Tire Chains
Jan. 23rd, 2020 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickRegular readers may be aware that I own a 2 mile dirt driveway that is uphill to get to the hard road and that also is not maintained by some DOT or Township or so forth. My driveway also is on the NORTH side of the hill, which means that it doesn't get any sun for most of the winter and is, therefore, slow to melt out.
The upshot of the road situation is that I spend a significant portion of every winter (about mid-January to Mid-February) driving out a two-mile, uphill road that looks like this. (My actual road, my actual truck. Video from last winter but totally comparable to state of road today. Note glare from ice and overall similarity to, say, a bobsled run.)
So last year, or perhaps the year before, I bought chains for my truck. Tire chains. They're a thing. They're a thing that is not of my people and not a thing I grew up with. I do know people who have tire chains, but they are not my people.
After I bought them, the road never got to where I felt the need to Learn To Install Tire Chains and so forth. Until here recently.
Oh. My. God. Let me sing you the praises of tire chains (not to be used on hard roads, this is the midatlantic and they don't let you do that here). It is going to be a loud song because there are many praises and they are huge, HUGE.
LO! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN DRIVE ON ICE.
BEHOLD! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN DRIVE IN TWO WHEEL DRIVE.
REVERE! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN STEER.
GENUFLECT! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN STOP.
SUPPLICATE! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN START AGAIN ON HILLS.
MARVEL! WITH TIRE CHAINS, WHEN YOU PARK YOUR TRUCK TO GET OUT AND SHOVEL STONE ON THE ROAD, THE TRUCK DOES NOT SLIDE DOWN THE ROAD AFTER YOU!!!
Caveat: It takes a certain amount of unpleasant crawling around on the cold, icy ground to install the damn things.
Caveat: If you do it wrong and they come loose while you are driving, they will FUCK YOUR TRUCK UP.
Caveat: You can only go about 20 mph with them on.
But still. LO. TIRE CHAINS ARE FUCKING AWESOME.
I need to buy some for my plow truck.
The upshot of the road situation is that I spend a significant portion of every winter (about mid-January to Mid-February) driving out a two-mile, uphill road that looks like this. (My actual road, my actual truck. Video from last winter but totally comparable to state of road today. Note glare from ice and overall similarity to, say, a bobsled run.)
So last year, or perhaps the year before, I bought chains for my truck. Tire chains. They're a thing. They're a thing that is not of my people and not a thing I grew up with. I do know people who have tire chains, but they are not my people.
After I bought them, the road never got to where I felt the need to Learn To Install Tire Chains and so forth. Until here recently.
Oh. My. God. Let me sing you the praises of tire chains (not to be used on hard roads, this is the midatlantic and they don't let you do that here). It is going to be a loud song because there are many praises and they are huge, HUGE.
LO! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN DRIVE ON ICE.
BEHOLD! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN DRIVE IN TWO WHEEL DRIVE.
REVERE! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN STEER.
GENUFLECT! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN STOP.
SUPPLICATE! WITH TIRE CHAINS, YOU CAN START AGAIN ON HILLS.
MARVEL! WITH TIRE CHAINS, WHEN YOU PARK YOUR TRUCK TO GET OUT AND SHOVEL STONE ON THE ROAD, THE TRUCK DOES NOT SLIDE DOWN THE ROAD AFTER YOU!!!
Caveat: It takes a certain amount of unpleasant crawling around on the cold, icy ground to install the damn things.
Caveat: If you do it wrong and they come loose while you are driving, they will FUCK YOUR TRUCK UP.
Caveat: You can only go about 20 mph with them on.
But still. LO. TIRE CHAINS ARE FUCKING AWESOME.
I need to buy some for my plow truck.
