Quote:
Originally Posted by Piotrsko
Issaac Zachary:How do YOU keep the auto chains from winding up on themselves in a freezing slush or keep them under the wheels on hard icy mornings? I hated the auto chains on my school bus, I would install regular chains on the outsides on sloppy mornings, but I had union approval to install and remove them.
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Here in Colorado, at least the part where I live, freezing slush and hard icy morning are not common. Autochains are useful going over steep snow packed mountain passes. Instead of stopping at the base and putting them on, driving a mile, pulling over and making sure they're still tight, then taking them off at the bottom, then doing it again at the next pass and so on, you just flip the switch and off you go.
My main problem with autochains was in deep snow they wouldn't spin around. Regular tire chains are better overall and work in some cases autochains don't. But having to pull over and throw on and off chains for a 35,000lb vehicle all the time is not easy.
I suppose if you live in a town or City where your entire route can be driven at speeds of 30mph or less then putting on a set of chains and leaving them on would work. But here towns are very small and nearly all the bus routes include going down two lane highways. It's already bad enough to come up on a school bus that's going slower than traffic and no way to pass it. It's much worse if that part of the highway is dry and the bus is going 30 in a 65mph zone just because the driver put her chains on beforehand so she wouldn't have to once she got off the highway onto the rural roads.