Winter Mountain Driving Advice Needed

Slightly dragging the trolley valve, apply power to pull them stright.

 

They dont get it, what works for me may not work for you. Driving is not a one fits all occupation, My past experience kind of controls what I may or may not do in a situation. Most of my miles is been pulling double tankers, So that changes how I see things and handle situations before even thinking about them. Your experience is going to be different.

 

Hmmmmm, please see post #11.

 

Two assertions have been made that are simply false, and the first one is dangerous.
- “I know when it is slick”. O, HECK NO you don’t! Any driver with some experience has hit “slick” pretty much out of the blue. I don’t care if there was no glare or shine tires or tire spray. Sometimes you just hit slick and you didn’t see it coming.

- “the Jake break will stop the tire from spinning, and the truck will lose traction and spin out.”

No, no it won’t. Every truck I’ve ever had the Jake will kick off when the engine drops below the low RPM limit. The other drives still have traction, as soon as the Jake’s kick off, those retires regain traction and everything proceeds as before. The rear doesn’t kick out if you’d just keep driving the truck.

 

Every driver, every road, and every storm is different. I use my jakes when needed but that doesn’t mean everyone needs to do it. There’s a right way, a wrong way, and my way. It works for me.

 

I agree with you completely, time and distance is one of the few things we can normally control, With that being said I have never regretted slowing down a bit to give myself and those around me the extra time that meaybe needed. No loadworth dying for or causing injuries to others.
To all those that like to run cruise and jakes may God be with you, but myself I will not run them in the ice (I do agree I'd rather run on snow pack as gamble on black ice), I just dont have the same amount of control with the jake and cruise as you do by dont controling the truck myself.

 

Just to be clear, I don't think any of us are advocating for our tactics for use on ice. I'll pretty much run if the roads are open, but black ice? Not unless it's only a few miles and it clears off. Unless it's really cold, ice below 15°F is generally a much more manageable scenario.

Up on the grades, chain law is going to be up if the snowpack glazes over, and traction is generally not a problem wearing iron. Here in Colorado, they'll have the passes closed long before conditions get bad enough to be sketchy with chains.

 

I run I80 alot between utah and central valley, I do throw iron when needed, dont want to be the guy stuck spinning in the lane bcause somebody stopped. easier to lay out the chains, insert my home made blocks pull up on the blocks, pull em around the tires..

 

Every truck I've driven the ABS will kick the jakes out if they start to skid also.