Winter Driving

Just thinking back to the days when our only way to get to town was the old Mercury car. No 4wd pickup with traction control and ABS. Just grip tires on the back, frost shields on the windows and a shovel in the trunk. I don't recall my dad ever having to pull the old Merc out of a snowbank but maybe my memory is failing. Back then you either learned how to drive in snow or you got stuck. (Or stayed home all winter).
No, this video is not about winter driving. Just me finally getting to work replacing that rusty front fender on the Merc.


Merc rust bucket

Rusty, I sold the business that occupied my 2,000 square foot "shop" building in the spring of 2005. When the new owner moved out in the fall I built an "inner room" inside it in one corner. That room is 16x22x10, with 6 inch walls and 10 inch ceiling joists and is fully insulated. I have a large enough door in the inside end wall to allow me to back in my Ford 9000. I installed an unvented catalytic propane heater in it. I keep it at 50 degrees and nudge it up to 60 when I go in. It costs me only around $475 a year to heat and the room was cheap to build.

Think you are right and now with tractors many people think they can't do anything especially with a loader on a 2WD drive tractor.Maybe like you said just lost skills.
Couple more are how to cultivate row crops and use a sickle bar mower,think those went the way of knowing how to harness a workhorse.

I was surprised last Thursday I had to run some errands and the conditions were bad, ice with snow on top, and I didn't see any accidents or anyone in the ditch. We didn't have anything 4 WD until about 84, and we got by fine, but we don't have bad storms in MN and where we have lived it's pretty flat. One time I did drive my snowmobile to work though! I don't think I ever was even late to work because of weather in my 40 years.

Rusty, In the late 80's we had a heck of a snow that knocked off our power for several days.
We needed to go to town about 7 miles away.
I threw some firewood in the back of my 51 Chevy PU that had the old style narrow tires on it.
6 volt system fired right up and away we went.
The east wind had blown snow so the ditches were full and no sign of a road.
I knew where to drive and Miss V, our 2 little boys and I went to town.
Never slipped a bit.
Passed a bunch of cars, trucks and 4 WD drive folks that had slid off into the ditch and could not get back on road.
Those old narrow tires and firewood made all the difference.
Richard in NW SC

Used to be a late fall ritual- I'd be tasked with getting the "snows" out from under the bench in the garage where they'd been since late spring for my folks station wagon and grandfathers sedan. Firestone F32's for the most part IIRC. They'd go in the car they fit and off to Vic Sabbatis's Texaco station for a check/balance and then be put on the car. I don't remember Dad, Mom or my grandfather getting stuck either, but I do recall shoveling an awful lot of snow to make sure they could get out to the main road!

As far as winter drivers, in 20 plus years in LE in northern NYS I think I have seen about every bone headed stunt anyone could possibly dream up in the way poor winter driving decisions.

Yep, weight can make all the difference. Back in the seventies I had a series of 2WD pickups on the farm. I live on the side of a steep hill, and on a sloppy day it was an adventure to make it up the town road and then my driveway. Ballast in the back end was a must. If I had to go to town on a stormy day, I'd swing into the saw mill on the way home and fill the bed to the top of the four foot sideboards with sawdust. With that amount of weight it would walk right up the hill.

Thanks for the interesting replies. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying old cars were invincible in snow and all drivers were superior in those days. But we usually had the option to pick a good day to go to town. If the weather looked stormy and the chances of the road blowing shut were good, then the trip to town got put off. As winter got worse and snow got deeper sometimes the roads had to be abandoned and pick out a cross country trail over the neighbours fields staying to the high ground. Dad belonged to the snowplow club and shared duties putting the Cockshutt 50 on the Vee plow to keep the main roads open for the school bus. And yes, there were a few days the school bus got cancelled too due to weather and roads.
Photo from 1971.

I was parked in an RV park at Fort Stocton TX and a freezing rain event happened overnight. The temp was somewhat below freezing in the morning.
I was shuffling around the Mo Ho with my first coffee when a nice lady came up up and said something like " I see you are from Manitoba, can you teach me how to drive on this ice? I have a FWD truck." So I told her that the first thing to do is to get some hot coffee or chocolate and stand around for a couple of hours like I was doing. Then if it's still as icy, do it again. Not impressed with the wisdom of a Manitoban!
Stan

My first 40 years being in southwest michigan taught me many things about driving on snow or ice.
Start slow, start stopping sooner with a softer foot on the pedal.
Make "lazy" smooth turns, etc.

Ended up in Pensacola, FL 2004 to 2017 and even there had snow cover roads a couple of years. One year got an ice storm with maybe 1/4" of ice. They closed 200 miles of I -10 due to not having anyway to deal with icey roads.
I drove to work like normal and arrived to see nobody else showed up.
You sure can tell who has experienced driving in it and the locals who either stay home or are in the ditch.

Back in 1960, I was in school in Memphis, TN. It started snowing about 3pm one day, with about 3" of wet snow total. By the time the 6 o'clock news came on, there had been over 400 fender benders in the city of Memphis.

I stayed home and watched TV that evening. You couldn't have paid me enough to go into town.

Must have been around 1975-I was in 5th grade-we lived in Marion South Dakota. School district had a lot of miles of bus routes. That year we got so much drifting they could not get to all the students, so no school! In town we had been plowed out for days-if I recall, school was out for over a week! We were 30 miles from Sioux Falls, Dad took us several times over that break!

At least you had heat. I learned to drive on snow and ice on a motorcycle. You either got good at it or you where on the ground a lot. I remember one time when I was going up a hill that was ice covered. I made the mistake of shifting gears and I went down. Car at he bottom of the hill caught me before I could go out into a cross road. Scared the heck out of the person in the car. I did not get hurt and it did not hurt the car. I got up and rode the motorcycle back up the hill but this I did not shift gears going up

the favorite tire in my area for traction was sawdust or walnut shell in the tire. They were pretty good tires but kinda melted, one winter was about all you got out of them. My dad had a 52 Ford that seemed to go anywhere. I suspect it was the driver's skill.

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.

Enjoyed your latest video. Mice are the scourge of the earth. They destroyed thousands of dollars of our property over the years. Ate a $300 lawnmower seat last spring. I despise them.

(quoted from post at 10:07:34 11/23/19) 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.

Click to expand...

Great story tractorvet. I remember seeing the barrels of sand setting on the shoulder where there were hills and curves. And the dpt of highways used to set up snow fence in the field where the known snow traps were on the road. When the municipal roads got really bad here they would send out two graders so if the guy with the v plow up front got stuck , then the one behind could pull him out. They usually had the "wing" on the back grader to widen it out behind the plow. You can see the results on the ridges of snow in the picture I posted of the 39 Ford.

Back when my daily driver was a 1969 Chevy pickup that was 2 wheel drive in the winter I would carry a bucket load of gravel in the bed. I had it behind the rear axle and it did help plus if you did get stuck you have the gravel to help get you out. I stopped at a small store t get something and a gas tanker could not get out of the driveway and I asked it I could help. He told me there is not way your truck can help me get out and I told him no it cannot but the gravel in the bed can so he said ok and I put some gravel down where he would spin out and that was all it took to get him going again

(quoted from post at 21:54:03 11/22/19) Just thinking back to the days when our only way to get to town was the old Mercury car. No 4wd pickup with traction control and ABS. Just grip tires on the back, frost shields on the windows and a shovel in the trunk. I don't recall my dad ever having to pull the old Merc out of a snowbank but maybe my memory is failing. Back then you either learned how to drive in snow or you got stuck. (Or stayed home all winter).
No, this video is not about winter driving. Just me finally getting to work replacing that rusty front fender on the Merc.

=

Click to expand...

I think back then 'mudgrips" was an actual word LOL! Put them on the old Ford in September and took them off in April...

(quoted from post at 11:21:21 11/23/19) Enjoyed your latest video. Mice are the scourge of the earth. They destroyed thousands of dollars of our property over the years. Ate a $300 lawnmower seat last spring. I despise them.

Click to expand...

Bill, I don't have any damage from mice since I keep poison blocks in every building. Only bad part is finding the occasional rotting corpse but at least they don't chew up the seats and headliner. That one in the video is the third one I've found in or near that parts car this year.

And last winter or schools were closed 21 days for bad roads. I believe we had 5
inches of snow all winter. I drove 20 miles to work every day(mostly on dry
roads)and drove a hazmat load everyday I worked. BTW I do not own a 4X4,even
the four wheeler is 2 wheel drive. THey have already called off school 1 day
this year. I drove in at 50 mph,the roads were just wet by 9:00am.

We have dogs so we can?t use poison. Dead mice is better than live mouses any day. I?ve tried a lot of stuff. Simple
trap still works best. But there?s always more. Thousands of bushels of grain seem to keep them coming. We have
wild quail so we don?t keep cats..

Paragraphs?

(quoted from post at 12:39:01 11/23/19)

I think back then 'mudgrips" was an actual word LOL! Put them on the old Ford in September and took them off in April...

Click to expand...

I remember my dad and uncles referring to them as "ground grips". I don't know if that was a brand name. See these on the 39 Ford back about 1950.

I almost never see a mouse on my place but I do have to many cats but cats sure are better then mice. Oh and if i do see a mouse most of the time there dead and half gone

(quoted from post at 05:54:03 11/23/19) Just thinking back to the days when our only way to get to town was the old Mercury car. No 4wd pickup with traction control and ABS. Just grip tires on the back, frost shields on the windows and a shovel in the trunk.

Click to expand...

What does everyone put in the back of their pickup to add weight for driving in snow?

I'm looking for something that's low cost and doesn't move around much (or could be tied down)

Wife and I spent a winter stuck in Arkansas. One time there was just the [i:fc00045854]threat[/i:fc00045854] of icy conditions. Nearly 90% of EVERYTHING simply shut down, regardless of whether any ice showed up or not.

That said, it's a whole different version of ice than what we're accustomed to up here. Here, temps are normally well below freezing and the rubber grips ice much like pavement. Still, it amazes me how many folks go off the roads up here at the beginning of every winter season -- people who have spent their whole lives up here.

I think a big part of it is that cars/trucks these days are built for speed and for a quiet ride, not to mention all the bright lights, loud radios, and of course those adorable little things....what're they called again? A "smart" phone? Oh, how cute! :roll: Anyway, I've always been one to pay attention to what my vehicle is telling me. I like to hear the tire noise. I like to see the road at night from inside a DARK cab; not one full of lights. I like being able to dim down the dash and making the cab totally dark if needed. I also do not simply 'expect' that the brakes will stop us on a dime, so allow plenty of room for slowing.

I've never had the need for "traction control" or anti-lock brakes. But seems to me many people who use to be safe drivers way back when have now been transformed into thinking that nothing can go wrong...and if it does, they can always call for help. Not up here. Lots of places don't get a cell signal, and some roads can go days without anyone traveling on them, especially in Winter.

(quoted from post at 15:50:34 11/24/19)

What does everyone put in the back of their pickup to add weight for driving in snow?

I'm looking for something that's low cost and doesn't move around much (or could be tied down)

Click to expand...

What we used to use, but I don't recommend now because its dangerous, was cast tractor or implement weights. We would set them inside a rubber tire . But in case of a collision I hate to think what that unsecured lump of cast iron might have done to the back of the cab. Now I have a 100 gallon fuel tank in the back which I can keep half filled for weight.

(quoted from post at 16:12:00 11/24/19) Wife and I spent a winter stuck in Arkansas. One time there was just the [i:e674243ac2]threat[/i:e674243ac2] of icy conditions. Nearly 90% of EVERYTHING simply shut down, regardless of whether any ice showed up or not.

That said, it's a whole different version of ice than what we're accustomed to up here. Here, temps are normally well below freezing and the rubber grips ice much like pavement. Still, it amazes me how many folks go off the roads up here at the beginning of every winter season -- people who have spent their whole lives up here.

I think a big part of it is that cars/trucks these days are built for speed and for a quiet ride, not to mention all the bright lights, loud radios, and of course those adorable little things....what're they called again? A "smart" phone? Oh, how cute! :roll: Anyway, I've always been one to pay attention to what my vehicle is telling me. I like to hear the tire noise. I like to see the road at night from inside a DARK cab; not one full of lights. I like being able to dim down the dash and making the cab totally dark if needed. I also do not simply 'expect' that the brakes will stop us on a dime, so allow plenty of room for slowing.

I've never had the need for "traction control" or anti-lock brakes. But seems to me many people who use to be safe drivers way back when have now been transformed into thinking that nothing can go wrong...and if it does, they can always call for help. Not up here. Lots of places don't get a cell signal, and some roads can go days without anyone traveling on them, especially in Winter.

Click to expand...

KCM, I would not go so far as to say that any tires that we have here in NH grip ice like pavement, but, that is a moot point because ice is not allowed to stay on pavement here for more than a few moments. The brine is put down hours before the event, then salt through the event and the plows follow each other so closely that the pavement is kept warm from the friction of the plows. Years ago when one had to be careful and I would be out in bad weather in the evening, in a cold rain event I would set my door ajar so that I could here the splash of the water. When suddenly the splash stopped while it continued to rain I would slow down. Other drivers would fly by until they saw someone in the ditch then they would slow to a crawl and I would pass them when once again I was hearing the splash of the rain.

Yes, tires are very important. When we bought our current daily driver, it had nearly-new Goodyear HP tires. We got back here to a couple inches of snow. Truck couldn't even get around in our own driveway in 4wd. Bought a set of General Grabber AT2's and haven't looked back sense. I'll buy those tires for as long as they make them!

Funny thing -- the Goodyear HP's were 'designed' for street driving, but the more aggressive Grabber tires were a whole lot quieter on paved roads.

Same goes for shoes. It's not only the type of material, but also the tread pattern that dictates whether shoes (or tires) grip snow/ice well. Since we rarely have to travel when ice is about freezing, we don't have to invest in "winter" tires. Only been a couple times over the years when I wished we'd had some. I just slowed down a bit more and everything went great.

(quoted from post at 20:08:29 11/24/19) Yes, tires are very important. When we bought our current daily driver, it had nearly-new Goodyear HP tires. We got back here to a couple inches of snow. Truck couldn't even get around in our own driveway in 4wd

Click to expand...

I run winter grip tires on my Blazer year round. They might whine a bit on pavement but it does not bother me. All season tires just don't compare when I get in ice or mud or deep snow.

One of the funniest things I ever saw was in Cherry Point NC back in the late 70's/early 80's. They got about 2" of wet snow. You'd think it was the end of the world. You'd see people trying to drive down the road at 4 or 5 mph with their 4 ways flashers on and then for no apparent reason they'd slide off the road! Meanwhile there were all the northern boys driving at a normal for the weather 40 ish mph and having no issues at all. Really was something to see!

Goodyear "Suburbanites" was the go to tire in SD in t
he 50 and 60's

(quoted from post at 16:21:41 11/25/19) Goodyear "Suburbanites" was the go to tire in SD in t
he 50 and 60's

Click to expand...

raction Mat[/url]