Driving the big-rigs in snow and ice

Sand is better cat litter turns into slippery snot...

 

Thanks Iron Pony,
This is the most informative and most issue-focused reply I've read in any category since I've been reading this forum. It's good to know that guys like you are out there!
ONGB

 

I do use jakes, but I have them on the lowest stage. One co I worked for even the safety man said to use the low stage. I do not use cruise tho. If you have duals you can get a good feel by the seat and floor board. Them stupid super singles are not worth a flip.

 

Amen brother!! I'm running super singles. Hauling 60 foot beams on a 48 foot flatbed in icy mountain conditions on super singles with 4-wheelers that tailgate so close they actually are partially underneath the overhang is what I call a good time trucking!.....NOT!!! I don't care about the 4-wheelers, I just don't want them to scratch up the merchandise! hah!

Super singles and I don't have interlocking diffs either....well spec'd canadian truck i tell ya!.....oh, and I also have a Cummins ISM under the hood. Every time I get an oil change the guys laugh and say they've only seen ISMs in motorhomes and never a semi. Their jaws drop when they see the load I'm usually hauling.

 

I might be a bit over-conservative, but the only time I'm really using the low stage is when I'm bobtailing. Still, that's an idea when conditions aren't too bad.

Hmmm... me neither, but I wouldn't suggest that for someone new to the game. I get the feeling that the company line of maximizing cruise usage is because driving a 80,000-lb rig is so much different than a car. Takes awhile to get your head wrapped around the difference, but it can be as much as a 35% difference in fuel consumption according to a lot of folks.

There's an advantage in fuel consumption on dry pavement. But yeah, the 4-wheelin' community has known forever that those cool-looking wide tires that people put on their jeeps don't work worth a "flip" in snow! Why the heck would it be any different with us? The only way to get more traction on crappy surfaces is to increase the amount of weight per square inch developed by your tires... ain't gonna get anywhere spreading it out over more tire with stuper singles!

The driver who got the best fuel economy in our fleet last year was a flatbedder running Michelin XRA all-position tires - steers and duals. Says something that it was a flatbedder with the places you guys go.

 

March '09, I ran chains from Pueble to Commerce City on I-25, first time I've had to chain up on flat lands, but the stretch from Pueble to C. Springs was almost unpassable otherwise.

The longest I've ever seen I-70 closed was 72 hrs and the was an extreme store. This most recent/first storm closed I-25 to Wyoming for 4 straight days so it wouldn't matter.

I learned my lesson with my jakes in the winter, almost lost it 3 times in a 1/4 mile stretch with the jakes on low last winter.