| Author | Message | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
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Digging around for something else, I came across this PDF document for Illinois school bus drivers. It's got an amazingly thorough pre-trip inspection routine that would do no harm for any of us to review.... and it also has a LOT of info on how to properly drive our land-barges. check it out http://www.isbe.state.il.us/funding/pdf/busdriver_trainmanual.pdf What I was actually looking for was some info on these weird chain/spinnee things that are mounted to rear axle of my new ( to me at least) Bluebird bus. Turns out they are very cool automatic tire chains. Ever seen em? Take a look at this!! Real interesting... http://www.onspot.com/marketing_broadband.wvx for you high speed folks, or http://www.onspot.com/marketing_dialup.wvx for you slow connections... | ||
| BrianMCI Rating: N/A |
We tried Onspots in our fleet of snow-plow ready 10 wheel dumps for 4 or 5 years, the problems we encountered with them probably had more to do with driving conditions and our uses for the trucks in the non-snow season...BUT we finally took off all the Onspots and threw them away. Including a couple of brand new units... Brian | ||
| Bryce Gaston (Busted_knuckle)
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I've had salesmen try to sell me on 'em way back when I was truck'n I never really gave 'em much chance to sell 'em though as I always told 'm sure put a set on each truck, an if we ever need to use them and they work as great as you say I'll send ya a check for 'em. Then I'd tell 'em what Granddaddy always said "ain't but two kinds of trucks that need chains, thats flatbeds an tow trucks, if the road is that bad pull over and rest a spell!" Kept all my trucks and drivers out of ditches! Now back to the automatic chains, great idea? yes! Would I have them on a bus or motorhome? No way! I still feel the way Granddaddy did (we haul people) and theres no way we will put ANY passengers at risk! Also if I had a fine coach of my own I wouldn't wanna risk it find a place to wait it out after all ya got the comforts of home! Why risk it? Just my opinion (and "Pap's") Bryce aka Busted Knuckle | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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Gary - Hmmmmm. . . That Illinois pre-trip looks vaguely familiar. Wonder if they modified this one: http://www.busnut.com/artrjl1.html LOL!  RJ PD4106-2784 Fresno CA | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
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Bryce, I hear your thoughts and agree to a point... it's always best to just not drive when there is inclimate weather. But I doubt that schoolbus drivers have the luxury of being able to just pull over with a busload of kids on the way to school, have a soda or ten and read a few books while waiting for the snow on the road to melt away... likewise truckers who are on a schedule that is tight and time is money... and me, who has a beginning and an end to all my trips, and usually not the time to hole up a few days if it snows. That's why chains were invented, to make driving safer in the snow. I'm not really wanting to take this thread to a discussion of whether chains are or are not a good thing... I simply discovered these automatic chains were already installed on my bus that was a schoolbus in it's prior life, and I thought they are a pretty neat idea. I'm sure they have a little going for them safety-wise, or they'd never make it all the way to a schoolbus application, and now that I know what they are, I've asked a few friends who live up north and they've seen many of them installed in snow country schoolbusses. So why "risk" using chains? Probably 'cause you'd loose your job if you didn't. And I doubt it's much of a "risk" or schools would simply close for winter around the country.... | ||
| Craig (Ceieio)
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Gary - from all accounts the auto chains work pretty good. I think the original idea was from Sweden, so they know a little something about snow. If you run them alot you may need to replace the chains as part of your maintenance cycle, but that is no biggie. As far as coaches go, I wonder if the chains were designed for low slung highway coaches? It would be cool if they would fit and not beat on anything important. Lots of clearance on a skoolie that the highway rigs don't have. Craig - MC7 Oregon | ||
| Bryce Gaston (Busted_knuckle)
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Gary I hear ya on the bus load of kids part I wasn't think'n of that 'cause around here if the roads are bad the school bus director is the 1 they ask whether or not to close the schools (we don't get much snow maybe once a year it snows enough to stick to the ground, we do get ice a couple times a year and they always shut down fast for that). But when I owned trucks we had chains on 'em as required by law in the NW but the law only said ya had to use 'em if ya was gonna while the chain up law was in effect! I always told my drivers if it's that bad take a break after an hour or so the die hards and the plows will have it broken up and passable (I drove too!) I told them no matter how "HOT" the load was it wasn't late until it was upside down in a ditch somewhere & they'd never get fired from me for not using chains, but if they decided to use 'm and had a preventable accident the insurance company said they were history or I'd have to find other insurance. I had insurance with John Deere which was the best there was back then and it was difficult to get in with them as a small operator (5 trucks "or less" which is how many I had), I know there are times when time is important but safety is always my #1 concern (when I had trucks or with dad's bus company), just last year Dad himself was on the way home from Gatlinburg, TN with a local High School team and got "snowed in" in Nashville for 2 days because I-24 was unpassable from Clarksville to Paducah. But the school princable who was with them agreed is wasn't worth being stranded in between (which they found out later some of hgthe parents who took there kids and went on were and spent the night in they're stuck vehicles until the National Guard rescued them!) Please take into account in our area we don't have mountains and we only got like 3 snow plows per county and at the time this happened 2 outa 3 were outta service 1 because it had a flat tire and the other 'cause the defroster wouldn't work! LOL just kiddin' but thats what it seems like! I agree that northern school buses should have something like 'em but I don't agree people need to be out joy riding if the roads are bad enough chains are needed! That's just my 2 cents worth and I probably owe all ya'll a quater for goin' on about it, put it on my tab an if we ever meet remind me an I'll gladly pay up! LOL Bryce aka Busted Knuckle PS. while Dad and the bus was snowed I was out in the tow trucks pullin' cars and Big Rigs out as fast as I could hook the chains! While Dad was calling on the cell phone every so often asking if I thought it was safe enough to head on in! I just kept tell'n him ya sure I'll come along and pull ya out in the order I can get to ya in as the only reason we'd pull off and head somewhere else was to get fuel which most of the time we had a local farmer with a 4 wheel drive tractor and a fuel trailer bringing us some every now and then we stayed out for 53 hrs at 1 time all 3 trucks! | ||
| Tim Jones (Torquester)
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Bruce, I work for a school district as a mechanic. The mechanics are tasked with rescuing vehicles out on the road for many reasons, including being stuck. I would estimate that about 1/3 of our 200+ bus fleet is equipped with automatic tire chains (mostly On Spot). My thoughts: Great for icy roads or in snow less than 3" deep. Drivers who do not understand these limitations, or who fail to engage the chain operation before they get themselves in a bad situation, will wind up in trouble. A school bus with decent tires can get around in snow without a problem. This leaves the auto-chains only usefull in hard packed or icy conditions. You can't beat a good ol' set of tire chains if you must be out in the poor conditions. I've driven in these conditions with both. I've pulled out stuck busses with auto-chains and without chains, but not with regular ol' tire chains. hth, Tq | ||
| Sojourner (Jjimage)
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Tim...About "Great for icy roads or in snow less than 3" deep" Just learn why it so...because it only affect inside dual...therefore outer dual is packing snow high enough to keep chain from touching pavement....humm...no wonder it not as good as full-width-chain. Thanks Tim! Sojourn for Christ, Jerry | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
"therefore outer dual is packing snow high enough to keep chain from touching pavement...." Or when the tag or bogie keeps the duals aloft.... |