Why FEL

[Buck]

Well after that post, "Why 4WD", I thought I knew enough to go anywhere.

Today, in Upstate NY's heat wave, I decided I'd get my tractor out for a little digging.

Last summer I cleared an area of brush, skimmed about a two feet of topsoil (the area is a topsoil mine) and sure enough that two feet deep area is now a pond. Not far from this pond is a drainage creek that I thought I could dig a swail to and have the pond drain nicely.

After my first dig I got stuck. In FWD. Back and forward. Back and forward. Back and forward. Even my MMM was clipped up, and it was in the mud. Then I tried Bob Trevithicks suggestion of Diff lock. No luck there either. Mud was 3/4's up my front wheel. I thought for sure I'd have to call my neighbor and have him bring over his JD 1050 with a chain.

I realized I'd been acting like a fool. After all, how many times have people warned against working in wet dirt on TBN?

Well here is how I got out.

I used the FEL. First, I put the bottom edge of the FEL vertically into the earth. This propped the front wheels up. Then moved the FEL outward using the bottom edge to propel the tractor backward. Repeated again and again. Finally, I got out.

My guess is that there are many veterans here who have got out of messes like this before using this technique. However, maybe someday someone will be as naive as me and find this post useful.

Buck

 

[ronjhall]

Buck
I had planned to do all kinds of projects with my tractor tomorrow. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif But I'm afraid that I would have to print out your pictures as a guide to get it unstuck. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Do you ever take your MMM off?

 

[Buck]

Ron,

No, I didn't remove it. I clipped it in the up position using the "traveling"clips.

Good luck tomorrow. I hope you can invent something good to do. I'll be powerwashing.

Buck

 

[MChalkley]

Buck - Nice photo lesson. We really appreciate the six trips you made through the mud to get those pictures, too. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Buck]

MChalkey,

That is exactly what my wife said when I came in the house.

Buck

 

[MChalkley]

Buck - Ah, that's an intricacy of the situation I didn't think about. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Yeah, I'll bet she said she appreciated you making those trips through the mud - I'll bet that's exactly what she said. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[MossRoad]

That's exactly how I used to get my 2500b unstuck. Sometimes that didn't even work, if the soil is too soft, such as the very loose sand that we have on our property. The soil would just shove forward. Then I had to use a long cable and pull it out with the pickup truck.

Very nice pictures. Thanks.

 

[Bird]

Buck, those tires look like racing slicks for a dragster./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Alan L.]

Been there. I've used the FEL to get unstuck before, sometimes I can only go against the fence or in the creek, so it won't work. I spent the day in the mud with the tractor today too, but fortunately I didn't get stuck. Nice to have a rear mount mower in that situtation - you don't lose any ground clearance.

 

[smilingreen]

Buck,
Good job getting yourself out of the mud. Been there, done that trick a few times myself. Had my 790 (FWD, R4's) out in the mud today, also, but didn't even have to put it in FWD and I didn't get stuck. Slung a bunch of mud on top of my JD cap and the backside of my overalls, though!