the less ground clearance you have. With an already low ground clearance, you want to keep the vehicle as high as possible while still airing down for better traction.

With my 35" tires on my old Jeep, I would run down into 3-5 pounds for snow sometimes and even went as low as 1.5-2 for deep snow. On my Grand Cherokee with 31" tires, I went down to 12 pounds and was able to get pretty good traction. I do have a CO2 bottle though, so I can air back up easily.

 

[jhc5]

I was up there at the begining of December with my Grand Cherokee (2" lift, 31" tires) and I was struggling past the pit. In some areas before the pit, it was pretty deep and the ruts were pretty bad.

Whoever told you to maintain tire pressure for snow was wrong. You always want to air down for off-road use and even more so in the snow. The challenge with stock tires is that the more you air down, the less ground clearance you have. With an already low ground clearance, you want to keep the vehicle as high as possible while still airing down for better traction.

With my 35" tires on my old Jeep, I would run down into 3-5 pounds for snow sometimes and even went as low as 1.5-2 for deep snow. On my Grand Cherokee with 31" tires, I went down to 12 pounds and was able to get pretty good traction. I do have a CO2 bottle though, so I can air back up easily.

Great info! Thank you. By this time next year I hope to have a 2" coil lift and 31" tires on my grand cherokee as well. In the meantime, any chance you could provide a little more info/a link on your CO2 bottle air-up system? I've thought about eventually getting a little tankless compressor, but is this CO2 system simpler? Thanks again!

 

[wsu 5.9er]

It's just a 20lb CO2 tank with a regulator. Mine is an old fire extinguisher but you can get them from soda distributors/welding shops. The good thing about CO2 tanks is there is no extra wiring/plumbing to do. Put the bottle in the Jeep and go. You can also move the tank easily between vehicles if necessary. The downside is you have to re-fill tank when it's empty. It's not too hard to just swap your empty tank with a full one. Pull your regulator off the empty one, put it on the full one and you're ready to go. Most welding shops swap bottles very easily.

Similar to this one but cheaper:
http://www.powertank.com/

 

[jhc5]

Man that is sweet. And is the 20lb tank the minimum you need to fill all four tires, or would a 10lb be enough?

I think this might be the solution for me. I really like that it is portable and doesn't require power.

I'm gonna look around for some cheaper regulator and hose fittings. Thanks!

 

[wsu 5.9er]

20lb tank is usually enough for a year or two of filling tires back up for me, but I don't go out as much as I used to. You can also use it to run air tools as well. 20lb cylinders are the most common and easiest to exchange if you go that route.