CHAINING...are you ready?

Well.....You being from the "Nawth" should also mention Cali's "Double-Maximum-No-Excuses-Just-Do-It-No-Matter-How-Stupid-It-May-Sound" Level of chaining.....On Donner I mean.....

That is.....Chaining the "Max" and your steers.....I have never done it myself....But some of the old hands have told me Donner in the past has gotten that bad......

 

But....Let's be honest here.....
We never, ever, chain-up to get into trouble.....We chain-up to get out of it...right?.....

 

Last winter was the first time I ever drove in snow and ice in my life,let alone chain up. I'm a swamp boy from Florida. One thing for sure I felt a helluva lot better and safer with chains on. Was even getting into it,admit going a little to fast,kinda reminded me when I use to drive a tracked self propelled howitzer in the Army. Truck felt like a tank with them on.My present employer policy is "no chaining" pullover. I guess that means break time and put on a good movie for me. Everyone be safe.

 

That's a good point. I like to chain sometimes, then, i'll drive slow, then, i'll take the chains off. After about 5 or 6 hours i'll look at my gps and discover how many dozens of miles i actually advanced...but, all in all, sometimes you just have to do it to get out of wherever you are..

 

It's true, last winter there was a huge wreck involving 4 rigs on doner pass. the cadot closed the i-80 for about 6 hours, with mandatory chain ups on the way down into truckee,ca. cadot said rear drives and front trlr tandems "must have chains" so, most guys went with that.

 

Yeah I remember that....That was the same time I tried to get out of Northern Cali to SO-CAL....36 W/B was closed....So I went the other way through Susanville....Donner was getting Max-Chain with slush and the traffic was already heavy in Truckee....

So back to 395 and then I got stuck in Bridgeport.....A straight truck slid off 395 about 6 miles S/O town so CHP made us turn around and park across from the Cheveron.....

NOAA was predicting 2' of the glorious white stuff before morning....So instead staying (The wreck was cleared before 2100) I chose to leave at 2300 and get the hell out of the way....Otherwise I would have to sit for at least 6 days according to NOAA....Snow for the next 4 days at least was on order for the Sierras.....That much snow would take at least two days to plow...this is CALTrans we're talking about here.....

I didn't bother to chain....I was 79K.....Figuring I was at least 3 hours ahead of the heavy stuff starting to blow in....there was some snow and patches of ice...But not enough in my experience to throw iron....
CALTrans had all of their plows parked and those guys watched me fly by......The cross-winds were Hell and the snow was blowing sideways.....All the way down to the grade before Bishop.....

Sometimes you have to make a "Command Decision" and get out trouble.....

 

Great guide. You mentioned typos early on, there are a couple of paragraphs on page 6 repeated on page 7. Might have been intentional, not sure...

Very good job!

 

Yeah, I wish the outfit I work for had that attitude...

But then again, their chain-up policy kinda contradicts itself in a way. At one point they tell us we carry chains on our trucks for a reason and that they're not there just for decoration but on the other hand, if we feel it is still unsafe to proceed even with chains, by all means, they require finding a safe-haven and waiting it out till the conditions improve.

 

I chain up when I need to...I always have because I don't stop unless the road's closed, Except on Donner Pass....I won't wear out a good set of chains because those idiots want me to chain up on dry pavement.

I've heard the "truckstop counter loudtalkers" talk about chaining steers and I've even seen a few idiots here post about having to chain steers...But in almost 40 years of driving in every kind of weather situation I have never been asked to chain a steer tire anywhere.

"Max chains" is "Max chains"....There is no super secret "Double-Maximum-No-Excuses-Just-Do-It-No-Matter-How-Stupid-It-May-Sound" scenario that exceeds "Max chains".

When you hear some idiot start babbling about it you can finally say that you've seen a "truckstop counter loudtalker" "Live and in person!"

 

I figured you have something to say about my smartazzhatted post....