driving empty down vail pass

I've always heard do not hot the johnson bar. If your trailer is sliding, its lost traction. Locking the brakes on the trailer will just make it worse. Best thing to do is release throttle, keep truck strait and pray that it corrects. Depending on how bad the jack knife is, your not going to outrun the trailer by speeding up. You will however make it more likely that your tractor looses grip and starts sliding. My advice...take your foot off the accelerator and brake and keep steering strait. If your trailer regains grip, it will follow you. If it doesn't...well you were gonna be SOL no mater what you did.

Most important thing is, DONT get in that situation. Keep the truck nice and slow and you will be fine. I've driven down some hairy stuff in snow. I always use my jake (i know some disagree, but i'd rather jake then use my brakes....jake cant lock wheels, it can only slow them) keep it in a low gear, and just go nice and slow.

 

But it should also be mentioned that considering an empty situation, and a situation that caused difficulty going down, you probably wouldn't have made it to the top in the first place (without chains) and if you had to chain to get up, you should leave them on to get down.

Also, I usually take these opportunities to say NEVER take a long break on top of a major summit in the winter when weather is foretasted to worsen during that time for reasons that should be self-explanatory. You start up, figure on finishing the job and getting to the other bottom before taking a break. Brief, heavy snows can sometimes happen in the mountains regularly, even between major storm systems, so don't get caught unexpectedly dealing with a situation you didn't have to.

Also another tip when loaded and dealing with steep grades and slick conditions, NEVER have the trailer tires heavier then the tractor drive tires if you can prevent it or slide to adjust. I've actually slid my trailer all the way back on a 53 just to give me as much of a weight advantage as possible to get over a slick summit. Just remember to fix it when you're done.

 

if you go to slow in any gear or use the jake while going to slow and kill the motor you are going to be in a very bad place.

 

Do not look back!!!

 

Snow isnt the reason your trailer is coming around. Its the ICE underneath the snow. If its icy, all these tips are just theory. Reality is your tuckus (dairyer, rear end, tailbone, etc...) is the only thing that can tell you how to avoid a ditch when you slide on ice.

 

try Floyd Hill, 79,600 lbs full jakes and hit black ice............that's pucker factor of 15........ In all seriousness, you should have been going down the hill significantly slower than the posted 45 mph if empty and snowing. Vail can and does have a tendency to get icy fast.

 

I agree with wear a diaper, cause it will be a bit slick.

 

I don't know.
And that's the thing.

The trailer loses traction, and starts to slide around.
Maybe it depends on why it lost traction.

Was it because I was going too fast?
Maybe I applied the brakes at the wrong moment, and the trailer brakes caught first?
Or the tractor brakes first, so the momentum on the trailer caught up?

These type of things make me shut down before encountering them.


I'll use chains as a vey last resort - to get me out of a bad situation, if I see no other way.

Other than that, if I know I'll have to chain in a few miles - I'll find a safe place to park for the duration.