Traction Stories about mud

[Jnasystems]

Went out and played around on the Allis today, looking for some mud. I found some, but was disappointed that the tires didn't even slip. So that got me thinking - how good in mud are these tractors?

Please share stories (success and failure) of your time in the mud. All stories are welcome, but I am particularly interested in those about 2wd tractors. Please include info about your tractor - like tread type, the age and HP. If you had success with some specific technique (driving backward?), or how stuck you were and what it took to get out would all be interesting. I would also want to know if the drive axel, or the non drive axel tends to het buried worse than the other, or if you could prevent getting stuck by noticing your axel sinking and quickly reversing course.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I got my 4 wd tractor stuck a few times. Once I was helping my B-I-L mow some wet area and I had it in 2 Wd and it started to spin. When I stopped put it in 4WD, it just sank to the foot boards. THe FEL was no help as it just sloshed about in the muck. Luckily we had a large backhoe there doing some work and he was able to pull me out. The back hoe operator also advised me that I should not go in that area as that is where the spreaded the muck from the pond cleanout the previous year (this I didnt know) It was crusted on top and if I had been in 4 WD I would likely have pulled thru without breaking thru, but when I stopped it just sank like a rock. The front wheels were not even visible.
The next time I got stuck was similar. We were mucking out a partially dried up pond and same thing, when we scooped up a FEL load of muck, sometimes the front wheels would break thru and most times we could dump the load and use the FEL to push ourselves out. THis time, my right front tire just sank in and I couldnt get enough bite with the FEL to push. Every action caused the water logged sand to mush up. Left rear wheel was over a foot off the ground. My BIL NH T2030 couldnt pull me because my boxblade was digging into the ground. We finally got the top link pin out and got the box blade off the tractor with his FEL and moved it out of the way, but he still couldnt pull me out with his tractor in reverse, just spun the R4 tires. Once I got him turned around, we hooked chains to his tail wheel on the bushhog he had attached for ballast weight, lowered the bush hog and then pulled me right out. The ground was like quicksand in that area. For 15 feet around where I sank you could stomp the hard crust and it would act like a sheet of plastic on a swimming pool. The following day, I was walking around there and the mush where my tractor sank was hard as concrete because the water had settled out of it by that time. It must have been an underground spring there that I stirred up with my running back and forth on the tractor and finally it just gave way. Luckily we had more tractors there to help me get out.

 

[gwdixon]

My AC WD45 was absolutely terrible in the mud. Had to dig it out countless times using sheepherder jacks, plywood, 4x4s, logs, etc.

The killer is that you drive into a soft spot and the front wheels sink before you realize what is going on. The engine weight just drives them in. Trying to back out only seems to cause the back tires to dig themselves a pit in soft ground since the fronts are anchors.

I had the spread front tires rather than the two tires set close like yours. It could become quite tipsy with those closely set tires.

Be careful with that AC around the mud. Fortunately, you have another tractor to assist.

The M7040 was sunk to the axles once in a place where the BH had dug out a huge stump. The ground was mush. It was finally inched out by using a chain on the FEL tied around a tree. Lifting the FEL caused the tractor to make about 6 inches of progress. Then the chain was reset and so forth until the mush was cleared.

The rear counterweight had to be dropped in place but it was retrieved with the FEL and reattached some distance away.

 

[FastPauly]

When I got my JD2520 TLB new back in Feb of 2007, I patientally waited for the snow to melt off so I could take it for a spin up on the hill behind my house. The words "spin" and "up" quickly put me in a position that I would just soon never happen again. All was going fine until I got to an area on the path that didn't get much sunlight on it. This part of the path is also sideways to the up part of the trip. The R-4 tires immediatly packed up smooth with mud.....from that point on, every 1 foot forward or back equated out to 2 foot sliding down the hill. The path is situated at the top of a ravine that steeply drops off about 20 feet.....a pickle I was in.

I tried using the hydraulics to inch myself along but gravity was taking me over....I finally abandoned ship and made one of those walks of shame. We luckily had nice weather for the following three days.....things dried out enough allowing me to drive it out. You know....that has been the only time the tractor has spent an outdoor sleep-over.:confused2:

 

[mjarrels]

Was stuck in the mud back in 1983 while returning from a cruise onboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in San Franciso bay. Don't know what stuck in the mud is until a Carrier runs aground. Six hours later and high tide got us free. Should have been the end of Capt Kelley's career, but he went on to become a VADM.

mark

 

[ovrszd]

Was stuck in the mud back in 1983 while returning from a cruise onboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in San Franciso bay. Don't know what stuck in the mud is until a Carrier runs aground. Six hours later and high tide got us free. Should have been the end of Capt Kelley's career, but he went on to become a VADM.

mark

"Mess" up, move up, that's the military way!!! Heheheheh.

 

[steve08]

Went out and played around on the Allis today, looking for some mud. I found some, but was disappointed that the tires didn't even slip.
You went lookin for Mud?!?!! There aint anywhere on my Place that's not mud! Count your blessings and keep Machines out of the Mud unless ya got no choice!

 

[Porkie]

God bless all of our Military men and women! Most of us can't steer a row boat more less a carrier. Spotting mud shoals isn't really the captain's responsibility---although, poop rools up hill.

I stuck my NH TC40D 4x4 tractor, when I entered a small pond that i was cleaning. There was about an 8 inch vertical drop off that I allowed my front tires to fall in to but when I tried to back up, it spun all 4 tires. The ground was wet already, and then it started to rain, as in torrential downpour! I watched as the water kept rising! A contractor that was working on my property had left his very large backhoe on my property, so I called him and he basically lifted the tractor's front end up a few feet and I backed it out of the rapidly growing pond!

Another time, some bad ruts had been made by the share croppers that work my land and I didn't see the foot deep, water soaked ruts until it was to late. The front end was down to the axle! We ended up rolling a large round bale of hay down and positioned it under the FEL and lifted the tractor up 2 feet above the ground. We placed several big boards under the front wheels and backed it away from the hay bale!

Even 4wd tractors get stuck!

Sam

 

[TripleR]

My son and I were recently mucking out an old pond. He had the M8540 belly dragging in the mud much of the time. All he had to do to get out when he got stuck was usually to just drop the load. On a couple of occasions on a downhill slope, he use the FEL to get out. We have Ag tires.

Growing up I farmed with 600 and much later 800 Series tractors. It was next to impossible to get one stuck if you picked your equipment up before you bottomed out; if not

 

[CompactTractorFan]

You know....that has been the only time the tractor has spent an outdoor sleep-over.:confused2:

:laughing::laughing::laughing: