Sunk in the Muck Today

[William1]

Thought I'd give y'all a laugh at my expense.
Still a little clean up after the storm of 01/04/2022 here. One birch had lost a major branch that did not fully separate from the tree. It was (in summer) more than 1/2 of the leaves. I looped a rope on it, pulled with my BX. Nope, nope going to break off. Tree has to come down. I drop the tree, dice it up to FEL/Pallet fork sizes. I put a load on and drive over to my 'reclaim' area. A bit too aggressively and too close to the soggy area. I sink to the frame and was stuck. Tried to use the BH to pull me out. Nope. Used the outriggers and some logs to lift the little guy up. Shove logs under the rear wheels. Nope, still stuck. Drat.
Get the pickup with the hitch receiver winch. No electrical power! Corrosion at the Anderson connector terminal. Scape it off, winch works! Throw a strap on the BH at the R/L pivot, very strong, low point. Wireless remote engaged for the winch, I hop on the tractor, throttle up, 4WD, diff lock engaged, begin winching. Truck moves a inch or two and stops, tractor begins to roll back! Yippee! I get unstuck, see the tractor has gained a few hundred pounds of muck. I am done for the day.
The lesson I learned a long time ago (first time I used the tractor in fact) was to have a method/technique to deal with bone headed (my forte) things I do. Had the PU direct line not worked, I'd of resorted to using a couple of pulleys to double or triple the pulling power.
This is probably the fourth or fith time I've gotten a tractor stuck in the muck. When will I learn?

 

[dirtydeed]

William, we're going to need some pics.

 

[NCL4701]

Several years ago, my father called me all in a sweat while I was still at work. For some reason he’d decided to tidy up one of the creek cuts with the trip bucket loader on the tricycle Farmall H right before a storm and sunk the front wheel almost to the frame. It was nose down with no counterweight on the back and between the R1’s and lack of weight it had no traction in reverse. He figured if the rain came in as predicted it would be a month before we could get it out.

He’d been driving that specific tractor about 60 years by that point. We didn’t have the Kubota then, just the little 9N. I left work early and we spent about an hour digging and pulling. Finally got it out just before giving up and calling one of my friends who had a bigger tractor. He’d given me so much crap about everything under the sun for so long I couldn’t resist giving some back to him about his lack of skills on a machine he’d been running longer than I’d been alive. It was a little bit enjoyable for a few minutes but I finally let him off the hook with the truth: if you drive off road long enough it isn’t a matter of if you get stuck, it’s a matter of when and how often.

About 4 years later I was doing the same job in the same place with the Kubota, the front broke through a crust of dirt on top of clay the consistency of a milkshake, same as happened to him. When I tried to back out with the diff lock, the right rear broke through and the only thing that kept it from rolling was it jammed against the dirt bank on the right side. Having a fully functional loader instead of a trip bucket, I was able to push it out with the loader. I REALLY didn’t want to have to call him to bring the H down there to drag me out. I’d probably still be hearing about that if he knew, so don’t tell him.

 

[DustyRusty]

Your dad just called me and he wasn't talking nice about you. One of the neighbors tipped him off about your skills at getting the tractor both stuck and unstuck. I told him that you are young and impulsive, and to cut you some slack. I won't tell you what else he had to say because you are not going to like it. His words were something like "JKL&^*&^$UGK@J*(&*(^%GKH". He must have been in the Navy to learn to talk like that!

 

[Crash277]

I’ve had to have my bx pulled out a few times. I cant wait to get that part of my yard done!! Pain in the butt. Mind you the only time I couldn’t self recover is when I didn’t have the BH on.

 

[ve9aa]

Mud? My mud is at -30*C and under a foot and a half of snow. No risk of mud here.

;-)

p.s.- thanks for sharing, but pix or it didn't happen. <g>

 

[GeoHorn]

 

[William1]

William, we're going to need some pics.

Sorry, too focused on getting unstuck and I was too muddy to get inside and get a camera, then hike back to where 'Wally' was mired.
Looking down at the tires, smooth as slick with the coating of organic decomp muck....
Now I'm going to have to fill the holes or I'll have bug breeding pools come spring....

 

[William1]

Your dad just called me and he wasn't talking nice about you. One of the neighbors tipped him off about your skills at getting the tractor both stuck and unstuck. I told him that you are young and impulsive, and to cut you some slack. I won't tell you what else he had to say because you are not going to like it. His words were something like "JKL&^*&^$UGK@J*(&*(^%GKH". He must have been in the Navy to learn to talk like that!

Merchant Marines WWII....

 

[Crash277]

Merchant Marines WWII....

how to tell someone your dad was a bad a** without actually saying he is a bad a**. Lol

 

[fried1765]

William, we're going to need some pics.

What....? You think the poor guy should get stuck again,.... just to get some pictures?
I would not wish that on anybody.

 

[Jchonline]

Thought I'd give y'all a laugh at my expense.
Still a little clean up after the storm of 01/04/2022 here. One birch had lost a major branch that did not fully separate from the tree. It was (in summer) more than 1/2 of the leaves. I looped a rope on it, pulled with my BX. Nope, nope going to break off. Tree has to come down. I drop the tree, dice it up to FEL/Pallet fork sizes. I put a load on and drive over to my 'reclaim' area. A bit too aggressively and too close to the soggy area. I sink to the frame and was stuck. Tried to use the BH to pull me out. Nope. Used the outriggers and some logs to lift the little guy up. Shove logs under the rear wheels. Nope, still stuck. Drat.
Get the pickup with the hitch receiver winch. No electrical power! Corrosion at the Anderson connector terminal. Scape it off, winch works! Throw a strap on the BH at the R/L pivot, very strong, low point. Wireless remote engaged for the winch, I hop on the tractor, throttle up, 4WD, diff lock engaged, begin winching. Truck moves a inch or two and stops, tractor begins to roll back! Yippee! I get unstuck, see the tractor has gained a few hundred pounds of muck. I am done for the day.
The lesson I learned a long time ago (first time I used the tractor in fact) was to have a method/technique to deal with bone headed (my forte) things I do. Had the PU direct line not worked, I'd of resorted to using a couple of pulleys to double or triple the pulling power.
This is probably the fourth or fith time I've gotten a tractor stuck in the muck. When will I learn?

Always tough with the ground clearance on the BX series. Once you bottom out the frame its really hard.

 

[bbxlr8]

FWIW - Anyone actually getting out and doing stuff has encountered this at some point (some just don't admit it ). Thanks for sharing. MANY a time have I done this around here with my 2wd tractor and occasionally with my jeep - ugh).

The change in the weather here always does it; whether it is mud, ice under snow, or the dreaded partial melt where you get a layer of what only can be described as a full-on grease pit.

I am on a ridge in PA and this last Friday afternoon, there was a young power company engineer stuck on the HV Powerline RoW in a Ram 1500 quad cab in 3 inches of melting snow over base ice. He got down the slope and those general all-season tires and 6,500 lbs were a bad combo headed downhill into a ravine. He was trying this after not being able to get back up the gravel lane hill...

Bringing it back to Kubota, I felt bad for him and wasn't sure it was going to do it ahead of time, but my L2501 actually popped him back out easily on R14s (I am still learning their limits). I have only gotten hung up on a rock the size of a beach ball so far, but my time is also coming with the new tractor.

OP: You got yourself out and can laugh about it in hindsight but you probably weren't feeling that way during it if you are like me!

 

[fried1765]

FWIW - Anyone actually getting out and doing stuff has encountered this at some point (some just don't admit it ). Thanks for sharing. MANY a time have I done this around here with my 2wd tractor and occasionally with my jeep - ugh).

The change in the weather here always does it; whether it is mud, ice under snow, or the dreaded partial melt where you get a layer of what only can be described as a full-on grease pit.

I am on a ridge in PA and this last Friday afternoon, there was a young power company engineer stuck on the HV Powerline RoW in a Ram 1500 quad cab in 3 inches of melting snow over base ice. He got down the slope and those general all-season tires and 6,500 lbs were a bad combo headed downhill into a ravine. He was trying this after not being able to get back up the gravel lane hill...

Bringing it back to Kubota, I felt bad for him and wasn't sure it was going to do it ahead of time, but my L2501 actually popped him back out easily on R14s (I am still learning their limits). I have only gotten hung up on a rock the size of a beach ball so far, but my time is also coming with the new tractor.

OP: You got yourself out and can laugh about it in hindsight but you probably weren't feeling that way during it if you are like me!

With both a backhoe and a loader, there should be few places that you cannot free yourself.

 

[jimh406]

I'm glad you got it out. I don't do tractor work when it's muddy because I don't want to fix the holes afterwards. . But, I'm retired. I can wait for a better day.

 

[William1]

FWIW - Anyone actually getting out and doing stuff has encountered this at some point (some just don't admit it ). Thanks for sharing. MANY a time have I done this around here with my 2wd tractor and occasionally with my jeep - ugh).

The change in the weather here always does it; whether it is mud, ice under snow, or the dreaded partial melt where you get a layer of what only can be described as a full-on grease pit.

I am on a ridge in PA and this last Friday afternoon, there was a young power company engineer stuck on the HV Powerline RoW in a Ram 1500 quad cab in 3 inches of melting snow over base ice. He got down the slope and those general all-season tires and 6,500 lbs were a bad combo headed downhill into a ravine. He was trying this after not being able to get back up the gravel lane hill...

Bringing it back to Kubota, I felt bad for him and wasn't sure it was going to do it ahead of time, but my L2501 actually popped him back out easily on R14s (I am still learning their limits). I have only gotten hung up on a rock the size of a beach ball so far, but my time is also coming with the new tractor.

OP: You got yourself out and can laugh about it in hindsight but you probably weren't feeling that way during it if you are like me!

I was 99% sure I would be able to get out without calling on my neighbors (all sorts of machines within a mile) The area I was in was so soft, that the FEL just sunk in and the BH did nothing. I had to get dragged out by the winch. The price I paid for being over zealous!

 

[bbxlr8]

With both a backhoe and a loader, there should be few places that you cannot free yourself.

Agreed in my case and don't expect to with the new tractor, but I am seasoned enough to know to never say never! However, I DO need a winch for my Jeep... I too like to get myself out of my own messes as a matter of principle

BTW I have seen some clever use of strapping on boards to the rears in past videos when someone got into what looks like a swamp or mud-filled rice paddy!

 

[58Ford]

William, we're going to need some pics.

Yeah! Didn’t happen without em!

Have also been stuck a couple times (I’m at 14hrs but we have a creek) and one required a 3rd party pull but only because the tractor had the brush cutter on and the cutter was caught. That’s my excuse anyway!

 

[fried1765]

Yeah! Didn’t happen without em!

Have also been stuck a couple times (I’m at 14hrs but we have a creek) and one required a 3rd party pull but only because the tractor had the brush cutter on and the cutter was caught. That’s my excuse anyway!

Totally understandable!