When ice has you stuck on small grades...

Barn lime also known as dolomite, is used in landscaping to raise the ph level in soil, among other uses. It is also used in barns, riding arenas, etc.

 

Just don't go tryin to make any lime jello outta that stuff.Last time I make THAT mistake!!!

 

I grew up in Utah so I'm used to dealing with lots of ice and snow driving. I'm still studying for my CDL so I can only speak as a normal driver.

On snow you need extra momentum to get up a hill. If you know the hill is icy don't even attempt it. States that are used to lots of snow tend to crown the roads. This means you have a very good chance of ending up in the right hand gutter even if you have speed on either snow or ice. If you absolutely must go up the hill and it's slick be sure to hug the middle of the road to avoid the sideways pull from crowning. Also it is absolutely critical to keep your RPMs matching your vehicle speed. Your vehicle will decelerate as it goes up the hill, if you don't lower the RPMs to match the slower speed your drive wheels will spin, pulling you off the road.

Tractors are rear wheel drive vehicles. This type of drive train handles extremely poorly on slick roads. The drive wheels are pushing the tractor in a direction other than that in which you steer. Which means that your truck is basically just a nearly unguided ballistic projectile as it heads up the hill. Also when rear wheels spin faster than the front wheels it has a tendency to cause the truck to spin as the rear wheels try to catch up to the front wheels. This spinout occurs even on uncrowned roads, crowning will just have the added affect of pulling you to the side.

Of course one question you should always ask when considering going up an icy hill is: "Do I really want to go up this hill when going down the other side will likely be just as icy?" Going up you have the benefit of being close to level ground, going down can be a hair raising ride into hell. Just be sure to have good life insurance for your families sake. You also need to seriously consider the safety of other drivers. It's bad enough when a car or truck slides back down the hill, a 13+ ton semi is death incarnate for the unlucky person behind you.