You could always drive around the mud hole.
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In that kind of stuff, more aggressive tread will just dig the dirt out from under you and get you stuck faster....Been there...Comment
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Wish I had taken a better pic of the side.
The bottom fell out from under me. There was a crust and until I got stuck, I stayed on top. I got as far as I made it, and my front end went down. Locked everything, and put it in reverse, and rear went down.
That was it. Absolutely did not move from there.
As far as the winch goes, got done hunting, and made it back to the trailer. Said let me try it and see what happens, well wouldn’t you know it, it worked like it’s supposed to! Y’all about a bit upset.
Definitely have driven around it since then. Was told I could have driver about 50’ to the left in the water and I would have been fine. Haven’t tried that and don’t intend to. There is a crossing about 200 yards from there I now take.Comment
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Save your tire money and buy a working winchComment
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Yes, better tires would definitely help, but not the only part of the solution. In mud and sand, tire rpm is very important, also maintaining as much speed, and momentum as possible really helps a lot. I and some other people I have known, have drove through some very bad stuff, with tires, that really never should have made it through what we went through. But we hit the muck at some pretty good speed and then stuck the throttle near wide open, and kept the transmission in a higher gear. You would not believe what can be done.
Putting along, and then keeping the tire rpm and engine rpm down, is the fastest way to get stuck, with any combo, when you are in mud or sand.
Back in the early 90s, Houston Raceway Park's parking area, was mostly grass, in the spring, every year, it would rain a lot. Before and or during the good races, like the Super Nationals. One of those years, I took my little brother, we went in my 86 Mustang, with Z rated tires on it. It had been raining off and on for weeks, before the race. 50% of the area, that would be parking area, when dry, was underwater. That place turned into typical Baytown swamp, in the spring time, most years.
When we were leaving that night, it was a total cluster F, the sheriff's deputies who had been hired to direct traffic, all took off and went home. So it was a free for all, trying to get out of there. Some people kept going out away from the track, down towards and canal or creek, then heading towards the road. My brother kept saying they are getting out that way, I kept telling him, no they are not, trust me. There is no gate down there and that area is flooded.
Well after about an hour and a half of listening to him tell me over and over, see there goes another person, getting out, going down that way. I finally gave in and decided to give it a try. It quickly got very muddy, then we got into water about 6" deep, then 12" deep. I was in third gear, with the throttle down, turning anywhere from 5000 rpm, to 6000 rpm. Then eventually I got up into 4th gear, and ran it up to 5000 rpm and 5500 rpm. On dry pavement that was good for around 140 something mph. I have no idea, what speeds we were doing that through their swamp.
Turns out there was a drainage canal across the middle of that end of the parking area. The only way we did not get stuck in it, was there was a VW Beetle stuck in the canal. The only thing sticking up was about the top 6" of the roof. We were flying through 1 ft. deep watering mud, my head lights were almost completely useless. I managed to see a hump in the mud, could not figure out what it was. But with my engine screaming along, the guys in that canal trying to get that Beetle out, heard us coming and stood up. We were heading straight for them, then saw about four heads pop up out of the mud. Then realized there had to be a canal. So I turned sharp left and slid down one side of the canal at an angle, then stuck the throttle to the floor and went up the other side at an angle. We threw mud all over the guys that were trying to get the Beetle out, we could see them throwing beer bottles at us, as we went around them. At the same time, they were yelling at us.
Once we got to the other side of the canal, closer to the front, that's when things got really bad. I remember driving around a K5 Blazer that was stuck up to the frame. Then drove around a jacked up 4X4 Suburban, with big tires, that was buried to the frame. There were a bunch of guys on the roof of the Suburban, yelling at us as we went by. I don't know how fast we were actually going, but the speedo said we were doing around 140 mph, by that point. We probably drove past 8 to 10 buried trucks, getting to the front of the parking area, only to find, what I knew already. There was a cable that ran just inside of the ditch along the road. So we had to turn back towards the track and get in line to go out one of the two entrances. You could not tell what color my Mustang was. I don't know what those guys were yelling, as we blew past them in the mud. But once we got past that canal, there were a bunch of guys yelling at us, as we were skipping along on top of that muck, all the way to the front of the property. Had the 149 mph speed rated mud tires on the Stang that night.
I was chewing my brother's azz out for quite a ways after we got out of there, actually long before we got out of there. The lower half of the condenser and radiator were packed solid with mud, the car was running very hot. We had to pull off, into a car wash in Baytown. To wash the car off and blow the mud out of the radiator and condenser, so we could get home. My brother heard crap about that one for a long time.
After the fact, it was pretty funny, blowing past jacked, up big tire 4X4s that were buried to the frame, while we were in the 5.0 Mustang, with the Z rated tires. I think the slowest we went from the time we got into the mud, was probably 35 to 40 mph, that was when we crossed that canal. We got airborne coming out of the canal. We launched diagonally out of that canal. Had it not been for those guys in the Beetle being stuck in that canal and then us heading straight towards them. I never would have known the canal was there. Had I hit that canal straight on, we would have been done, right there.
It would have shoved my core support back, shoving my radiator back into the fan. That would have eaten the fan and radiator up. We would probably have bounced out the other side of the canal, but the car would have been in bad shape. Finding that Beetle stuck in the canal, definitely saved us. On the flat muddy, swampy crap, I had no problem flying along, but that canal, almost did a bad number on us and the car.
I have done other stuff like that, but not to the extreme we did that night. I have taken trucks with crappy, all terrain tires through some very nasty mud, at 40 mph or so. I did not have time to get stuck and wait on help to show up, we had things to do. So it was throttle down in 3rd and 4th gear, bouncing and sliding along, through some nasty stuff, but we never got stuck.
If you turn enough tire rpm, all tires have self cleaning tread.
But there are times, when you just can't fly through the mud, have to stop for various reasons, like to unlock a gate or make a sharp corner, ECT. At those times, good tall, wide tires, with good tread, lots of ground clearance between the bottom of the vehicle and the ground, then a good strong winch as back up. If you have a winch, you need lots of chain, strap, rope or something that won't break, that you can stretch out for 200 or so yards. Are all good to have. When it comes to winches, if you have a 5000 lb. vehicle, you need at least a 9,000 lb. winch, a 5,000 lb. winch will just be an irritation. 12,000 or 15,000 lb. winch is a much better idea, it won't be too much, there is no such thing as too much when you are really stuck.
I have a 6,700 lb. truck empty, but if I load it down, like I would when going hunting, it probably weighs, 7,300 lbs. I only have a 12,000 lb. winch. Because they were out of 15,000 lb. winches the day I bought my winch. I hope I don't ever really need to test out how strong that winch is.
If you plan on driving through mud like that, better tires is a good idea, then learn to get aggressive, and blow through the stuff as fast as safely possible. The better the tires and more ground clearance, the slower you can go, but slowing down even with a good set up, can be risky. If you find a really deep hole, you will probably still be done at that point. If the hole is only 20 ft. across or less, if you have enough speed and tire rpm, you can probably make it through it.
The only time you can poke along at low speeds and get through about anything, is when you have something like a D8 dozer. You would not believe what a D8 can go through. I have seen D8 track that were 4 ft. deep through soft crap. Then I followed those tracks in my 78 Bronco. That was some soft crap, I made it through.Comment
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RifleBowPistol, you're "That" guy at camp....Comment
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Originally posted by Big Lee View Post
I think he said go fast or buy a winch lol
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Is that so?Originally posted by Cullbuck View Post
He lost me at pistol
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Originally posted by Quackerbox View Post
I’ll be honest and say I did skim, so I may of missed something lol
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Smart has over 100,000 post but has used half as many words as RifleBowPistol.
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Next time something like this happens, shoot me a text. I can’t guarantee I can get you out but I’m near positive I can get to you, and I’ll bring some beer.Originally posted by fish4food View Post
It’ll be fun!Comment
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NopeComment
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Been there and done that back in the day. LolComment
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