I’m sorry, but bad advice needs pointing out. The exhaust brake essentially only affects your driving axle, whereas the footbrake acts on all of them. Same again for the gears, do not go down the box to slow down, as you might do in the dry.
So unless you want to get intimate with the signwriting on your trailer, then turn your exhaust brake off in the ice and snow, and go slow and steady, using the footbrake lightly if you need to slow down.
Never been an issue in the 2 million miles I’ve done in wagons.
I’m sorry, but bad advice needs pointing out. The exhaust brake essentially only affects your driving axle, whereas the footbrake acts on all of them. Same again for the gears, do not go down the box to slow down, as you might do in the dry.
So unless you want to get intimate with the signwriting on your trailer, then turn your exhaust brake off in the ice and snow, and go slow and steady, using the footbrake lightly if you need to slow down.
Never been an issue in the 2 million miles I’ve done in wagons.
Unless them 2 million have been it the types of weather we’re talking about? And in a euro truck. Then it’s irrelevant.
pavaroti:
If your a wagon and drag driver you can hammer it in the snow no problem.
Agreed they handle better than an artic in the snow. Much more stable and usually no traction problems*, even when empty.
I use my retarder all the time in the snow BUT very “piano” (ie not yanking it straight up to 11)
(*Unless running empty with a Moffett on the back of the drag on Belgium’s marvellously well maintained motorway network, when decisive action may be called for )
Conor:
Slow and steady wins the day. Use gears and retarder/exhaust brake instead of brakes to slow. Don’t boot it out of roundabouts. If you start to skid, DONT HIT THE BRAKES, just dip the clutch if its a manual.
Dear lorry brethren please stop jackknifing on trunk roads i need to use, 2 days in a row now it is starting to feel like someone is ■■■■■■■ on my cornflakes.
Tomorrow i will be using M8,M73,M80,A9,M9,M90,M876 please avoid these thank you x
Never ceases to amaze me on the travel news all day about accidents with ice and you still get people sitting up your chuff.
What we need is tips on ho to get her moving especially if you’re empty. The old ‘‘army’’ trick of carpet under the drive wheels is a loada pish the carpet just fires out over the wheel.
Helped a tesco driver out the day dug his wheels out then 30 minutes later after my break was done i couldn’t get her moving either, you cant really rock a auto
Need to knock a bag of grit off somebody like i done last year, still got the spade i knocked last year in the cab
merc0447:
What we need is tips on ho to get her moving especially if you’re empty. The old ‘‘army’’ trick of carpet under the drive wheels is a loada pish the carpet just fires out over the wheel.
Helped a tesco driver out the day dug his wheels out then 30 minutes later after my break was done i couldn’t get her moving either, you cant really rock a auto
Need to knock a bag of grit off somebody like i done last year, still got the spade i knocked last year in the cab
Our fully auto dafs are useless in snow.Was heading to ft william yesterday with dbl dckr.That made for an intersting trip.
switchlogic:
I’m not doubting your use of the exhaust brake, just your strange view that brakes working on one axle are superior to brakes on all axles.
Where’s that other tube that rabbits on about how great double drive is surely we should ask him… can’t remember his name now
merc0447:
What we need is tips on ho to get her moving especially if you’re empty.
I was empty ( Cf auto) and got stuck last year after stopping at Strensham, middle of the night, no-one about.
Went into the filling station, all they had were empty “crisp” boxes.
Stuck a couple under the wheels, got me going
haha hope they where golden wonder boxes
Probably shouldn’t admit this but i also got stranded last year woke up in the morning and it took me 3 hours to dig myself out i was ■■■■■■■ knackered. Got back to the depot and there was a run sheet told them tae get to ■■■■ im away home for a sleep. The cfs are useless at least with the 54 axors you have a little bit of control and the change from reverse gear to forward gear is quick. You’re like a sitting duck in the cf if you stop those wheels moving you’re in trouble.
DAF auto boxes (in fact most auto’s) can be a bit of a nightmare in extreme conditions as they always try to set off in the lowest gear, as we found out last year.
Though it is possible to trick the box into selecting a higher gear and therefore reducing wheel spin, enabling you to pull away & get out of most situations
But the best advice I can give for snow/ice conditions is:The load will get there eventually
Whatever the conditions, it’s not worth risking you life where conditions become severe.
So long as you can find yourself somewhere safe to park, pull the curtains, put the night heater on and sit out the storm
What i do on steep downhill snow covered banks is pull the dead man on till the trl brakes bite then try and drag the trl down the hill. Years ago before ABS, going down Prudhoe bank with 18 ton of pulp for Kimberly Clarke, 6am no one had been down before me and i was ■■■■■■■■ myself, so i pulled the red line off and dragged the trl down the hill. there was skid marks all the way down the bank.
Coffeeholic:
And most of all enjoy it. It’s the most fun you can have driving a truck.
Especially in an empty 8 wheeler
I drive in snow and ice a lot, the best advice I can give is to drive according to the conditions, if there’s traffic around, leave a lot of room, apart from that, drive as you normally do, over thinking it and being scared of it is what causes most of the problems
I have just done a trip in a foot of snow that came after ice rain, so it was a bit slippery to say the least, the only thing I did different was to use the throttle instead of the cruise control and I had the diff lock in when the traction control light came on when I was doing the speed limit
Dont do what one guy was trying to do at a dock last year, could not get any traction whilst trying to back towards his trailer, I watched him for a minute whilst hitching mine up, he was still at it, so being a hero (and he was now in my way) I went over and offered some advice.
Lift your mid axle.
Turn off the traction control.
Lower your rear axle suspension to shift the weight back, get under the trailer then lift as high as possible to put the weight on it and off the legs.
Once hitched up if you cant get moving, adjust the suspension again lowering it so that more weight is pushing down on the drive axle.
Now it was my first year driving in snow and these things seemed like common sense to me.
bubsy06:
Keep the speed down and gentle on the brakes and stay out of lane 1 and 2 on a motorway, also if you see a Stobart lorry leaving the motorway at the same junction you want then miss it and exit at the next junction.
bubsy06:
Keep the speed down and gentle on the brakes and stay out of lane 1 and 2 on a motorway, also if you see a Stobart lorry leaving the motorway at the same junction you want then miss it and exit at the next junction.
oh, is that that gal? i work for em, dont really want to spend my time at home watching them on tv. but yer, heard about that.
think she got the boot in the end, or so the rumour mill says.
boxes.
