RE: Scout II weight?

[pharmer <pharmer@domain.elided>]

Tom Harais wrote:
> Now the big question for your freind: What difference does weight make in
> 4WD applications? Why is the "heavier" Scout not as good as the "lighter"
> vehicle?
>

I was just thinking about this last night:  been pondering moving back to
Michigan to bring children closer to extended family.  But, was thinking
about salt on roads vs IHs; being expected to drive a company car that I
wouldn't care for; and lack of trail opportunities.  Ok, lots of cool lakes,
but I don't have an IH boat!

Well, the extra weight of an IH pays off with big dividends when you've got
slop, slush, ice, and heavy snows on the road.  Those light weight 4x4s,
especially with wide tires, often just have to stay home!  But, put the
front tires of my Scout onto a really deep mud spot (like 90% of Michigan
is!), and I could get sunk up to the axles pretty quick.  There a lighter-
weight jeep, or god-forbid, a Samari, could drive right over the top of it.

Here's a question: if in the scenario I described above, you had a winch
on your front bumper, and the only way out was backwards, could you safely
snake the cable *below* your scout to pull yourself backwards?  Or, are you
doomed to wait for somebody (who'll probably be smart-aleck driving a Chevy)
to come up from behind and pull you out?

I know you could rely on a nifty receiver-basket-mounted winch, to move the
winch to the back bumper.  But I'm a small guy @ about 120 pounds, and the
idea of trying to move a 150 lbs of winch & basket to the rear bumper thru
difficult terrain sounds like the kind of task I'd want my wife around for!
;-)


Ken Farmer
1980 Scout needing bumpers and a winch!
1975 Travelall - highway cruiser
1974 Travelall - so heavy, I'm in deep deep trouble if that ever got
seriously
     stuck in mud in some remote spot!