Baja

A long story, they all are. Thought I would post just for the heck of it.
It all started with a innocent phone call, free firewood, even cut to length, courtesy of the Fire Dept. Can't pass that up. I drove to the field where the work was being done, sure enough, the FD was there, 25 of them, and a bunch of trees, both standing and cut up. NICE! This was being done as a restoration project of a meadow back to a natural wetland. I was warned that the field could be muddy. Being July, it HAS NOT RAINED in about 4 months. Off I drove in 4wd and I felt the truck working hard, like driving across soft sand. I left pretty deep impressions. Got to a place, started to load up and saw the FD duelly very stuck. See pic. It got pulled out by the Ford. The Dodge managed to go another 100 feet and went down for good, both front and rear. The FD declined my help saying they had a front loader coming. No worries, I stuffed the bed with wood and started to drive off in another direction because of the other stuck truck. As I went by the Captain, I stopped to thank him. Big Mistake. I felt the truck go South while getting the feeling my afternoon was doing the same. I opened the door to see the ground right at the rocker panel, not good. This a really high quality gumbo mud, the kind that is impossible to scrape off. The BFG's AT were pretty clogged, but then the front loader tires were not much better. See pic. The truck was going nowhere. Front loader to the rescue, since I was closest to it, the FD offered to pull me out first. Sure, Thanks. Hooked up a chain and down goes the front loader. Going from bad to worse. Bummer, now I have to offload all my wood and start digging. With about 100' of chain, rope, bras and jackets, we cobble together a long pull strap. The Ford, who has managed, thank God, to avoid all of this, struggles, but manages to pull me out. Together we both struggle, but pull the front loader out. He then pulls out the Dodge. The FD were great, a bunch of nice guys, I thank them, load back up and head home for a well earned beer.

tool

Yuck, that is no fun at all getting myred like that.

I'm suprised that the loader could have pushed himself back out by planting the bucket and rolling it back though.

Glad you got out ok without too much of a hassle.

Blast Chamber

Look on the bright side, it could have been worse...

04ctd

nothing's ever FREE......

i like the scenery in the first pic, with the mountians in the background.

bsj04

one of those thinks that is too good to be true! "free fire wood cut into logs already"

Baja

Actually it was not too bad, I was laughing at the craziness of it all, it was a good cluster. I have been back to pick up a bunch more, keeping to the high ground

Fronty Owner

You said this was july...

its late january now.

YOUR just now telling us this??? I hope you JUST NOW got out of the field for not reporting this earlier...

fordkiller43

Well glad you gotta outta that muck. That stuff looked pretty nasty.

That looked like a scene from Ice Road Truckers!

Baja

Yeah, the post from the "ice road truckers" is much worse, no doubt about it.
I agree, the post is a bit late, but I was just goofing around, thought I would throw it out there. We have had over 8" of rain in the last 7 days, I promise you if I were in that field now, the only thing that would be showing would be the tip of my antenna.

archer39

I wish our FD had a front loader like that. Out of curiosity what do they use it for other than pulling stuck trucks out of a swamp?

Blast Chamber

The picture I posted was actually taken in Utah out on the salt flats. It was a funny situation last year involving Boyd Coddington's motorhome, and is on the following forum with more pictures of the carnage.

http://www.nsra.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41863

Baja

When it rains hard, we get a LOT of mudslides. Those front loaders have dug out many a house or have opened up a road for access. They also have a large fleet of Cats and road graders for making fire breaks and maintaining the dirt access roads that go into the backcountry. I am sure you have read about our insane fires we get out here.
Right now all those mountains in the backround are covered with snow, beautiful.
...... and occasionally they help pull hapless vehicles out of swamps.

doznfire

Did you catch the name of the loader operator

doznfire

another of Ventura

Mexstan

Baja, if you are stuck that deep, suggest that you remove your wheels and check the vents in your brake discs. Chances are that they are gummed up with gumbo and if you leave them like that you will quickly end up with warped discs. Of course, if you are towing, then they will probably overheat as well. I have been stuck like that twice and each time had to use a pressure washer to clean out the vents.