Traction Please pass the traction....

[john_bud]

Hello, I went out to the back of the property this morning to see how my duck pond project was doing since the snow melted this week. Well, to my delite there was water in the pond! Yippie. Unfortunately, the upper pond had over flowed, but the larger deeper lower pond had about 5' of water at the deepest part.

I got off the ATV and inspected my work with pride, but to my horror, the water was starting to flow around the dam /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif. Well, I flew back to get the tractor for a quick 15 minute fix. (this is where it gets interesting...)

I got the tractor out and went back to the dam, saw that there was a 10 foot wide stretch with a couple inches of standing water on the path. No problem, after all the ATV went by with hardly a tire track! I'm on a mighty Four Wheel Drive Kubota, no worries. So plunging straight across that puny couple of inches of water with a smile on my face, I immediately sank down right to the axle! /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

Horrors! Well, being the quick whitted person that I am, I scoffed at this minor annoyance, tossed it into 4wd, locked the back wheels and calmly churned up the path into a thick sticky soupy morass that not even a two rotor huey could pull me out of!!!/w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Oops! So, now quite a bit less "cocky", started to use the FEL to push me back onto solid ground. SHLURP SHLURP GURGLE, the FEL went down like the ground was only an illusion. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif/w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

I get off the tractor, to inspect the damage. Yup, left side is 1/2 way down. Whoa Nellie, the right side's front tire is just barely out of the water! Uh Oh. Good thing the frame of the tractor was there to stop my downward motion. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

OK, now I have call in the troops, use shovels, boards, more shovels, ply wood, well chosen curse words and more shovels. It is sure nice to have a buddy willing to come and help shovel. We put a 3foot x 6 foot piece of plywood under the FEL so the tractor could raise the front tires out of the mud. Push --> the ply wood sunk from site with a small gurgle. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Hmm, that can't be a good sign, eh?

Oh, did I mention that when I got stuck it was sunny and about 55F. At this point, it's clouded over, the wind is picked up to about 20 mph and it's starting to rain. The tempurature is also dropping like a turd from a tall camel.

Well, with 2x12's under the back tires and my chevy 4x4 pulling, we got it pulled out with a large schlurping sound and a lot of mud flying in the air. The back up plan of a two rotor huey was narrowly avoided. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Never a doubt. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Oh, we did use the boards to cross over the wet spots and fixed the dam for now. We left it with a shoveled channel that goes around the end of the dam to allow the overflow out without washing away the dam. (That's the plan any way)

I did take some pictures with the video camera, but that tool must be beyond me too as they didn't take. If it stops raining, I'll WALK out and get some pics of the dam and the squishy spot.

John (not so cocky now) Bud

 

[frank_f15]

greatly enjoyed your post. was nice to know someone else can get their unstoppable tractor stuck. glad u got the poor thing out and back in the garage, hate for it to spend a lonely night out in the cold. nothing goes like it is supposed to does it?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif always seem to dig ourselves deeper/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif.

 

[foz]

Great story, really makes my day not look so bad at all, merely stuck in a drainage ditch for 10 minutes and used backhoe to get out. Thanks for brightening my day

 

[john_bud]

Always glad to help, I think....

Anyway, the poor muddy beast is NOT back in the garage. When it got back home to its fabric shelter, the wind was (and is) blowing so hard right into the open end, that the shelter was lifting up and about to blow away. Only the ground anchor kept it from meeting toto in oz.

Right now, the tractor is outside in the wind and rain with the loader bucket holding down the shelter. Poor thing probably thinks it's being punished for playing in the mud!

Oh well, at least I got some seat time and exercise. As Embarrassing /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif as this day was, I figured sharing it would be fun for someone /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

Have fun and watch where you step!

John Bud

 

[frank_f15]

hey foz: seems like jonh bud is being mean to his tractor./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif john u really should take it easy on the poor thing. enjoy your post very much.. at least the rain will help clean it for u!

 

[gordon]

Wow, that made for a long day glad you got her out. Glad I've never done that./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif---------OK-OK---Glad I've never done that this week./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I know all too well what it's like to bury her deep. Nice feeling when you get it out though.

Gordon

 

[MarkV]

Isn't that what we have come to call doing a "Gordon"?

Sorry Gordon, couldn't resist.

MarkV

 

[cowboydoc]

John,
Don't feel bad. Last weekend I decided that it's time to clean out the turnout pens. Well over the winter there gets to be quite alot of manure in the pens from the horses and cattle. First one goes ok, second one a little less than ok- alot of slipping and sliding. Well the last one is built on a hill off of the barn. My wife is driving the Massey tractor with the manure spreader and says I don't think we should do that pen it's still pretty slick there. OH NO I've got four wheel drive on the JD I can make it. So with my wife staring with that I told you so look I proceed to bury the tractor in up to the axles in manure!! Ok no problem I can use the loader to get out of this. Well sure I sure go backwards slide down the hill take out the gate and post and get stuck on an old stump!!! My wife is just sitting there looking at me with that look, that I'm sure you all know! Ok well nothing to do now. No way to go forward the drop down the hill is pretty steep and until I get rid of the stump I'm not going anywhere. I proceed to get the chainsaw, cut off the stump to the ground, in about a foot of manure, and then with the loader all the way down to prevent me from going over backward ease her down the hill and out of the fence. Then hooked four chains up to the massey on top of the hill and pulled it out the other way. Next time I just may have to listen to my wife. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>Next time I just may have to listen to my wife.</font color=blue>

I just hate when that happens, which is all too often around here. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

I always thought that mud was the enemy -- never thought about burying it in manure. Guess I'm lucky to not have any livestock at this point. Now if only the deer and the squirrels don't get carried away ... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[skent]

Yeah, manure has just as full a texture as mud - with the added bonus of smell! (and sometimes corn).

It's a testostrone thing we guys do, by reflex, so as to make the opposite sex feel we 'need' them. Otherwise they would go on their merry ways assuming we actually knew what we were doing. I have my better half convinced that I screw up on purpose just to give her a purpose in life (saving my foolish butt). But she knows the truth!