Stuck in the mud

[slaveToHorses]

I don't call that stuck. I call it "lost traction". Stuck is when it is seriously burried.

Having something heavy around to pull you out is always more convenient. But a trick I have used might help you out if you find yourself alone sometime.

It has many variations but what I have used is a long cable and snatch block. I attached one end to the tractor and the snatch block to a tree (or big rock). I fed the cable through the block and attached the other end to the loader.
You lift up/back on the loader and the cable pulls the tractor. Sometimes this just lifts the rear tires up, in which case you pack stuff under them and try to back out.

Another trick is to lay the loader bucket down flat, so it doesn't sink in, and then lift the front tires up so you can stick stuff under them.

 

[Maine_Polack]

I wanna dozer too...

Lately when faced with a mud hole that gets rode over, I have turned to Geo-Textile material.

I scrape the top off, hopefully to hard pan, and lay down the material. Then I try to use gravel, and/or rocks. But sometimes just fill over with the soil from the top. It keeps the "top" from getting pushed down into the bottom when muddy.

The drawback is the material is fairly expensive. At this point any roads I make are just for fun, to improve access. I really like the idea of handing down property to my kids that I have improved and practiced good stewardship on. Very mind relaxing...

 

[N80]

Someone said something about the mud in the NE and I certainly wouldn't argue but the red clay down here can be a nightmare too. I've had my little Kubota up to the hubs a couple of times but haven't needed a pull yet, but the day will come, I have no doubt. We also have something we call bull tallow. It is a sticky, yellowish/tan clay and you can really get stuck in it too. When I was building my cabin it rained all spring long and one day I was using a rented off-road fork lift (kind of like a Lull but made by some British company, JCB.) That thing was one of the most amazing vehicles I've ever used. It was 4wd, the boom could lift over 6000 pounds and lift it high. It was self leveling which made it indespensible on my property. But one unique property is that it had four wheel steering. I managed to wallow it down in this bull tallow and could not get it out until I remembered the four wheel steering. Turning the rear wheels in line with the fronts didn't help, but turning them parallel to the fronts did the trick, it eased out sideways like a crab.

 

[RobJ]

Someone said something about the mud in the NE and I certainly wouldn't argue but the red clay down here can be a nightmare too. I've had my little Kubota up to the hubs a couple of times but haven't needed a pull yet, but the day will come, I have no doubt. We also have something we call bull tallow. It is a sticky, yellowish/tan clay and you can really get stuck in it too.

I ran into some of that tan stuff up near the Red River in north Texas. Slick stuff, still holds the water but sticks to the tires. So you sink about 1" but are all over the place, zero tractor.

We have the black gumbo stuff in the river bottom here. It'll look totally dry till you hit it. I've seen 2" of it stuck to my slow moving truck tires. The ATV will pick it up in little balls. Actually once we were digging some holes with a 3pt PHD down in the bottom. Took about 15 minutes for a 3' hole with about 4 of us on the auger. The spoils looked like black marbles, nothing fine.

The red clay isn't a problem around here, most of it has the little iron ore pieces in it. It makes the best roads. Water just runs off and the little pieces of ore give you all the traction you want.

Some of our black gumbo...

 

[jjcc246]

I believe this is stuck.

 

[Doc_Bob]

I believe this is stuck.

That looks like very fertile soil, so soft it will swallow a tractor!
Bob

 

[RonR]

I need to dig out my old slides and digitize them to add to this story.

In the mid 70's, I was in a Marine Artillery Unit in Okinawa. We were at one of the firing ranges for a multi-day firing exercise, when we had an issue with "mud". We were at the base of Mt Fuji, which is total volcanic ash type stuff. I'd never been in that stuff before or since, but there is no base to it. It's has the consistency of gravel.

Anyway, we had the six 155 Howitzers in firing position, and we were "tactical", meaning all our 5 ton, all wheel drive truck were hidden in gulleys. Our fire direction center (FDC) tent, a 40 man tent, was also in a depression at the base of a several hundred yard long valley. I was range safety that exercise, so I was sleeping in the XO's tent, which was behind the guns, not in such low ground.

We knew there was a typhoon off the coast, but didn't figure it would bother us. Then it started raining. And raining. And raining. And raining. And raining. And the wind was blowing................

We had a land line phone between our tent and the fire direction tent and each of the guns on the line. About 3AM, we started hearing that the FDC was cot-deep in water and everything was SOAKED.

Not much anyone could do, but wait for light. Our tent was collapsing as the tent stakes in the volcanic ash didn't hold for squat. We were thankful though, that we were on high ground. Our tent finally collapsed at 5AM, so we crawled out and started packing stuff in. It was obvious that our exercise was over.

We gave the order to box it up, and head to the barn.

That's when we discovered that all our tactically dispersed trucks and jeeps were now TACTICALLY STUCK! Things were not looking good, but wait--we had our own bulldozer, an Emco tracked loader (maybe 75HP???). We moved it to the first tactically stuck truck. Now our Emco was semi-tactically stuck.

We spent an hour or so tossing wooden ammo crates under the tracks as the operator struggled to move it. All it did was bury a bunch of wood crates!

Sensing defeat, our CO called home and asked the detached tank company if they could send a coupla tanks out to tow us out. NO PROBLEM, they said, so we chilled until they showed.

We'll, Tank #1 promptly threw a tread near the quagmire, which made it's crew very, very mad. We stayed away from them as they fought their own issues.

Tank #2 was able to drag each stuck truck, howitzer, and jeep to the hardpacked road. We were able to re-assemble our convoy on the road.

It took us all day to get the unit out of the mud and everything anyone owned was SOAKED by the end of the day.

Need to dig out those slides..................

Ron USMCR

 

[bones1]

Yes Ron. Would like very much to see them.

 

[Volfandt]

Neat story RonR, I too spent alittle time on beautiful Oki by sea in the mid 70's at a nice little airstrip called MCAS Futema
Those typhoons could be wicked....

S/F
Volfandt

 

[scott_vt]

I need to dig out my old slides and digitize them to add to this story.

In the mid 70's, I was in a Marine Artillery Unit in Okinawa. We were at one of the firing ranges for a multi-day firing exercise, when we had an issue with "mud". We were at the base of Mt Fuji, which is total volcanic ash type stuff. I'd never been in that stuff before or since, but there is no base to it. It's has the consistency of gravel.

Anyway, we had the six 155 Howitzers in firing position, and we were "tactical", meaning all our 5 ton, all wheel drive truck were hidden in gulleys. Our fire direction center (FDC) tent, a 40 man tent, was also in a depression at the base of a several hundred yard long valley. I was range safety that exercise, so I was sleeping in the XO's tent, which was behind the guns, not in such low ground.

We knew there was a typhoon off the coast, but didn't figure it would bother us. Then it started raining. And raining. And raining. And raining. And raining. And the wind was blowing................

We had a land line phone between our tent and the fire direction tent and each of the guns on the line. About 3AM, we started hearing that the FDC was cot-deep in water and everything was SOAKED.

Not much anyone could do, but wait for light. Our tent was collapsing as the tent stakes in the volcanic ash didn't hold for squat. We were thankful though, that we were on high ground. Our tent finally collapsed at 5AM, so we crawled out and started packing stuff in. It was obvious that our exercise was over.

We gave the order to box it up, and head to the barn.



That's when we discovered that all our tactically dispersed trucks and jeeps were now TACTICALLY STUCK! Things were not looking good, but wait--we had our own bulldozer, an Emco tracked loader (maybe 75HP???). We moved it to the first tactically stuck truck. Now our Emco was semi-tactically stuck.

We spent an hour or so tossing wooden ammo crates under the tracks as the operator struggled to move it. All it did was bury a bunch of wood crates!

Sensing defeat, our CO called home and asked the detached tank company if they could send a coupla tanks out to tow us out. NO PROBLEM, they said, so we chilled until they showed.

We'll, Tank #1 promptly threw a tread near the quagmire, which made it's crew very, very mad. We stayed away from them as they fought their own issues.

Tank #2 was able to drag each stuck truck, howitzer, and jeep to the hardpacked road. We were able to re-assemble our convoy on the road.

It took us all day to get the unit out of the mud and everything anyone owned was SOAKED by the end of the day.

Need to dig out those slides..................

Ron USMCR

Hey Ron,
That was a great story thanks for sharing it !!!