Stuck in the pond

[hummertom]

Snatch blocks?

a snatch block allows you to multiply the pulling power of a winch, , just tie a pulley to two or more trees run the cable from the winch thru one pulley then the other and then to an anchor point. this assumes the winch is on the tractor, this way a 5000lb winch can generate 10-15k lbs of pull.

 

[CobyRupert]

a snatch block allows you to multiply the pulling power of a winch, , just tie a pulley to two or more trees run the cable from the winch thru one pulley then the other and then to an anchor point. this assumes the winch is on the tractor, this way a 5000lb winch can generate 10-15k lbs of pull.

Yes. I once buried my tractor down in a bottomless (mud) ravine. I had a logging skidding winch attached in the 3 point hitch knowing it would handy if I got stuck. And I got stuck!

There were no trees, just a hedgerow of bushes, so I parked my truck on the top of the bank on the other side of them as an anchor and ran the winch cable to it. I had my daughter pull the winch rope (to engage winch) as I drove the tractor and worked the FEL to pry out.

A winch with a snatch block works great! It really doubles the pulling force! It was pulling my truck right through the bushes!

 

[wwidmer]

Yes it is surprisingly easy to get a 4WD stuck in the mud. Those treads fill right up with muck.

 

[mahovy]

Got stuck years ago on a A-C WD45 using a 3 bottom plow. Unluckily found a spot with an underground spring bubbling up. Plow kept rear wheels from contacting solid ground. Plow buried so deep, couldn’t disconnect. Tried another tractor, couldn’t budge it. Took an Oliver bulldozer to pull all of it out. Lost three days accomplishing that feat.

 

[Jstpssng]

a snatch block allows you to multiply the pulling power of a winch, , just tie a pulley to two or more trees run the cable from the winch thru one pulley then the other and then to an anchor point. this assumes the winch is on the tractor, this way a 5000lb winch can generate 10-15k lbs of pull.

He was referring to me with his comment. When you are stuck so badly that you need to lift the rear tires out of the hole, it's too late.

 

[DieselBound]

Getting stuck is always lurking... Had been years since I'd been stuck. And then, this year, early...

Why it's nice to have another tractor. My Kubota being an HST allowed me to jamb a stick under the travel pedal (in reverse) so I could operate the Kioti. Kubota's bucket w/bucket tooth pushed down and hard. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Don't think a bucket on the Kioti would have done me any good.

Worst was getting an excavator stuck (and noting that the bucket pin launched itself into a muddy abyss)!

Stuck happens

 

[jstrick]

Many may laugh at me, but I actually have turf tires on my tractor.

Why - because the vast majority of my work is mowing, mulching, brushing, hard scape and other chores for yards and gardens and general landscape. They work fine and do no damage to the grass or ground. The zero turn does more damage!

I really have little on my acreage where I could get stuck. I don’t take the tractor into the woods or down by the river. Really no reason.

I’ve gotten my 4 wheeler stuck a time or two in mud but that is what the winch is for.

Then again - I don’t use the tractor for large scale farming like many on this forum.

I have R4's for the same reasons - less damage to the grass. I mostly do brush hogging, loader work with rock and gravel, box blade on rocky driveways, and very little work in loose dirt. I do have places I could get stuck (and had some close calls), but for the most part I wanted the extra thick ruggedness of the R4 tires so the brush stobs and rocks would be less likely to wreak havoc. I'm happy with that decision so far.

 

[MD2595]

I have a 4WD with 10,000lb pull winch just for those type of occasions....

It's a sad day when a truck pulls out a tractor!

 

[seez52]

I see your trouble! Wearing shorts when operating your tractor, you should be ashamed, LOL! Glad you were able to get'er out without any damage.

 

[Semper Paratus]

My dad stuck his pick up in a place where there was a little subterranean weep about halfway up the ridge in a pasture...he just didn't carry enough speed and spun the tires. He went and got mom and the 3910 and next thing you know the 3910 is buried to the rear end. Both of them walked back to the house and called the guy across town who had a surplus tank recovery vehicle, an hour and a half later it shows up and pulls the 3910, and the truck, still on the chain out. Really pretty reasonable, a couple hundred bucks. Had I been there it would have turned into a full days job, with shovel, timber and board in the heavy MS clay with no guarantee of success. BTW I paid the price for that for years to come...the ruts would "rupture your kidneys", if you forgot, while bush hogging, even though dad sort of filled them in.

 

[ttouring]

Many years ago I was bush hogging wth a tractor I had that didn't have a live PTO or over running clutch. While Bush hogging my pond bank I steered to close to the water. I tried to counter it by turning steering wheel, well it kept going straght. It all happened so quickly. When the tractor got stopped I was waist deep(sitting on the tractor) in the water. The bush hog acted like a flywheel and pushing the clutch in didn't do any good. It took 2 of my neighbors with 4 wheel drive pickups to get out the pond. I did manage to shut the engine down before it went under. So I had change ALL the fluids and buy a over running clutch.

 

[workinonit]

Ag tires are useless in reverse motion.

Just a wild guess that you don't farm. Back in the day we would turn them around on purpose. No difference.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I see your trouble! Wearing shorts when operating your tractor, you should be ashamed, LOL! Glad you were able to get'er out without any damage.

Correct. Swim trunks are the best choice mowing around a lake.

 

[johng@imbertconstruction.]

I was stuck (not that bad) used my front loader to wiggle me out, but I am sure you tryed that..

 

[Pearlsnaps]

Were you able to lift the box blade high enough to get it out of the way?

I’ve been stuck with my 2nd kubota m4800 more than I care to admit but have been able to walk it out backwards with the bucket except for one time with the shredder. That time Lifting the front with the bucket (even just a little) the shredder was bearing the weight and not moving. That time I had to drop the shredder and walk it out forward (much slower process).

I tried the bucket curl. I tried pushing the bucket flat, none of that worked. Pond is so thick from 50 plus years of just sitting there. Even with me walking out into it, it's a full 12 or 14 in to the packed clay bottom. So using the bucket curled downwards and pushing upward did raise up the front end, but not enough to get over how deep it sunk so quickly.
I just swallowed my pride and went and got the truck and let the wife steer.
She was a little freaked out because she doesn't drive a manual, but four-wheel drive low makes it very easy to just let out the clutch and let the truck do the work.

 

[Pearlsnaps]

I see your trouble! Wearing shorts when operating your tractor, you should be ashamed, LOL! Glad you were able to get'er out without any damage.

Lol. Yeah, I've got the shorts comment before. It's the cab's fault.... It makes you forget that you're working a tractor like my youth. Gotta love air conditioning when it's 105° outside, and the heat when it's in the 20s. I do forget some days that I'm actually doing work.

 

[Williy]

Mowing around ponds a set of water wings just might be handy

When I was working for a farmer the R1'S never were squisy?
Also using a loader no problem's there either

willy

 

[RobertEH]

Did some research a while back on forces exerted on Anchors and required force needed to extract a mired vehicle. I want to say pulling a vehicle on level smooth ground requires about 10% of the GVW (so an 8K lb vehicle would require 800 lbs of pull to move it.). If mired, it requires more:
Mire resistance:

• Wheel depth = 1x load
• Fender depth 2x load
• Cab depth 3X load
• Pulling opposite direction of travel can reduce the load by 10% (traveling in ruts)
• Moving wheels during extraction breaks suction and can reduce load but not in a dependable manner (40% for tracked vehicles)
• Example: 10 Ton tracked load mired to fenders, = 20T adjusted load. By moving wheels and pulling in opposite direction, this is reduced to 10 Tons

I also found the attached Army field manual for vehicle recovery. I found this very very helpful and easy to understand.

Be aware if you are using snatch blocks - you can end up putting double the load on an anchor in some situations. Combine a snatch block with a deeply mired load and you can accidently destroy your anchor which if it is your bumper could be costly and dangerous!

Using the diagram above I ran some numbers (I think I am correct but there are folks smarter than I am on this forum who I am sure will weigh in if I am not)
Variables:
Load 4 Tons (8,000 lbs)
Tackle resistance (10% of load per snatch block sheave)
Max Winch pull (6 tons, 12,000 lbs)
Pull per line = total load with resistance / # of lines
Load per anchor = load per line * # of lines to anchor

Situation 1: Single Line:
Mechanical Advantage = 1:1
Load on Winch: 8,000 lbs
Load on Anchor: 8,000 lbs

Situation 2: Double Line:
Mechanical Advantage = 2:1
# of snatch blocks: 1
Total load: 8,000 +800 {10% tackle resistance} = 8,800 lbs
Load per line: 4,400 lbs
Load on the Anchor: 8,800 lbs
Load on the winch: 4,400
Load on the truck anchor shackle: 4,400
Total load on the truck itself across all anchor points: 8,800


Situation 3 Triple Line:
# of snatch blocks: 2
Total load 8,000+1,600 {20% tackle resistance} = 9600
Load per line: 9,600/3=3,200

Load on Winch: 3,200 lbs
Load on Anchor 1: 6,400 lbs
Load on Anchor 2: 3,200 lbs
Load on Anchor 3: 6,400 lbs
Total load on vehicle (3,200+6,400)=9,600


Consequently, if you move anchors 1 and 2 to the same tree, the tree will see 9,600 lbs of pull (3,200 of the pull being felt by Anchor 2 and 6,400 being felt by anchor 1)


____________________________________________

I was actually quite surprised to find that the layers of rope (wire or synthetic) on the winch when pulling reduces the power of the winch.

Example with a 12K lb winch
Layer 1: 12,000 (100%)
Layer 2: 9,517 (79%)
Layer 3: 7,885 (66%)
Layer 4: 6,732 (56%)

 

[Pearlsnaps]

That is some good info. I'll be honest, what I got out of that is I need a good snatch block.

 

[prairiegirl]

At least that lesson was more embarrassing than it was painful.
I'm glad that I've never done anything like that. I'm even more thankful that when TBN format changed a few years ago it destroyed any evidence, including pictures, of my tractor being stuck in the mud for 2 weeks.