HELP! I am stuck and i can't get out. (Story of the longest Whoops!) | Page 3 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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HELP! I am stuck and i can't get out. (Story of the longest Whoops!)

Here’s my problem. Stupid me went 4x4 in my STOCK!!! Explorer and got stuck in a swamp kind of creek thing. I don't really know what is but basically flooded grass. Its winter, about -13c and about 5 in of snow. So I broke through the ground and the wheels are in ruts and spinning freely. Ground level is the frame. How do I get out?

What I have available to me is a Kubota L2800 (Ruffly the same weight if not alittle heavier then the truck) with plow and Front end loader. I have a 3/4 ton come along and a 2 ton hoist. Lots of chain, no straps. I am a one man show with no help.

I have tried hooking a chain to the frame and the tractor and pulled from behind the truck and got nothing but spinning tires.

I have tried lowering the plow to the ground and curling the bucket to pull the truck out....Nothing

I have tried anchoring the tractor and using the 3/4 ton come along and got no where. I stopped one I couldn't move the handle back on forth easily in worry of breaking the chain.

My next moved was to try from the front of the truck. Anchor the tractor to the ground by putting the bucket and plow down. Attaching the 2 ton hoist to the bucket (there’s hooks welded to it). Attaching a chain to both side of the front frame, placing wooden rams on the front tires to help lift it to higher ground while I pull. My question is worth trying or a stupid idea? Is a hoist to dangerous to use in the vertical position?

Sorry I have no actual picks but i will post them once i can.
 



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i was in the same situation this fall, i swear the ground looked hard.... lol. what i did was went to walmart and got a come-a-long. actually two of them. if u have lots of chain hook to a tree like i did, and start ratcheting lol if not a tree maybe hook to the tractor? ya u have the tractor use it if u can, dig all the mud/ice/snow out fround around it, if u can get some gravel dump some down in there for more traction, but ya i would really try a come-a-long, thats the only thing that helped me, and i F-350 powerstoke with mudders tried to come get me out and didnt even get half way there and got stuck lol so good luck hope u get it out, i would deffinately change all your fluids asap, o and take your wheels off and clean the mud out very well, my calipers where full, i think thats waht fubar'd all my ABS stuff
 

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i got stuck like that xmas eve in some clay type mud up past my nurf bars ended up destorying my grille gaurd with the hi lift jack and that was after getting three other trucks stuck trying to pull me out needless to say we were out there for 14 hours working lol
 






Sry for no update in awhile! I work full time and the truck is in another town so it makes it tuff to get out there. Plus my uncle couldn't make it yesturday so i am trying today though! I am "planning" (Keyword there) to get out of the ice today. I am going to try the rock salt idea that sounds like it might work. Dump a hold bag around the truck and around the wheel wells.

From looking around at some pics here looks like getting stuck is all a part of wheeling. I thing i am going to invest is some good recovery equipment! :p
 






ya salts a good idea melt some of the ice out of there and throw some gravel or something in there for traction, i tried that too and found that big rocks dont really work well, didnt for me anyway - good luck
 






if you havn't got it.

I used to work at a shop and i did my oil changes there with the fork lift. Buy lifting the front of the truck. So, if possible, I don't know the max capacity of your kubota, but take the bucket of the tractor, try lifting the front of your truck with the bucket or plow of the tractor. Use a tow strap, no scratches. Fill the holes in and repeat back tires. Then drive or pull out with tractor. Call it crazy, but its been done. Coming from the U.P. you get to come up with all kinds of crazy resources. Good Luck.
 






How in the fawk!! Do you think the truck would still run after that? Thats a BIG whoops

Just be thankful you weren't this deep. ;)

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Sry for no update in awhile! I work full time and the truck is in another town so it makes it tuff to get out there. Plus my uncle couldn't make it yesturday so i am trying today though! I am "planning" (Keyword there) to get out of the ice today. I am going to try the rock salt idea that sounds like it might work. Dump a hold bag around the truck and around the wheel wells.

From looking around at some pics here looks like getting stuck is all a part of wheeling. I thing i am going to invest is some good recovery equipment! :p

So i am taking that it is still in the ice...
 






i was thinking what a few others were, get some bags of ice melt and pour a bag at each wheel. will give some traction and melt the ice. good luck
 






Yeah the salt seams to work pretty good! But i am still stuck! My uncle couldn't do anything with the escavator, well uther then bend up my bunper a bit. the game plan now its to get the truck running. I have the block heater running and i bought some gas line antifreeze. My thinking is get it running let it warm up and the shacking from the engine will virate throught the fram and slowly break it free. then jack it up and rip it out!!! So for now i wait. I don't want to try anything too crazy since for one thing i don't really know what i am doing!! and second and have other transportation now, so i can wait a bit for more help on the weekend.
 






I bet your suspension and frame are iced in by now. It will take a lot to break it free. :D If you get it running, maybe the heat from the engine will help melt some of the ice. You can only hope.

Oh well, this will be a good story for the grand kids. lol
 






hey i got a question for you guys! how long can you leave a block heater plugged in for? I was thinking of plugging it in and just leaving it. its pretty cold here they say tonight its going to go down the -25c thats -11f
 






hey i got a question for you guys! how long can you leave a block heater plugged in for? I was thinking of plugging it in and just leaving it. its pretty cold here they say tonight its going to go down the -25c thats -11f

You have got to get thing out.....it is getting worse and worse every time i check in on the thread....I would try to pull every string i could......
 






Archimides claimed that if he had a long enough lever and a big enough fulcrum, he could move the earth. You need tools.

First we want pics.......this we must see.....grant us this meager request in our (or my) non weeling stupor.

You could call the pro's. Tell them you need a long line tow out of ice. estimate the distance. The problem they will have is getting you free without tearing somthing off. This is your problem. Ramps and salt. A 1/2 drysuit will make this possible cause its gonna suck for you. You could very well go hypothermic in this task. In the course do somthing stupid and die.

repeat....be careful

The tow truck will need to fix to somthing solid. Find this point asap.

From the description your iced in. Salt is not a bad idea but you will need a huge amount. Im thinking 200 to 400 pounds especially in the direction of travel. Add sand on top of ice.

Levers.....somthing solid stuffed under the front (or back) tires with traction. 2 by anything wood may work, may not. I have no easy answers without a metal fabrication shop. Im thinking knurled aluminum plate.

If the pro's aren't coming you will need a tow device rated 2 to 3 times the gvw minimum. I suggest 5 times especially with the ice. This is a $2500 winch.

Got any friends in the military? Google "military recovery vehicle" This should clarify any questions. If it can tow a M1A1 tank...............

bat
 






One thing you could do to get it out is get one of those sidewalk clearing propane torches. Just go around the vehicle and leave like a foot around the vehicle so you don't burn it, then you can maybe chip away the ice OR hold the torch far enough back that the flame isn't melting the ice just heat coming off of it. Or a salamander heater, a propane heater, something. I don't think the tanks are that expensive, don't know if this is an option or not. Like this:

(edit:link would help)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91037

Or if you could get your hands on one of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...earchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+3573&pos=n05

I have one I would be more then happy to bring out to help with if you were closer to me, canada is a bit far from me though. You might be able to rent a heater like that from a construction equipment place or something...They put off some SERIOUS HEAT so if you could get one just angle it at the ground a little and point it at your car and I bet it would thaw quite a bit of it. Mine puts out about 150,000btu which is more then a home furnace. I got 10+ hrs out of mine with half a tank of kerosene in it too...Might be an idea if you can get your hands on one, I bet it'll melt the ice. Even if you put $60 worth of fuel through it it's still better then having a tow company rip your bumper off.
 






First we want pics.......this we must see.....grant us this meager request in our (or my) non weeling stupor.

Pics are on post #12, looks like summer is his best bet =p
 






the only thing I can do right now is wait for warmer weather, witch quite possible could be this weekend. I don't think time is going to hurt anything. If i try to rip it out now i am only going to break things. My big problem is getting underneth the vehical. If i could only get under there, then i could start useing a propane heater and salt. I have a turfer cable winch that we used to move our cabin. (This thing is pretty nuts!) But with it frozen in the ground the way it is I would only tear the frame right out!
 






Your not going to hurt it as easy as you think, these trucks are pretty tough

If you have electricity out there??? (you said you have a block heater plugged in?) then you can get some heat tapes (like for rain gutters) and put them around the truck and tires, let them melt down through the ice over night

A hi lift jack is how you are going to get under the truck to secure the tow strap/chains IMO
 






Just a thought, once you're set and ready to get it out (I'm pretty sure you'll need HD machinery or a lot of luck) try letting like 25 psi outta your tires , that way , they'll take "less space" or at least their shape will change, and therefore probably won't be trapped in the ice any more since they won't be "pushing" against the ice as much, kinda of ungluing them from the ice (dump rock salt in the spaces that will free up around the tires as the sidewalls won't buldge as much. But don't try it until you're ready to get it out cuz if water rushes back in and you're not getting it out, it'll freeze up again and complicate things. Looks kinda rural over there, any way you could ask a local front-end loader driver to come over and pull you out. just offer him 20$, it shouldn't take that long since it will either work right away or pull the frame off the axles :p: But seriously, I think the loader is a good idea, they have the weight, tires and power to pull you outta there and they are easily driven there. Just an idea.
 



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If you could setup one of those heaters like I was saying and point it at the front of the truck and angle it down it would thaw the ice. Hell maybe even throw a tarp over the whole thing and run the heater pumping in there. They put out CRAZY heat. My father in law used one to heat his tractor engine block in the dead of winter every day so he could start his tractor in the morings. They are made to heat houses while they're being constructed when they don't have any sheet rock of insulation on the sides yet.
 






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