Winter has always presented challenges for farm people. We have the challenge of keeping warm when we have to be outside. Livestock need protection from cold rains and icy winds and driving sleet and snow. We have the trying task of getting hay and feed to the cows, and caring for new baby calves who have the misfortune to be born outside in the dead of winter. Winter tends to freeze up water supplies, so keeping the water flowing and preventing freeze damage to water pipes is always a challenge. We struggle with starting cold engines in cars and trucks and tractors. But in our experience of winter, especially when I was a boy growing up on the farm, no challenge was more frustrating, or more necessary, than the task of getting around under those cold, icy conditions.
Starting cold engines was an especially trying task in the old days. Many of the vehicles before the 1950s were still using 6-volt electrical systems, which meant that the electric starters lacked the zip of our later higher voltage 12-volt systems. Things are stacked against an engine in wintertime. First, the battery itself is weaker in the cold. Second, the oil in the engine, especially before the advent of 10W30 or 5W30 oils, tended to get thick and stiff, making it harder for the starter to turn the engine over. Then, gasoline doesn't vaporize well in cold, frosty air, and if the starter is turning hard, the battery voltage tends to drop under the load, weakening the spark. Everything works against allowing the engine to fire up and run. But, thankfully, through the years many of these things have been improved as technology has advanced.
Actually, it seems that most car and truck and tractor engines fire up pretty readily these days, thanks to the change from carburetor fuel systems to fuel injection technologies, adoption of 12-volt electrical systems with powerful electric starters, improved battery design, computer control of fuel mixtures, and various engine monitoring systems which were non-existent on our old-time vehicles. I remember how we used to park our car close to the house, near the chimney, hoping to keep it warmer for starting in the morning, how we used to set the choke and pump the gas feed before hitting the starter, how we used to nurse the sputtering old Chevy by adjusting the choke button and pumping the accelerator when the cold engine tried to die on us. It seems that we are kind of spoiled these days by cars and trucks and tractors which just start and run in the cold without much help from us. We don't any longer have to learn those coaxing skills to keep an old cold motor going until it could warm up and run without the coughing and spitting and sputting and misfiring. Of course I don't yearn for those old days when our engines protested so about having to run in cold weather.
Our biggest challenge in winter, however, was not with making our engines run, as tough as that could be, but in getting the wheels to grip the ground so the car could go in the snow and sleet and ice and slush and mud. We had a very steep driveway leading up to the road which passed our house, and when the snow was packed or when the driveway was icy, we had quite a time getting enough traction to get the car up into the road. I remember that Dad would load the trunk of the car with bags of feed or other heavy items; then he would have Mom drive while he stood on the car's rear bumper to add weight. They would back the car all the way to the barn, then start off, trying to gain enough momentum to make it up the driveway and into the road. It was quite entertaining to watch, since I was a young boy and couldn't help. Sometimes after trying numerous times, they succeeded, and we could go to town that day. Other times, they would give it up and we were resigned to staying home that day.
In many ways, we can be thankful these days that our vehicles for the most part handle the traction problems better in winter. Many of today's cars are of front-wheel drive design, which puts more traction-boosting weight on the drive wheels. Many SUVs and pickups are four-wheel drive vehicles, which also helps considerably. But two things I learned early about winter driving still apply to today's vehicles and winter driving. One, drive gingerly; gently; don't get in a rush; don't do things suddenly. Two, especially go easy on the brakes; stay off the brakes as much as possible, keep a good distance between your car and the vehicles ahead of you, apply brakes very gingerly when necessary. Even four-wheel drive doesn't protect you much from sliding on ice. Fast, aggressive driving and hard braking don't work with any vehicle in wintertime.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist. He can be contacted by e-mail at joe369@century tel.net, or call 621-1621.
General News on 01/27/2016