Stuck again!

[fields_mj]

I had a pretty productive day on Saturday. I finished cutting roughly a cord of Hickory. I left it in a pile, and used my big saw to noodle an 8' section of a white oak trunk that I had left behind on my previous trip (about 1/4 cord). I was able to get the truck backed up close enough to a nice white oak top that was laying across a ravine. I took the saw around to the other side, and limbed off anything smaller than 3~4". I normally go a little smaller, but being on the side of the ravine, I just cut it where it was easiest to get to. I went back around and cut off the bottom 8' of the top, leaving me with 3 limbs that were 18"+ to drag out. I probably should have done the 8' section first, but I knew I was going to be tight on time (wife expected me home at 1:30, and it was already 10:30), so I hooked the chain to one end and pulled it up to where I could get it out of the way. I proceeded to pull the other three limbs out one at a time and buck them up into 24" lenghts. This wood is for 3 years from now, so I didn't bother splitting any of it. Those big rounds were a handfull to load, but they were alwasy right there at the tailgate, so that made it easier. I had almost a full cord on when I was done, and it was only 1:00. That was some kind of new record for me. I would have done a little better, but I managed to get the bar in the dirt at one point, and had to stop and spend an extra 15 min sharpening the chain. I loaded the tools back into the truck, and started working my way out of the woods. Once I got back out to the field, I took it out of 4 low and put it back in 2wd. I figured since the ground was frozen, and I had over 4K on the back, I should be fine.

Well, my OCD got the better of me. I knew there were a couple of nice white oak tops laying on the edge of the woods on the south edge of the field about 200 yds away, so I drove down there to finish off my load. After all, it was only 1:15, and I'm only 10 min from the house, and this will be the first time ever that I'm not an hour late getting home from cutting wood. I cut another 8 or 9 pcs, about 8~12" in diameter, and figured that would finish the load off nicely. Rather than carry the wood 20 yards across the snow covered grass, I figured I would just back right up to it. Here's where the day went from really good, to a lot worse. Right about the time I went to step on the brake, the truck stoped on it's own. I looked out the window to see my rear tire burried, axle on the ground. I had found a hole that wasn't frozen. Thankfully, it was just the one tire. I called the wife, and told her the news. I spent the next 20 min chucking my load out on the ground. I dug out around the tire a littel bit. Again, thankfully, once I put it back in 4wd, I was able to drive out of it without much problem. Spent the next hour stacking that full cord of wood back into the truck. I didn't take it back out of 4wd until I got to the highway. I pulled into the back yard at 3:20, tired as a whipped pup. The wife wasn't real happy, but since I called she was a lot more forgiving that I though she would be... Those were the worst 8~9 pcs fo firewood that I've ever cut in my life!!!

From now on I'm leaving the truck in 4wd until I get to the highway!

 

[beerman6]

I would have had her come and push the truck...

 

[hanniedog]

Why did you unload the truck? I would have tried 4wd first then chuck the wood if need be.

 

[CWME]

Why did you unload the truck? I would have tried 4wd first then chuck the wood if need be.

:agree2:

 

[Rob1276]

I was in a similar situation not long ago. I was cutting some hickory and there was some more over the hill. I needed some more to finish off the load. I had backed over this hill before to get wood so I thought no problem

Well I backed over the hill and at the last 50 feet or so I slide the rest of way. Mud Well I knew great this going to be fun. So I cut what I needed and loaded up. Got in truck and to my surprise I actually made it up the part of the hill I thought was going to screw me almost to the top was a hump, hit that hump and that where it stopped Backed down got a little run still no luck. Couldn't back to far down because a creek was preventing that.

Tried a couple times by then at the bottom was getting swampy and I was running out of chances there so I stopped got out surveyed the situation and weighed out my options. I seen a way out going up the hill at a angle. It had a few small trees in the way and a little brush. Cleared it all out of way and made my way out to the top that way I was beginning to sweat a little for a while. I didn't have to unload wood though

 

[fields_mj]

Why did you unload the truck? I would have tried 4wd first then chuck the wood if need be.

Because part of the rear bumper, and the hitch were sitting on the ground also. I've been here before with the front end sitting on good hard, but not frozen, ground. I had good traction that time, and the only thing I did was burry the other three tires. I've found that once a tire get's over half way down to the center of the hub, the weight needs to come off of it in order to get it out. With that tire sitting firmly on the axle, the tire was almost half burried. Trying to get it out with out taking the weight off like try to pull a plow through the ground. With the snow, grass, and frozen ground, the traction on the front end was going to be a little more limited than it normally would be. Had the other rear tire been in the same condition, I would have had to go get the farmer to bring his tractor out. I've had to do that a few times too.

 

[turnkey4099]

Because part of the rear bumper, and the hitch were sitting on the ground also. I've been here before with the front end sitting on good hard, but not frozen, ground. I had good traction that time, and the only thing I did was burry the other three tires. I've found that once a tire get's over half way down to the center of the hub, the weight needs to come off of it in order to get it out. With that tire sitting firmly on the axle, the tire was almost half burried. Trying to get it out with out taking the weight off like try to pull a plow through the ground. With the snow, grass, and frozen ground, the traction on the front end was going to be a little more limited than it normally would be. Had the other rear tire been in the same condition, I would have had to go get the farmer to bring his tractor out. I've had to do that a few times too.

Good planning. I learned long ago from my dad. At the first sign of being stuck STOP!. Look it over and develop a plan of attack. One more wheel spin can add another hour of work getting out. His technique was to buryi the throttle - somehow he never learned it doesn't work.

My worst day of 'stuck' was the day I scouted my summers attack "when it dries up" on a clear cut I was working. Looked it over, decided to turn around pulled off the road and sank axle deep both ends. Much blocking, jacking, digging and total destruction of an old hay wagon to get boards, etc. and I was out.

Harry K

 

[blacklocst]

Two months ago I was cutting in an area within walking distance from the house. I had to drive uphill (both ways) to where the site was except for a flat spot that was semi frozen. So I do my thing and I'm getting ready to back the truck up to load when the wheels cut though the half frozen dirt and I proceed to bury the truck almost up to the frame, now panic sets in because it was suppose to start snowing that afternoon and the tires on the pickup are like racing slicks and just a light dusting on the ground would have made it impossible to attempt without pin balling my way back down. So I call for back up and tell the wife where I am. Because the spot was logged a few years ago I figured she could help me haul branches and whatnot out of the way. In the meantime I try rocking back and forth with no luck so I start grabbing rocks to put under the tires and get it going backwards and since I can't get out from where I came I have to back my way out, but there is a 10" diameter maple a foot behind the tailgate so I cut it down and it cantilevers on a leaner thats 30 feet away and whips back and almost clips the truck. Now I have to cut a rats nest of decaying trees and tops that are buried half into the dirt. the wife shows up and gives me a hand clearing it and after 2 hours we clear a path that I can back out of so I load up and head home. But the funny thing was that I wasn't even tired, maybe the adrenaline rush had something to do with it or whatever, but the trip back was filled with visions of not getting out and having the truck stuck there for the winter under feet of snow.

 

[Misfit138]

Over the summer I was following my buddy out into the woods. He was in a 644-B frontloader, I was in the pickup, both on a rutted muddy trail.
When we finally got to the trees we were taking down I said, "Man, I almost got stuck about 5 times back there!"
He nodded and said, "Good."
I looked at him funny.
Then he said, "Almost gettin' stuck is better'n gettin' stuck."

 

[tawilson]

I would have had her come and push the truck...

Especially if she is pregnant. They push good.

 

[fields_mj]

My worst was a couple of summers ago. I had cut some locust over at a co-workers place, close to our work. He had warned me about a wet spot so I had made a habbit of staying away from it. Now this was in the middle of a drought, so everything should have been dry. I stick to my normal path on the way in. I do my cutting, and while I'm loading the saws up, the wife calls mad as an old wet hen. It was about 5 min after I was supposed to be home and getting dark, and I was still a 40 min drive away. I lock the hubs in (or so I thought) and hopped in the truck. I decided to take a little bit of a short cut accross a water way on the way out. I had about 3/4 cord of seasoned wood on. I reached down and put the truck into 4wd. I was about half way up the other side when the truck crept to a stop. I looked out and the rear bumper was on the groun, and so was the axle. I looked again at the front hubs, and I had acutally unlocked them. Some joker had locked them in form me during the day, which explains the light noise I was hearing from the front end on the way out there. I unloaded the wood, and tried digging the back end out with no luck. The only thing I accomplished was sitting the front end down on the axle as well. My co-worker was doing a stint over in India, so I had to wait for his son to get home from work. He got their old tractor out and proceeded to yank and pull and yank and pull on both the front and back end of the truck. I was very thanfull that I had welded up a 4" x 8" x 3/8" tube and moutned it to the frame behind the bumper. I had also welded in a 2" reciever to that, which was comming in very handy at this point. Needless to say, this wasn't the first time I had gotten stuck in this truck. At this point, we were just using the truck like a four bottom plow to make 4 ruts in the ground, plus a slight divet from the hogs head. He finally yanked me far enough forward (or backward, can't remember which now) that I could fit one of the splits down into the rut that the tires had made. I put one behind each tire, and had him pull me backward about two feet. Then put a split in each rut on the front end. After that he was able to pull me up out of there. The sad thing is that if I had been able to drive forward another 4', I would have never even had a problem. Actually, the sad thing is that if I had paid attention when I flipped the hubs, I would have never had a problem, or if I would have taken the long way around, (an extra 2 min) I would have never had a problem. Part of the reason I didn't take the long way was that I didn't like driving on the side of the water way with a load on due to the slope even though I had already done it several times. Oh well, lessons learned.

 

[buildmyown]

Get a hi-lift jack. I was never a fan of them till a few years ago when offroading with some friends when used right they will get you out of just about anywhere.

 

[fields_mj]

Yeah, I need to get one. I've thought about getting a 12K winch, but it just seems too impractical. It's big enough, and heavy enough, that I would seldom have it with me. The high lift would be pretty useful. I've just never broken down and gotten one.