I Have A Ton Of Questions About Winter Driving.

I haven't been on here for a loooong time lol, but I couldn't help but comment on this thread because I also live in Colorado and have done quite a bit of mountain driving. For a couple winters all I did was drive back and forth between Denver and Grand Junction and drove through snow and chained up more times than I can remember.

The common theme here is to just take it slow. You can pretty much be a complete dumbass in the snow and still be much safer by taking it slow. Once you're going too fast you're just relying on luck to be able to stop or slow down in time if there is a curve in the road coming up or if another vehicle jumps in front of you and slows down.

As far as your questions about keeping it in gear while going down grades in slippery conditions... I prefer to keep it in gear and my reason is pretty simple. As someone who's done alot of driving in the snow yourself, I'm sure you'd agree the number one way to avoid slipping is to drive smoothly--no sudden acceleration or deceleration and no sudden turns. My experience has been that the truck tends to put itself back in gear pretty smoothly and the weight of the vehicle does help with that, but it can still be a bit jerky which makes me uncomfortable. So I prefer to put it in manual mode if that's an option for you and pick a speed that is slightly slower than whatever speed you feel comfortable going down the grade in those conditions, and pick a gear that keeps the rpms relatively low because you don't want high rpms in a downgrade in slippery conditions because it can have the same effect as using your jakes. And no I wouldn't use your jakes. Yes I have used them sparingly in those conditions but you don't need them if you're taking it slow and using controlled braking.

Overall I'd say to sum it up, just keep it smooth whatever you do. It's pretty common sense I think but avoid hitting the brakes too hard, accelerating too hard, turning too quickly, and keep your shifts smooth as much as possible (if you're in an automatic you don't really have to worry too much about this one). And avoid putting too much acceleration (change in speed) in one axle--using your jakes puts most of the deceleration in one axle which can cause that axle to slip. The same advice applies to using the trailer brake. You don't want to use the trailer brake to try to slow you down (if you even have one in your truck) because you're putting too much of the deceleration in just one axle which again can cause it to slip.

Hopefully that's helpful. Oh, if you ever do start to slip, nine times out of ten you're best off letting off both the brakes and accelerator. Hitting the brakes during a slide is almost always a no-go.

Thank you, does help a lot. I'm based out of Denver and the springs as well.

Thank you, does help a lot. I'm based out of Denver and the springs as well.

Nice, awesome to see a fellow Colorado driver on here