Snow Driving

It is little known that the half-life of 'snow driving' is less than 2 years.

 

Of course it does. Every spring. sheesh. . .

 

Ahh it's the winter 2017/2018....I been thru a lotta winter already as I'm sure many but not all of you have....been chaining up in a few areas to get over the mountains to, as I have every year...who else has been doing the same?

 

It is better to consider seeking a lawful place to park when in Mountain regions vs severe winter weather.

When trucks have to stop and park because it's too dangerous no one else needs to be out.

It seems Ive spent a life time going up and down in winter. Im not sure how to show you the problem of traction in such situations. Traction is everything. If you aint got it, you aint going no where or worse slide off the mountain and in certain ones that is lethal.

Today's trucks with automatics are a liability to you in winter weather if you cannot get into a manual mode and stay in a particular gear. Sometimes companies deliberately disable such modes or not have it at all. I know enough to absolutely refuse to drive such a truck.

Ice, if you can walk on it you can drive on it slow. But if you slip and fall on your back trying to get to and from your truck, I can bet the farm that the truck will do the same thing on you. That would be the day to stay parked, appointments be ######. Get a new one scheduled.

And fuel is life. You will fill your tanks prior to half empty. And keep a supply of food, water etc in that cab. Im not talking about a box of snack bars either. Im talking about proper food in which you can have a full meal several times a day to maintain your body metabolism against the cold.

Things break in the cold on a semi so small things like airlines between the cab and trailer. You generally carried a spare or two with enough tools to swap out a busted one and put on a new one. Otherwise someone else will have to come out and put it on you.

I can do a big truck in a certain amount of snow, ice or whatever. For a while anyway. But when you add in high winds and extreme cold you best park. Finally the southern states are the most problem in winter as you probably have seen this past week with people getting stuck on the thin ice and snow. They simply cannot drive and should not. But out they go. And there they are.

Me, I need that kind of winter weather and problems out there to thrive on it. Motivating. Call me stupid or bent. I just don't know any better. HA.

 

There's already been a lot of good advice on this thread so I'll try to mention a couple other things I don't think I've seen here. I too don't mind driving in winter conditions, saying "I like it" might be a stretch, but I don't mind it. Here's a few things I do in winter that might be a help to you.

If you drive a truck with curved windshields like my 2010 Cascadia for instance, buy the shorter 15" wiper blades. The longer blades will seperate from the windshield at the end, which leads to ice build up, which will put you on the side of the road, a bad place to be during winter driving conditions. Always keep spare wiper blades.

If you have freezing rain or slushy snow, run the defroster. If you have dry puffy snow, leave the defroster off. There are lots of different types of weather conditions in the winter, often times, running the defroster will only make things worse. Puffy dry snow and hard sleet will just blow off of a frozen windshield, no wipers required.

I also carry a big bottle of rubbing alcohol in my sidebox to add to my wiper fluid on super cold days, and to deice chain locks and other things that might freeze up on me.

Clorox is also a great item to carry in the winter. I've had my drive tires frozen so hard to the ground some mornings that I couldn't move, just pour the bleach over the tires, wait a few minutes and you're good to go.

If you carry chains, always make sure you know how to properly install them. And I know this may sound ridiculous, but never assume the chains that came with your truck actually fit, always check them out if you are new to that vehicle, it's good practice anyway.

As others have said, when it's icy, park it. But sometimes you can't help but be on an icy road. When pulling grades, remember that momentum is your friend. Should you ever find yourself sliding backwards down an icy grade, don't be afraid to spin your tires. Spinning tires will generate heat which will melt ice and help you to regain traction. This is an emergency maneauver only, and I hope you never find yourself in this situation.

As a few here have already said, greatly increased following distance is probably the single best thing you can do for yourself in winter driving conditions, no sudden moves and gentle braking would be the others.

Lastly. Always make sure you have the proper gear to stay warm should you ever encounter a breakdown in freezing conditions. I recently found myself on the side of the road in -15° temperatures. The tow truck took a very long time to get to me. My G.I. cold weather sleep system quite possibly saved my life, at the very least it kept me from a nasty case of frostbite.

Safe travels neighbor, I hope some of this was helpful.

 

i drive milk truck and we DO NOT shut down for weather, it would have to be very extreme. i have driven on snow and ice. lock the differentials in and SLOW down. i like the use the engine brake but at a reduced setting, running it on maximum is like asking for a jack knife. i give myself plenty of time to slow down, far more then usual. i have several steep hills that i must go up and down in the snow. going down the hill, you MUST keep your speed in check. use a combination of jake and brake pedal, again at a reduced setting.

milk is one of those things that MUST get through. if the farmers cant get the milk out of the milk tank, they end up dumping and wasting the milk.

driving in the snow and ice is very different, but i have managed to do it safely. controlling your speed and not worrying about a time schedule, getting there safely.

 

A lot of the same rules apply driving CDL or your family car. Slow down, think ahead, don't clump together with the idiots that are going to spin out and hit you, don't smash the brakes, and carry chains and know how to put them on. There are some differences though.

Incoming wall of text now..

When you are loaded you have good traction, often superior to what you would get in a compact car. And when the wheels break free and spin the truck doesn't usually immediately do a 360 off into the ditch like a car will. It happens, but often it is slower and easier to recover from. But unlike 4x4 spreading the power over wheels at the front and rear of your vehicle, your power is just those 2 drive axles. The power divider helps, but it isn't like having a 4x4. Your steers are going to take the path of least resistance when they break traction and get shoved in the direction of the drivers. Make your turns smooth and shallow, to help those steers keep their traction.

While the weight of the load is great for traction, it presents some unsettling moments climbing and descending a hill. In a loaded truck you can climb a hill too slowly (especially if you don't have chains on) and have to apply so much power to the drive tires that they will want to break traction a lot. Keeping a little momentum and gently topping over low hills is preferable to trying to crawl up them, especially when traction is still "good" and the hills are straight with good visibility. Dropping off the other side, remember that the tires need to roll in order to grip. Keep moving, but try and keep your speed no faster than absolutely necessary. You don't want to have to slow, or stop, while that load is shoving you. And if you do have to brake, just ease into them, so you are just hardly even dropping speed. Going slow, cold weather, you can drag the brakes a little more than you would do flying off a hill in the summer and not overheat them.

Trucks are helpless unloaded. It is amazing how bad their traction is without a nice, heavy load. You will do most of your slipping and spinning on surface streets unloaded. Give yourself plenty of braking room for stop signs and red lights, and when you can, keep slowly rolling while you wait for that green light. Stopping dead at a read light and you can expect some spinning trying to get rolling again. I'm not telling you to coast through the stops all illegal like, but just don't come to a complete stop when it can be avoided by slowing and crawling while you wait for the light to change.

I've never used chains or cables on a personal car, I haven't needed them. Going slowly and carefully, I've found most cars can manage snowy roads. But big trucks need chains. Carry them, inspect them, practice how to put them on until you are good at it before you hit the snow. Better to spend an hour or two in the sunlight in a bare parking lot learning than to spend that hour or two fighting them spun out on the side of a mountain, knee deep in snow drifts, dodging plows and idiot drivers, in the dark, wet and cold and miserable. Trust me on this. I can throw a set of singles in a couple minutes or a set of triples in 5 or 10 as long as they were hung up on hangers and not left in a tangled pile in the toolbox.

Only other suggestion I can think of is to carry extra washer fluid, and when you are driving in the storms keep that windshield hot with the defroster. I think the defrosters in these heavy tractors are terrible at keeping snow and ice from building up on the windshield and wipers.

Good luck out there and watch out for all the crazy drivers that like to come out of their holes just long enough to crash during the storms. Always plenty of them in any good storm.

 

Agreed on the windshield icing. The defroster will only do so much believe it or not.

I uploaded a picture of Old Town SD during a proper storm at about -30 wind is coming left to right dead across the freeway. If you look carefully you will see that there is icing layers developing on the lower part of the windshield on the drivers side and additional icing developing around the edges in the top etc.

I had the sleeper heat full blast for the cab that day which isnt much because the heat travels along a 4 inch wide pipe under the cab floor exposed to the world before it gets to the side corner output back there.

 

I'm in a new model truck now and the defrost is a lot better than what I used to fight with. It helps that I'm pulling heavy loads and climbing hills, so the motor is nice and toasty. But when in the storms I try and keep it on full blast with the visors down to both catch the heat and to keep it from blowing into my eyes. Then I crack the windows if I can keep the snow from blowing in, that way I don't melt and I can hear what my chains are doing. Had an old Peterbilt a few years ago that couldn't do better than warm air, had to wear a coat in the winter and stop every half hour to scrape the windows. Thankfully, that was a local job. Running that on the highways...no thanks.