For those in the cold and icy places

TJScott

TJScott

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
522
Location
Waterloo, ON Canada
I recently moved to Ontario Canada from a California high desert climate and lived my whole life in So. Cal. I’ve never lived in an area where snow was the norm. One of my concerns during the cold time of year is opening the doors. It gets real icy. Do you ever have issues getting the door open? The paddle handle doesn’t offer the same leverage as a handle like the JK has. I’m also worried about the manual transmission as I struggle with it in the cold, very stiff going into gear such as second. I’m going to try one of the ideas recommended here. Run the Jeep with the transfer case in neutral and transmission in gear to warm it faster. Any other thoughts? Also, do you have a brand of wiper blades you like for snow driving? I will be getting it under coated and have painted the frame and other parts where I could get at them to lessen the rust issue. I can’t afford a beater winter car. This will be my first winter and full on snow experience. I have 33x12.5” KO 2’s. I know wide isn’t good in snow. But, there is too much tread to toss them just now. I’m going to go to 10.5” when I change next. Winter experience in a TJ I guess is what I’m looking for. I have a hard top now. 2003 Sport, 5 speed, ARB rear locker, 4” lift, 1” BL, 4.0.
 
You are over thinking it. Ontario isn't THAT cold. I mean, Jeep built them right across the lake from you lol. Just give it a little extra warm up time in the morning. Consider a remote start

And reference a beater car, if they use salt on the roads there, you can't afford NOT to get a beater.
 
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Fluid film the whole underside. Don't do undercoating. The rest of the stuff isn't really anything you need to worry about. The only time my doors haven't opened (on any vehicle) is when we've had ice storms and your shouldn't be driving then anyway. Get a good window scraper, keep decent wipers (any brand, but don't buy the cheap ones) and keep your windshield washer fluid filled.


You really should look for another vehicle though... Wranglers are kinda shitty for daily driving in the snow. Short wheel base means they spin easier. If you insist on keeping it, put aside 1000 bucks or so and buy some winter wheels and snow tires. They will make a dramatic difference in how it will handle the snow, slush, and even ice.
 
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I've daily'd my LJ the past two winters. It was garaged overnight but I did have a remote start and put in seat heaters. The 4.0 warms up quickly and I never had issues with frozen doors. I did toss around 40 pounds of lime in the back to aid in traction. With the hard top on it was no different than any other SUV
 
Thank you all. We also have my wife’s JK, which I have purchased winter tires for. That was $1,600, they aren’t cheap here. Rims as well though. I really can’t do a beater. Money and room for it are both an issue. No garage room here, so Jeep has to stay outside. The guy at the tire store said the KO2’s will do well here. Those are another 2k to replace all 5 and rims. I figured Krown could do a better job of undercoating than I could. I’ve seen Fluid Film for sale here. I will get good wiper blades and I have the right washer fluid ready to go in and a good ice scraper. I am probably overthinking things, I just wanted to get ahead of it. Especially maintenance stuff since I don’t want to crawl around under it in snow or after it’s been sprayed.
 
TJScott said:
Thank you all. We also have my wife’s JK, which I have purchased winter tires for. That was $1,600, they aren’t cheap here. Rims as well though. I really can’t do a beater. Money and room for it are both an issue. No garage room here, so Jeep has to stay outside. The guy at the tire store said the KO2’s will do well here. Those are another 2k to replace all 5 and rims. I figured Krown could do a better job of undercoating than I could. I’ve seen Fluid Film for sale here. I will get good wiper blades and I have the right washer fluid ready to go in and a good ice scraper. I am probably overthinking things, I just wanted to get ahead of it. Especially maintenance stuff since I don’t want to crawl around under it in snow or after it’s been sprayed.
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The Toronto / Kitchner area isn't too terrible as far as winter goes. Pretty mild. The Lake will have an effect on your weather, but that generally means it will keep you warmer and make it snow more...so...more slop on the roads.

I'm a seasoned winter weather dweller though...Coming from California...it will be quite different!
 
Mike_H said:
The Toronto / Kitchner area isn't too terrible as far as winter goes. Pretty mild. The Lake will have an effect on your weather, but that generally means it will keep you warmer and make it snow more...so...more slop on the roads.

I'm a seasoned winter weather dweller though...Coming from California...it will be quite different!
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I'm 60 miles south of Lake Erie. It does cause winter to both start and end some weeks later than normal on our side but that is only felt within 10 miles of the lake. I have gone swimming on 50 degree days when the lake was still in the high 60s, getting back out of the water was the worst part. Our "lake effect snow" sometimes happens as far as 40 miles south but is usually much closer to the lake. I don't think much of either happens on the Canadian side of Erie because the wind that brings it keeps coming from them.

It looks like Lake Huron may be the worst for Canadian "Great Lake effect snow" and TJScott looks to be about 60 miles away from that one. I think his winters may be just a bit colder than mine but still not a big deal once he gets used to it.
 
JEEPCJTJ said:
I'm 60 miles south of Lake Erie. It does cause winter to both start and end some weeks later than normal on our side but that is only felt within 10 miles of the lake. I have gone swimming on 50 degree days when the lake was still in the high 60s, getting back out of the water was the worst part. Our "lake effect snow" sometimes happens as far as 40 miles south but is usually much closer to the lake. I don't think much of either happens on the Canadian side of Erie because the wind that brings it keeps coming from them.

It looks like Lake Huron may be the worst for Canadian "Great Lake effect snow" and TJScott looks to be about 60 miles away from that one. I think his winters may be just a bit colder than mine but still not a big deal once he gets used to it.
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Growing up and living 30'ish miles west of Lake Mi...I know all about the lake effect. We will have storms that can dump up to a foot of snow overnight and you go another 30 miles west and they get a dusting. Huron will definitely effect him more than Erie.
 
I live in Waterloo. Very close to Kitchener. I’ve heard winters aren’t extreme. But, for a native Southern California person, anything short of sunshine is extreme. :) I’m just going overboard trying to be prepared I guess. I know once I have the Jeep sprayed, it will be messier to work on. So, while it’s still a non oily mess I’ve been trying to get things done on it. It has zero rust, the paint was just worn from age. So, I wire wheeled it and painted everything I could reach. And I’ve fixed all the water leaks that were annoying but not frequent because of the lack of rain in the deserts of California. I now have dry floor pans. We’ve had a lot of rain this summer. So, plenty of testing. My wife drove our rental car on non winter tires last December. Not great but she did it. So, I have winter tires for her Jeep since I want her as safe as possible.
 
TJScott said:
I recently moved to Ontario Canada from a California high desert climate and lived my whole life in So. Cal. I’ve never lived in an area where snow was the norm. This will be my first winter and full on snow experience.
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Similar to wheeling, experience trumps a lot of the technology, although the JK's TC will give a traction advantage in some scenarios.

Find a large (unoccupied) parking lot. In a variety of conditions, carefully push your TJ to its traction limits in turns and braking (and both at the same time). Practice driving in both untracked and heavily tracked areas. For higher speed learning, find a rural paved road. Over time, you will become mentally comfortable with its limits, which is important on the road.

Does your TJ have ABS? In my opinion, that technology has its place in climates like yours.

I would recommend running 5W-30 during the winter months. There is no advantage to letting your cold engine run longer than 30 seconds or so to let the oil pump up fully. After that, begin driving being gentle on the accelerator and keeping the RPMs lower at first. In my experience, the TJ warms up very quickly.

It sounds like you won't have covered storage for both Jeeps? If so, there are windshield covers available that will save you a ton of hassle scraping (both in the AM and at the end of the day at work). You could easily make something similar (I've used a bed sheet closed into the doors in a pinch) to save some money.

Whether or not you fluid film (I agree that you should), find some places now where you can wash the salt off on a regular basis.
 
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My TJ doesn't have ABS. I will be driving pretty cautiously as I get used to snow driving. My wife grew up here so she is much more comfortable in snow than I am. They do salt and plow the roads, so they aren't impassable. You're still driving in some snow no matter what though.
Krown sprays the undercarriage, in the frame and in the doors and such with a product similar to fluid film. But, they have the longer wands to get places I wouldn't reach. They also will drill and plug holes in the doors to get down inside there. But, I understand it becomes messy once done and not as much fun to work on. My brother-in-law say's there's another company that uses another product that is even better. I will get him to elaborate on that.
I will look into something to cover the windshields, that's a good idea. We don't have any covered parking. We have a one car garage which is full of my tools and motorcycle. Even if it weren't, I hesitate to believe you could open a door if the Jeep were in there. Mine is too tall and wouldn't even fit if it were empty. It's a rental house so I can't really change anything about it to make things more conducive to what we have going on. It's two cars worth of parking and not side by side. So, we have to jockey things around to use one Jeep over the other.
I'm going to syphon the windshield fluid from both Jeeps as winter approaches since it's still filled with what we used in California. We had our Jeeps imported into Canada so we wouldn't have to buy new vehicles. So, they are California outfitted. It has been an interesting move that's for sure.
 
I'm from Cleveland. My dad took me to a snowy parking lot in his Mustang and had me get up to like 25mph. He told me to slam on the brakes which I did. Nothing happened. Then he said turn the wheel (with the brakes still locked up). I did. Nothing happened. Kept going straight. Then he said "Now let off the brakes with the wheel still turned." I did. The moment I came off the brakes, the car steered where it was pointed. Important first lesson related to pumping the brakes--but you have ABS, so magic.
 
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Cali winters are similar to Fl winters. Lots of complaining when the temps dip below 50 at night. I'm originally from Burlington VT. I loved the year we got 36" of snow here in Va. My driving job depends on me making deliveries in rural areas with no snow plows. That's why I chose a Jeep many years ago. My friends Subaru AWD vehicles can't move in over a foot of snow when stopping every 50 yards. Not to mention that they tear the plastic front ends off when the 3' of snow freezes.
SNOW JEEP.jpg
 
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SkylinesSuck said:
I'm from Cleveland. My dad took me to a snowy parking lot in his Mustang and had me get up to like 25mph. He told me to slam on the brakes which I did. Nothing happened. Then he said turn the wheel (with the brakes still locked up). I did. Nothing happened. Kept going straight. Then he said "Now let off the brakes with the wheel still turned." I did. The moment I came off the brakes, the car steered where it was pointed. Important first lesson related to pumping the brakes--but you have ABS, so magic.
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I had read that keeping the wheels spinning and using 4wd will help the turning in slick situations. Of course ice is a whole other ball of wax. Since I don't have ABS in my TJ, I have to be mindful of my braking. However, I've been driving and motorcycling vehicles for 40 years without ABS and do a reasonable job of feathering the brakes even in panicked situations. But, ABS would make life easier. My wife's JK has it. And just due to the fact that it's the vehicle behind mine in the driveway and will have winter tires we will use it most often. But, I will still use mine, just not as much.
 
TheBoogieman said:
Cali winters are similar to Fl winters. Lots of complaining when the temps dip below 50 at night. I'm originally from Burlington VT. I loved the year we got 36" of snow here in Va. My driving job depends on me making deliveries in rural areas with no snow plows. That's why I chose a Jeep many years ago. My friends Subaru AWD vehicles can't move in over a foot of snow when stopping every 50 yards. Not to mention that they tear the plastic front ends off when the 3' of snow freezes.
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We did occasionally get snow. Just not a lot. And certainly not what people would call real snow, then again we had no way to deal with it so it would close things down. This is about the extent of it. I was pulling the FedEx driver out. He had great tires for what they normally do, but terrible for snow. I had already told him if he got stuck to come back to my door and I would get him out.

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I'm in a similar boat but further south in the states and a transplant from California. I'm overthinking it too, I think. I just got some new floods/spots to replace my old ProComp lights and specifically purchased Halogen KCs. Not only because I like the hue but also because they generate heat and won't get frozen over. That's overthinking it for sure.

Same tires as you too.
 
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