Techniques for getting over the Mountain.

That's how I've been doing it for almost 30 years. I live in the Northwest, so I've been dealing with it most of my life. It's how I was taught by the old guys that I drove for in the beginning.

Yep. The herd mentality that a lot of drivers have out here causes a whole lot of problems. There always seems to be one that will run their mouth and call me names and say I'll be in the ditch. I tell them if they see me in the ditch to honk as they go by, but, chances are that THEY will be the one in the ditch when he or one of the other idiots screws up and takes out the whole parade. I'd prefer that to happen behind me.

 

Good luck with pushing to the limits on snow

 

High rpm lets me get out of the power to regain traction and hopefully not have to downshift pulling hill.

 

It's not that you're less likely to spin out at high rpm, because face it, you're putting the same HP to the ground, be it low rpm/deep throttle or high rpm/light throttle. The difference is when you do have a slip, the engine is going to spin up much faster when you're at higher torque outputs.

Break loose while deep in the throttle, where the engine can accelerate 500-700 rpm before the governor kicks in, and it can be several seconds before you can regain traction. And you'll be decelerating every one of those seconds. An engine near peak torque will accelerate very rapidly if load is removed (wheel slip.)

At higher rpm, it's much easier to feather the throttle to maintain traction, without the engines full torque trying to blow the drives away at every minor slip. And even if that does happen, the engine can only pickup a few rpm before the fuel gets pulled back. It's just much easier to ride that peak of the traction curve at high rpm.

 

That is it in a nutshell. You can drop the mic now.

The important thing is NOT to apply a lot of horsepower in poor traction conditions. If I am setting up for the downshift from high range to low range, which has a wide gap, I will allow my rpm's to drop below 1500 rpm's on a climb. BUT my foot is EASING of the throttle. On a climb I plan to downshift and hit 4th position at about the same rpm's as I started, because momentum will be lost.

The bottom line is never spin your tires. Spinning rubber creates heat, melting the snow and providing lubrication. You don't want additional lubrication u der your tires.

Regarding the OP's observations that some professional drivers go much faster in bad conditions, it's possible they are oblivious to the conditions. But it's more likely they have a lot of experience that allows them to be comfortable AND safe driving as they do.

During my two years with Swift I went from never having driven a big truck in snow and ice, to getting over 10,000 hours of experience driving in those conditions. I thought I was pretty good, but always took it nice and easy.

Then I started driving flatbed to the oil field. That took the challenges up quite a few more notches. Having to back down a muddy hill three times in the middle of the night during an ice storm was a moment that told me I need to really elevate my game. That was the moment I learned that getting WELL north of 1500 rpm's is essential. I successfully climbed that 200 yard 20% grade by starting in 3rd, winding it up to 2000 rpm's and holding that gear all the way, topping out at about 800 rpm's. The idea is to be constantly easing off on the throttle as you climb, to prevent spinout. Spinning out in mud is a BAD idea. I had just enough horsepower to maintain momentum. Finally when I hit the flat at the top I could EASE back into the throttle and upshift.

 

You have to have more weight on your drives for traction, drive by the seat of your pants and be looking forward and rear as much as possible. Then if you start breaking traction let off a little until you get it back, on that uphill if you lose your speed you may get stuck even with chains, finding a track other than everyone elses may help keeping traction as long as it is not to deep, then when you crest the hill relax and keep control while watching for those who hit the corners a bit to fast, when many start sliding in one spot it glazes the surface and gets very interesting.

 

I don't know about the relax part. I sweat more on the downhill side then the uphill side.

Going up all you gotta worry about is spinning out. Going down, you gotta worry about the trailer coming around you. And pushing your truck sideways.

 

If you do not relax you will be tense and reactions will be slower, about all these hills we have been on for years so you should know the drill.

 

Doesn't matter how well you know the hills. You never know the condition of the ground. It's never the same. Different amounts of snow and or ice during and after each storm.

 

It’s not pushing to the limit. Just keeping them at 14-1600 has worked better for me than keeping them lower.