Tire Chains

One of my first driving jobs was oilfield and one job we got involved chaining three railers on all 8 drive tires, drag chains on the trailer and having to chain the steer axle also. I went to the same location all winter. Every day for several months. Mud chains, not highway chains, so they were twice as heavy. Somehow throwing chains on to run down the interstate doesn't seem so bad now. I only blocked the road pissing everyone off trying to figure it out once, after that I decided to practice putting them on somewhere else.

 

It's also easier to chain up if you do it in the direction of the incline. If you're on a slight uphill put the excess behind the tires and roll backwards onto the chain. It will keep you from breaking traction and maybe spinning your chains off if you try to get rolling uphill onto them.

Storage also plays a big part. You can't chain fast if they're in a pile on your deckplate.

 

Not a good idea to be running out of hours especially in bad conditions. More accidents happen in the snow zone mainly due to so many (both 4 wheelers and trucks) not having the experience and reacting wrong in a bad situation just making it worse.
Do yourself a favor...when you stop for your 10, or between loads while waiting for a dispatch...practice! You might be the incentive for another driver without the experience or knowledge and get your own "self taught" class room going. Watch the videos, and do it yourself so you are rehearsed in what needs to be done. Knowing how to do it, then doing it, gets you out of the cold quicker....remember, it's easier to establish a good habit than it is to break a bad one.

 

Running over hrs would be bad especially if it's more than an hr. The key is to track weather and road conditions. That means all day. If you know the weather in the area is supposed to be bad, stop before you get there, take a break to check road and weather reports, there are many websites, 511, CB, NOAA, NWS weather bands. Then if the roads ahead are going to be so slow going you won't get to where you need to, shut down early and pick up enough time to deal with the conditions. Sometimes they may still be bad, others you may avoid them.

Here's a practical example, started in NE, headed Into Denver and a snow storm hit hard. I had hrs to get over to Grand junction if it was at normal road speed. I stopped at west Denver TA fueled up, checked the road reports on CODOTs website, chain laws were up all across the 70 going westbound. No way I was going to make it to Grand junction before I ran out of time. I could have made it to one of the rest areas but with 100miles of chains and possibly worsening conditions, I shut down. Tackled it the next morning, chained up twice, and got to see all the mayhem. If only I'd had known how bad ski traffic was I might have took my chances.

 

4 hours Intimidating but once you donit a few times its easy. I have to take mine on an off sometime 3-4 times a day here. You can put them on tandems in 5 minutes once you practice.

 

Old thread, but chain control also means that you could justify "adverse conditions", and extend your drive time by 2 hrs to 13 (but not your 14 hr clock).

 

A lot of greenhorns don't get out west very much. I have spoke to lots of drivers that have never been west of the Rockies. What this means is they don't get in these chain situations much and sometimes have no clue what to do. I have always told students and greenhorns I have spoken too that you need to learn how and why to slide a tandem and use chains. Even if you never expect to need to learn these tasks it is important to know how. I have seen several posts in here referring to veteran drivers making fun of greenhorns. However it has been my experience that veteran drivers will show you how to chain. In fact a few months ago I saw a driver at a TS in Richmond get his chains out and showed a new driver how.

 

Can you provide a link to that rule?

 

Just Google Colorado chain laws

 

Here's an article:

http://blog.uscargocontrol.com/hours-service-exemption-adverse-driving-conditions/