Winter Weather Pretripping (feel free to add more)


Not pretrip advice but something I only picked up a coupla years ago is buying wiper blades an inch or 2 shorter than what's called for. It makes for a huge reduction on the ice build up on the top of the blades and hardly any difference to your line of sight.
 
Not pretrip advice but something I only picked up a coupla years ago is buying wiper blades an inch or 2 shorter than what's called for. It makes for a huge reduction on the ice build up on the top of the blades and hardly any difference to your line of sight.
Yep. I noticed that with my car a couple years ago. The right side wiper blade doesn't even conform to the shape of the glass all the way when it's down. About an inch hangs off. So I got replacements an inch shorter & noticed they work better because the pressure from the springs in the wiper arms is distributed across a smaller line.



Ok bring on the windshield wiper arms jokes, .. I can take it. :rolleyes:
 
Another tip is if it's REAL COLD and your truck has been shut off be mindful of your electronics

CORDS and Charger Cables can FREEZE and the wire becomes brittle and cracks like glass in extreme cold

Over the years I have lost several chargers and power cords that way even coax cables
 
Another tip is if it's REAL COLD and your truck has been shut off be mindful of your electronics

CORDS and Charger Cables can FREEZE and the wire becomes brittle and cracks like glass in extreme cold

Over the years I have lost several chargers and power cords that way even coax cables
Good point! My flat screen T.V. stopped working after an extreme cold snap. It must have been the liquid in the LCD that froze.

I learned my lesson. Keep on trucking.
 
I always just leave some kind of heat source on in the truck.

On the road, it's either the espar heater or the big engine. At home it's either the espar set low like 50 deg or an electric space heater if I can park the bobtail up by electric.

A 1500 watt electric heater won't keep it a comfortable temp in the middle of winter (in northern Illinois) but it'll keep stuff from freezing, like gallon water jugs & your liquid filled TV. And it'll keep the windows clear of frost.
 
In the winter, be careful where you park. Try to get on a bit of bare ground if you can. If not, no matter if your brakes don't freeze to the drums or not, you might not be able to move when you want to. Your hot tires will melt through the ice or packed snow and all you will do is sit there and spin.
If that happens, give up and throw some chains.
One fix I've heard about for years but never tried is to pour some laundry bleach over the tires and try to ease out. Supposedly the bleach will soften the rubber in the tires a bit and give you enough traction to move, unless you've spun enough to dig deep holes. Which is what you will probably do the first time this happens to you. Ask me how I know.
The rumor is that this is a Canadian trick so maybe it won't work in U.S. snow. Or maybe you have to have bleach labeled in French and sold in liters, eh?
 
Oh, and if you're ever told to just put single chains on just one of a dual to get unstuck,.. That only works on pavement.

On top of thick permafrost or in gravel it just digs the hole deeper under that tire until the one that isn't chained is keeping the weight off the chained one.
 

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