the only dumb question is an unasked question. it's your life out there and more importantly other lives. on the question i have no idea. i have never run into that. last snow i saw was the iowa 80 snow storm and i stopped at the truck stop there as did everybody else for the night to let it pass. by the way that truck stop is nice. good food and the waitresses aren't bad either.
Snow Driving
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by objectesticle, Aug 10, 2005.
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Now don't quote me on this....I've only done it once in 14 years and it's been a few. We are required to carry chains for the steering, drives and trailer (at least where I live). The one for the steering goes on the passenger side, the back drives are chained, and the trailer has one on each axle on opposites sides. Five chains total for five axle, and use your diff lock and anti-slip device if you have it. Also, a piece of advice, practice in the yard before you leave. It can be dangerous putting them on out there, and you want to know what you're doing in an emergency. Good luck and I hope i helped.
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Which tires. It all depends on what State your driving in and what you are pulling. In Calafornia they will hand you a card at the bottom of the hill before or at the chain up area. The card will tell you what tires to chain for your configuration. (I.E. Single drive axel with double tralers. Duel drives with single 53, ect). Yes you can lock in your diff. as long as you are at a stop. Unlock before going faster than 25mph or you will burn out the unit. With that said my basic rule of thumb is chains are only to get out of trouble not to get in to it. There is no load in the WORLD worth risking my life over. I beleve some one told it to me this way at some point and I can't even rember who it was. If it snow go slow, but if it's ICE no dice. Hope that helps a little.
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I like the advice in the last saying. My question is do dispatchers take driving conditions into account when they give you a load? I was born in northern Santa Barbara County in the early 70s, two and a half hours north of Whittier in Los Angeles County. That's way down near the county line with Orange County. Now, I could barely make it to the 405/Santa Monica Boulevard off ramp in three hours. And that's if the traffic is good.
Here, you couldn't do it because of the enormous number of cars. What if the obstacle is Mother Nature? Do they allow for that and other things that crop up? Do they (dispatchers) get 'unreasonable' if you tell them you are unavoidably detained due to nothing that is your fault? Is this why many truckers drive at night? That's a related, but different, question I've had. -
yes. most dispatchers know whats going on out there. if you got a good dispatcher there will no problems. they can and will change due times at receivers or shippers.
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I can't speak for all dispatchers but for me if you are delayed because of bad weather its ok. I would rather you get there safe than not at all. There is no load that is more important than your life. Delivery times can always be changed. I personally will not ask a driver to do something that I wouldn't do. If you get a dispatcher like that you need to try to get moved to a different one.
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Be Blessed and good luck
Storm Crow -
I'm a new driver (6months) but I started with a oil well servicing company. Basically if we stopped for poor road conditions we would never work. Almost every job I'm dispatched to I have to chain up. Some of them we chain up everything, steering chain on passenger side (away from steering box) chains on both the drives and chains on one axle on the trailer. Alot of the time we just chain up the back drive on the tractor and then we throw the interaxle lock on, when you get to a steep hill you just throw your rear locker on and you are generally good to go. I've driving up and down mountain switchbacks on roads barely wide enough for the truck and covered in ice, I've also "sandpaddled" my way up hills before (which is a really good way to wreck chains, but you got to do what you got to do) and it really isn't that bad, just go really slow, be careful with the Jake and the brakes and stay calm. Just count yourselfs lucky that you aren't outside at 3:00am, up to your waist in snow trying to chain up, not fun at all.
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Just get used to seeing your trailer "dogleg" a bit in the mirror... Creeped me out the first time, but it's normal on snow and ice (drove a lot of Wyoming, Utah & Idaho last winter)...
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I have always been told to chain up the front drive because if you start spinning and chewing up a hill the you run the risk of snapping the interaxle driveline. Baisically always been told im fired if I snap it because I was lazy and chained up the rear axle.
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