was driving over vail pass lastnight empty.

I was at the bottom of vail pass last night and traffic was barely moving so I started to down shift got to 4th gear and trailer started to come around so I pushed in clutch got in front of it and gave her a little fuel to start moving but my tires were just spinning on the ice and the trailer kept coming around and I couldn't get any traction so I got on the shoulder where their was a little snow, got to the chain station and threw on chains to keep going. was nothing but a sheet of ice and people were flying past me like it was nothing, me being empty might have made it a little worse but any one got ideas on how to go about driving on ice. pulling over for the night wasn't in the plan it was just going to get worse and after I got down from the pass it cleared up, but as far as going down hill is their anything I should do besides go slow? like whats the likely hood of me not being able to make a turn or just sliding off the road? I keep my jakes on but I keep RPMS low and toggle it from low to med and I didn't slide to much but any info or words of encouragement would be nice. have a happy new year and be safe.

 

Running empty you keep the Jake OFF.

 

I was in the same shape once before.. light load and solid ice.

Trailer came around me and straightened out when it caught the median shoulder.

Never run jakes in bad weather.. even rain...

All I could do was drive on the shoulder and use the rumble strip for traction until I could get off the road which was quite a distance.

If you can get off the road and park then do so. You can never justify driving in icy conditions.

 

Drive slow and keep the Jake breaks off The only time I have ever had a trailer try to walk around me (So Far) has been the one time I forgot to turn off the Jake breaks.
when empty or heavy you got to go slower than most. I found the best traction seems to be when having 30000 to 40000 (just my Opinion and I may be wrong) in the box/on trailer any lighter or heavier I tend to drop an extra 5 to 10 mph.

 

STOP IT! There's no reason to be running any amount of Jake in slippery conditions with a light or no load. Period.

 

The trick to driving on ice is to be smooth in everything. You cant make any sudden changes in direction, braking, or accelerating. Thats why the jake is a no no. And as much as it seems crazy sometimes dragging the shoulder gives your best control.

 

No offense but I have NEVER had a load much less an empty trailer that was so critical I would jeopardize my life, truck, others lives, career, driving record or anything else by driving on ice. I will put chains on if I absolutely have to in order to get to a safe parking place but there's no way in hell I would chain up to go on down the road.

However if your empty load is that important then never ever use the jakes and run a drag chain (even a single cable) on the trailer.

 

Aside from all the advise on the jake, which I agree with, I would suggest if you are having trouble on the ice, and for whatever reason you cannot stop where you are, you can slow way down and stay on the shoulder of the road. The shoulder is where all the pebbles and loose packed snow and such are, and you can get some traction there.
And don't worry about others "flying" by you. You have the controls in your truck because you're the one in control of the truck, not them. You're responsible for the safe operation of your truck, nobody else. Just stay as far to the right and out of the way as possible so they can go by you safely.
And, if it is that bad, you need to stop at the first safe place you can find and wait for better conditions. I know in some cases that just isn't possible, so be careful.

 

I have and will always rather use my Jakes then my brakes personal preference and while being light I had a aluminum conveyor 48ft long weighd like 700 pounds and all through Wyoming I used my Jakes and decided I'll use my brake as soon as I tapped the dang. Thing my truck Jack knifed luckily as the trailer was pushing me i caught fresh snow and I was able to straighten out. And all I could hear on the cb is how lucky I am Lol. I was leading like 100 trucks because we were stuck behind a snow plow and I was first.

It was nuts but experiences like that are what make me the driver that I am today. Knowing my limits and knowing not to play with mother nature cuz she can be a #####.

 

Good advice so far. Go slow, stay off the brakes, and when applying throttle, do it SLOWLY and GRADUALLY..... you certainly don't want to be trying to win the Indy 500 when it's slippery.

Also, increase your following distance. A lot. If you have to hit the brakes, you want to have PLENTY of room to either get stopped, or plan an escape route. Since you can't jam on the brakes without sliding (or having the trailer come around), you need a lot of space between you and anything in front of you.