Any tips for slowing on icy roads?

Like this?

 

Well said ... I use my all the time on icy roads I also use my jake brake alot on icy roads .. so I guess I do everything wrong according to the experts on here
Been doing it that way for 34 years.. and 12 of those years I lived in Colorado..If I'am loaded I have no choice but to roll unless the road is closed then I have to find a spot to get to to kick them off the wagon away

 

Similar location. Only one lever of formed chrome. Ours were down enough you could get your hand beneath the wheel to operate. Not close like a turn signal lever you are coordinating with some fingers on wheel, others on signal lever.

 

Kid told me one time he rode west with a friend. Coming out of Raton he was in passenger seat and had dozed off. Woke up suddenly to frenzied driver activity. The road was icy. He reached over and engaged the Jake to be helpful and things got worse. Driver regained control and they got on down. Swears he kissed the ground in that middle lane in Trinidad. (This before the interstate went around.)

 

Trolley & brake retarder. Don't touch that retarder when its greasy. I've come off a few beaver slides in the woods.

 

There area I run in the winter I see alot of Gobblers try to use them.. I see some drivers destroy them in 30 miles on ice..seen alot of drivers get stuck in snow with them on... then best ones to watch are the super stupid drivers that struggle to even put the socks on... I like watching them struggle its cheap entertainment..
Every time I watch them I think to myself .. Please God I hope they don't struggle that hard trying to use birth control because they sure don't need to be reproducing

 

Don't get me wrong you can't just kick the Jake on every time you want to slow down on icy roads or on down grades there's times and places on icy roads that a jake helps me out substantially.. but I also run a brake saver too I use that
What makes it interesting is on icy roads and the cattle start getting jacked up because of either the amount of time or the weather your in .. they can make the trailer do some strange things

 

Icy road reference bring back something I think I may have referred t in a post way back. Was running double decks of veal calves from MS to Rath at Waterloo. Iowa 218; from Keokuk toward Waterloo, had these formed tilted curbs along lot of it to drain direct rainfall off to prevent shoulder erosion.
Old road was narrow anyway, and these curbs, when filed with packed snow or icy made in worse by tilting you up on the ditch side if you rubbed it.
Our trailers were pretty high for the day, so a 6" boost on right side put a good lean into the opposing lane. Same way with dry vans/reefers coming at you.
Meet on a bridge ending, still a little tilted, you would lose your upper rear clearance light to his. Lots of red plastic on bridges in winter from Keokuk up to Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and onward. Just a cost of doing business then, Interstate cleared it right up.

 

We hauled a few killer mules from MS to the mink farms in Marengo, IL. MS delta was pretty well mechanized by 1956 when I went to J.T. Garrard and mules were going to auction. Most went north as mink food, prior to the animal care movement. Some were solid work animals, but there were the sick and lame. One get down; and hot shot would not raise, leave him to survive on floor.. The worst case was have one get St Vitus dance. Shake the truck like cold shivers, and you would think drive shaft was coming thru floorboard. Crawl up the side and shoot him. And they would not set in a curve like cattle. You aim in; set the swing, and they all step to the low side. Very disconcerting at times.

 

Other than going slow as a professional driver you will find that you start to drive to conditions rather then worry about what the official speed limit is, try not to go to hard on the brakes if it is icy and also try using the trailer brakes only again very lightly don't hit them to hard this will usually pull you back rather than make the truck slide. Hitting your maxi's is what will make you slide or jackknife specially if you brake to hard, so try and learn how to think like a truck driver rather the a 4 wheeled driver and you'll soon work it out.