Getting Unstuck Old School

A couple other threads reminded me of this. It is currently high mud and getting stuck time for many of us. Here is how the old timers used to get their tractors out before there was so much help nearby and before cell phones. This requires a chain and maybe a saw. First you get a log or a post, 6-10 inches in diameter, and four to ten feet long, depending on the size of your tractor, how deep it is in, and how soft the ground is. You place the log close up cross-ways against the BACK of your tire or tires, then chain it to closely to the tire/tires. You will be able to then BACK up onto the log and out of the mud. Never try this in a forward gear.

I've done that, and sometimes forward is your only choice. Either direction requires the brain be entirely engaged with the clutch!

That's how we got our tractors unstuck when I was a
kid. It was very dangerous way to get unstuck.

I get stuck so may times, I glad I have a backhoe to
get unstuck. I just use the back bucket. Either lift
myself out of hole move tractor sideways or pull
myself backwards. Gets a little scary when you are
stuck sideways on an incline.

If you have something solid to hook to like a tree or much bigger tractor,take a log chain put it thru the wheel and hook in the center of the tire on the outside.Do this on both sides and hook the ends of the chain to the unmoveable object and slowly engage the clutch the tractor will winch its way out right on top of the chain as it winds it around the outside of the tire.

you can also do this on trucks with duels, tractors and also on bulldozer tracks

Dad warned me at an early age never to do that. I got stuck one time when he wasn't home and went and got my uncle to help me get it out. I was in there but good. I still remember him saying he was going to do something that he'd better never catch me doing. He got it out,but I've never tried it myself.

Don't care for that method and would never recommend it to anyone. Yes, I have tried it without success, snapping an 8" diameter hardwood log, cinching the tire so tight it should have popped off the rim or damaged the tire and tube. Both happened quickly and without warning. Had there not been a loader on this one,using forward gear could have flipped it over, which to me is like a human snap type mouse trap. Using the loader to push it out did not work this time, but I had done it once in about the same place 10 years before. This tractor was bottomed out front and back and at that point the method of chaining a log to the rear wheel was a bad decision that could cause serious injury or death. It's evident that under more ideal conditions, that it can be successful, but not every tractor operator is going to know the difference. The method has definitive limitations, which when exceeded, can and will have consequences. If the operator does not consider the reactions that can happen, its a bad decision to make.

What worked FAR better was a chain hoist connected to the very base of what was a 4" young black cherry tree. It also helped that dry weather improved the ground conditions.
If it happened again and there was no tree to rig to, I'd set multiple deadmen at an opposing angle and rig off the base of them with a chain hoist. No matter what, there is going to be hand digging, might as well make it count.

All I needed was that small tree, never thought it strong enough until I tried. It never budged.

I've used that method before and it
definitely works but requires that you be
super aware of each move you make.

Got sick of getting stuck. Got a mfwd with front and rear diff
lock and big 650 metric michellins on it. It can't hardly pull
itself on hard ground in august but it will walked through stuff I
can't go through on foot.

Working on surface drainage and prepping for drain tile on the
worst places.

Done something similar, but usually I'll
just cut one for each tire, where it'll
stick out past the radius of the tire about
a foot on each side. I'll set it across the
outside of the tire/rim, and chain each side
through the holes in the hub or around the
tire. Do that to each side, it will usually
dig itself out. If that wouldn't do it,
that's where I'll cut a log that is wider
than the rear of than the tractor, and throw
it right up tight to the rear tires, and
when those long poles chained through the
hubs come around, it'll catch on that log
and lift until it pushes the tractor out.
Not quite as bad as having that cross log
actually chained through both rear tires. I
have also run 2 sets of long chains out to
the tractor, then loop the chain through the
holes in the hub on each side. Put in
reverse slowly, and let it winch itself out
carefully. Good idea to notice the location
of the valve stems, clearance to
fenders/etc, and have the chains as close to
the axle housings as possible. Sometimes you
have to do what you need to do when you're
by yourself.

Neighbor bought a farm across the road from me, had an abandoned railroad about 3/4 mile long with a high road bed through it. He bought a big old Cat with a bucket on it and used and sold the ballast and used the rest of the dirt to fill in low wet spots that were there forever. He buried the Cat in the mud and probably spent 2 weeks sawing trees and jamming them under the tracks. I happened to be off work for 17 weeks with a compound fracture of my left leg so to break the boredom I'd ride my garden tractor over and watch him. Was amazing to see all those logs disappear under the tracks.

My grandfather's brother used to talk about that... but not chaining them to a rubber tire- they had steel wheels at the time, and so would just throw a post crosswise in front of the steel wheel.

Reminds me of one summer when I was in high school I worked full time for one of our neighbors.

We had a flood that summer, and in trying to work ground after the flood, I got a Massey 44 buried up to its belly. We wound up rounding up the two biggest wreckers in the county and winching it out from about 50 yards off.

When I was a kid, my father had two cousins, brothers, who farmed adjacent to each other and worked together on whoever's ground was ready. They both had WC Allis's. "Charlie's" was on rubber all the way around, while "Bert's" was rubber in front and skeleton wheels in back. Charlie called Bert's tractor the "paddle machine".

They were both discing in the fame field one day and Charlie got stuck in a low spot. After he got unstuck, Bert disced that part of the field. Charlie said afterward, "Here came Bert with his paddle machine, right on through where I got stuck!" I can still hear him say that.

(quoted from post at 09:21:55 05/07/17) Done something similar, but usually I'll
just cut one for each tire, where it'll
stick out past the radius of the tire about
a foot on each side. I'll set it across the
outside of the tire/rim, and chain each side
through the holes in the hub or around the
tire. Do that to each side, it will usually
dig itself out. If that wouldn't do it,
that's where I'll cut a log that is wider
than the rear of than the tractor, and throw
it right up tight to the rear tires, and
when those long poles chained through the
hubs come around, it'll catch on that log
and lift until it pushes the tractor out.
Not quite as bad as having that cross log
actually chained through both rear tires. I
have also run 2 sets of long chains out to
the tractor, then loop the chain through the
holes in the hub on each side. Put in
reverse slowly, and let it winch itself out
carefully. Good idea to notice the location
of the valve stems, clearance to
fenders/etc, and have the chains as close to
the axle housings as possible. Sometimes you
have to do what you need to do when you're
by yourself.

Click to expand...

I see you filmed yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnRRGW6z3UQ

(quoted from post at 10:46:23 05/07/17) Got sick of getting stuck. Got a mfwd with front and rear diff
lock and big 650 metric michellins on it. It can't hardly pull
itself on hard ground in august but it will walked through stuff I
can't go through on foot.

Click to expand...

And sometimes MFWD just gets the machine stuck deeper!

(quoted from post at 14:59:40 05/07/17)
And sometimes MFWD just gets the machine stuck deeper!

Click to expand...

Was trying to find a photo earlier but failed. A few years ago we had a neighbor who had a full time 4wd tractor who was doing some Spring discing. They broke through the top crust and there was nothing but muck underneath! She had that thing stuck up to nearly the tops of the tires.

I loaned them a chain to help get her out, but it didn't get done that day. Last I knew, there was a smaller dozer and a JD 4620 trying, but it was no use. I think they ended up having to call another neighbor to come in with his BIG machinery - but I wasn't there for that part of the show.

(quoted from post at 14:59:40 05/07/17)

(quoted from post at 10:46:23 05/07/17) Got sick of getting stuck. Got a mfwd with front and rear diff
lock and big 650 metric michellins on it. It can't hardly pull
itself on hard ground in august but it will walked through stuff I
can't go through on foot.

Click to expand...

And sometimes MFWD just gets the machine stuck deeper!

Click to expand...

Think maybe the guy wished he had stopped and unhooked the planter?

Here's a few from the last couple years...

Couldn't make it up the hill by itself with half a load



Found a wet spot pulling the berm off the edge of the road

[img]https://forumphotos.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/48676.jpghttp://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/48677.jpg[/img]

Got the 826 stuck bad cruising the river flats behind my house



You can see in the first picture behind the 826 where I had tried to unsuccessfully pull it with the 1086. Then I stuck the 1086, luckily not too bad, I was able to get it out fairly easily by myself

[img]https://forumphotos.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/48680.jpghttp://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/48682.jpg[/img]

Not sure what happened up there... that's
why I don't use Modern View! In order again,
in Classic View this time.

1- Couldn't make it up the hill by itself
with half a load

2- Found a wet spot pulling the berm off the
edge of the road

3- Slid down the hill backwards after an ice
storm, the other grader that is out of the
picture soon to be doing the pulling, has
already scarified all the ice off the hill
so we can get a good pull

4- Got the 826 stuck bad cruising the river
flats behind my house

5- You can see in the first picture behind
the 826 where I had tried to unsuccessfully
pull it with the 1086. Then I stuck the
1086, luckily not too bad, I was able to get
it out fairly easily by myself

6- And I'm out. All by myself. What made it
worse was it was getting late when I got it
stuck, so I left it for the next day which
had a low chance of rain that ended up
turning into 2" of rain, turning everything
into slop. I ended up having to winch the
826 out using chains around the axles.

Ross

Been there done that. It sure was interesting.