When ice has you stuck on small grades...

I've been there. I don't know if you've ever been out west but I was heading south on US95 in Nevada pulling triples. In the small town of Goldfield right when you leave town there's a very sharp turn (I'd say 90°) then a small hill about a half mile long. I came through there on the way home and you can't go fast around that turn. So I took it easy around the turn and applied the power the best I could to get the momentum I needed. I only had a single screw tractor and really should have put chains on but I thought I was out of the ice. I did lock the differential and I got to the top but had about 20 feet to go. I just kept a slow spin without alot of torque and let the tires melt the ice away.

I know it's a bad feeling when you only have a few feet to go but what the heck. You can carry a 50lb bag of sand but how many times do you think you'll be in that situation again? I was coming out of Tonopah on a turn from Las Vegas and there's only that small grade going south. The snow and ice was on top of the grades but not on the bottom so I didn't bother with chains. Nevada is pretty lenient on chains until you have a problem then they take action. Of course if the sign is up you've got to chain up but there were no signs. It took awhile to make 20 feet but I didn't hurt the equipment and I keep it straight. But if you think you might be there again the sand would work better than kittylitter.

 

I was on night shift pulling loads of canned pudding out of a Dean Foods plant in Benton Harbor to a labeling plant near Coloma, MI, a distance of nine miles. Nine loads would be a nights work. On the second empty return to the pudding plant, I had to make several attempts on the small grade from the Paw Paw River to I-196 due to black ice. After returning with another load, I phoned the county road commission. I asked when they were going to sand the road. I could overhear the county dispatcher talking to the snow plow driver. The snow plow driver stated that he would stay on his regular route, clearing the residential streets first. It would be several hours before the two-lane highway was sanded in spite of my description of the black ice conditions. At that point, I called it a night and went home.

 

I drive milk truck and often find myself out at 1-2a.m. when there are no salt trucks around. The two musts in my tool box are chains and a few 50lb bags of barn lime. A few weeks ago we had an ice storm, and at about 2a.m. I was going up a hill on a back road with one pair of chains and both drive axles fully locked and I spun out about half way up and started to slide backwards. As soon as I touched the brakes, my fronts locked up and I slide sideways into the ditch. The only way I got out was to chain up the other side and use alot of lime to get my front up out of the ditch. Chains are great, but only go so far when you can not turn.

 

Are you sure there's no problem in using lime? I know there's lots of environmental laws that I don't know and I wouldn't want anyone to pay a big fine for dumping some regulated material on the ground. You can't even wash your truck now anywhere you like because of the run off so I just do not know.

 

what about that "ice melter" stuff they have? or kosher salt? it is pretty cheap
this automatic traction control on my F'liner is a pain when slick does ALOTT of enguaging and disenguaging of the axles. very tough to "burn through" the ice that way

 

Small bag of salt will do it, just enough to help you get going. You can also throw your chains in front of your drives, just don't forget them on the road.

 

we don't have chains, CO. policy is ICE= no drive. guess they dont understand that SNOW becomes ICE when packed by warm truck tires, LOL

 

I would assume there would be no problem since farmers use the lime for walkways in their barns, which are then scraped, and it is spread on the fields.

 

When I was a local route delivery driver running around the backwoods op here,...I would usually try to keep the right wheels on the shoulder and gain traction there,.....Just don't get to far over and get sucked into the ditch!!...