New drivers in here: My first chain up experience

Now you are all confident and ready to conquer all with your one chain experience and months of OTR time. Think about it a while. Who is pushing you? Is it you? A delivery time? A dispatcher, or whatever your company calls it? You took a chance, you made it. What about the next time, or the next time, will you make it? I was once young and dumb, went through snow and ice when I should have parked. I made it all but one time. That taught me to park it when when my common sense told me the conditions were too bad.

Don't let your rookie confidence get the better of you just because you happened to make it this time. You could run the same place next time and wipe out or be killed. On one job they asked me if I could drive in snow, I said yes I could, but if I felt it was unsafe the truck was going to stop, for no freight was worth my life and a wrecked truck. I was hired on the spot. A GOOD company does not want you to take chances.

You need to learn snow and ice driving, but mountains in your first year by yourself is not the place, unless you have a death wish. Think about it, is any freight worth your life? If you die, someone else will load the same load and deliver it in good weather after you're gone. This is not a world saving occupation, it's just driving a truck from one place to another. Sure, some people may not like it that you're late, but their axx is home in bed, not out there risking their lives to make a deadline. If it's late, and you're alive, that's much better than It's late, and you're dead.

 

Wow. I don't even know you but I am proud of you. Thank you for sharing your experience. Your advice applies to any adverse situation in life. By the way, you just conquered the mountains and the weather. That's pretty impressive. Stay safe.

 

Excellent thread x country,not just for newbies but females.

 

I used to have an aversion to using chains. Then I took a summer to work in the oil patch where you got to chain up in the mud. After that experience I never had a problem chaining in the winter time, way cleaner experience.
I used chains to get down the last hill into Golden, BC heading west and left them on all the way to Revelstoke. Sat on top of Rogers Pass for 15 hours in between. After that they closed the highway, a friend of mine sat there for four days. I was in sunny California by then.

 

For some reason the simple thought of running dedicated beer loads is more traumatic than driving in poor conditions

 

Only sensible post in this thread. If you want to give your life for some watered down beer more power to ya!

 

Why is that?I've hauled many beer loads.Don't mind hauling beer,its just another load.What I hate is all the red tape before hand.

 

I like this post except the fact st Louis & ft Collins were mentioned.

Ewwwwwwww......

I'd rather go up the mountain then sit all day waiting on those lazy Americans xD.

 

Fun post! But to be honest, anyone's first chaining experience should be in a parking lot, practicing, BEFORE you actually encounter conditions in which you will need them. I have come across so many drivers that never even looked at their chains until they were on the side of the road on 84 in oregon, with the chain law in affect before Cabbage. One driver I remember in particular. He had asked me to come help him chain and I went over and started on one tire, while talking him through the tire he was doing.

He kept saying that he couldn't get his chains to hook. I could get one rail done but not the other and couldn't figure it out. Finally I laid mine back on the ground found out that it was defective. One rail was shorter than the other one. I walk around the truck and look at his and he has no hooks on either end. I ask him where he got his chains and he says that he found several open bags of chains in his terminal shop and just grabbed them. I asked when was this and he replies ,"About 6 months ago". He never even looked at them to make sure they would fit his truck. I said sorry, but I have to go, call your company.