Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/115354
Applications & Innovations by Larry Walton, Associate Editor, ProPickup magazine Ice Handling A school for your pickup+equipment trailer winter drivers O ther contractors take the same approach that I do to towing on ice behind a pickup: try to avoid it. But there are times when leaving the trailer at the shop is both impractical and bad for business, especially if your winter work involves snow control. Most of the dirt movers we met on a tire test trip to Steamboat Springs, Colo., keep working until winter stops them. Agencies of course have snow control reponsibilites. So here, like any other place that is white and icy in the cold months, compact track loaders, backhoes, skid steers, patchers, plow blades, various attachments and other equipment have to be moved on trailers behind pickups. 16 March 2013 Better Roads So I was inspired to take a day of "snow tow" training at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School (BWDS) just outside of town to be better equipped to handle icy trailer towing. Most of the winter driving tips and techniques I've learned on previous winter training classes at BWDS apply: Make sure the vehicle is in good working order; use snow tires; slow down; and do all your braking and accelerating in a straight line. But the standard BWDS driving classes don't teach one important thing: what to do during a "trailer event." That's where the snow-tow trailer towing class pays off big for a driver who'll haul a trailer behing a pickup in deep winter.