Dealing with Mud

[woodlandfarms]

Well, it is raining in the PNW. Big surprise I guess. But where there is land there is tractorin' to do... So how does everyone deal with traction on the mud. Chains? Other things? We have a lot of clay so it gets slippery quick....

[SnowRidge]

Well, it is raining in the PNW. Big surprise I guess. But where there is land there is tractorin' to do... So how does everyone deal with traction on the mud. Chains? Other things? We have a lot of clay so it gets slippery quick....

It's raining up there? I'm shocked.

Haven't had a problem with the the PT-425's turfs on wet clay yet, and we have lots of clay. 'Course ours is red. Maybe red clay has higher traction.

[BobRip]

Well, it is raining in the PNW. Big surprise I guess. But where there is land there is tractorin' to do... So how does everyone deal with traction on the mud. Chains? Other things? We have a lot of clay so it gets slippery quick....

I have been stuck many times and mostly in mud. I deal with it in the following ways:

1. Call a tow truck - I did this once on my Kubotoa 4 wheel drive with bar tires.

2. Carry a winch or comealong and pull the tractor out by tying one end of the rope up several (6) feet on the tree. This helps lift the PT up as you pull. Very important factor here, you must lift. This is my number two choice and I always carry a comealong, electric winch, and boat winch and straps. A high lift jack can also be used. I most often use the boat winch. I welded one to a 2 inch receiver tube. See picture attached.

3. PT Wiggle - Steer left and right as you apply power to the wheels. This is my number one choices, if it works and it does a lot of the time.

4. Use an attachment (minihoe is best) to pull or push myself out. The 4 in 1 bucket can be lowered and then opened and rotated to push the PT backwards. Other attachment may also work. You can also lift the front up with an attachment (bucket is good) and put logs or whatoever under the front tires. This sometimes works. Usually the back tires are also buried by then.

4a - Always have an attachment on if you are in possible stuck situations.

5. Look at the situation and realize - I am going to get stuck in "that", is it worth it to go there. I can usually predict now when I will get stuck.

6. Don't cross a wet area very many times. The more you drive over it the worse it gets.

7. Don't drive too close to ditches, sometimes you will slide in.

8. I have bar tires and have never tired chains. Others have.

9. Two or even 6 inches of mud will not really stop you, most of the time. When the bottom of the PT scrapes, that is when you get problems. I have a swamp, so I see more mud than most.

I hope this helps.

[Tim_in_CT]

Call a tow truck - I did this once on my Kubotoa 4 wheel drive with bar tires.

I would love to see the look on the tow truck drivers face. "you want me to...what?".

You might look into an electric winch. I bought a cheap $60 gorilla 1500# winch off of ebay, which I mounted at the end of a 5' 4x4 to act as a crane to haul stuff out of my basement. I thought that the electric draw might be too much, but it really seems to present the PT with no problems. I wired it up with a electric outboard socket on the black metal plate in front of the dash to make it easy to attach/deattch.

I think you could easily mount a winch directly to the plate between the lifting arms, or to a quick attach plate. This would allow you to pull the PT out of the mud while you drove it. Seems to work for the 4x4s.

[SnowRidge]

If your PT gets stuck, the simplest way to get it out is with your other tractor.

That's why we have two tractors, so that we can recover the first tractor if something untoward happens to it. Otherwise, we would have to call the dealer and have him come out with his recovery truck, which would be expensive. It is much cheaper to just go get your second tractor and log chain.

You may show this to your wives, if you don't already have your second tractor. I'm sure it will help convince her that the second machine is a necessary purchase.

You might want to edit out the emoticons first.

[Barryh]

If your PT gets stuck, the simplest way to get it out is with your other tractor.

That's why we have two tractors, so that we can recover the first tractor if something untoward happens to it. Otherwise, we would have to call the dealer and have him come out with his recovery truck, which would be expensive. It is much cheaper to just go get your second tractor and log chain.

You may show this to your wives, if you don't already have your second tractor. I'm sure it will help convince her that the second machine is a necessary purchase.

You might want to edit out the emoticons first.

Warning nag aleart !!... do not listen to this man.......

I have 3 other tractors and, I'm still hearing about it after a year.... This might be a nice inexpensive fix. Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices I'm buying one. For the price don't think you can go wrong.

[Barryh]

This may even be a better deal. Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

[woodlandfarms]

So, my PT is 4,000lbs. Can a 3,000lb winch work?

[SnowRidge]

This may even be a better deal. Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

That thing pulls up to 140 amps at maximum load, according to its spec sheet.

[SnowRidge]

So, my PT is 4,000lbs. Can a 3,000lb winch work?

That particular winch is rated at 3,000 lbs for single line operation, so a snatch block would get you 6,000 lbs, in theory.

Besides, the rolling resistance of a 3,000 lb load is something other than 3,000 lbs. It will probably be considerably less, unless you have it really buried. I pulled my Branson, which weighs over 4,000 lbs with FEL, with my PT-425, which is only rated to pull about 1,000 lbs.