deputyrpa
Gold Member
Phew! I had a close call this afternoon! I'm so sorry I did not take pics, but my farmer/neighbor was busy and I had no time to run 1/2 mile in snow back to the house to get the camera.
I was on my way to a far woodline in order to skid out some 12-14" pine I dropped this morning. I had to cross three 1-2' wide creeks in teh farm field raods to get to one of the trees. I used the snowmobile to find and cut them, so now was tractor time! Well, the last creek is a field crossing with no culvert. It's been forded for many years, and it appeared fine with no open water, when I scooted across it with the sled. This is a weenie little creek here. Approach and departure are 15% slopes.
Well, the snow is ~2' deep, but fairly hard. As I approached the crossing, I went slowly, and stopped, then inched forward. As soon as my front wheels got near the approach bank...squish, down the right side went, the front tire buried in wet clay up to the top! I surveyed the situation, and apparently I drove into an old rut with water in it that extended to under the rear tire too! The ground was frozen on either side of the front tire, and I could not turn it because it was buried. The tractor was listed about 15 degrees right, and I turned the wheels in low reverse but the right wheels went down even deeper, and listed further. I had to use the bucket to keep from tipping over, as the both left tires were off the ground, even out of the snow. I tried using the bucket to curl out, but the bucket just sunk right in the stream channel. I'm serious that I could have pushed the DK45 over with one finger. I stopped before it got worse and called my neighbor, who came over to bail me out with his big JD 4x4...again. He had to clear the 2' or so of snow for traction, so he could pull from the left. I was able to dig the snow out from under the left rear, which was up in the air, and push it down with the loader. Then, as I put full down-pressure with the loader, he dragged me out. No damage, no injury. LOT's of sweat!!
Needless to say first job in the spring is to install a culvert there!!
I was on my way to a far woodline in order to skid out some 12-14" pine I dropped this morning. I had to cross three 1-2' wide creeks in teh farm field raods to get to one of the trees. I used the snowmobile to find and cut them, so now was tractor time! Well, the last creek is a field crossing with no culvert. It's been forded for many years, and it appeared fine with no open water, when I scooted across it with the sled. This is a weenie little creek here. Approach and departure are 15% slopes.
Well, the snow is ~2' deep, but fairly hard. As I approached the crossing, I went slowly, and stopped, then inched forward. As soon as my front wheels got near the approach bank...squish, down the right side went, the front tire buried in wet clay up to the top! I surveyed the situation, and apparently I drove into an old rut with water in it that extended to under the rear tire too! The ground was frozen on either side of the front tire, and I could not turn it because it was buried. The tractor was listed about 15 degrees right, and I turned the wheels in low reverse but the right wheels went down even deeper, and listed further. I had to use the bucket to keep from tipping over, as the both left tires were off the ground, even out of the snow. I tried using the bucket to curl out, but the bucket just sunk right in the stream channel. I'm serious that I could have pushed the DK45 over with one finger. I stopped before it got worse and called my neighbor, who came over to bail me out with his big JD 4x4...again. He had to clear the 2' or so of snow for traction, so he could pull from the left. I was able to dig the snow out from under the left rear, which was up in the air, and push it down with the loader. Then, as I put full down-pressure with the loader, he dragged me out. No damage, no injury. LOT's of sweat!!
Needless to say first job in the spring is to install a culvert there!!
that sent my pucker factor sky high. I was sure glad I was creaping along as slow as I could, in low at idle. SWMBO was watching and she did a bit of panicing herself. At that point I lowered the truss's to the ground, the rear tire settled back to the ground. 
