Driving a truck on the snow

Old fellow told me once all driving should be done as if you are running 200 mph on a sheet of ice , meaning all your inputs should be smooth and steady no hero and jerk , the last serious pile up I witnessed was rolling down a six lane running 30/35 in slushy wet snow , center lane, had several motorists passing at probly 45/50 , a few even honking as they passed , but I knew it was slick , about 1000 feet in front of me it happened 6 cars all lost control at once was like a pinball machine , when they all finally stopped hitting each other and 4 were in the ditch 2 on each side the center lane was still open and I just kept steady " trucking" at same 30 or so , one thing I not sure if was mentioned , I do a brake test often in adverse conditions when there is nobody behind you slow to 10/15 and apply brakes see what happens if you slide little then 25/30 tops if u slide lots 5/15 is all u dare run , rember rolling wheels have more traction than stopped wheels I mean , when you lock your wheels you sometimes can actually gain speed for a while , a lot of trucks do tend to run faster than they should in sloppy conditions , just don't be the one . There is lots of good advice here , just take it easy , rember in order to win you must finish , .

 

Snows pretty easy.

Just drive slow. Think about how fast you think you should go and drive half that speed. Stay in the right lane so the super truckers dont get to pissed off at you. Keep a huge following distance. Dont make any sudden movements and assume your brakes will lock up and not stop you.

Going up hill, keep your rpms down so you dont have so much torque. (torque will increase the chance of spin out. (keep it just above lug). If you choose to use jake, use it on low with caution. It can cause a 8 wheel skid if your tires go slower then the truck. When parking, DON'T set trailer brakes since they will likely freeze on. DRAIN your air tanks every time you stop (then fill them back up so your trailer brakes wont set.)
Also, hold your brakes lightly for 5 seconds every few min just to keep them warms and keep ice from freezing on them. If ice gets between the drum and pad, brakes are useless. Always have tons of washer fluid on hand.

Main thing is DRIVE SLOW. Who cares how many others are behind you wanting to go fast. Let them pass you. Many drivers have skidded in snow, and IMO, that is way to close to jack knifing or rolling the truck. Some of them do roll their trucks. Dont let supper truckers pressure yo into driving fast. just because they made it through fast doesn't mean you cant. You may have a different load, tires, weight etc. What was safe for another driver might not be for you.

also, on light loads, try and get your drives as eavy as possible. I had a load that was only 5000 pounds once. Drives only had 8K on um. I had to slow to 10 mph and downshift to 3rd gear on hills to recover from spin out. There just wasnt enough grip on drives, even with power divider engaged. If you do spin, let off the trottle and let th tires regain grip. Try not to accelerate, but just try to maintain speed...as you spin slow down more.

 

O yea, watch out on exit ramps. I was on a clean plowed highway when everyone was going 65. Took an exit at about 25 and shortly found out the ramps was covered in ice. I managed to get it stopped by the time i reached the bottom, but was already blaring my horn encase I needed to run the red light. I pulled into the flying j accross the street, and change my pants lol. 10 min later im looking at the ramp from my truck and i see the front of a truck and the entire side of the trailer. The trailer was sliding sideways down the ramp with the truck jackknifed. He sliding down all 4 lanes (turn lanes and strait lanes)...then blew through the red light (sideways) and then rolled the truck when it hit the dryer pavement in the intersection. Luckily the driver walked away and managed not to hit any cars. (or they managed not to hit him). That could have been me, I took the ramp slower then he did, but, I still skidded down that ramp. I was lucky. Point is, just because the highway is plowed doesn't mean the ramps are. They also might have black ice. In winter conditions...always take ramps SUPER SLOW.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4201052]Hi mclass, good job. I had to look twice, my daughter has a car like that. I see nobody passed you except the flatbed @ 3:00. Now they were going way too fast. When you see trucks all twisted up in the ditch, it's usually guys like that. In 35+ years, I never put it in the ditch, because I drove like you do. [/QUOTE]

Thats a TMC truck...normaly were encouraged to avoid snow or at least drive slow. He was going way to fast for conditions. If TMC had his truck number im sure they would like to talk to him.

 

Few items I will add, when driving on snow: black on white is bad, white on white is right. What that means is this, you're driving on packed snow, you look in your mirrors and the tread of your drives is black, that means you are going too fast, your tires are hot, you can loose control. Slow down, when your tread surface is white, that means your tires are running cool, snow on snow will have traction. Oh, and the difference between black and white, can be as little as 5 mph.

If you're driving on a wet surface and you notice the amount of spray from your tires and others is decreasing, SLOW DOWN, black ice is occurring, full ice is approaching.

If you're parking on top of a mountain, think the pull outs at the top of Vail, Eisenhower, or others. Be very careful when parking on an incline, your warm tires can melt through snow, right to the ice, then you get a free ride down the ice mountain.

And as others have said, learn to chain, learn it now while it's still warm, not at 2 am on the side of the road when it's dark and snowing. If your company allows you to carry chains, and don't rely on a chain bank, inspect them regularly. Carry bungee cords, not spider cords, and carry more than you think you'll need. I carry 12 at all times. And don't be afraid to chain, but also don't drive beyond what you are capable or comfortable with, that type of exp. will come with time.

 

Also, be careful with the PDL, as I've had the drives kick out a little, like posi-traction on a car, and many times, if the trailer brakes were wet, long before I'd stop for an extended amount of time,(allowing the shoes to freeze to the drum),I'd pull on the johnny bar just a little to get the brakes warm, and dry off the brakes.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4202429]Also, be careful with the PDL, as I've had the drives kick out a little, like posi-traction on a car, and many times, if the trailer brakes were wet, long before I'd stop for an extended amount of time,(allowing the shoes to freeze to the drum),I'd pull on the johnny bar just a little to get the brakes warm, and dry off the brakes.[/QUOTE]

oh, and brake line anti-freeze, dump a little in for every trailer you pull, then do the whole johnny bar thing a few times while driving. Had this happen to me one night rolling across Wyo. heading to SLC. Brakes started to freeze up on the chassis, could feel it dragging ever so slightly. Pulled over and checked, realized what was happening, dumped some brake line anti-freeze in both lines, took about 15 minutes for everything to thaw out.

And when we say about pulling the johnny bar, you want to apply just ever so slight pressure on the trailer brakes, as soon as you feel it drag, release it.

 

Nice call on the break line anti-freeze. Many times you may pick up a trailer that has been sitting for a week in sub freezing temps.... the air lines my be blocked by ice...A couple of ounces of this magic sauce can get you going in 5 minutes...

 

When I pulled RR cans there would be times in winter I'd pick up a wagon that came from down south that would have a lot of moisture in the trailer lines. Years ago, many southern trucks didn't have air dryers or they didn't work.

 

dont just pull the johnson bar...if you do that you could induce a jack knife and your not warming your tractor brakes. Use your foot brake lightly so all brakes apply and get warmed up.