Stupid thing I never thought that I could do to my tractor!

[megaboz]

Working on building a pole-building garage, lots of mud in some cases so deep the belly of the tractor would drag in the mud. Well at the end of one day I parked it in the almost finished garage. Next day it was 10 degrees out and the 6 foot box blade was frozen to the ground. Finally got it freed and the tractor wouldn't move. I thought I broke something. Turns out that with all the mud it actually froze every wheel in place, to the ground to the axle and to wherever else the mud was.

After two days with a multi-fuel heater, I was finally able to get it to move. What a mess!

Moral of the story, don't park your tractor in the winter when mud is caked everywhere!

Oh well, it was fun in the mud before it froze!

 

[k0ua]

Working on building a pole-building garage, lots of mud in some cases so deep the belly of the tractor would drag in the mud. Well at the end of one day I parked it in the almost finished garage. Next day it was 10 degrees out and the 6 foot box blade was frozen to the ground. Finally got it freed and the tractor wouldn't move. I thought I broke something. Turns out that with all the mud it actually froze every wheel in place, to the ground to the axle and to wherever else the mud was.

After two days with a multi-fuel heater, I was finally able to get it to move. What a mess!

Moral of the story, don't park your tractor in the winter when mud is caked everywhere!

Oh well, it was fun in the mud before it froze!

And if the rears are frozen and the fronts are free or break free, the tractor can do a wheelie past the point of no return in less than a second, and you get to test out how well your ROPS works or if no ROPS you get to test out how how well your head works as a ROPS.:shocked:

James K0UA

 

[crazyal]

Lots of times if you get mud in the inside of your wheels it'll freeze to stuff that doesn't turn. That will also make it very hard for the tractor to break free. I avoid mud in general if I think it's going to freeze to the tractor.

 

[chaser413]

A dozier will do that too a wise old Sargent taught us in the Army Corp of Eng. Park it on planks if freezing. You won`t thaw
it out with a heater outside.
Dick

 

[Breen]

One of my dad's sideline businesses was laying drain tile in farm fields back in the 50's-60's-70's. Had to do it in winter when no crop was in the field. The Garwood Ditching Machine would freeze to the ground overnight. Old Johnny Warf would bring wood and start a fire beside both tracks to thaw them out. Did double-duty as a warming fire while he greased the machine. Alas... the EPA and the Wetlands act shut it down back in the early 80's. I called it "The Dinosaur"

 

[megaboz]

Well I wasn't thinking. It was already wet and hosing it down really wasn't an option. But the heater and a screw driver got the mud out. I was afraid to try to use the tractor to break itself free cause as hard as the mud was, it was hard to tell what else it might tear up.

Just thought I would post about to maybe save someone else a big headache.

 

[High Compression]

We pick out the tracks of our equipment every day. Nothing worse than an tracked excavator, loader, or dozer with frozen tracks!

 

[Gary Fowler]

Frozen dirt is worse than concrete to remove also as it wont crack and fall out, just have to dig and pick every last bit of it unless you have a hot water / steam cleaner.

 

[sparc]

And if the rears are frozen and the fronts are free or break free, the tractor can do a wheelie past the point of no return in less than a second, and you get to test out how well your ROPS works or if no ROPS you get to test out how how well your head works as a ROPS.:shocked:

James K0UA

Sounds like it might pay to put it in reverse at first to break free if you suspect the wheels might be frozen to the ground.

 

[megaboz]

Well when I started my tires were twice as wide as normal and they were frozen to the ground and frozen to every part of the tractor.

Almost just revved it up and went for it till I thought about it being so hard and the damage it can do. I have heard of stories of dozers and other track equipment and if they can't handle it then my tractor shouldn't try either.

Either way one of those bullet heaters will work just don't let it warm a tire too long.