Blown tire simulator....

It can do it. I also have a 1 inch in the shop, but in the road a Chicago Purmatic will do it. The cheap CP 3/4 Will not do it.
You have to retighten the lugs after about 500 miles as with any tire change or sometimes they loosen up.

A gun at Harbor freight for about $150 will do the job.

 

According to an old timer "jiggling the steering wheel" keeps you from trying to over control the truck on ice and/or snow. This is a guy that was an old timer when I was in late teens or early twenties, and not driving commercially at the time.
Frankly, until seeing the post on Saw Steering, I'd forgotten all about it.

Considering that his type of power steering was "Armstrong," I don't know how it would work in today's trucks.

 

Sometimes when it really gets bad, you leave it be. Just have your arms on the wheel against really severe inputs that might jackknife or flip you.

I teach anyone never to put thumbs inside the rim of a steering wheel. This goes back to the old days where the big ones would take em right off crossing a curb for example at a angle.

Ultimately one hand would be at the bottom of the wheel on really bad roads or to the 7 o clock position generally for myself keeping the other free to keep her in gear when some of the rough roads take her clean out of gear.

It is a testament to your ability to truck when the cab is being shaken by God and everything stays in it's place, such as that television inside of it's cabinet. Just never have anything up in the upper berth. Your life depends on that.

 

Very informative! Thanks!
Saw Steering...Hmmmmm

 

I was thinking about this thread today as I drove a two lane road with narrow lanes, no shoulder, and a drop off to soft ground right at the fog line. Normally you have a crown (high center to drain off rain), but this road featured plenty of dips and wobbles due to oil field traffic.

Lane control on this 65 mph road is critical. To keep a straight line it gets very dynamic with the steering wheel, as you described. Sometimes due to the tilt of the road you are steering to the right to make a left curve if they bank the corner early.

All in all that's my definition of fun.

 

Sometimes you have to physically steer the wheel against the wind, sliding trailer or other situation towards the edge of a sheer drop. Lookout mountain comes to mind. You could in one spot hang that right front steer over about 3 thousand feet of empty space.

My favorite solution is literally a rut, where you can allow the tractor to settle and it's like a railroad track steering your rig for you. These are up in the dakota, Nebraska area on some of the older roads. Also don't forget to check your large wheel lugs and nuts as they can get shaken loose by the heaves out of season.

I once got into a railroad switch inside our container yard at a Port East Truck ternimal in Baltimore, it's in buried dirt. Anyhow, I had gotten one of the steers wedged into the frog from the diverging side and fought with power to get free of that switch. I finally interlocked the axles, put her into granny low and stomped the power to the floor and dumped the clutch to break out forward. Stupid move. The result was a complete and total destruction of the entire steering gear of that mack tractor resulting in both steers pointing outwards and toed badly making me a laughing stock of the whole fleet. Being young and very stupid, and stuborn resulted in damaged tractor that will take approximately 6 months revenue to fix. I should have been fired but was told that is why I was given the worst trucks in the fleet so that when these things happen they will be fixed and it will never happen again.

 

Ruts present both opportunities and difficulties. If you want to "run the ruts" really relax your grip and arms and let the steering wheel do it's thing. In rain ruts become a continuous puddle, so then you need to choose the fog line or the zipper to straddle the high ground that's relatively dry. I like using the side of the ruts to help make a curve at speed, for a left curve drift to the right side of the ruts to provide added banking.

 

Honestly as a new driver I did not know to not hit the brakes. I feel rather silly. Glad I do now.

 

Same thing is true if you are in a four wheeler! Stay off the brakes and the gas, let the car slow down pretty much on it's own, (if this is possible due to traffic etc.) keep a firm grip on the steering wheel, and once you are down to a comfortable speed, (I know that is kind of vague, but it could be different for different vehicles and different drivers,) then go ahead and s l o w l y use your brakes to get stopped.