Winches Stuck in the mud, help me pick a winch?

[mtconnol]

Before I begin, I'll plead being new to all of this. This forum helped me buy my first tractor last summer and I'm forever grateful!

So it's spring in the Pacific Northwest and I have gotten my relatively new Kubota L2501 stuck in deep mud. We have so me low-lying wetlands on the property that haven't dried out yet, and I discovered this with my beet-juice filled tires and backhoe onboard.

This actually happened to me a few weeks ago when I was trenching for power in a muddy area. I ended up calling a tow truck to get winched out, which worked out OK.

This time around, I'd rather put the money towards a winch setup, but most of what I read about is oriented towards vehicle-mounted winches. I'm thinking that I'd like to get the Harbor Freight 12,000 pound winch and a deep cycle battery to make a portable "winching setup" that I could anchor to a tree, but I can't work out the specifics of how to do that anchoring. Does someone make a plate or an easy setup to anchor the winch near a tree and run the line out to the tractor?

If I'm missing the 'standard' way of doing this, let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[ehcrain]

Ive had a badlands 12k winch for about 3 years now, mounted on a hitch carrier that plugs in to my receiver on my pickup truck. Pulls that last more than 2 minutes and i have to let the truck idle for the battery to charge. That large of a winch needs serious power to pull. Last pull sank my 6700 lb truck to the frame and had to pull 100 feet to get out of mud. Ended up cracking the motor mount for the winch and killing it. Id reccomend the badlands which for occasional use but i will replace it with a brand that has a better reputation.

 

[fatjay]

My go-to is typicaly just yanking it out with the truck with a 50' tow strap. You can buy a lot of tow strap for a winch setup. But I'm not deep in the woods. My kubota does have a 5k winch mounted to the front of it, tied into the battery. The snowblower fits around it just fine. If I were to have something portable, I'd make a quick attach for power directly to the battery, and have it attach to the 3pt.

 

[California]

I've used the backhoe curl to pull, simultaneous with uncurling the front loader to push, to inch back out of an almost-stuck. Literally an inch at a time. Would that work?

Also if the backhoe can lift the tractor off the ground, do that and put planks under the tires.

Finally, for backing out, I've found if the front tires are badly embedded then lifting the front with the loader and tobogganing back with the weight on the flat bottom of the bucket instead of on the tires, worked better than trying to drive backward.

Do you really have a tree nearby that will anchor a 12k pull? I'm certain I would rip my apple orchard trees out of the ground before a really stuck tractor would start to move.

Summary - try to get something under those tires.

 

[mtconnol]

I tried some manipulation back and forth with the backhoe but the surrounding ground is just so darn soft that the backhoe pulls mud out instead of helping the tractor make progress. There are some large evergreens in winching distance. I was also wondering if it would be worth trying just cabling over to the tree and using the backhoe to exert a pulling force against that cable.

 

[oosik]

Any type of electric winch will not operate long on just a battery. The battery MUST be connected to a continuous supply of electricity. This continuous supply of electricity - your vehicle and its charging system.

An electric winch that can pull 12K pounds will demand 750 amps under full load. A battery, even HD Deep Cycle, will only last moments by itself.

I would suggest - use your backhoe in conjunction with the FEL/bucket to get unstuck. Or a long tow strap to an alternate vehicle or anchor point.

I am not aware of a winch setup such as you suggest. Power demand is just too great for an unsupported battery.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Assuming you do the winch setup, a couple of tips. A pulley block (and chain for anchoring it if needed) will let you pull at a angle if needed. The pulley can be on one tree or anchor to allow the cable to “bend” around objects. But even better a pulley can be used to DOUBLE the the pulling power.

IF the cable or one of the connections ever breaks or comes loose the cable will have a incredible amount of power behind it. Can easily kill or maim you if your in the way. Lay a heavy blanket or something on the cable and it will help absorb the whiplash as the cable rebounds. Do some googling on the ideas since I am probably not explaining very well.

Some types of substantial looking tress are not all that hard to pull out. May need a couple of anchor points to spread the load out. Keep a eye out for dead or storm damaged limbs overhead in the canopy.

And as others have said your probably going to need a constant power source to the battery. Winch’s can run them dry pretty quick.

Ropes and straps for pulling out can also have rebound issues if something breaks. Some have less than others. Do some research before you pay for yours. Chains are NOT made to jerk on. Yes I know we have all probably done it. Quality chains still break and their not cheap.

Most winch companies make a plate you can bolt the winch to and then insert it into a receiver hitch such as your pickups. Some plates can also be used or adapted to attach a chain or cable to.

Can you attach a cable to a tree and then your front end bucket or back hoe to pull yourself out ?

 

[Jstpssng]

If you have trees strong enough to anchor the HF winch, then you should be able to hook a chain to your loader or backhoe and use that to pull you out. Over time you will learn the limitations of your tractor and getting stuck will become less common, yet it still happens sometimes. Three times in the past year I've been stuck so badly that my 3 pth winch couldn't pull me out; all three of those times I was able to pull myself forward with a chain or chains tied off between the bucket and a tree.

 

[fried1765]

My go-to is typicaly just yanking it out with the truck with a 50' tow strap. You can buy a lot of tow strap for a winch setup. But I'm not deep in the woods. My kubota does have a 5k winch mounted to the front of it, tied into the battery. The snowblower fits around it just fine. If I were to have something portable, I'd make a quick attach for power directly to the battery, and have it attach to the 3pt.

Yep.....pulling a tractor from the rear (3 pt.) is always a better idea (use a snatch block if necessary).
When pulled by a much larger vehicle, stuck tractors have been known to pull apart,(separate) when pulling hard from the front.

 

[Topzide]

I'd use the 4x4 go to. Carry a lift all farm jack, cable and a large Danforth anchor. You can use the jack as a puller and anchor as your 'anchor's. Put a trip line on anchor or you'll never recover it when its sunk into the mud. You could use backhoe to pull on anchor or pull with jack, that way no trees needed. Just another way of doing it.