FWIW, the best snow or M & S tires really do help & are a lot cheaper
than the LSD? The difference between my old Michelin LTX  M & S tires
& my current Hakka CS M & S tires is like night & day. I too am an old
time snow driver having lived in Steamboat Springs for 4 years, Denver
for 3 more years, & Salt Lake City for 34 years.

My 84 Westy used to be worthless w/ the Michelins even in the city &
up at high altitude even worse.  Now I can handle  10% grades covered
w/ snow/ice almost as good as a real car! LOL

I have never had to put chains on any of my VW buses over the years, &
even tho I have a pair of chains for the westy,  don't even carry them
in the vehicle any more.

I wonder if something else is the issue in your 84?

YMMV,

Mr. BZ

On Dec 30, 2009, at 10:46 AM, John Rodgers wrote:

> Dunno about Westy's, but the regular vans like my 88 GL are well
> balanced over front and rear tires, and this doesn't exert much
> force on
> the rear tires. From all I have read, and taling a bit with Daryll
> at AA
> Ttansaxle - the only way to get it in a conventional drive Vanagon
> is to
> go to the posi-rear end. Should do the trick and be the very next best
> thing to 4X4 drive. Pricey, however - but maybe worth it.
>
> My $0.02
>
> John Rodgers
> Clayartist and Moldmaker
> 88'GL VW Bus Driver
> Chelsea, AL
> Http://www.moldhaus.com
>
>
>
>
>
> Don Hanson wrote:
>> One of the few areas where I fault my 84 Vanagon manual tranny low-
>> top
>> 'westie' is it's lack of ability to go.  I am now committed to
>> 'saving up'
>> for a limited slip diff.
>>
>> I am a very good snow driver.  I lived over 20 years in Jackson Hole,
>> Wyoming and drove to work at the ski area every day.  My Ski Patrol
>> job had
>> me arriving there at  an ungodly hour to shoot the avalanche
>> control guns on
>> stormy mornings, so my commute was often before any snow plows,
>> through
>> drifts white-out storms, etc.  I had a variety of vehicles during
>> those
>> years, not one a 4wd and yet I rarely got stuck or couldn't make it
>> where I
>> needed to go.
>>
>>  But this Vanagon really frustrates me.  It's simply not good at
>> all...in
>> fact it is 'amazingly' poor.  I keep trying, thinking "Hey, it
>> can't be THAT
>> bad, maybe if I_______ this time" and like that.  It feels like it
>> should do
>> OK.  I've been over all the suspension looking for reasons why it
>> sucks..I
>> have decent tires.  The "open differential" must be waay more open
>> than any
>> other vehicle I have ever owned..Even my old long bed 2wd six
>> cylinder ford
>> pickup had better wintertime traction without any weight at all in
>> the
>> back...."Amazing"..
>>  Just yesterday I tried again to 'leave our Hill' in the Vanagon
>> with a
>> little snow (about 3-5") on our gravel driveway.  Couldn't make it
>> back
>> up...missed by about 20' and had to go get the pickup to tow it up
>> the rest
>> of the way.
>>  Even with Nokian Hakka M+S with decent tread and a  rear decklid
>> loaded
>> with ballast (480lbs of stove pellet bags) the van just would not
>> make the
>> grade...The van is virtually useless with any snow whatsoever.  I
>> had to
>> 'un-mothball' my diesel Ford truck!  I must be beyond the "Denial"
>> stage
>> finally.
>>
>>  Don Hanson
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --