Ice, ice, baby!

Lurchgs · Oct 24, 2008

nah - you can see fine, the road's just a bit icy (I'm assuming essentially no wind). No other traffic to worry about.. just go slow

SNI_Gary_OC · Oct 24, 2008

..... Cool Picture .......

And the reason for not parking is??? LOL

Hammer166 · Oct 24, 2008

Given those conditions and no traffic vs. slightly better conditions and some idiots out there to help?

Get out my way, I'm going trucking, NOW!!!

lostNfound · Oct 24, 2008

Hammer166 said: ↑

Given those conditions and no traffic vs. slightly better conditions and some idiots out there to help?

Get out my way, I'm going trucking, NOW!!!
Click to expand...

What he said. I actually like those kind of conditions ... then again, I like being out in front of the snowplow too.

Roadmedic · Oct 24, 2008

Lurchgs said: ↑

nah - you can see fine, the road's just a bit icy (I'm assuming essentially no wind). No other traffic to worry about.. just go slow
Click to expand...

I have been on lots of it. The last was at 10 at night and going along slowly when under the nice white powder top, we find the slick black ice. It was 45 miles to the next truckstop.

The find of the black ice was when the trailer decided to use the other lane and thought about passing me. All without brakes and just a light wind.

Lurchgs · Oct 24, 2008

I assume you got the whip out and made sure that trailer knew who is boss?

Roadmedic · Oct 24, 2008

Lurchgs said: ↑

I assume you got the whip out and made sure that trailer knew who is boss?
Click to expand...

Good thought.

But in reality, it was a review of the load and if it was really worth killing myself or damaging the truck.

wsyrob · Dec 15, 2008

evertruckerr said: ↑

AW, what's a little ice? Keeps things interesting.

Click to expand...

Photoshop? Looks like a black roof edge across the top to me.

jjranch · Dec 15, 2008

If it gets to much worse this year the history channel can do an ice road trucker episode with us, ICE ROADS OF THE LOWER 48 I have had my share this year with the Siskiyous and no tire chains and elk mountain and now i am in portland maine trying to get to Boise idaho for Christmas looks like i have a very interesting trip ahead. JJ

primexample · Jun 16, 2009

Hammer166 said: ↑

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......".
Click to expand...

F. Go to a truck driving school and learn not to drive 68mph in bad weather conditions, and when not to use cruise control.

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Find Trucking Jobs

Ice, ice, baby!

Lurchgs Road Train Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

SNI_Gary_OC Bobtail Member

Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

lostNfound Road Train Member

Roadmedic Road Train Member

Lurchgs Road Train Member

Roadmedic Road Train Member

wsyrob Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

jjranch Road Train Member

primexample Light Load Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Find Trucking Jobs

Ice, ice, baby!

Lurchgs Road Train Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!

SNI_Gary_OC Bobtail Member

Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

lostNfound Road Train Member

Roadmedic Road Train Member

Lurchgs Road Train Member

Roadmedic Road Train Member

wsyrob Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

jjranch Road Train Member

primexample Light Load Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!