Ice, ice, baby!

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Hammer166, Sep 10, 2008.

  1. Hammer166

    Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

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    I don't know bout y'all, but in my part of the world, it's feeling like we're in for a long winter. (it was 39 degrees this morning.)

    So I figured a little quiz/ refresher was in order. This isn't based on a real event, it IS the real thing. So I'll tell a little tale:

    I was in Lexington, Ne waiting for my trailer at IBP. It was an ugly week, bunch of loads going places I wasn't. So Kirby, my dispatcher, offered me a long delivery Amarillo that loaded that day. I jumped on it thinking I'd run through Elk City, Ok, where I'd spend some time with my friend Bobby and my brother Dave. Wasn't real thrilled about time off away from home, but it was by far the best option.

    So I'm watching the weather as I cool my heels knowing that IBP just might screw this up. (deadline ship was 2 days away!) There's a winter storm bearing down on Kansas, freezing rain that night with a day of blizzard conditions following that. I was rather used up, and saw them grab my trailer about 18:00, so I sacked out round 19:00.

    Sometime shortly after midnight, I get the CB call that I'm ready to go. Needless to say, I got my rear in gear and was southbound within the half hour. And shortly after finding Kansas, I found the ice. It was pasable, but slow. I found Oklahoma, and wet roads, around daybreak, and very soon the freezing rain had become a light drizzle. So far, so good.

    Now it's an hour and half later, and I'm making tracks, cruise set about 68, there having been no signs of ice on the grass and trees for over an hour.

    (yeah, yeah. I'm being long winded cause I'm bored, so just keep reading! )

    Now somewhere south of Woodward there's a set of 45 degree S-curves that are nicely banked and large radius, so there's no need to slow down. (been through em on a bike at more than the ton.). I roll through the right and I've just stabilized the left when:

    "### TO BRAIN! ### TO BRAIN! WHAT THE *#$& !"

    Now if you've been at this a while, you know what I'm talking about. The seat of my pants had just informed me of a unexpected and undesirable yaw event. (the rotation axis of my rig had just shifted well forward)

    A quick glance left showed no sign of the trailer. Expected, but unpleasant nonetheless. A right glance showed, yes, you guessed it, trailer. LOTS of trailer. And now for our quiz.

    One of these is the right choice, the others will have various unpleasant outcomes. So, do you:

    A) lightly apply the brake pedal to slow the truck.

    B) use the Johnny bar (trailer brakes) to pull the trailer back in line.

    C) disengage cruise to allow truck to slow down

    D) disengage cruise, maintain neutral throttle (an in-gear coast)

    E) accelerate to pull the trailer back in line.



    Hhmmmmmmm..............

    'A' and 'B' would have similar outcomes. Your trailer tires are already sliding, teetering on the edge of adhesion. Any brake application will almost surely lock them up, reducing their friction (a rolling tire has more traction than a sliding tire, even if it's rolling with a high slip angle.) and, combined with the slowing tractor, send the trailer swinging to the right. Well, swinging until it smacks your cab in a jackknife, anyway. :(

    'C' is an iffy choice. As the tractor slows, it's pushing back against the kingpin. Which would be fine if your trailer was inline. But it's not, and as you push back, the momentum of the trailer pushes the back-end forward. Not a good idea! You might get lucky and have enough traction at the trailer to keep it from coming all the way around. But you might not! Do you feel lucky?

    'E'. Well, you know how when you come up on a wreck and the truck and trailer are on their right side, across the road, with the top of the rig facing his former direction of travel. And you wonder, "how'd he do that?" This is how you do that! Nuff said?

    Which leaves us with 'D'. The idea being to minimize the traction you're requesting from your tires. Some people prefer the 'push the clutch in and coast' method, which is basically equivalent to this. Just be careful reengaging that you match RPM or else you might cause another skid, with the tractor this time. I've always had a good feel with the throttle and prefer that way. There's still no guarantee that you won't further lose control with this technique, but it gives you the best chance of a safe recovery.

    Now if you want to learn how this feels in a semi- controllable fashion, look up my eighteen wheel donuts post over at twuck nut from last year. I think it made it 5 posts before one of the nannies scolded me for such an unsafe suggestion. Never imagined I'd find Ralph Nadar on a truck board!

    Have a safe winter, and keep singing Paul Simon: "slip slidin away......". ;)
     
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  3. bullhaulerswife

    bullhaulerswife Forum Leader/Admin Staff Member Administrator

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  4. Hammer166

    Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

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    Thanks for 'slipping' in a good word! :)
     
    bullhaulerswife and Socy Grad Thank this.
  5. ssbowles

    ssbowles Heavy Load Member

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    I'm gonna go with....
    F. Pull over and change my shorts.
    :yes2557:
     
  6. Hammer166

    Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

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    After all the different times I've gone ' ice skating' , either playing or by accident, it really wasn't that big of deal. Once a realized it wasn't going all the way around, anyways! Stay at this enough years, and most everything will have happened before, and when you know what's going on, the adrenaline hit isn't as strong as a 'WTF!' moment.

    I did manage to bring the house down at lunch that afternoon. 4 or 5 of us at the cafe, as I recounted the incident, I finished with "Steve Kinser ain't s*** !" That got the guys hootin'. If only I could be so glib and charming all the time! ;)
     
  7. Lurchgs

    Lurchgs Road Train Member

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    me, I'd be frozen in fear
     
  8. AfterShock

    AfterShock Road Train Member

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    I don't think I'd be running the cruise control if there were ANY chance of ice or slick roads. :biggrin_25512:

    But, then again, I'm not a big fan of cruise control. And I can usually better my MPG average withOUT cruise engaged.

    Good post, Hammer! :yes2557:
     
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  9. User Name

    User Name Light Load Member

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    What, no Jake Brake option!?!?
     
  10. Lilbit

    Lilbit Road Train Member

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    Very good post! Wisconsin had it pretty bad this past winter (Madison broke its snowfall record), and there were a couple of counties that did not do a very good job of keeping the interstate clear, expecially I-90/39 coming up from Rockford. My hubby had a few WTF moments this past winter, and (Thank God!) he kept it upright and out of the ditch. I had a lot of nervous moments to say the least. We both consider him lucky that he had a good trainer and time with that trainer during some of the winter crap.
     
  11. Hammer166

    Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

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    Well, we want to keep UserName happy.....

    F) touch clutch pedal to disengage cruise and allow the Jake brake to engage.


    This is the option you use when you wish to find out how it feels to have the hands of God fold your rig in half! If it is slick enough that the trailer starts to slide in a fairly low g corner, the Jake will most likely send your already slipping (remember '### to brain' ? What you felt was the trailer tugging your drives into higher than normal slip angle. ) drives into a full skid. The result of that? Well, if you're lucky, a long slide (just like the one I was doing in 18 wheel donuts) that hopefully scrubs off enough speed before tires catch on something substantial enough to flop you over on your side if you're not lucky? Well I've heard that a hard jackknife will rattle your brain a little, but I've never been there!
     
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