chaining up

Just in case this requires an explanation, chaining-up is when we put tire chains on the trucks. Field work shuts down very rarely so we need to get to locations despite the conditions. Field roads vary in quality, which is mostly governed by applicable state or county rules. In this area, most dirt roads are middling at best and lots of them turn very bad, very quickly with just a little bit of rain or snow. Many of the roads have a clay surface that gets very slippery when wet. A few of the dirt roads have more sand in them and are actually slightly easier to drive on when damp. However, if you get stuck in sand, chains tend to dig you in deeper faster.

The roads being what they are, we often need to chain-up our trucks (big ones, not pick-ups) in order to have enough traction to still be able to move and steer them. It's actually not that helpful to put chains on our pick-ups. The pick-ups already have four-wheel drive. While adding tire chains on top of that would make for an effective combination, that's not the point. The point is to get all the trucks to location and not just the pick-up. The big units don't have 4WD, or more accurately, they don't have six-wheel drive. If we can't get somewhere in 4WD in the pick-up then it's very likely that the big trucks won't be able to get there with tire chains. In fact, we can often go places in the pick-up that the big units can't get too, especially up muddy hills. Hey, sometimes a fully-loaded unit weighing 80,000 lbs powers out and stops. At that point, it's time to call the client.

It's time to call the client and while you want to bitch him out about why they don't better maintain their roads, you have to calmly explain that you're stuck. Despite taking all the proper steps to make it to location, you're stuck and the client needs to send something with some muscle. Basically, we want them to send a 'cat', short for Caterpillar. Of course, Caterpillar makes oodles of equipment. When we say 'cat', something like this D7 would be effective. But when you say you're stuck and they send something like this grader instead, you start to wonder if it's got enough power to pull 80,000 lbs through mud sticky enough to pull your boots off your feet. The answer is maybe, but you might lose an axle in the process. See, that's not a 'cat'. It is what we call a 'blade' for what should be fairly obvious reasons. That type of equipment is really meant for grading roads, which is what they should've done in the first place so you wouldn't be stuck. If you're bottoming out a pick-up the ruts are probably too deep and it's time to work the road into a more drivable state.

Despite all that, with chains on, I think you'd be surprised by what you can get a truck through. That doesn't mean it's good for the truck, but you do what you gotta do to get there and get the job done.