HOUSTON RICK
Member
I love driving in adverse weather.
The rain is quiet and peaceful and the snow is just plain fun.
Live in Akron, Ohio for ten years and tell me that.
Winter driving
- Thread starter WuzzFuzz
- Start date
Live in Akron, Ohio for ten years and tell me that.
No mention of engine block heaters? At least I think that's the correct name. Had them on many vehicles over the years. Plug in to heavy extension cord and magic, easy to start and a warm vehicle.
You think steelslaver had a hard time? When I was in college, we had parking lots so steep, that we had to lie in the snow and chain down our cars to keep them from sliding down hill into other cars. Then it was a mile-long uphill walk (both ways) in knee-deep snow to get to and from classes. I tell you, winters could be really brutal at good old San Diego State.
All I can say is. I'm real glad to live where I live.
I don't even find snow very pretty.
Winters are mild in my part of the Country, we seldom go under 25, and when we do the skys are clear so there is no snow at all. When it's overcast the temperatures go up(around 50), so we only got rain.
I don't even find snow very pretty.Winters are mild in my part of the Country, we seldom go under 25, and when we do the skys are clear so there is no snow at all. When it's overcast the temperatures go up(around 50), so we only got rain.
All I can say is. I'm real glad to live where I live.
Winters are mild in my part of the Country, we seldom go under 25, and when we do the skys are clear so there is no snow at all. When it's overcast the temperatures go up(around 50), so we only got rain.
Snows fun as long as you have the clothing,equipment and some experience with it
There are a variety of engine heaters, block heaters where a soft plug in the block casting is replaced with electric heating element, tank heaters where the heater hoses are cut and a small "tank" unit with an electrical element is added, which heats the coolant and circulates through the motor via convection, there is a similar unit that can be place in the lower radiator hose, there are also magnetic units that stick to the oil pan and heated dip sticks, both of which don't do much but warm up the oil so the rig cranks over easier. My Power Stroke Diesel has a block heater, I have a Y connector hooked to it and a small trickle charger which is hooked to the batteries and a 50' cord that wraps up on my winch mount. It will fire right up even today and it is now 25 below. The trickle charger keeps the batteries topped up and warm and that really helps, some guys even have little warmers for their batteries.
Loggers often have a set of quick connectors on their crew truck heater hoses. Get to the job and run a set of jumper hoses to a piece of equipment and that circulates hot antifreeze in the equipment motor, they fire that piece up and it goes to another piece as1 does the truck. Soon everything is running. Some equipment and trucks have a propane fired unit that heats the antifreeze.
Some off the buses now have "automatic" chains. A bunch of lengths of chains on the end of a shaft, when engaged the shaft lowers and as it is powered by the drive assembly it matches the axle speed and twirls the chains so they go under the front of the rear tires and spin out the back, one piece of chain after the other is placed under the tire moves with it between tread and ice and then exits to come around for another pass. Genius and expensive. Several of the local school buses here are so equipped. Like I said it is currently minus 25 here. The schools, stores and everything will continue just like they would at 70.
This has been a real mild winter. Right at the end of October there was a snow storm and it dropped down below zero. I was camped in a tent up in the Little Belt Mountains. Went through a bunch of firewood but was comfy. Cut down a couple trees about 18" at the butt, chain them to the truck, drag them down the road and right up close to the tent and saw them up There were three of us, the youngest was 69 and the oldest was 74. We had a great time.
Mel (74) got stuck in his dually Ford. Rather than chain it up I ran a chain in between his duals and hooked it to a slot in the outside rim. than ran it and another chain back to a tree behind us. When his wheels spun in reverse theY wrapped the chain in between the duals and then sucked the truck back. Then, went forward and that loosed the chain off the tree and as he drove forward it unrolled the chain. Trick I learned from a logger buddy. He did it with both rear semi duals back to the stands on his loaded trailer and sucked his truck straight back under the fifty wheel on almost pure ice.
Mel says he is going to buy a winch and set it up like mine which plugs into a front of rear hitch receiver. The 12 volt outlets also allow me to use my big jumper cables from the front or rear of my truck. One end of my cables has plugs and the other end clamps. 30' of 4 conductor 2 gauge SO cord. 2 used for neg 2 for ***.
I bet plenty of the working guys from here and Wyoming, Idaho and the Dakotas have frozen their fingers a couple times. When it gets down around minus 30 handling metal sucks.
Loggers often have a set of quick connectors on their crew truck heater hoses. Get to the job and run a set of jumper hoses to a piece of equipment and that circulates hot antifreeze in the equipment motor, they fire that piece up and it goes to another piece as1 does the truck. Soon everything is running. Some equipment and trucks have a propane fired unit that heats the antifreeze.
Some off the buses now have "automatic" chains. A bunch of lengths of chains on the end of a shaft, when engaged the shaft lowers and as it is powered by the drive assembly it matches the axle speed and twirls the chains so they go under the front of the rear tires and spin out the back, one piece of chain after the other is placed under the tire moves with it between tread and ice and then exits to come around for another pass. Genius and expensive. Several of the local school buses here are so equipped. Like I said it is currently minus 25 here. The schools, stores and everything will continue just like they would at 70.
This has been a real mild winter. Right at the end of October there was a snow storm and it dropped down below zero. I was camped in a tent up in the Little Belt Mountains. Went through a bunch of firewood but was comfy. Cut down a couple trees about 18" at the butt, chain them to the truck, drag them down the road and right up close to the tent and saw them up
There were three of us, the youngest was 69 and the oldest was 74. We had a great time. Mel (74) got stuck in his dually Ford. Rather than chain it up I ran a chain in between his duals and hooked it to a slot in the outside rim. than ran it and another chain back to a tree behind us. When his wheels spun in reverse theY wrapped the chain in between the duals and then sucked the truck back. Then, went forward and that loosed the chain off the tree and as he drove forward it unrolled the chain. Trick I learned from a logger buddy. He did it with both rear semi duals back to the stands on his loaded trailer and sucked his truck straight back under the fifty wheel on almost pure ice.
Mel says he is going to buy a winch and set it up like mine which plugs into a front of rear hitch receiver. The 12 volt outlets also allow me to use my big jumper cables from the front or rear of my truck. One end of my cables has plugs and the other end clamps. 30' of 4 conductor 2 gauge SO cord. 2 used for neg 2 for ***.
I bet plenty of the working guys from here and Wyoming, Idaho and the Dakotas have frozen their fingers a couple times. When it gets down around minus 30 handling metal sucks.
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Dallas awakened to micrometer thin ice this am. Our vehicle traffic moves via hundreds of elevated bridges/road segments. Our forecast is for several days of intermittent mixed frozen precipitation. The roads are already backed up. Everything that has flashing lights is in the mix. Many folks are obligated to challenge the odds and end up bending their vehicles. This will result in many ripple down events. Services at open businesses will be limited because folks are at home or wreck sites. Emergency service response will take protracted times. Rental cars/trucks will be depleted, body shops will be backed up for a month. Power will fail when the transmission lines fall with ice weight. Generators will be impossible to find. All kind of mayhem will occur. I’m sure glad I’m retired, not driving, de icing the airplane, packing snow boots and/or extreme weather gear then explaining why we can’t fly. Been there done all that. I think I’ll do some filing, straighten up the bench and watch a movie. My generator is ready. Getting older does have some advantages. If we do get multiple inches of snow maybe I’ll put on my Mustang suit and build a snowman with the neighbor kids.
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My son lives in Branson, MO. Everybody has been slip sliding up and down the hills for the past 2 days. To quote his text last night "It's a mess down here"
deadin
US Veteran
I remember my old '49 Plymouth's winter routine back in the '50's. Once I dug it out from under the snowbank that accumulated overnight, it would fire right off and then sputter, hack and choke for the first couple of blocks (kind of like me these days...
). Once it decided I really meant to keep going, it would settle down and run just fine.. (kind of like me these days, only it seems to be taking more than a few blocks to get everything running smoothly....
)
). Once it decided I really meant to keep going, it would settle down and run just fine.. (kind of like me these days, only it seems to be taking more than a few blocks to get everything running smoothly....)Ivan the Butcher
Member
This morning, much of SE Ohio is closed down from a light snow storm, Central Ohio at New Albany got 1/2 to 3/4" of snow, and the people panic!
It is a balmy 19 degrees F above!
Our Church (along with 14 other churches) sponsor a Homeless shelter for families. It has accommodations for 6 families This week we have 10, so tonight I making dinner for 30 people at 4 locations. Makes me feel like Santa on Christmas Eve!
Ivan
It is a balmy 19 degrees F above!
Our Church (along with 14 other churches) sponsor a Homeless shelter for families. It has accommodations for 6 families This week we have 10, so tonight I making dinner for 30 people at 4 locations. Makes me feel like Santa on Christmas Eve!
Ivan
Puller
Member
I've never driven with snow tires or chains. I suspect they don't help much with ice and sleet and that's the type of winter precipitation that we mostly get when we do get it.
Studded snow tires are way better on ice than regular tires. Another good way to go is "siped". They take the tire and run slits about 1/2" apart, across the treads, all the way around the tire. This makes the tread have more wiggle and bite. Way better on snow and ice than conventional and your tires even last longer. The Montana Highway Patrol now runs these on their rigs instead of studs. I think studs give a bit more traction when in good shape than siped. But, studs will start coming out of the tires at around 90-100 mph and that maybe why the HPs run siped instead. Plus, you can run siped tires all year long, unlike studs. Siping increases the traction by approximately 30 percent in the winter. On the converse side of it in the summer time it helps release heat from those tread locks and it helps your tire to last longer.
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I've been retired for 5 years and this is the weather that I really appreciate retirement! Several years ago I was doing a job on the other side of the mountain and the office called me on a Sunday evening and told me to tell my crew to stay home for Monday, it was supposed to be 20 below. We rolled in Tuesday morning and it was 30 below! Took us 6 or 7 hours to get all the equipment running, diesel welders, forklift and crane. I fueled everything up and left every thing idling all night. The only time a machine got shut down the rest of the week was to get fuel. I do not miss those days!
Ivan the Butcher
Member
I had a parking lot in one of my apartment complexes that had 2 to 4 inches of ice on it (winter of 1979 in Columbus, Ohio) I had 4 brand new Mohawk Mud and Snow tires on my 1974 K-5 Blazer. I studded them with 124-1/4" hex headed 5/8" long screws on each tire, PLUS I had chains with "Ice Bars" (like a cold chisel across each link). On the empty parking lot I locked it in Low 4 FWD and took it up to 30MPH, and stomped the brake. It stopped so fast the steering wheel is all that kept me from going into the windshield! I used a tape measure to check how long/far the stop took: From 30MPH to Zero in 6 feet 4inches. The tires dug into the ice over 3". I never tried that experiment again!
With the chains off for normal winter driving on mostly clear streets, the screw heads still had enough to use a socket to remove them at 100 miles of use. It is always nice to know that in an emergency I could stud the tires myself!
Ivan
With the chains off for normal winter driving on mostly clear streets, the screw heads still had enough to use a socket to remove them at 100 miles of use. It is always nice to know that in an emergency I could stud the tires myself!
Ivan
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The western part of North Dakota, northern Wyoming and eastern Montana was where I mispend a good portion of my 20s and 30s on Drilling rigs. Most of it as a derrick hand, Often 85' above the floor with nothing but steel wind walls, either pipe fingers or grating or nothing below me below and nothing above. 12 hour shifts. Coldest I ever saw was 45 below and that is without windchill. Getting dressed took about 20-30 minutes. Long handle underwear, 2 pair of wool socks, wool pants and wool shirt or hooded sweat shirt then either insulated bib coveralls or full length coveralls and a near knee length denim coat with a wool liner. Bunny boots, some jersey gloves the leather mittens with wool liners and a stocking cap. No hard hat cause your on top of the work. The monkey board grating was laced with cotton rope and we would tie a 5 gallon bucket full of soda ash up there and use it to sit on. an old towel at our feet. Keep the towel and the laced in rope coated with soda ash for traction. No harnesses in those days, justt a belt around your waste with a rope back to the rear of the board. As long as you kept moving and working it was OK. if something happened and they quit moving pipe it got miserable fast. Once I went to drilling I had this big tough stud derrick hand. I noticed his fingers were all nasty and a couple split. When I asked him what happened he said Froze em the other night when we were tripping pipe. I told him why didn't you say something. His reply, I have never shut a rig down for myself and never will. That guy was one tough stud hand. About 6'5" and 320# of cat fast power. Bronc riding, bull riding and dogging cowboy. Died in his sleep. REST IN PEACE CASPER
Some time after the frozen finger episode, the big boss tool pusher was kind of a jerk and said something to Casper and Casper just flattened him right there on the floor. Bent over and said don't fire me I quit. Bummer, I liked Casper more than the Pusher so I left and went with Casper to another rig . LOL Those were some great days.
Some time after the frozen finger episode, the big boss tool pusher was kind of a jerk and said something to Casper and Casper just flattened him right there on the floor. Bent over and said don't fire me I quit. Bummer, I liked Casper more than the Pusher so I left and went with Casper to another rig . LOL Those were some great days.
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