I'd like to hear from some of you who live up north and spend some time driving in the snow.  During this recent snowstorm here in WV we got about 15 inches of snow yesterday and this morning.  I love to play in the snow but we don't get much of it here.  This is the most we've had in nearly 20 years.  We're good for one or two 6 inchers per season usually.
      My set up is in my signature but basically I have 30" Hercules trail diggers and a rear lockright locker on a 4door kick.  I have been driving around a lot in the past two days, pulling a few people out and pushing a few stuck cars.  My zuk seems to outperform a lot of other vehicles in the snow.  Hybrids such as Rav 4's Honda Pilots, some infinity SUV, Lincoln navigators etc. have been stuck all over the place where I simply plow through in my Zuk.  My all wheel drive Honda Cr-v (admittedly with half worn all season tires) was completely useless and wouldn't even move forward through 8 inches of powder.  Today I took the Zuk through an untouched parking lot with 15 inches of powder and it dozed through it all.  A 4wd chevy z71 pickup truck tried to get into the lot to play and couldn't even get up the slope to get into it.  I'm sure the tires on these vehicles are mostly all season/street tires and they would do better with different tires. 
      I don't mean to brag but hey, we're all Zuk fans here. 
      A few observations.  The locker seems to help with forward traction in the snow.  I'm not sure why lockers are so demonized for snow driving.  I prefer it.  With the 4 door's longer wheel base, I find it easy to steer out of fishtails and the forward traction seems to allow me more time to react to a slide.  The mud tires dig forward but aren't great for steering. 
What are some of your favorite snow set ups?  Is the light weight of the trackkicks a plus or minus?

WVzuk, I think you have about the optimum set up for snow driving.  A small lift, locker in the rear and decent tires.  The only improvement I have pondered was to mount some actual snow tires (think Bliztech snow radials) ... but I have not found any manufactured in the larger sizes I want to run (like the 30" tires).  My Tracker is set up very similar to yours although my lift is only an inch or so.  Having a spare set of tires that are studded would be a luxury as well.

I think the next level of improvement would be increasing the diffs gear ratio, modifying the wheel fenders or adding a body lift or trimming fenders in order to mount taller 85 series tires.  Pizza cutter tires track/go in the snow better than wider tires.  These mods would be a considerable expense... but it would increase the truck's ability to traverse deeper snow.  You can only push so much snow with the front of your truck. 

We need more ground clearance and with IFS suspensions small lifts and taller tires is how we get it typically, short of cutting the front frame, dropping it four inches then re-positioning the spring pads, shock and control arm mounts and pan hard bar on the rear axle so the rear axle lift can increase to match the taller lift on the front.

Powder snow is fun to drive in.  I love to do snow excursions whenever we receive a decent amount of snow and I particularly like it when we get some wind with the snow that creates plenty of drifts to plow through.

Once the powder snow stiffens up and crusts over, driving becomes more challenging and taking on two foot drifts or larger will bring my truck to a stop after twenty feet or so.  Driving in really wet slushy snow is more of an issue too.  Traction is much harder to achieve.

The locker can be an issue in the winter:

- If I don't engage 4WD when driving on snow (rear end of the Tracker wants to kick out side ways under acceleration)
- Turning on icy intersections requires more attention and less throttle
- When traversing hills and having to turn left or right while on the side of the hill the locker spinning both rear tires allows the Tracker to slip towards the downhill side.  This also happens when turning on the side of muddy hills too, though.

Beyond these issues, my locker has not presented me with any issues that have made me wish I did not have my rear axle locked.  Like wheeling on any other surface, I can easily counter all of the above issues since I know what to expect.

Again, these little trucks are amazing in their ability to go where other vehicles have problems or just cannot go. I still love driving mine.  It is still a pleasure to drive.

Thanks for the reply, nprecon.  I just got back from "patrolling" around all day.  I used the winch to pull a friend's car out to a clear spot in the parking lot.  Then I winched a guy in a Ford escape back up a hill he shouldn't have tried to go down.  I just drove around him up to the top of the hill and winched him up.  This rigs are too much fun.  I'm sad the snow is mostly cleared and we don't often get much if any snow.  This is the first deep snow since I've had this set up.  At first I was very cautious as to how deep of snow to go into.  At first I stayed in the ruts, but then I tried to go through a parking lot with no tracks and 15+ inches of untouched snow.  It was no problem.  As long as it is flat I can go through about anything, and I if  I get stopped the Kick will back right out.  Its nice not having the plastic bumpers anymore for this reason. 

WVZuk,

First I'd like to ask what part of West Virginia are you located?
I was out in WV on a pipeline job in Moundville/Martinsville area fall & winter of 2011-2012.
Had my Timber Cruiser with me and had a Hoot exploring the area on my Sundays off.
Being a displaced Yooper, the snows, 1-2" didn't last long except at the higher elevations once you left the Ohio river valleys, were easily manageable.
What I didn't expect which the locals call a "Slip" is, even on paved state highways, part or all of the road breaks off and in a land slide disappears down into the valley below. Find that in the dark some night on the way back from going somewhere!!

nprecon, has covered most of what you need to know, I would only caution is that your short wheel based, light vehicle, can be very unpredictable on ICE, especially with the locker engaged!! Even myself up here where snow gets Bunghole Deep on a Tall Moose,
have had the wake up call of an unexpected "Spinning Top" of my rig going down  one of our local roads !! The winds were blowing across a "Plowed" part of the road, I was thinking of other things, the drifting snow had glazed the road over.........
Lucky, I just spun 1 1/2 times and quickly recovering, did a NASCAR exit keeping it on the road steering it thru the back window. (Expletives  Deleted)

Winter Exploring is a Great Time !! Know your limits.....Don't Travel alone.....Cut your day short to get out before dark (It happens 1 hour earlier in the woods)...
and Bring proper clothes if your have to walk out!!

 in the capitol city of Charleston, about 3 hours south of Moundsville.  Yeah this snow is a real blast when you have something that with go through it well.  I didn't venture outside of city limits because there was plenty of snow everywhere.  Now that the main roads are clear I may venture further, carefully.

I only had some videos of running a river in winter in WV.
Here is a spring WV Off Road Club Rally, The Matt Memorial

Just after getting started, I came too Play !!
A river run....
Submarine'd the Timber Cruiser.... Made it out, soaked my spotters boots!!

In the bottom of previous pix is the wipers, rest was under water

This was at the lunch stop

Tires.  Tires designed for SNOW.  My first 4x4 was a Jeep pickup with bias-ply snow treads on all four corners.  It was followed by a Scout, LUV, Bronco, Sidekick, Mazda p/u, two Trackers, and an S10.  Never got stuck no matter how deep the snow nor slippery the glare ice.  Even got into the Columbia River gorge right before they closed the hiway a couple times.

Tires.  Anything else is just for braggin' rights.  Even a front-wheel-drive car makes a good snow machine with proper tires.

Clearly the best winter tires, aren't tires.


-motofabio

love mattracks but just not for 5000