Automatic transmission in snow

Your lucky. The company I was with only let us have auto-economy. Manual could be used but it eould not stay in straight manual mode. You could shift up and down but as aoon a it sensed it could shift it would. This was a cascadia dd15 with dt 12 trans

 

I have an automatic Volo 12 gears.It depends on temperature and how slick it is.Take it easy of course works best.What I typically do: Chains advised,no chains installed,29° temp,kinda slick.Power inverter locked in for Snoqualmie,steady 40mph up pass,once I crest the hill no throttle,2 or 3 light stab braking, (just to keep it at 30 mph downhill.Full auto whole time.Now,Blewett Pass can be gnarly so,9th gear manual mode,power inverter locked in and very light stab braking going down.Obviously this pass is more dangerous with a downhill of what seems like 12 miles! Just how,I've done it for 3 winters,once a week on both passes,and never felt like I was "gonna lose it".JMO

 

Yes,locking it in in low lock on the passes is "your friend".,especially on the downhill,because of the "drag" on your speed.I forgot to add, the most jake brake ,I will "ever use" when it's slick is the 1st lowest notch.If you slow your tractor Down faster than your trailer this can push you into a jackknife situation.If you"re 10,000 lbs light ,don't need it anyway.I don't know about your auto,but if I let mine"go" on auto downhill,with no stab braking,or interaxle lock in (it'll Upshift (nothe downshift up to 12th) I'll be going 60+ mph down the pass...Yikes!.

 

Learn something new every day I never knew the power invertor help traction .. no wonder y they sell so many plug in ones at the truck stop lol

 

Actually the compound turbo setup on a Detroit provides about 50hp by being coupled to the flywheel, but it is driven by exhaust pressure like any other turbo.

 

I have not driven much snow with one but when i did i used manual specifically if you want to use any jake you need that thing in manual cause it likes to double down.... one place you might ask is if any of the ice road truckers that may jave a facebook page i have seen alex driving an auto wich really made me rethink my opinions on them but i still prefer a 10 or 13 due to familiarity with its behavior over an auto

 

Snow and a slippery up is the problem. No full lockers? Forget about it. Keep it manual.

But then again, that's the risk for not chaining when your on ice. Oh well, I didn't fall off the mountain.

 

why bother asking if you have made up your mind already
but I will say again Cheyenne to Sacramento I have chained 3 times on the same trip
never used manual used jake sparingly as needed
never had the jake on high either