Winter Driving ?

Striker kind of covered this a little bit, but I would like to hear some more information on speeds at which to travel with chains on the trucks. I have seen some guys flat out fly with chains on. I have seen other people crawl around with them on. The majority of people travel around 40 mph. Now I grew up in a flater area than the rocky mountains, but my company loves to send me to Silverthorn CO in the winter time. I have told my comapny that if I have to chain up I am not going to drive. It is not that fact that I do not know how to chain up it is the fact that if I have to chain up I do not want to test to see if I can make it over the mountain. So if there is snow on the road what is the fastest that some one would travel with chains on? I know that this is a generic question but what I am getting at is at what speed do you risk doing damage to the chains themselves.

 

some simple advice on chains and snow driving, I recall hearing this on one of the trucking programs, and I think they mentioned this on the first season of IRT. If you driving on snow, watch you tires. If your going fast enough that your drive tires are black (no snow on the tread) slow down, your going too fast. You'll actually get better traction with tires that are running cool and treads that are white with snow, the snow connecting with the snow provides grip.

secondly, here's some pics to give you an idea:
If your driving on a road that the chain law in effect and it has this much snow, you can safely do up to 35 mph



but if your in condition like this pic, and the chain law is in effect, max speed is about 15 mph, or stop and take them off if legal

 

So 35 mph max for completely covered roads and 15 on partial. Now I see that some drivers put bungee cords in an X patern on the rim side of the chains. Some drivers don't. Why do they do that? Is it just for safety or is it because they could not get the chains tight enough?

 

Its not hard on them in low traction conditions...similar to a 4 wheel drive pickup with positive traction (locking rear end), the slick roads gives it some "cushion" to keep things from getting in a bind.

I've probably driven at least 250,000 miles with the diffs locked...haven't tore anything up yet.

 

Another thing that helps in winter...though it is a bit more complicated until you get some experience.

Load the truck as heavy as the law allows (34,000 lbs) in the drive tires...the more weight thats on your drive tires the better because it equals more traction with or without chains.

I've seen a many a truck get pushed right off in the ditch by his spread axle trailer loaded with most of the weight on the trailer (40,000 lbs) and only about 20,000 lbs on the drive tires.

If things get out of hand...I want traction on the truck, I don't really give a crap where the trailer goes (up to a point...so don't take that the wrong way). The truck leads the way...the trailer follows.

 

I'm going to stray off topic a bit here while its on the topic of winter driving, just curious if one would be better to learn to drive a truck in winter conditions so they can learn to drive in poor conditions right off the bat, or if its better to get accustomed to the truck in better weather conditions like you'd experience late spring/summer/early fall.

 

I never had to worry in SWFL about cold weather. It would be nice to find a company that would keep me in the SE. Jellico, or Monteagle ice over occasionaly.

 

I have to completely disagree with this its bout like the dummy driving in ice or snow with the 4 wheel drive kicked in and think he wont spin out. You lock the differential in when one wheel spin they all spin. This will will put you in a jack knife about as quick as anything. 23 years of driving and the only time I have used the differential lock was once in Florida when I got stuck in the sand turning around a set of doubles, on 95 in Va on a incline when traffic stopped and once in WV in white out going up the mountain. My advise dont use it until you need it

Slow down but if you get to a point where you are too slow get off the road you can become a road hazard

Drive your truck dont let traffic, other drivers or your dispatcher drive it for you only you know your safety level

Stay away from other traffic, you will see a bunch of lame brains running down the road in a group about a car length apart talking on the radio "hey driver let me know if you see anything like traffic coming to a stop" Stay far away from this group even if weather is clear. It may come a time where you might have to slow down or speed up a little to get away from traffic

As far as Ice GET OFF THE ROAD its not worth it

Remember no matter who name is on that truck when you get behind the wheel you are 100% responsible. I've known drivers taken off in handcuff charge with vehicular manslaughter because they fail to maintain control of their vehicle.

Get you one of them little tape recorders it will come in handy when talking to your dispatcher

Good luck and stay safe

 

Only problem with this is when you hit the brakes the trailer will lock up and come around and smack you because you didnt put any weight on the back you are better off keeping the weight spread even

 

I always take may weight in the winter and split it between the drives and tandems. Putting 1200 to 2000 more on the drives. This keeps the trailer steady and puts extra weight on the drives.