Winches Getting Your Kubota Out of Mud / Snow While Working Alone

[bdhsfz6]

I realize this topic has been discussed here many times but I've found little specific to carrying equipment to deal with the problem solo.

I maintain a mile and a half of steep private road and during the recent blizzard here in northeast PA, even with chains, it seems like I spent more time digging the tractor out than clearing snow. The older I get, the more of a hassle it becomes to get my tractor out of a jam. Invariably, it happens when working alone, at night and a mile or so from the barn.

I'm curious how others here deal with the problem when working solo. Obviously having a second person or another truck / tractor is the best solution but unfortunately, that isn't always an option. For now, about all I do is carry a shovel and my cell phone.

Lately, I've been considering some winch options.

The best would seem to be a 3pt skidder winch but the cost is high and I'm usually using another implement like a snow thrower or rear blade.



Portable electric or gas powered winches that can be carried onboard are a possibility but Aren't as powerful and require being out of the tractor seat to operate.



Jeep / ATV frame mount winches would seem to be a possibility. When mounted to the front tractor frame, it would not interfere with either FEL or 3 pt implements. The effectiveness of these winches would be limited by the rather small battery capacity of most compact tractors but the remote control feature would allow you to be in the seat using tractor power to assist.



Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Soldier415]

Following

 

[Alesandro]

Following as well.

 

[leonz]

Don't waste your money on the gas or electric portable winches. They are
ment only for free winching of something in a linear path
with little drag.

Small logging winches are ment to be used from one position and lowered to the ground to create contact pressure
and you can ruin your mules rear hitch if you use it the way your thinking of using it because the winch cannot be
used safely without lowering the base frame of the skidding winch to the ground to tug with.



A couple of questions:


Are your rear tires loaded with liquid ballast? you can use straight
windshield washer fluid like I do and have much better traction.

Which type of chains do you use?;

2 link ladder chains,
4 link ladder chains,
V bar Ice chains,
Logging X cross ring chains
Grader snow and ice chains
Do you have chains on the front tires? if not you should have them but
the rears should be loaded if they are not already.

If you have 4 link snow chains you can add cross links and you can always use V bar chain cross chains by
buying a 50 foot length of V bar chain for your size tires, a tire chain wrench for the size chain you use,
and a bolt cutter to cut the chain to length and you need 2 cross chain connectors for each added cross chain
and you can purchase everything you need from TireChain.com is Where to Buy Tire Chains | Best Tire Chains and a large pair of bolt cutters from a
hardware store or a co-op farm store.

If you have to do this on a continuous basis when clearing the best thing to do is
invest in a much heavier Ramsey planetary gear winch(heavy 12,000 Lb.+ pound truck
winch mounted in the loader bucket bottom plate using nuts and bolts and using 2 base plates
to mount the winch on in the bucket and one under the buckets bottom weldment(floor plate).

By attaching it in this manner you prevent deforming the thinner base plate steel that is used to
weld the bucket together and you spread the stress load over a wider square area reducing the forces
pulling against the floor of the bucket when using the winch.

I did the exact same thing when I installed 8 load securing D rings in the floor of my dump trailer
so I could transport my lawn tractor and other equipment rather than pay $150 each time to have a dealer haul
it back and forth by using two 1/4" thick 6 by 6 inch drilled plates to secure the D rings to the floor of the trailer.

It works and I still use them in the trailer when needed.

 

[tman1020]

I'm planning on buying one of those hitch mounting plates that slides into your vehicle Hitch receiver. You can buy hitch weld on or bolt on mounting plates just about anywhere now. So I have bought a couple of them one for my tractor bucket, one for the front of my trailer, and I'm going to try to rig one up on my quick hitch somewhere. This way I can slide the winch into any location that I need to pull from and then just have a deep cycle battery at the ready. And may also consider just running really long leads with good clamps to the winch.

 

[rustydollar]

Winching equipment mired in mud, put some tension of your winch line let her set idle for a minute or so to break suction then begin pulling with the winch again.

The old fence post trick works for me, chain the post across the rear wheels then hump the machine over careful not to rotate the post too far once your over the hump. Worked every time for getting my D4D unstuck.

Stuck gravel truck lodge a post behind the dump box then raise it, the post will push the truck forward enough to drive out under its own power.

 

[Grandad4]

Small logging winches are ment to be used from one position and lowered to the ground to create contact pressure
and you can ruin your mules rear hitch if you use it the way your thinking of using it because the winch cannot be
used safely without lowering the base frame of the skidding winch to the ground to tug with. ...

If you have to do this on a continuous basis when clearing the best thing to do is
invest in a much heavier Ramsey planetary gear winch(heavy 12,000 Lb.+ pound truck
winch mounted in the loader bucket bottom plate using nuts and bolts and using 2 base plates
to mount the winch on in the bucket and one under the buckets bottom weldment(floor plate).

By attaching it in this manner you prevent deforming the thinner base plate steel that is used to
weld the bucket together and you spread the stress load over a wider square area reducing the forces
pulling against the floor of the bucket when using the winch.

I agree with Leon here. We used a logging winch for several years and it's excellent for tree handling, but not the right tool for getting your equipment unstuck. In addition to Leon's comment, the winch operates at a high speed that would be quite unsafe for vehicle recovery, unless you rigged multiple snatchblocks.

The Ramsey-type winch is a good idea. Although more pricey, they are also made in hydraulic versions that would solve the battery drain problem with electric winches.

 

[oosik]

Fortunately, I've never been stuck in the snow - knock on wood. However, mud has been my undoing. I've used the bucket on the FEL to assist in backing the tractor out. Curl the bucket all the way down - drop it into the mud and push down with the hydraulics to set the lip of the bucket firmly in the mud - with the lip firmly in the mud, the tractor spinning SLOWLY in reverse - curl the bucket up. This action will push the tractor backwards a slight amount. Continue this operation until you and the tractor are free of the mud. Most of the time this will free you - unfortunately, some times not.

I've even used this method to pull myself out forward once. Firmly set the bucket into the mud with it only SLIGHTLY curled, let the tractor spin slowly forward, curl the bucket down - thereby pulling the tractor forward. Continue until the tractor is free.

Unfortunately, I've had to call my neighbor a couple times - he came and pulled me out with his big Ag tractor.

You need to practice this procedure a couple times - on dry land, when not stuck - to get the idea of how this works.

 

[Oldoak]

What kind of tire chains are you using?

I use double ring agricultural tractor tire chains like these:

double ring tire chains for farm tractors

With those chains and my front end loader, I have never been stuck where I couldn't free my self without getting out of the tractor seat. Not even when I only had a two wheel drive tractor.

A winch is only helpful if you have a solid object to anchor the cable to in the area you are stuck in and the anchoring point is located in the direction you want to pull.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Don't waste your money on the gas or electric portable winches. They are
ment only for free winching of something in a linear path
with little drag.

Small logging winches are ment to be used from one position and lowered to the ground to create contact pressure
and you can ruin your mules rear hitch if you use it the way your thinking of using it because the winch cannot be
used safely without lowering the base frame of the skidding winch to the ground to tug with.



A couple of questions:


Are your rear tires loaded with liquid ballast? you can use straight
windshield washer fluid like I do and have much better traction.

Which type of chains do you use?;

2 link ladder chains,
4 link ladder chains,
V bar Ice chains,
Logging X cross ring chains
Grader snow and ice chains
Do you have chains on the front tires? if not you should have them but
the rears should be loaded if they are not already.

If you have 4 link snow chains you can add cross links and you can always use V bar chain cross chains by
buying a 50 foot length of V bar chain for your size tires, a tire chain wrench for the size chain you use,
and a bolt cutter to cut the chain to length and you need 2 cross chain connectors for each added cross chain
and you can purchase everything you need from TireChain.com is Where to Buy Tire Chains | Best Tire Chains and a large pair of bolt cutters from a
hardware store or a co-op farm store.

If you have to do this on a continuous basis when clearing the best thing to do is
invest in a much heavier Ramsey planetary gear winch(heavy 12,000 Lb.+ pound truck
winch mounted in the loader bucket bottom plate using nuts and bolts and using 2 base plates
to mount the winch on in the bucket and one under the buckets bottom weldment(floor plate).

By attaching it in this manner you prevent deforming the thinner base plate steel that is used to
weld the bucket together and you spread the stress load over a wider square area reducing the forces
pulling against the floor of the bucket when using the winch.

I did the exact same thing when I installed 8 load securing D rings in the floor of my dump trailer
so I could transport my lawn tractor and other equipment rather than pay $150 each time to have a dealer haul
it back and forth by using two 1/4" thick 6 by 6 inch drilled plates to secure the D rings to the floor of the trailer.

It works and I still use them in the trailer when needed.

Thanks for the advice.

I use 4 link bar chains purchased from Tirechains.com. They're on all four R4 tires which are filled with Rim Guard. Augmenting the chains is an option but may not help much with the terrain I have to work on. Might cut down the number of incidents but I'd still like to have a back up plan.

Your point about the weak bucket "belly" is well taken. In addition to reinforcing it, I'd have to rig a quick attach scheme and carry the winch elsewhere on the tractor until I need it. I frequently use the bucket to pile snow or debris after a storm.