The War Path

[Fageol]

View attachment 22274 ....Do you think I give a f'k?

See those signs all over the big Alaska Native Medical Center Campus



This is just the main hospital building. Clinics and a dormitory under construction are nearby as are the clinics of the Cook Inlet Regional Corporation medical operation known as the Southcentral Foundation. These lash-ups apparently take smoking pretty seriously. I see some of the staff puffing away on the sidewalks of Tudor Road. Having lived in the Bush for about 20 years, I have quite a few friends who are Alaska Natives. Some talk good about the place others curse it. I hear the same about the VA.

 

[Fageol]

Seriously......hall of fame poster you are!




Dong Bang. (@Blood 's screen name on grindr)



Yer trying to get me banned.

Here is one for you. It's an old roadhouse alongside the George Parks Highway about midway between Nenana and Fairbanks. It's still operating; it even has a website where you can get a T-shirt for your favorite site administratette. Now it's mostly a bar but when Dick himself had it, he threw down some darn good burgers. Heading towards Anchorage, that hill is a mother. One time I burned out near the top (my lead 45 might have grossed 40K but the tail (a 40' can) was another 30K lbs. I remember cursing that heavy tail trailer before I left the Fairbanks yard. The highway had been sanded up to the hill before that hill (known to the truckers as "Skinney's -- what else?). There was not much room at the bottom of the hill to hang iron. ("Iron" being one of the two worst trucker 4-letter words, the other being "tarp".) Anyway, mostly courtesy of that heavy tail trailer, I slid down the hill about the length of the set (about 115' overall) and got the tail trailer into the snowbank likely more by luck than by skill -- is there any trucker skill on ice? I was lucky as the tractor and lead trailer stayed roughly in line with the highway. Thank the Good Lord that I had a set of those 8mm studs. I hung them and regular set on the rear drivers. I locked up (gotta love lockers) and yanked the set to the top of the hill. Nowadays I remember that hill a lot better than the burgers.

 

[Keendriver]

By the way.....take luck every time you can get it.

 

[Injun]

While I don't disagree with your premise, a driver who might spend several hundred hours each winter in marginal conditions will have a far higher comfort (and skill) level than the average driver who might see it a couple times each winter.

That's not excusing the guys who blow everyone's skirt up, but the conditions your "common sense" tell you are very poor may well be just another snowy day to another.

In my case, it's not like I never see snow and shitty conditions. I've been running the wintertime NorthWestern mountains for seven years straight.

Some of the left-lane hammer-down crowd know they're kicking up a blizzard and actually drive on the left rumble strip so they can kick up more. They know they're blinding other drivers and they're doing it on purpose. They think it's funny.

When I park it after being blinded for the third time, can't see past the nose of the truck and the only thing that kept me out of the ditch was feeling the rumble strip and braking it down, I don't consider it fear, so much as it ain't fucking worth it. I'm curious how many run-off crashes are caused by this sort of horsing around on powder snow by guys who think they have something to prove.

There is a difference between confidence and idiocy.

 

[Duck]

Some of the left-lane hammer-down crowd know they're kicking up a blizzard and actually drive on the left rumble strip so they can kick up more. They know they're blinding other drivers and they're doing it on purpose. They think it's funny.

They probably do it for traction.

I've ridden the rumble strip before but at much lower speeds, when the rest of the pavement is covered in ice and I'm trying to get to the next suitable parking location to call it a day. I had to do that quite often when I had super singles.

 

[Injun]

They probably do it for traction.

I've ridden the rumble strip before but at much lower speeds, when the rest of the pavement is covered in ice and I'm trying to get to the next suitable parking location to call it a day. I had to do that quite often when I had super singles.

When they get on the CB and literally laugh at the driver they whited out or the four-wheeler that swerved all over the road because the driver couldn't see, it's not about traction. It's about being an asshole.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I have no confidence whatsoever in my tag axle. Can-Do expressway in Hazleton PA had just a little soft snow on it and I could BARELY move, even with brand new traction drives. Slippity do da.

 

[Injun]

I have no confidence whatsoever in my tag axle. Can-Do expressway in Hazleton PA had just a little soft snow on it and I could BARELY move, even with brand new traction drives. Slippity do da.

That's when it's time to hang a chain.

 

[Electric Chicken]

That's when it's time to hang a chain.

Nah the company can tow me. Teach 'em not to buy tag axles.

 

[Injun]

Nah the company can tow me. Teach 'em not to buy tag axles.

...and that's the difference between a trucker and a guy who happens to drive a truck.
Ten minutes to hang a single chain and get-er-done or three hours waiting for a tow truck.

 

[Electric Chicken]

...and that's the difference between a trucker and a guy who happens to drive a truck.
Ten minutes to hang a single chain and get-er-done or three hours waiting for a tow truck.

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr the company can buy real trucks and not have anyone tow or hang chains in the first place.

This ain't shit a 6x4 gets stuck in. And some guys have 6x4s. I ain't doing extra work because the company cheaped out.

6x4 getting stuck? Yeah I'm probably out when I shouldn't be so I'll chain the dang thing.

Aren't you one of the group that says don't work for free? If so, back off.

Chaining a tag axle to move where a regular truck has no problems is akin to falsifying logs and running illegal to hide a shipper or receiver's shortcomings. And I ain't doing it.

 

[Duck]

I have a friend trying to get me to drive regional for Nussbaum.

I won't do it simply because of the tag axle trucks. I saw three of them get stuck in parking lots in one day, loaded, while I was able to go right around them EMPTY with my PDL engaged.

Same day. First one in Sioux City, next one in Sioux Falls and the third in Fargo. The one in Sioux Falls ended up getting pulled out by a Chevy Blazer. The one in Fargo we dug out with shovels.

When they get on the CB and literally laugh at the driver they whited out or the four-wheeler that swerved all over the road because the driver couldn't see, it's not about traction. It's about being an asshole.

I've driven gazillions of miles in snow and have never seen anyone do that in what appeared to be deliberate manner.

Anyone doing that intentionally should be pulled out of the truck and beaten to a pulp though.

 

[Injun]

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr the company can buy real trucks and not have anyone tow or hang chains in the first place.

This ain't **** a 6x4 gets stuck in. And some guys have 6x4s. I ain't doing extra work because the company cheaped out.

6x4 getting stuck? Yeah I'm probably out when I shouldn't be so I'll chain the dang thing.

Aren't you one of the group that says don't work for free? If so, back off.

Chaining a tag axle to move where a regular truck has no problems is akin to falsifying logs and running illegal to hide a shipper or receiver's shortcomings. And I ain't doing it.

You get paid by the hour. That means you get paid for everything. So...what's the problem?

 

[Duck]

Chaining a tag axle to move where a regular truck has no problems is akin to falsifying logs and running illegal to hide a shipper or receiver's shortcomings. And I ain't doing it.

Huh?

I only agree with the "I ain't doing it" part.

 

[Electric Chicken]

You get paid by the hour. That means you get paid for everything. So...what's the problem?

I don't get paid by the hour.

I get paid mileage + load. Productivity. Chaining a truck that shouldn't be stuck in the first place is not productivity.

I make what I make because I work. Not because I cover company inadequacy for free.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Tag axles are so stupid, they break traction half the time I'm trying to hook a trailer in the yard...on blacktop...and every time I back into my spot in the gravel lot.

They really shouldn't be legal above the equator.

 

[ironpony]

And I ain't doing it.

Wuss.

Get yourself a set of autosocks this year while you can still write them off on your taxes. They go on real quick. Productive-like.

 

[gearjammer]

I have driven trucks mostly dump trucks with tag and pusher axles many times and can tell you from experience if you are having a problem with traction all you have to do is lift the axle and problem solved

 

[Duck]

I have driven trucks mostly dump trucks with tag and pusher axles many times and can tell you from experience if you are having a problem with traction all you have to do is lift the axle and problem solved

Assuming you can do that.

Roadway trucks, the old Jifflox convertible kind where it's a standard 2 axle that converts to a 3 axle when you shove the dolly up it's butt, (Google Jifflox) lacks the ability to do that. The dolly just has rubber blocks for its suspension. No air dump.

But you can dump the air on the driven axle if you want.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I have driven trucks mostly dump trucks with tag and pusher axles many times and can tell you from experience if you are having a problem with traction all you have to do is lift the axle and problem solved

We have a little knob that's supposed to help us get under a trailer but it won't do anything going forward. And mine doesn't even work.