tire chains

in that PDF, Washington state says cable chains are ok, anybody know where you'd for sure get dinged for carrying cables if they asked to see them? I never plan on putting them on, I'd just rather carry 30 pounds of cables instead of 150 pounds of chains for the winter

 

That is all I ever carried when I ran otr down south, I never took them out of the box, until they finally started falling apart. By the time the boxes started falling apart, the cables were just a box full of useless rust. lol

 

Wa. State will roll up beside you on each side checking. You better have them on if sign is up.

 

OOIDA has an app called Chain Laws. ATBS (bookkeeping) published an article this year with the chain laws in all states.

Everything You Need to Know About Chain Laws

 

Last I heard $500 fine for no chains but more if blocking interstate in Washington state

 

I need to point out that Wyoming typically closes the road after people start crashing. While the legal minimum in Wyoming requires chaining just the drives, it will be unhealthy for you and bad for your CSA Score. I grew up in Evanston and know first hand from helping dig people out that trying to go down a 6%+ grade with no chains on your trailer is a great way to ensure you will never recover from a trailer jackknife.

I get it; people don't take the time to learn out to put on chains so it is hard and slow when they do it in the snow. But even on a car if you have FWD you need to chain up the rear too. A lot more is at risk than a $750 fine.

I remember crossing Snoqualmie once where a super slow car was in the lane to the right of me and a passing car was in the lane to the left, both FWD with only chains on the front. When we came around the corner there was a crash ahead and both slammed on their breaks and flipped around backwards in a fraction of a second.

People going too fast down a large grade while following too close without trailer chains is often the cause of pile ups on the sisters.

 

Why would you ever need to chain up a car? I've lived in northern and southern Canada and never needed chains on any of my personal vehicles. FWD, RWD, 4WD. Even running regular all season tires I've never had an issue.

 

You know how to drive on it. They dont

 

Many cars don't come with all-seasons anymore; but also remember you are way up North which tends to have snow covered roads which actually have lots of traction. On the coastal ranges they tend to have huge freeze thaw cycles and lots of water on ice situations which are a serious problem and much slicker than packed snow.

Unfortunately "all-season" is a fairly meaningless marketing term. While I had mud chains I am also fine on the Dempster in December with tires with a Mountain snowflake but wouldn't drive without chains at the Southern part of the Cariboo Highway.

The stopping and turning is what is important and all-seasons don't stop well on steep icy grades. But ya I will take the Dempster in winter over dealing with washboards and gravel in the summer.

Obviously in a class 8 truck your tire choices limited and you are going to need chains.

 

It is in the tires and DRIVER. Much like the post calling to chain the trailer. W e
run log trucks on some grades I would hate to know what they are, typically every day on the road trucks we run some grades that are well over 13% and some long ones that are 9% to 13% every day, and it is rare to ever see anybody chain a trailer, as I have not personally seen it here. I have heard of a few guys that have done it during a freezing rain, but like I said it is very rare. I have never seen any of our pilot pickups for oversize loads chain up at all. I have had to drag one out of a snow drift a time or two when the drifts get too big for them to bust through.