Quick Sand!

[qualsite]

Got my 15,000 lb telescoping forklift stuck deep in a mud hole... evidently the hardpan was deeper in that one spot. Had to haul a lot of old concrete pieces and some railroad ties in front of the big drive wheels. Then got the tractor facing it about 100ft away where it was solid, and dug the front loader into the ground, and attached the chains from the front loader to the fully extended mast on the forklift. Then used the boom on the forklift to pull out of the muck, a little at a time, while repositioning the concrete and railroad ties. If there hadn't been a clear spot to be able to pull forward, I'm not sure what I would have done

 

[TimberFarm]

Same day got my excavator stuck in an area I had filled, but didn't get it graded before the rain came.
Piece of cake to get out. Just used the boom, lifted the tracks and threw a couple inches of drier under them and drove out

 

[Dennis Mohn]

Sorry no pictures. A number of years ago I was at Crane , Indiana with the C.Bs. We had a number of projects to complete and one was backfilling a low area. A large amount of overburden had been provided and more was coming. I had assigned two young men the job of backfilling and walked them out into the project area because it was very wet and swampy. We talked the project through and I took the time to make a few pushes to get them started and explained why it was important to keep a good base under the dozer to keep from sinking. After a couple hours they walked up to me and stated they had stuck the dozer. They figured if they added dry material to the mud it would get thicker and they could get through the job sooner. The dozer was buried up to the belly pans in the mud and several feet away from any stable ground. I told them to get some logs and put them under the blade to push down and be able to get logs under the tracks to get out. There was no bottom and the logs went away quickly. I "procurred" a 977 loader and began excavating a path to the dozer and after many hours was able to get a cable to the drawbar and pull the dozer enough to finally get traction with the dozer helping to get it out. Needless to say when they were sent to finish up the job, they listened to the old man. They did not get stuck a second time and the backfill was completed with the loss of only a couple days.

 

[orezok]

A different stuck story. A good friend of mine was a Marine Combat Engineer in Viet Nam. From time to time a tank would get stuck in the mud because the flat bottom created a suction that held it in place. He said to get them out, they would take a small amount of C4, push it under the tank and tell th driver to gun it when the explosion hit. Boom, suction broke tank out!

 

[rockinbbar]

When I get my 105hp 4WD Kubota with front end loader stuck, I can nearly always back it out using the loader. In your case you would pick you loader up high enough to be able to turn the forks straight down and into the dirt / mud to the point the tractor front end is nearly off the ground. Then curl the bucket (forks) upwards pushing you backwards at the same time as you're trying to back out. It may take several tries to clear the mud but it works 95% of the time. And believe me, I've been in some tough spots.

I didn't consider doing that in the above case because once I got down, even my weight on the ground within 30 feet of the tractor was all quicksand. It was wobbly and shook like jello just walking on it.

On the front of my tractor is my front hay spear, and it wouldn't do anything but stick in the mud clear up to the guard. I have used that method before that you mentioned, and it works well in lots of cases.

 

[LouNY]

When I get my 105hp 4WD Kubota with front end loader stuck, I can nearly always back it out using the loader. In your case you would pick you loader up high enough to be able to turn the forks straight down and into the dirt / mud to the point the tractor front end is nearly off the ground. Then curl the bucket (forks) upwards pushing you backwards at the same time as you're trying to back out. It may take several tries to clear the mud but it works 95% of the time. And believe me, I've been in some tough spots.

I've seen several situations were that would be of no use.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Results of "helping" a neighbor with fallen tree across his driveway.

no good deed shall remain unpunished ...

 

[LouNY]

Results of "helping" a neighbor with fallen tree across his driveway.

no good deed shall remain unpunished ...

A touch of mud on the tires, not bad.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Nah, that's just mud.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I stuck an empty Mack dump truck and 4 axle trailer once. One level ground, didn't sink, I was on top of well compacted dirt. I had to get the pit operator up to the dump site to pull me out. I had backed in dumped both boxes and was about 150 from the dump piles rolling along at 5-10 mph and I just stopped. There was a patch of clay so slick, I almost couldn't walk on it. It got a couple of more trucks before the operator decided to grab a couple of buckets of dirt and cover the stuff. slickest clay I'd ever seen.

 

[TimberFarm]

I stuck an empty Mack dump truck and 4 axle trailer once. One level ground, didn't sink, I was on top of well compacted dirt. I had to get the pit operator up to the dump site to pull me out. I had backed in dumped both boxes and was about 150 from the dump piles rolling along at 5-10 mph and I just stopped. There was a patch of clay so slick, I almost couldn't walk on it. It got a couple of more trucks before the operator decided to grab a couple of buckets of dirt and cover the stuff. slickest clay I'd ever seen.

Sounds like my property.

 

[Muley Gil]

My property is all red clay. When it rains the top just becomes slick as being on ice. This area has a slight side ways angle to it and when I was driving up the truck just slid right along the angle right to the side.

Been there, done that with my 4x4 F150, about 2 winters ago. The ground had frozen and thawed and the truck was going up a slight grade next to a spring branch (Appalachian for small stream ). When it started sliding toward the branch, I knew it was time to STOP and call for help. My neighbor brought over his big Kubota 4WD tractor and pulled me back to level ground.

 

[Dukeisok]

No pics but I have a case 450 skid steer with over the tire tracks. I was running a forestry mulcher on my land when I buried it nose down into red mud deep enough that the door wouldn't open and i had to crawl my fat butt out the emergency exit. I tried to use the mulcher to push up but eventually had to jettison the mulcher (2100 useless pounds hanging off the front) to get it light enough that i could pull it back and work boards and logs under the tracks . I was able to push it up a bit at a time until i could back out out with the aid of a 4wd 47 horse tractor. It took a month for it to dry out enough to risk pulling the mulcher out.

Not a tractor but last summer the family and I took a 3 week 6000 mile road trip in our 36ft 26k gvwr rv pulling an f150. As is usual, at the end of the trip everyone was done and we were pushing hard to make it home. Finally pulled into the driveway just after midnight. Cut the corner just a bit short and dropped the rear wheel off the driveway into the ditch. I threw the hydraulic jacks down as soon as i realized what was happening and we were stuck hard on the frame at about a 20 degree list. Our driveway is on a 55 mph country road but at that time of night no one was coming by. Good thing because even with the toad thrown off I was about 6 feet in the road. A single car came by, slowed to about 5 mph then managed to hit the trailer hitch on our very much stationary rv. They then called the highway patrol. The wife took the young kids inside to bed leaving my 15 year old and me to figure it out. I got the skid steer from the woods (out of fuel so had to fill it up, had the wrong attachment on so had to change to forks, hydraulic quick coupler failed so had to manually override, and so it goes). Meanwhile my son loads up the pickup with all the split firewood he can find. Wife comes back out to direct the 3 cars that have since come by. Highway patrol shows up, nice guy. I think he said something along the line of "i have no idea what you're going to do here" sits in the car with the lights on. The camper is truly frame on the ground. Nowhere to get a jack under it. The culvert is a double wall poly pipe that collapses if i put a point load on it. The camper is designed such that the outdoor storage doors hang well lower than the frame. The trailer hitch is rated for 6k pounds and is attached to a welded frame extension. My skid, while large, has a tipping load of 6k pounds, even with the add on counterweight.

Sensing my time to shine, I took this opportunity to use my expensive Duke education where I majored in the hard sciences and minored in classical studies. Quoting Archimedes "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." My sons eyerolls were visible as I explained the Roman seige of hilltop fortress of Masada in 73 CE in which the Romans simply built a giant earthen ramp up to the hilltop. With no hope of lifting the camper conventionally, I wedged dry split white oak longitudinally in the space between the tandem tires. I spaced the forks 8 inches apart and drove them into the soft dirt under the outer tire until i could curl them enough to put the tip of the forks on top of the wood. Revving the diesel to wartime emergency power and trusting in the Lord and my "forged in the USA" steel forks I dumped the forks, giving me about a 6 to 1 lever arm. I was able to lift the rv up enough to get a single piece of firewood underneath the tire. Lather rinse repeat for 30 minutes until I had the frame free of the ground. I then put my bride in the rv seat with instructions to buckle up, hit the emergency release on the hydraulic jacks and gun it as soon as they start to lift. I lifted with all the skid steer had one last time and she drove it out of the ditch and into the yard.

I've since added an extra culvert, widening the shoulder from my driveway from 6 inches to 20 feet.

 

[Turnip]

Have you ever seen the chain around the tire trick? If there's a sizable tree or stump within a couple or 3 chain lengths behind the stuck tractor, this trick will work. Take the end of the chain with a hook and wrap through one of the holes in the tire rim at the rear of the tire. Hook the chain at the center of the tire. Run enough chain to go a couple of times around the anchor tree (or stump) and take all the slack out. Get on the tractor and put it in low gear reverse. The chain will start rolling up on the outside of the tight lifting it up and out of the bog hole. I've seen tractors stuck down to the frame walk right out using this method.

 

[orezok]

A friend of mine was running a D6 creating haul roads for the loggers of the timber company he worked for. He hit a bog and buried it up to the bottom. The foreman brought in a larger Cat and they broke 2 very expensive straps trying to get it out. Foreman said wait. Got on his radio and 30 minutes later a Sikorsky Skycrain came in. They chained it to the D6 and off it flew.

I guess if you have the right equipment, you never get stuck

 

[bigtiller]

I got stuck planting trees. I planted a row on the north side of the house and a row on the west. But I wanted a rounded corner where they met, not a square one. A 125' radius sounded about right.

But that area was muddy so we were just going to stage the trees in that 125' radius for planting at a later date. At about the same moment, we both sunk in mud past our ankles.

We tried to get out without losing our boots but after fighting the mud until we were exhausted, I said leave your boots there and walk out barefoot.

After we recuperated I used two 10' - 2x6's to walk on, to dig out our boots.

 

[orezok]

Years ago when we lived in Joshua Tree we had a major flood on our property. After the flood stopped I walked out to see how bad it was. I walked in too far and my feet sunk down a foot into the mud. Tried to pull my slip on’s out but one disappeared.

A couple of days later, my Golden went and dug it up and brought it to the house. She was one smart dog.

 

[RonF]

I found some! Literally.

Had over 8 inches of rain recently, and I know enough about this area to use an overabundance of caution before venturing forth. But even so, I get taught better by Mother Nature every couple of years.

You can tell by the mud mark on the rear tire that I didn't just give it hell and REALLY bury it.

Had to walk a bit, get my other tractor and use some wits to get it out without compounding the problem by sticking both. The tractor I stuck is my 120hp and the one that saved the day is a 75hp... (Much to the embarrassment of it's larger brother.)

I know you guys have been stuck before. Let's see how bad! Post up your stuck photo...

This time it wasn't bad, but it could have been. I've done worse.

Ha ! You're not stuck until all you can see is the top of the exhaust stack !!!

 

[Animal Track Farm]

I have been stuck in my different tractors, a backhoe and trucks several times. Used different methods to get them out. But my most unusual getting stuck is when I took my wife on a surprise camping trip. I had a 4wd Chevrolet 2500 pulling a 30ft bumper pull camper. It was rainy and dark at a campground I had never been to. Girl at the office said for me to go straight on up to get to my site. As i got to that point the straight on up road did not look as good as the one going slightly to the left but I went straight. Got to a slick spot and even in 4wd I was spinning. Started sliding down hill towards a pond. Wife thought we were going to die. I stopped and got out to walk to the office. The girl realized what i had done and drove up towards me. She called a guy to come help. Luckily there was a larger Kubota tractor just up the hill from me. They had borrowerd it to put in fence post. He knew how to drive it and I had a chain. Hooked to it and we were able to get my rig to the top of the hill. Took another route down and he followed me all the way to my campsite. Quite a surprise for the wife that night.

 

[FriendwithTractor]

A friend of mine was running a D6 creating haul roads for the loggers of the timber company he worked for. He hit a bog and buried it up to the bottom. The foreman brought in a larger Cat and they broke 2 very expensive straps trying to get it out. Foreman said wait. Got on his radio and 30 minutes later a Sikorsky Skycrain came in. They chained it to the D6 and off it flew.

I guess if you have the right equipment, you never get stuck

I've seen many things in my life, but I've never seen a D6 fly. I imagine it must have been quite the sight!