b.
Traversing soft areas:
Now, start up the truck, build up your momentum and hit the soft area. Keep an imaginary, "soft shelled egg"
between your foot and the accelerator treadle to apply sufficient engine power to maintain momentum, but ease off
on power, by feathering the accelerator, if the rear tandem breaks loose and spins. The aux boxe's Direct-Drive will
be best in all but the most severe cases. With a loaded dump truck, you can count on the combination of
momentum and maximum traction (lust on the borderline of spinning out) to get you and your truck with payload
through. On the return haul with an empty dump truck, your weight is reduced by more than half. All you're got
going for you is momentum and very, very little traction. Your options are (1) avoid soft areas (2) chain up your rear
tandem duals, (3) get stuck and get pulled through with other vehicles, or (4) work on the haul road and eliminate
the soft area. Don't try blasting through because of the danger of tearing up yourself, the truck, and the surrounding
area. Without traction you're got very little directional control and soft spot ruts can throw you and your truck.
c.
Chaining up the Drive Wheels.
If there is any question of your not getting your dumper through a soft area, think about putting chains on your
drivers (driving tires, that is). It is much easier and much less messy to install chains BEFORE getting stuck than
after your tandem are buried deep in heavy, sticky mud. Experience will teach you whether you need to install dual
tire chains, covering inner and outer duals, or install only single tire chains on the outer duals. Often, single tire
chains around the outer duals of the forward tandem axle, only, will provide the right amount of traction needed on
slippery, wet grass and greasy, clay slopes. Then, for logging trails through the woods, you may need to dual tire
chain all drive wheels on both drive tandem axles. Chains have to be installed tightly to do any good, so install
them on hard ground, drive a couple hundred feet, and retighten them to take out all slack.
d.
Getting Un stuck.
(1)
Inching Out:
Now, what do you do if you are stuck, Immobilized, and can't move? Go find that "soft shelled egg" again and put it
on the accelerator. Select neutral in your main PS transmission and Under-Drive range in your aux box. Next, with
the engine at idle, select 1-2 main transmission gears and very gradually push down on that imaginary egg on top of
the accelerator to build up engine RPM. If the rear tandems spin-out, you've broken the egg, exceeded the shear
strength of the soil under the tires, dropped the truck in deeper by an inch or two, and created higher hills of soil that
the tires are going to have to climb over, or through, in order to get un-stuck.
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