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First Winter Storm, maybe....
- Thread starter ovrszd
- Start date
20/80
Senior Member
Yep, a 2 wrecker call, was a bad day for slippery roads, nobody hurt other than their pride, the windrow of ice is when I made a pass with my 150AWD with my chains on of course so the wreckers could get to them.
20/80
Senior Member
The grader was all right but the sand truck will need some attention, our department FROWNS on this, LOL
Tell a funny story on myself. Sorry no pics.
I'm accustomed to running chains. Having AWD negates the use of chains most times. But old habits die hard.
I came off a gravel road onto a State paved hiway at a T. Had my blade full so turned to the right and then started unloading my blade into the hiway ditch. By the time I stopped I had my right tires off the pavement and on the edge of a narrow V road ditch about 3ft deep. I clicked it into reverse and gave it throttle as I would with chains on. Too fast for bare tires. I spun 1/3 of a tire rotation and felt the grader sliding into the ditch. Slammed the clutch/brakes and assessed my situation. With chains I could have rear steered myself back onto the slick pavement. No chance with bare tires. Now what..... Before I tried anything I called the local heavy wrecker guy. He was about 10 miles away and could come my direction in 10-15 minutes. Okay. Hung up the phone, knowing he was on his way, might as well try to get out. Mud underneath snow. Every little wiggle put me farther into the ditch. Even with the blade rammed into the ditch bank. Within 30 seconds I'm basically laying on my side at a 45 degree angle in the ditch.
Shifted the table and moldboard. Rammed the end of the blade into the ditch bank. Lifted the front tires of the grader off the ground. Shifted the table and moldboard to the right while rear steering. Literally set the right front tire back up onto the pavement. Still leaning at 45 degrees to the right with the right side tandem buried in the ditch bottom.
Again shifted the table completely to the right. Rammed the end of the moldboard into the ditch bank. As I let the clutch out in forward second gear I "rowed" the moldboard by rotating right. The end of the moldboard was able to push me forward just enough to help the spinning tires and I popped back up onto the hiway.
Looked in my mirrors and noticed a State Hiway Dept truck sitting in the roadway back aways behind me with all his lights flashing. I got out of his way and as he went by he was laughing and giving me the thumbs up.
Called my wrecker buddy and cancelled.
I'm accustomed to running chains. Having AWD negates the use of chains most times. But old habits die hard.
I came off a gravel road onto a State paved hiway at a T. Had my blade full so turned to the right and then started unloading my blade into the hiway ditch. By the time I stopped I had my right tires off the pavement and on the edge of a narrow V road ditch about 3ft deep. I clicked it into reverse and gave it throttle as I would with chains on. Too fast for bare tires. I spun 1/3 of a tire rotation and felt the grader sliding into the ditch. Slammed the clutch/brakes and assessed my situation. With chains I could have rear steered myself back onto the slick pavement. No chance with bare tires. Now what..... Before I tried anything I called the local heavy wrecker guy. He was about 10 miles away and could come my direction in 10-15 minutes. Okay. Hung up the phone, knowing he was on his way, might as well try to get out. Mud underneath snow. Every little wiggle put me farther into the ditch. Even with the blade rammed into the ditch bank. Within 30 seconds I'm basically laying on my side at a 45 degree angle in the ditch.
Shifted the table and moldboard. Rammed the end of the blade into the ditch bank. Lifted the front tires of the grader off the ground. Shifted the table and moldboard to the right while rear steering. Literally set the right front tire back up onto the pavement. Still leaning at 45 degrees to the right with the right side tandem buried in the ditch bottom.
Again shifted the table completely to the right. Rammed the end of the moldboard into the ditch bank. As I let the clutch out in forward second gear I "rowed" the moldboard by rotating right. The end of the moldboard was able to push me forward just enough to help the spinning tires and I popped back up onto the hiway.
Looked in my mirrors and noticed a State Hiway Dept truck sitting in the roadway back aways behind me with all his lights flashing. I got out of his way and as he went by he was laughing and giving me the thumbs up.
Called my wrecker buddy and cancelled.
20/80
Senior Member
Keeping fairly busy ice blading, this is not my area for ice blading but was pulled off another road to ice blade this road for the Wreckers, this road is along side a river that was backed up by ice, by the time the wreckers got there the sand truck was almost submerged and the water was up to the exhaust on the grader.
colson04
Senior Member
How did they both end up in the ditch right on top of each other? Were they chained together, or working right next to each other when this happened? Or did the grader try to pull the sander truck out and get sucked in?
I've left the roadway more than my share of times in the winter when I was younger and thought I knew it all. Always ended with broken body panels and a bruised pride.
20/80
Senior Member
The grader slipped in first, it was just one of those roads that had gravel up through the ice with lots of traction kinda tricking you into thinking you really don't need chains till they got to the top of a hill near the end of the road next to the river, it was to late then, it was wall to wall ice all the way down around the turn at the bottom of the hill, the guy on the grader tried stopping using the blade but only spun him around and he landed ass backwards over the bank, the sand truck tried to sand the hill but where the blade of the grader stuck out over the road he couldn't make the turn and get around the plow blade and slid off the road, the sand truck bumped the grader and came to a stop if not he would have rolled over into the water and maybe not have got out, a big wake up call about when to use your chains even if there is some traction on ice covered roads for sure, use your chains even if there a pain to get on, this could have ended real bad.
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colson04
Senior Member
Glad to hear everyone made it out ok. The picture doesn't really show the water backing up into the machines, but I certainly understand the dangers on cold water in the winter.
Thank you for explaining how that situation happened.
Thank you for explaining how that situation happened.
20/80
Senior Member
The river was backed up with ice after a heavy rain, a couple of hours after that picture the river came up quickly and flooded to the top of the road.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
Calling for a big dump Saturday and Sunday. I was out tucking banks back just in case. Hauled some snow for a couple of nights. As I was the odd driver out, the other 3 guys took their own trucks, so I took the new automatic. I could really get used to that. Be great hauling away from an asphalt milling machine, no sore leg from the clutch. Be real good for hauling away from the snowblower to.
20/80
Senior Member
Yeah, we are getting snow then changing to rain than flash freeze, another big mess, would love if it would just stay as snow.
Yesterday our weather said 5-8" next Wednesday. Today they say 1-3" next Wednesday. By that time we'll probably be down to a dusting. As long as these storms keep pounding the East Coast we get by easy.
colson04
Senior Member
-2° F here at 0530 this morning.
Next Tuesday is pegged at 40°F and rain.
Next Thursday calls for -1°F and snow.
Mother nature just needs to make up her mind and do one thing. Preferably 70 and sunshine.
Next Tuesday is pegged at 40°F and rain.
Next Thursday calls for -1°F and snow.
Mother nature just needs to make up her mind and do one thing. Preferably 70 and sunshine.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
We're in the 40 to 50cm (15 to 20 inches ) band. High winds all night. Long range is calling for rain next week. Wind chill has been -36c (-32.8F). It's cold, but not Winterpeg cold.
This morning they are saying less than an inch Wednesday. 50F Monday. 17F Wednesday. 30F Thursday. No moisture for the next ten days. I may try to do some maintenance grading this week. Pull loose gravel from the shoulders back into the traffic area. I like to do that early morning when it's froze so I don't get any dirt. Then thawing temps during the day lets traffic stick it down. We'll see.....
cuttin edge
Senior Member
This is the biggest storm this year, but we didn't get the amount they were calling for. We still got a foot with a lot of drifting. I put in 12 hours, and will go out tonight for a it of cleanup. Started snowing hard again when I was half way through my route, so there will be a bit to do. Couple years ago, we seemed to get storms like this back to back for a couple months. Didn't think it would ever end. Some of the contracts went over the limit, and got plowed a few times for free.
20/80
Senior Member
Man its crazy the amount of ice on our back roads that these crazy weather systems is producing, buddy on the other M told me he had to fully chain up to travel the pavement to get to his roads, the pave road had 2" of ice on it shoulder to shoulder, forecasting another weather bomb for this coming weekend for here, hopefully it will be snow.
cuttin edge
Senior Member
We got about a foot of snow here. I guess Moncton got a lot more.. The snowmobilers will be happy. I went in around 3 this morning to do a bit of clean up. All 3 trail groomers were gone from our shop yard.
11 0r 12 years ago we had a Winter of repeats. In our case it was wind driven. Cold weather that kept the snow fluffy. V Plow the drifts. Wing it all back. Next day we'd get an inch of dry snow and high winds. Blow everything full. Repeat. I pushed snow 5 times in December that Winter. Didn't get any relief until February. I was mentally exhausted. Working a full time job. Pushing snow at night. Took many 15 minute power naps in the grader.