Posted by The tractor vet on November 23, 2019 at 09:07:34 from (104.179.81.68):
In Reply to: Winter Driving posted by rusty6 on November 22, 2019 at 20:54:03:
Myself i started driving in the fall of 62 and my first car was a 1956 Ford rag top with a 292 Thunderbird special . I put on a brand new set of recap snow tires in late Oct . i bought a new set of ICE grip tire chains and a 5/16ths 24 foot chain with double grab hooks and a brand new flat shovel a dozen 30 min fuesse and place a big old wash tub in the trunk thqat i took down to the local Coal and supply company and filled with DRY sand . I was ready for winter and back then we did not have long to wait as we always had first snow in mid Oct. and it had come and gone and when Nov hit so did winter and we just did not get a dusting either . The state trucks were old fords Chevy GMC and I H two tons and they sported a ten foot plow . They did not have the much for spreaders on them and vary little salt was put down as they would mix a little salt with ashes . They would put piles of ashes along side the road on the hills and at stop signs on the hills . They would place one broken handled shovel on each side of the hill as if you spun out it was a DYI deal of putting down the ashes . The trucks did NOT RUN ALL NIGHT . They use to put snow fence up in the fields where drifting was bad and that did help a little . And like you said ya learned how to drive or ya slide into the ditch or snow drift , yes i did once . Yep it was my fault had to walk about a half mile and seek help from a farmer and he brought out his TANK of a car and old 1960 Old's 88 four door and got us out . In 63 i was woke up at 1:30 in the morning from a call from my boss and when i went to the phone and said HELLO i get COME AND GET ME I AM STUCK in my drive . Lod John was driving and old 56 Willy's Jeep pick up that he and i fixed up and installed a 283 Chevy engine in , he had four wheel drive and a ton of stuff in the bed and he was stuck in his drive and he informed me that nope your not having school in the morning have you looked out side . Nope lasti was out was at ten that evening when my buddy and i walked to and from the bowling alley as it was way to bad to drive and all the semi's that night rolling thru town were sporting chains . We had over a foot on the ground and as my buddy jack and i were walking home it was thrundering and we had lighting and really snowing . I lived the closest to the shop and i had a key . I got dressed and went out and i could not even find my car let lone drive to the shop about a mile from the house. I put on and old set of ski's and poled my way to the shop . Had to dig down to even get my key in the man door . John and i had put the one D 6 and the one big Gallion grader in the main shop before he and i left to go home , as he said we might need them come morning . Yep it was snowing big time as you could only see less then a 1/4 mile . I dug out the heat houser for the 6 and quickly put it on and got her running and plowed my out of the shop and closed up the shop and left all the lights on cleared out a large area in the parking lot and out onto US 224 east bound Best i could get out of the 6 was fourth gear as she would not haul it in fifth and listen to that old 6 cylinder cackle as i weaved in and around stalled cars and semi's the seven miles over to the bosses house aws he was high centered in his drive . One little tug and we were headed back to the shop . The state was helpless as the old trucks did not have the power to do much the state employees could not get to work . my little village only had one truck and it was a old mil. surplus Dodge power wagon with a 9 foot plow and a farmall cub . John and i started geting the rest of the graders and what dozers we had at the yard running and even dug out two old rubber tire dozers up and running after we built fires under them and put two new D8 batterys in both and filled them with antifreeze . In my village there were like eight guys that were operators for other companys that we shanghied along with a half doze farmers close by that we could get but had to go dig them out first. three years running we had winters like that where we had to put big equipment out on the roads to open them . and even when they were opened there was a hard snow pack on them as we did not scrap to bare pavement with the dozers we left 6-8 inches under the tracks . Ya sure did not want D 8 and D 9's running direct on the pavement . smallest we put out were the d6 class size . We had drifting out in the country that even my new D9 G would have to work on them to get thru . Now today we get two inches of snow everybody goes into a panic , schools close , stores are out of bread and milk , ya have to phone ahead to make reservation for the guard rail ditch or media strip parking . 1964 Saddy Halkens day dance i borrow my grand fathers brand new Comet four door to use as a buddy and i were going to double date , It started snowing while we were at the dance and snow it did . when we came out of the dance there was eight inches of this white stuff and still coming down and the Comet did not have snow tires and there were no chains in the truck and there was a 289 under the hood . We went to dinner and took the girls home and Jack and i had the 7 mile drive home with one big hill . we made it . Next Morning i had to get up early and take the car back so grand maw and grand paw could make church , 14 miles to go and over a foot of snow on old US 62 with some hills and curves to deal with and guess what the state boy had not got around to 62 yet . I made it little COMMON sense and a light foot . Later in life i drove semi coal bucket and five of us would all head to the mine around 3 Am. over the old back roads qand once again the state boys were still in bed when we rolled out EMPTY to get that first load . , 99.9% of the time we put the first track in the snow and this was not on flat land. You learned how to drive and you learned fast or ya were a dead coal bucket driver , no inbetweens here.
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