# Getting a Tractor Stuck



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

A 4WD vehicle is only as good as it's recovery winch. But I never thought that simple advice applied to a 4WD Tractor. Last year I got a 4WD Tractor and since I'd only operated a number of 2WD Tractors,I felt that this one invincible...not so! :razz:

My Father In Law says "anyone who owns a Tractor and claims they've never been stuck is a liar". True.
I wish I'd taken pics!


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

If you have a front bucket and back hoe you can lift the tractor with the bucket and hoe if you dug yourself a hole.

I have only been stuck in driveways, never on a road, snowstorm or state of emergency snow storm be damned.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

And so many people want to floor a vehicle that gets stuck. It's all about traction and the small area between slip and grip which is unfortunately the same area near stalling the engine. You'd be surprised what a little shoveling snow can get you out of.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

James m said:


> If you have a front bucket and back hoe you can lift the tractor with the bucket and hoe if you dug yourself a hole.
> 
> I have only been stuck in driveways, never on a road, snowstorm or state of emergency snow storm be damned.


Front end Loaders and a Backhoe helps, but Southern Red Clay is a Sumbitch.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

Was it wet and muddy? I'm not familiar with clay. I suppose it's always just clay huh?


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Slippy said:


> Front end Loaders and a Backhoe helps, but Southern Red Clay is a Sumbitch.


Yep, that stuff gets more slippery than owl shit. Never played in any owl shit, but that it the decades old saying in the South. I have played in red clay though, once it gets packed in your tire threads you have the equivalent of racing slicks on your truck/tractor.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I thought this was amazing


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

When the Children were young they though getting stuck was funny. When they got old enough to do the plowing and field work it stopped being funny.
There is nothing worst than dessert clay when it gets real wet, nothing moves not even tracks.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

A Watchman said:


> Yep, that stuff gets more slippery than owl shit. Never played in any owl shit, but that it the decades old saying in the South. I have played in red clay though, once it gets packed in your tire threads you have the equivalent of racing slicks on your truck/tractor.


After a gut check of my southern drawl, I stand corrected, the old but true sayin is "slicker n owlshit".


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

Owl's throw up "owl pellets" because they can't pass bones and hair of mice and other animals the owl eats through its digestive system, so it will throw up a gray hairball with bones inside called an owl pellet. Yes I had to go through owl pellets.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

i got an M Farmall stuck quite a few times. Its pretty easy. About two turns in blow sand and it sinks down to the draw bar.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

In East Texas we have a varied soil typically either clay, sandy loam, or sand. You head west to Dallas and about Mesquite you get into that black gumbo stuff. It balls up in big black balls and sticks to the inside of a back hoe bucket. It takes a shovel to regularly pry it out of the bucket on an excavation job.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Slippy said:


> Front end Loaders and a Backhoe helps, but Southern Red Clay is a Sumbitch.


I'm about 300 miles north of you with the same red clay. been stuck but my Massey is only 2 wheel drive. Clay was so soft the bucket couldn't pull me out and the jeep in 4wd just jumped around yankin' at the tractor. Tow strap between jeep rear bumper and tree with winch cable to tractor. success, sort of.... that's why I try to stay out of the fields now after a week of rain like we've had the last 10 days.

Been wanting to hunt over the back field but I'm afraid to shoot because I may get stuck driving out to get the deer.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

A Watchman said:


> In East Texas we have a varied soil typically either clay, sandy loam, or sand. You head west to Dallas and about Mesquite you get into that black gumbo stuff. It balls up in big black balls and sticks to the inside of a back hoe bucket. It takes a shovel to regularly pry it out of the bucket on an excavation job.


I've played in your "black gumbo", not a slick as clay but twice as sticky plugging up the tire treads on a truck. It's a little crumbly to cake up fully on a tractor tire the way clay does. Personally I'd take your black gumbo dirt over clay any day for my pasture because it grows plants better.

Saturated clay vs ice,,, both have close to zero traction.


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

Slippy said:


> A 4WD vehicle is only as good as it's recovery winch. But I never thought that simple advice applied to a 4WD Tractor. Last year I got a 4WD Tractor and since I'd only operated a number of 2WD Tractors,I felt that this one invincible...not so! :razz:
> 
> My Father In Law says "anyone who owns a Tractor and claims they've never been stuck is a liar". True.
> I wish I'd taken pics!


I'm not sure your Father in law ever had a real 4WD tractor, attached is a pic of mine, I HAVE stuck several 2wd tractors in my time but this one is the exception, though I've only had it for 15 years so give me time.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

bigwheel said:


> i got an M Farmall stuck quite a few times. Its pretty easy. About two turns in blow sand and it sinks down to the draw bar.


Friend had a Farmall, it was a great lightweight tractor, I pulled him out many times.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Montana Rancher said:


> View attachment 13459
> 
> 
> I'm not sure your Father in law ever had a real 4WD tractor, attached is a pic of mine, I HAVE stuck several 2wd tractors in my time but this one is the exception, though I've only had it for 15 years so give me time.


My neighbor who sometimes parks his Massey 6170 down at my shop when he's harvesting his fields is weary about getting out when the red clay is saturated.

NC mountain trail racing jeeps on the abandoned fire cuts is easy compared to GA rolling fields with saturated red clay.


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

FoolAmI said:


> My neighbor who sometimes parks his Massey 6170 down at my shop when he's harvesting his fields is weary about getting out when the red clay is saturated.
> 
> NC mountain trail racing jeeps on the abandoned fire cuts is easy compared to GA rolling fields with saturated red clay.


Yes of course you can build a lighter vehicle with wide tires to the point that you cannot or probably will not get stuck, the point is if you want to plow a field the tractor is the only option. That being said, the tractor I own would probably win most of the mud races run today, but they are exempt.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Montana Rancher said:


> Yes of course you can build a lighter vehicle with wide tires to the point that you cannot or probably will not get stuck, the point is if you want to plow a field the tractor is the only option. That being said, the tractor I own would probably win most of the mud races run today, but they are exempt.


I was saying that in soaking wet GA red clay even a jeep can get stuck. My friend's Massey is roughly the same size as your tractor, rear tires are close to 72" tall and 100hp but the wet clay can still catch him if he's not careful.

When dry the clay is almost as hard as concrete.


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## Gunner's Mate (Aug 13, 2013)

I think this thread should be renamed getting a tractor unstuck, getting stuck is the easy part


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

1500 hours on my New Holland TC40D 4x4 with the super steer axle. Never been stuck to the point that I couldn't get my self out. I'm either a liar or I just know how to run equipment, your choice.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

FoolAmI said:


> I was saying that in soaking wet GA red clay even a jeep can get stuck. My friend's Massey is roughly the same size as your tractor, rear tires are close to 72" tall and 100hp but the wet clay can still catch him if he's not careful.
> 
> When dry the clay is almost as hard as concrete.


There is mud. And then there is MUD.
True story. I was an eye witness.
Our base camp was in two sections, with a dirt road running between them. 
In the monsoon time, it can easily rain non stop for a month. Mud on the shoulders of a road in this weather can get knee deep and a person can not even walk in it. The depth of the mud on the road itself? Well............
A green Lieutenant wanted to go from one camp to the other and told his jeep driver to take him. Driver protested, Lt ordered.
Jeep gets STUCK about half way across. I mean up-to-the-seats stuck. They flag down a passing Deuce And A Half, who hooked to it, threw her in low range 10 wheel drive, and promptly got stuck. And we always ran snow chains on the tires in rainy season for extra traction.
HE flags down a passing M-48 Patton tank, who was able to pull them both out, hooked together.
Moral of the story? You can't tell how deep the mud is from the top.:armata_PDT_25:


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

Maine-Marine said:


> I thought this was amazing


I sent this video to my dad and he said that his uncle tried this in the 50's. I guess one of the logs came loose, the clutch piled up and he couldn't shut it off. The log nearly beat him to death.

The moral of the storey i guess is you better be fast if you are gonna try this.


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

Nothing like getting a tractor stuck and walking back to the homestead to get something to get it unstuck.

I once saw my dad get a D6 CAT stuck in peat moss when I was a kid,we walked back to grandpa's farm to get the D4.took two hours there and back when we got back with the D4,the D6 was sunk up to the seat.had to dig it out with a neighbors excavator.


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## oldgrouch (Jul 11, 2014)

I wish getting my tractor stuck was a problem ---- I have trouble just starting my 1949 Ford 8N. However, I feel your pain.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

oldgrouch said:


> I wish getting my tractor stuck was a problem ---- I have trouble just starting my 1949 Ford 8N. However, I feel your pain.


I wish I HAD a tractor. Just a small one, with a bucket on the front and a 3 point hitch on the back to run a mower.
Been looking at used Kubotas. Coming up with the 5 to 7 grand is a problem, tho.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Yes it can, does, and will happen. Common sense and controlling the environment you are working or mobilizing minimizes the risk. In another life it seems,....... I used to have a utility/construction company with dozens of excavators, dozers, road boring equipment, loaders, backhoes etc........ One excavator had the word US Minnow (Gilligan's Island reference) fondly attached to it after it ended up in a lake after sliding off the bank.We used to lay some pipelines in some awful places and working off of wooden mats or steel plates was common to give the excavators a floating surface. I have also owned dozers that were sunk in swampy or deep wet sand conditions, even though they tare designed to float on the surface well due to width and weight distribution. Fortunately, I had my ample equipment to pull my stuff out, which sometime was quite an undertaking.

My life experience suggestions:
Survey your working conditions well and prepare.
Don't hire idiots to run your equipment.
Don't pay idiots to run your equipment.
Don't let idiots run your equipment.


All Of Your Family Members Should Know These Rules Regarding Your Cars And Trucks:

Never pull off on an unpaved shoulder after a rain event to make a call, check something out or other......find dry land.
Beware and cautious of sloping ground when stopping.
And never..... drive through water on a paved road when you cannot see the roadway.
Finally, never ride with anyone who says the words "Here hold my beer and watch this".


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

While haying as a kid the person pulling one of the full wagons screwed up and tried going across a wet section. This was sort of some loan over hard pan, but the hard pan wasn't hard anymore but muck. Had to unhitch, get some logging chains and a bigger tractor to get the tractor unstuck.

Then the fun began unloading the 200 bales and humping them to another wagon on solid ground and restacking them all. We left the wagon there for a month until summer dried things out.

Wish I had a 4wd tractor now. I'm running an old 9N that is still as reliable as the sun and I can fix most everything with what is in it's own small toolbox. Picked up a 70s Ford 2000 a while back and that is my "big" tractor for things I can't do with the N. I've only got $3500 into buying both tractors.

I'm only working on 40 acres of fields and hardwoods so I get by with those. If I had a 4WD that would be great as the snow gets deep here, not much mud to worry about on current property. Tire chains keep things going until the snow gets deeper than the tractors bellies.


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## Hipste129 (Sep 18, 2020)

I understand your problem I had this only with the combine
The moment it got stuck I had to mow a lot of corn, but not even that, when it happened and I had to pull it out, I damaged a lot of parts (engine and pistons) and that is why I used agco parts online immediately
And these parts made my engine more powerful and helped with many problems


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## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

Maine-Marine said:


> I thought this was amazing


Got to remember that method.


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