is that if you get stuck somewhere in the snow it's going to be 4 to 6 months (or never) before you get someone to tow you out of there.
Though this never happened to me because I realized the problem before this occurred, this vehicle (The International harvester Scout II 1974) was the most amazing 4 wheel drive in some ways that I ever owned because of the way it was designed. In some ways my 2011 4 wheel drive Tundra has been amazing too, but I leave Michelin all weather tires on it year around so I can drive at 80 on the freeway with it too in addition to going 1 mile per hour in low range over 2 foot high rocks across rivers and streams both dry and sometimes wet. But, I don't have a snorkel so I don't drive where I might float. (You need a snorkel if the water goes above your air intake for your engine). But, if you do this you have to expect water to come into the driver's compartment if you spend any time like this crossing a river. And this could cause a lot of mechanical or electronic problems especially if there is any salt water at all in the water you are going through that comes into the drivers and passengers compartment.
My cousin told me the story of his diesel Scout II that his son as a teenager got stuck in 4 feet deep mud. It took a month or more until the conditions were right to get the vehicle out. First, they had to dig for several hours to get down to where it could be towed out properly with a tow truck. So, by the time they were done it took at least a whole days work for several people with shovels and a tow truck to retrieve the truck. And this wasn't even in the snow which can be much much worse to deal with! Luckily, this was southern California where snow usually is less of a problem than further north in Mt. Shasta where I had mine.
A friend of mine I had drive across Mud Creek on Mt. Shasta after I walked across it to test if the truck (Tundra) could actually do it safely. It was pretty deep but I was concerned about going up over a burm on the far side without damaging the vehicle. But, after I crossed using a long Gandalf style walking stick so I wouldn't be washed down stream in the fast current I realized I couldn't safely make it back to the truck. So, I told my friend to bring it across which he did quite well. I likely couldn't have done it better myself because he went slow enough and yet just fast enough to accomplish the feat without wrecking my truck because the water was about 2 feet or more deep and very swift at that point in time which is why I couldn't safely get back to my truck either. This was just last spring by the way 2019!
The International wasn't as good at high speeds and if you were in a traffic jam you could blow out your knee (my wife did) just by the strong clutch it had trying to shift all the time. So, to save your knees I would recommend getting an automatic transmission simply because you can feather your throttle better through an automatic transmission so you can get out of bad snowy icy situations better I find. I prefer a high and low range 4 wheel drive so you are good in any and all situations with enough ground clearance to go over anything you need to without being so high that you turn over in a sharp turn or in a mountain road 45 degree angle situation when on a bad 4 wheel drive rocky or dirt road somewhere.
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