Jeep Cherokee XJ stuck in a water hole

I'm sitting home a little after 7pm and my cell rings... Its my friend Jim, whose Cherokee XJ we lifted @ my house a few weeks ago (4" lift kit with 33x12.5). He was wheeling alone (his buddy Mike riding shotgun) and tried to traverse a 35' mud hole and got stuck. He was trying to get out for an hour and had pretty much high centered his rig, and was asking for help.. He tried lifting his rig with his high lift and digging out but the water was 32F and he was wearing sneakers.. Needless to say he was cold... I grab my recovery kit (40,000lb tow strap, shackles, shovels, and 2 come alongs and head out.. When I find the entrance to where he is I see it is being actively logged. The ground is very muddy with deep one foot ruts everywhere.. I call Jim's cell to get directions as I didn't want to be driving around looking for him with the potential of getting stuck myself. Anyway I drive 1/2 way in and stop at a 30' long puddle about a foot deep.. By this time Jim has found me and confirmed the puddle was no problem so I go through it.. I pick up Jim and Mike and head back to his Cherokee.

Here is Jim rigging up a tow strap. The water is about 2 feet deep and has started to come in through the front doors.

Unfortunately the only place to pull him from is on a hill... the other ground is way to mushy as we are right next to a river.. The locals call this "Mud Road" . Anyway we hooked up a few tow straps and gave it a go.. Actually it was a no go Jim was way to stuck and with me trying to pull uphill in mud was just not working.. I would let the yank strap have a few feet of slack and then really yank it, but my tires would just spin once the slack was gone... In the pic below you can see the deep ruts I made trying to yank him out.. I then whipped out my handy dandy 4 ton Ebay special come along and began to pull him out.. At first it was actually working, but the puller started bending its spool (you get what you pay for).. After trying for several hours we decided to leave it and come back in the morning...

The next morning we can actually see

 

['97 V8]

Did you get it out?

 

[Burns]

That is great. I just love it.

 

[Ranger379]

iv got your jeep thing....on the end of my tow strap




lol that sucks tho, did ya get it out? one reason u shouldnt wheel alone or not have a winch, i know the feeling lol. but anyway did ya get him out?

 

[DeRocha]

When we got back the next morning (7:30am) and could actually see the entire front axle was high centered and the front left wheel was in a huge hole... We were hoping the low temp during the night would help to firm up the muddy hill where I couldn't get any decent traction the night before. Unfortunately the ground was still pretty water logged and after another hour of trying different things we decided to get another tow strap so I could pull from up the hill where the ground wasn't muddy and rutted.

On the way out the logging guys had just arrived and were setting up their equipment.. As it so happens they were Twin brothers (Brian & Peter) who used to live in my old neighborhood. After reminiscing about the old neighborhood and getting a good laugh out of the stuck Jeep they were eager to help out. Brian fired up the logging skid steer and drove the 1/2 mile down the trail to reach the Cherokee. I was worried the logger wouldn't fit through the narrow areas, but it just pushed several 3-4" trees right over (It pays to have the right equipment).. We attached the tow stap to the loggers 30 ton pinchers and Brian pulled the Cherokee out like butter.. I mean Brain moved forward @ 1mph the Jeep just came right out..

Here are some pics of the trail as we headed back..

Back at the logging site.. This is Jim's Cherokee next to one of Brian and Peter's trucks.

This is a pick of Jim. He didn't have any hip waders, so he duct taped some hefty bags to his legs to keep out the water.. I guess being in the water for an hour the night before left an impression..

 

['97 V8]

i hate mud soo much.

 

[Grrlwronged]

LMAO
OMFG thats too funny! Well after the fact Im sure he was laughing

 

[DeRocha]

LMAO
OMFG thats too funny! Well after the fact Im sure he was laughing

Yeah when we had to leave it over night Jim said something like it sucks right now, but once we get it out we can think back and laugh about it.

After checking things out and not having any suspension damage (just a little body damage). Jim did the Cherokee Happy Dance (click link for video)

 

[izackary]

Hey John, let's go play today.

 

[Raminator157]

lol Looks like fun

 

[cgriffin_5139]

Nice good thing you buddy had a tree skidder.

 

[DeRocha]

Nice good thing you buddy had a tree skidder.

Very lucky... as the local towing company charges $200+ for an extraction in that area... Before dumping that kind of cash we were going to try pulling from up the hill were I could get better traction... I was trying not to yank too hard as the tow strap was wrapped around the uni-bodies left shackle..

 

[1996explorerxlt]

Where do you guys wheel? Me, a co-worker and a couple of his friends are looking to find some places. So far we just go behind the dealership I work at.

 

[DeRocha]

Where do you guys wheel? Me, a co-worker and a couple of his friends are looking to find some places. So far we just go behind the dealership I work at.

I was waiting for that question. I've never wheeled there and only went to extract Jim (can't ignore a fellow 4x4 distress call ) Unfortunately the place is private property and you could get fined/ticketed for trespassing (there are signs). I wasn't worried so much going at night since no one was there, but the police could just wait by the entrance/exit and get you when you leave.

Anyway the place has been used by locals to wheel for 30yrs and for the most part the owners don't mind wheeling, but obviously don't want people illegally dumping and burning cars. Unfortunately the area is being logged because they are planning on building there.. According to Jim there used to be lots of paths through the trees and as you can see in the Video lots of trees have been logged and the ground is being leveled.. So the main area is a huge open pit at the moment.