Need winter advice !!!

A big key to safe driving in the winter, with or without jakes, is having a proper reaction. Small movements with the steering wheel, light pressure on the brake and throttle. People tend to over correct when they go into a skid by stomping on the brakes and cranking the wheel.

 

Don't use the brakes [either 1] going down hill and don't accelerate going up.
That's the short answer.

 

Put buckets on the stacks and let her sit until late March/April

most everything gets shut down if it gets that bad, try not to drive in others tracks if you can help if, that just melts and refreeze constantly, powder usually has pavement under it, don’t drive like a ####head but also don’t do 20 mph in the hammer lane

 

you need to use your head and think carefully the consequences of your decisions driving on ice.

as you are driving during winter, frequently check the front of your mirror for icy build up.

feel ice on the mirror?

start SLOWING DOWN, and looking for a pull over place.

always check the weather reports BEFORE starting your trip for conditions.

if it's going to be that bad, call dispatch and inform him/her the roads are not safe, and you will get up and running as soon as you can.

it's one thing to be caught in bad weather as you are already on the raod, it's entirely different to START driving when you can plainly SEE the weather is bad.

don't let anyone else tell you to drive, or you'll be fired. call the safety dept and tell them it is not safe and YOU don't feel safe.

don't let other truckers on the cb radio or at the truck stops tell you how to drive your truck.

you have to live with your decisions, not them, if you crash.

 

In Alaska,we use Jake brakes all winter.If it's below 0 traction is usaully very good.Exceptions are freezing rain,either park it or chain up.
With an automated transmission manual mode is the best,engine brake on low can be used most of the time.
I was usually in manual mode,6th,7th,or 8th,gear downhill in the Canadian Rockies,last winter.
I had super singles on the drives,regular duals are much better.I had to chain up 3 times on one trip.That was because of the freezing rain,normally you can run all the way to Alaska without chaining up.
Just take it easy or park it when it starts snowing.Give the highway crews some time to get the road cleared or ice control to start working,melting the ice.

 

Okay i will park all my trucks and equipment for 5 months a year from now on

 

Slow and easy

 

It's called wait until road conditions improve.

 

Go down it in the winter the same way you go down it in the summer, slow and steady, maintain a slow speed, jakes on low, if you feel it starting to slip with the jakes, turn the jakes off and reduce your speed a little more. I've been running automatic Macks' and KW's since 2015, never once had a problem in the Rockies, regardless of the conditions, and that includes some of the back roads, not just the big road, although the next time I decide to try Co-139 Douglass Pass (that's for a different thread) hopefully someone beats me with a 2x4.

If you have it, always use manual mode, keep your wits about you, learn to drive by "feel", "feel" what your tires are doing, learn what the road "feels" like. If you drive the same truck all the time, learn what your truck feels like, learn what your truck is telling you, you being the captain of your ship are responsible for making sure your truck is ready for winter. Every winter I pull my chains and inspect them, whether I used them the previous winter or not, and then rehang them so they can be easily pulled (it's amazing how tangled they get from May 31st to Sept. 1st., watch your tach, a lot of times your tach will tell you you're slipping/sliding before the speedo will, and sometimes before you feel it.

Yes, going too slow kills, usually because the super trucker with their hair on fire racing by you will run into you. I turn my CB on very low to hear the road report, I ignore the super truckers complaining because I'm going too slow.

The biggest reality of winter mountain driving, is to drive at your comfort level, not anyone else's comfort level.

 

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER!

even if you're a perfect driver, chain up and everything that doesn't save you from other vehicles sliding into you.

Or worse another semi losing control sliding into you knocking you off the side of a mountain.

Early on I thought I can drive super slow granny style while loaded heavy and I can maintain control and drive in not good conditions.
After multiple times of seeing people slid off the road around me, slid into other vehicles around me.
Yeah nope.

As crazy as it sounds if someone else loses control and slides into you, YOU can be held responsible and sued.

It happened to Werner.
Read it here

Werner to Appeal $89.7 Million Verdict Related to Texas Crash