My Stupidity or "How I got Stuck"

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:53 am

Hi everyone, clearly i'm new to the forum and off roading. I figured you all would get a bit of a laugh from my first "stuck" story, and by stuck I mean stuck.

Summer was just starting and it had been raining heavily for the past 2 days. Me and a friend decided it would be fun to go do some mudding, him in his Blazer, me in my KJ. Four minutes into it everything was going fine, until I made my first mistake. I drove in the ruts. My JK's underbelly clearly had settled onto the ground with my wheels in the ruts. My friend told me he would turn around and come back to pull me out, seems like its going to be all ok. Then his whole left side drops and lands firmly on the frame, he isnt going anywhere. For the next two hours we are out there trying to jack up the KJ to get stuff under the tires, but everything I give it gas the just shoot out and i'm back in the water/mud. We then get a ride from someone we know to go to Home Depot to get a come along and some straps. Once we get back we are just laughing at how we should have had more straps and a come along to begin with. We stopped laughing after we starting pulling trees out of the ground because it was too saturated. Well for the next couple hours more we get another person out there to try to figure out what to do until we decide that we are offically stuck until morning.

Next morning we are back out there with help on the way, a backhoe. Simple enough, he will go back there and pull us out with some chains and that will be that. Until the backhoe got stuck. It took him at least 20 minutes of using both the front scoop and the back hydrolic arm to push himself out of ruts he created, it took a good 60ft of chains for him to be on solid ground to drag us both out.

Here is what I learned from this experience:
1. Go offroading with at least 2 other vehicles
2. Check the terrain your going on to make sure your vehicle can handle it
3. Buy a Hi-Lift and a shovel
4. Carry more straps
5. Get tow hooks or shackles(crawling underneath to tie a chain to your axle is no fun)
6. Get better tires
7. Get a Lift
8. Have at least one person in the group that knows what the hell he is doing
9. That "Trail Rated" badge means hard packed earth, not mud, especially with nearly a foot of water on top of it

Here are some pictures I took with my phone on day 1, sorry guys I didnt bother bringing back a better camera to take photos of the recovery.

kolesy · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:59 am

Quote:

9. That "Trail Rated" badge means hard packed earth, not mud, especially with nearly a foot of water on top of it

Come on now, The Lib is definitley trail rated, you just gotta know how to use it. Yeah the ground clearance leaves something to be desired but......

Dudes thats frickin funny how a big ars backhoe got stuck trying to pull ya out! That must have been one hell of a rainfall you guys had! :shock:

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:05 am

Well thats the problem, I guess I dont know how to drive it in those conditions. Well that spot were in tends to hold alot of water, it never gets dry. Thats why I thought we could handle it easier as there is always some surface water and it never has been a problem for other people.

kolesy · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:15 am

Its all good man, a learnign experience. I wasn't saying you don't know how to drive or anything though. Just sayinf you got a new rig and gotta get used to how everything is set up on it. Oh and by the way..... WELCOME!

CarNutCertifies · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:19 am

something i was told after i did the same thing.....

There are two kinds of jeeps in this world....

1. Those that have been stuck
2. Those that will be.....

WELCOME to the club!!!

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:37 am

On stock slicks it was bound to happen :wink:

NJ KJ · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:57 am

CarNutCertifies wrote:

something i was told after i did the same thing.....

There are two kinds of jeeps in this world....

1. Those that have been stuck
2. Those that will be.....

WELCOME to the club!!!

Thats a fact!!!!!

I would invest in a winch... greatest thing ever i did to my jeep.

DaveKJ02 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:03 am

"My Stupidity or "How I got Stuck"

Both.

Looks like you got stuck going somewhere that would be challenging with bigger Mud Terrains let alone tiny stock tires.

"crawling underneath to tie a chain to your axle is no fun" That there is stupid.

raceinfan · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:10 am

I always straddle the rut's,unless I know for fact I can make it

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:20 am

well I didnt so much crawl underneath like I said I did. It was more that I had to lay down and reach up underneath. If it shifted anyI would have been fine as my body wasnt physically underneath. BTW it was pulled out backwards so I didnt really have that far to reach. I suppose I worded it wrong as it seems that I implyed that I put myself in a dangerous situation where the KJ could drop ontop of me.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:35 am

You really didnt do anything wrong. With stock tires and no lift, you would need ALOT of speed to make it through that. :wink:

What was that strap on the front hooked to? :shock:

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:46 am

That front strap was going to the come along I bought, we were trying to pull it foward, maybe 4 feet more and it would have been out of the ruts. Obviously it had no effect other than doing a good job of pulling out trees. We finally wrapped a strap around a a cluster of 5 trees and that worked better, just there was too much resistance and not enough mechanical leverage to be able pull it forward.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:26 pm

I mean on the jeep? It looks like it was hooked to the front control arm...

moose · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:39 pm

CarNutCertifies wrote:

something i was told after i did the same thing.....

There are two kinds of jeeps in this world....

1. Those that have been stuck
2. Those that will be.....

WELCOME to the club!!!

Unfortunatly, there is a third... One that will never get off the pavement

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:15 pm

Correct, that strap was on the control arm, at the time I did not have any tow hooks so I had to find the strongest place to attach a strap. I shouldnt have gone out there without proper tow points, but then again the fact I went out there was stupid to begin with. After that experience I started read more about off-roading so that next time I decide to go out somewhere I can be sure I get out without any trouble.

moose · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:34 pm

so is this spot near Toledo?

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:50 pm

Ahh, I went offroading for along time without any front tow hooks. Its nice to have something atleast on the rear though. A hitch or just the stock tow hook. :wink:

kolesy · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:28 pm

Quote:

Correct, that strap was on the control arm

Desperate times calls for desperate measures!

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:18 pm

Yes it is near Toledo, I would give directions and who to contact for permission except recently the property has changed ownership and no one is allowed to go there now.

moose · **Posted:** Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:18 am

Sean150 wrote:

Yes it is near Toledo, I would give directions and who to contact for permission except recently the property has changed ownership and no one is allowed to go there now.

I'm working on getting an additional 13 acres in Wood County that is river bottom. Not good for much but wheeling and hunting. We should be able to setup a 1 mile course that even lifted KJ's will find fun (when river levels are low - so it'll only be in summer/fall).

My Stupidity or "How I got Stuck"

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