Stuck tractor - ways to lift?

[roamerr]

I've used the Log chained to a wheel method and it works. Just find a good size log and chain it in front or behind the wheel. The tractor can then lift it self onto the log. Note that of the 4 or so times I did have one time where it knocked the rear tire off my Dad's MF245. Unseated the tire and filled it with mud. A mess but it was out....

 

[mdelmarcelle]

Two things I've done in the past successfully are the trick of running a chain through an opening in the rear wheel and the other end of the chain taught connected to something. and then slowly rotating the tire to walk the tractor out. Requires a lot of repositioning of the chain.

The other approach, use a cable and one pulley and a tree to double the pulling power of the pulling tractor. Or two pulley to increase the pulling power even more. I've used this solution to pull out rocks several times too.

 

[wolc123]

Try this next time: I have never had a case where a pulley and wire rope didnt do the trick. This is also a lot cleaner than methods involving wrapping a chain around or chaining a log to a wheel. or putting planks under the wheels. Hook one end of the wire rope to a tree or fixed object, run it back to a pulley attached to the stuck tractor with a stout chain, then back to your tow vehicle which is now able to exert double the normal pull force enabling a light machine to dislodge a heavier one or one that is really hung up like yours. To pay for that, your tow vehicle moves twice as far as the stuck one. If you do it right, the cable dont even need to get muddy. just remember to use your heaviest chain between the pulley and the stuck vehicle as that leg sees double the load that is on the wire rope.

 

[foggy1111]

We had our CX80 stuck like this a couple of times and ran chains across the diameter of the tires then hooked chains to them that had been anchored, locked the differential and backed up winding the chains around the tires and pulling the tractor up and out. You can use boards, limbs, etc. under the chain if needed.

I'm trying to picture this method for future use. I don't see how you can hold a chain "across the diameter of the tires"

I think I must be off on another tangent. Some of us folks need a picture.

 

[MNBobcat]

The part about getting unstuck has been pretty well covered by others.
Next work on the concept of "having to mow" when you have no business driving your tractor in those areas. Keep out till it dries.

Rick,

I hear ya. Problem was the grass was so tall I couldn't see that it was wet and this field has never been wet before. Neighbor said in the 20 years they lived in the area they had never seen water in the field.

Oh...and the reason I had to mow is because its an airstrip.

 

[aczlan]

Oh...and the reason I had to mow is because its an airstrip.

Well, better you getting stuck there than a plane getting stuck and tearing itself up on landing.

Aaron Z

 

[North Country]

Oh...and the reason I had to mow is because its an airstrip.

If a tractor's getting stuck, nobody wants to land there. :laughing: I almost spent much longer than I wanted to here (Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) once when I landed too early in the spring.

Which strip?

 

[TripleR]

I'm trying to picture this method for future use. I don't see how you can hold a chain "across the diameter of the tires"

I think I must be off on another tangent. Some of us folks need a picture.

You can use a load binder or come-along, all you are doing is creating a point of attachment, you can also just run the chain through your wheel if it has a slot.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Better get that huge hole filled in and levelled off before it fills with water or you will have a bigger mess especially if it is in the middle of a grass airstrip.

 

[MMH]

Good post - learned alot. I just got my tractor unstuck myself. My tractor is a compact (Kubota B9200) & I cheated - got my neighboor to come over with his backhoe. We hooked up one end of the chain to my drawbar & the other to the backhoe on his bucket. He'd start off with the backhoe fully extended & curl the backhoe on in (pulling my tractor out a little bit), I'd then lock up the brakes to keep my tractor from sliding back down, and he would extend the backhoe back out & I'd recinch the chain. We had to repeat this 4 or 5 times before I was on ground solid enough that I would not get stuck again.

 

[foggy1111]

You can use a load binder or come-along, all you are doing is creating a point of attachment, you can also just run the chain through your wheel if it has a slot.

OK....this helps a little. I can see getting a 4 foot pull or so with this way :thumbsup:.... enough to get you outta a hole most times......unless you could get the chain to stay on the tread (not my kinda luck :laughing.

After getting stuck in a low spot last year, I bought a Masdam Super HD Come-Along. (I think it lifts 3 tons ?) Hopefully now I could attach to a tree base and pull myself out.

The come-along works pretty good.....as I have not been stuck since. (must be the insurance effect.)

 

[MNBobcat]

Better get that huge hole filled in and levelled off before it fills with water or you will have a bigger mess especially if it is in the middle of a grass airstrip.

I'm going to use the skidsteer and dump some buckets of sand into the hole.

 

[TripleR]

OK....this helps a little. I can see getting a 4 foot pull or so with this way :thumbsup:.... enough to get you outta a hole most times......unless you could get the chain to stay on the tread (not my kinda luck :laughing.

After getting stuck in a low spot last year, I bought a Masdam Super HD Come-Along. (I think it lifts 3 tons ?) Hopefully now I could attach to a tree base and pull myself out.

The come-along works pretty good.....as I have not been stuck since. (must be the insurance effect.)

My father in law was stuck in one of our ponds not very far from solid ground, so it did not take a long ways to hit solid ground. It could have gone much further as the chains were set up by a farmer friend who used this method and they had rounded up plenty of chain and some heavy trucks as solid but moveable anchor points to line the chains up perfectly so they would wrap around the circumference of the tire.

My father in law loved to mow more than anyone I know and also like to try to increase the size of his ponds or build dams etc, so my sons and I got quite a bit of practice extricating stuck tractors. The last time I remember getting him out, my neighbor hooked two tractors in line from different angles and combinations until we had to give up and my neighbor who farms our land went to get one of his Case articulated tractors from a farm some distance away.

The CX 80 is not a small tractor, but when Vincent hooked up to it with that big Case, it popped out of that mud like a cork.:laughing:

 

[deereman75]

I remember we got a small-ish forklift (still weighed more then most compact tractors) stuck in the mud, and we just picked it up and moved it out with a giant forklift.

 

[mdelmarcelle]

OK....this helps a little. I can see getting a 4 foot pull or so with this way :thumbsup:.... enough to get you outta a hole most times......unless you could get the chain to stay on the tread (not my kinda luck :laughing.

After getting stuck in a low spot last year, I bought a Masdam Super HD Come-Along. (I think it lifts 3 tons ?) Hopefully now I could attach to a tree base and pull myself out.

The come-along works pretty good.....as I have not been stuck since. (must be the insurance effect.)

I've tried the come along approach once with an old Massey Harris 50 stuck up to its belly in mud. I bought one that supposedly could lift 6 or 8000lbs. Admittedly, it wasn't all that expensive, I think it was around $50. I found that a stuck tractor requires a lot of force to get it unstuck. The come along didn't do much at all. The cable got so tight I was afraid it was going to snap, which would have been very dangerous considering you're standing right over the thing to crank on it. And when it was able to make the tractor move, it would only move an inch at a time at most and it would move so slowly that the tractor would just stay bottomed out in the mud. I eventually got the tractor out, but it took a long time. Nothin worse than getting your tractor stuck.

 

[AGGIE00]

I found a 6 ton chain hoist and a tree worked well for my 2640. Had to bring in a deere 700 dozer to get the backhoe out.

 

[mred]

Try this next time: I have never had a case where a pulley and wire rope didnt do the trick. This is also a lot cleaner than methods involving wrapping a chain around or chaining a log to a wheel. or putting planks under the wheels. Hook one end of the wire rope to a tree or fixed object, run it back to a pulley attached to the stuck tractor with a stout chain, then back to your tow vehicle which is now able to exert double the normal pull force enabling a light machine to dislodge a heavier one or one that is really hung up like yours. To pay for that, your tow vehicle moves twice as far as the stuck one. If you do it right, the cable dont even need to get muddy. just remember to use your heaviest chain between the pulley and the stuck vehicle as that leg sees double the load that is on the wire rope.

Help me out here if I am wrong but I think you need an additional pully to increase the force applied to the tractor. In the description above I don't see it.
Maybe this will help with the understanding
HowStuffWorks "How a Block and Tackle Works"

 

[Little_Grizzly]

Just wondering...does this whole story come under the "owning" or "operating" heading? :laughing:

 

[bcp]

A pulley attached to a movable object (stuck tractor) decreases the pull required to move the object according to the number of lines running to the movable object.

Disregarding friction:

One moving pulley/two lines= 1/2 effort

One moving pulley/three lines=1/3 effort

etc.



Bruce

 

[bcp]

Just wondering...does this whole story come under the "owning" or "operating" heading? :laughing:

A stuck tractor is not "operating" so it must be "owning."

Bruce