Date:         Sat, 29 Jan 2005 13:29:03 -0600
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: [WetWesties] How do Vanagons do in the snow?
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> On 29 Jan 2005 at 8:43, Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA> wrote:
>> Having owned both a '72 and '82 (diesel) westies I can saw with no
>> hesitation that the Vanagon is much worse in the snow or any low
>> traction conditions.
> My experience with our '88 Westy is similar - I have driven it in
> some very rough
> conditions, and found it very capable as long as the rear wheels
> stay planted, and/or
> momentum is maintained. However, I have also found it surprisingly
> easy to unload
> one rear wheel and be completely stuck, if not paying attention to
> momentum. My
> brother's '71 bus seemed nearly impossible to stop in similar
> situations, at least from
> my memory of driving it (more than 15 years ago...)

one thing you guys are forgetting is the difference in the torque
curve of the watercools versus the aircools. it's true that the 68-79
buses were great offroad, but so was my 80 vanagon ... with the same
exact tires, i could much more easily get stuck in snow with my 88 bus
than with my 80 bus. but wait! same body, same weight distribution
...what gives?

the water cools, as least the gasoline engines in my experience, don't
know about the diesels (but from what Alistair says, it sounds the
same), have much more torque at lower rpm ... so they spin the wheels
quicker. the charts seem to bear this out.

anyway, my old 80 bus never got stuck. just like my 71 bus. well ...
cept for that time on the beach on Dauphin Island when i saw a Rambler
station wagon running down the beach and figured if he could do it, so
could i ... didn't notice his 18-inch wide tires. :(  after about an
hour of digging and lowering the tire pressure, we made it out and ran
around just fine. ;) which is a good reason to always carry a tire
gauge and a good quality bicycle pump (so you can pump the tires back
up when you get back to pavement)!

but with watercooled vanagons, tires are extremely important ... you
need more grip. and you also need a very very light touch on the
throttle. :)

unca joel