2021 Tacoma here. You’ve mostly got the right idea. Three pieces of advice:

1. make sure you have snow tires with good grip.
2. put some sandbags in the bed to give the back tires some added grip
3. drive like you’ve got a glass of water on the dash and you can’t spill a drop. That visualization helps a ton to keep your car steady in all sorts of maneuvers

Well I'm glad you're OK. Without having been there, a couple ideas come to mind.

How much weight did you have in the bed? Trucks need some weight back there to get the most out of the rear wheels, usually a couple of sand bags do the trick (plus you can open one up if you get stuck).

What kind of tires are you running? Summers are a bad choice, you can get away with all seasons with some experience, but winters/studs are the way to go.

Sometimes a fishtail happens when you hit the gas a bit too hard on a curve. Again, I wasn't there, but I've done it.

And then sometimes you do everything right and there's just a spot on the road that you can't do much about except react.

Hopefully something in here helps.

Just to add to this: the reason you do bags of sand / kitty litter instead of miscellaneous heavy shit for ballast is because when you DO get stuck, it can be used as road grit / traction aid to get you unstuck.

Dedicated snow tires make a world of a difference. If you have normal "all-season" tires, I'd highly recommend getting a separate set of wheels with snow tires on them to change out during the winter months. You'll be shocked at the traction difference in snow. Weight in the bed also will help tremendously (like 500+ lb).

As an aside, make sure you're using 4 wheel drive correctly. 4H should never be used on pavement unless it is snow covered/slick. You will damage your vehicle using 4H on high traction surfaces. 4A can be used in any conditions, if your truck is equipped with it.

When in 4wd, if you start to go sideways, give it more gas and it should pull itself straight again. The opposite is true if in 2wd. Play around in a parking lot with throttle/brakes to get a feeling for your vehicle. When in doubt, punch it out.

Also, duh snow tires...if youre running summers/all seasons, you'll have a bad time.

Weight, maybe. I run an 04 tacoma, and dont have any trouble without weight but it certainly wont hurt.

Never thought of that… good point

Best tip: Just because you can go faster in a pick-up.....doesn't mean you can stop any faster than anyone without 4wd.

Tip one:. 4 wheel drive is not all wheel drive. It should not be activated at highway speeds. 4 wheel helps you go, it doesn't help you stop. If you can't go that fast without 4wheel you can't stop fast enough in it to be traveling that fast.

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4wd has a greater stopping distance than 2wd truck. Cornering is more prone to sliding in a 4wd than 2wd.

Slow down, scrub speed before entering corner or curve.

My 4x4 truck is absolute garbage without snow tires (I got them on late this year because I was out of town). I could barely get up my driveway without them after the first snow. With the snow tires I can crawl up driveway with snow up to the bumper.

Slow down in the turns (and in general). 4x4 gets you going, but doesn't do a damn thing in the corners (and might even hinder if the front wheels start binding). If you have an auto 4x4 mode, use that instead of 4-high unless you really need to get up a hill.

Costs me $26 at the dealership for a tire rotation since I have a separate set of rims/sensors with winter tires on them. Costs a bit more up front but pays off over the years.

I have a 2020 Ranger 4x4, if you're using the tires that came on it (either the all-seasons, or "all-terrain" for some packages), replace them with snow tires for the winter. The tires they put on at the factory are fine for 3 season driving, but they perform very poorly in the snow. A few bags of sand in the back of the bed doesn't hurt either, as others have suggested. Happy holidays and stay safe!

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Yeah, but was your dog in the truck?

Takumi trading in the 86 for a taco?

200 pounds of sand in 5 gallon buckets will do wonders. And secure them!!!!!

Also doesn’t fly through your cab

I've had a few really scary spin outs with my F150 where I didn't know how it was going to end. I found that some weight in the back and studded snow tires and still driving very carefully and not getting overconfident is helpful. Also, though it might be obvious, staying off the roads when conditions are dicey, whenever possible.

We had some friends visiting in a truck years ago, and in addition to all of the above, when they were getting set to leave I took a few 2x4s and whacked together a simple frame for in the bed. A 2x4 in front and another behind the wheel-wells, and a pair of 2x4s in-between. Then put the kitty-litter / sand in the rectangle formed by the frame. That keeps it from sliding around in the bed.