Getting unstuck
Long story, shortened. We let some property surveyors use our Jeepster to mark our property line and they got it stuck.
Picture of said Jeepster, not stuck.
They managed to sink all 4 tires into the mud up to the frame. It is not 4WD. The underbelly is one big plate, so it was almost floating on the plate.
They were on the outside of my fence and where they were was not wide enough to get any other vehicle I own into except my ATV. My ATV is super light and too small to jerk this Jeepster around. We tried jacking it up and putting boards under it but the front end sank and the wheels just spun. The mud was soupy and the more we messed with it the messier it got. And it was pouring rain to boot. So we left it for a drier day.
Yesterday afternoon I walked out to where it was. To recap the visual - the fence was on the right side of it and a thick line of brush was on the left side. In the brush next to the Jeepster was a swamp. The cleared zone was about 6 feet wide and about 800 feet long. The Jeepster was about 1 foot from the fence. On the other side of the fence was my hay pasture. So it was wide open.
I tried to back the Jeepster out, hoping it was dry enough. It was not. The back wheels were spinning. I thought for a minute and went for my tractor. I drove my tractor perpendicular to the fence on the hay meadow side. The ground was higher and drier and more solid. I pulled up about 50' down the fence from the Jeepster.
I lowered the front end loader over the fence as low as I could without touching the fence and hooked a chain up to it. I ran a second chain to the Jeepster and hooked the 2 chains together.
Geometry lesson - the chain will stay the same length, so if I increase the angle and the tractor does not move, the Jeepster must move, right? Visualize a triangle. Another way to think about it - When you pick up one end of a rope that is tight, what happens to the other end of the rope? It comes towards you.
That's exactly what I did - I raised the front end loader and as the chain followed it, it pulled the Jeepster out about 8', which is all I needed. I jumped into the Jeepster and backed up to under the front end loader and unhooked to chains. Then backed out the rest of the 800'.
It was pretty slick. My engineer dad would have been proud. I didn't even think about pictures or a video until I told my husband how I got it out.
Picture of said Jeepster, not stuck.
They managed to sink all 4 tires into the mud up to the frame. It is not 4WD. The underbelly is one big plate, so it was almost floating on the plate.
They were on the outside of my fence and where they were was not wide enough to get any other vehicle I own into except my ATV. My ATV is super light and too small to jerk this Jeepster around. We tried jacking it up and putting boards under it but the front end sank and the wheels just spun. The mud was soupy and the more we messed with it the messier it got. And it was pouring rain to boot. So we left it for a drier day.
Yesterday afternoon I walked out to where it was. To recap the visual - the fence was on the right side of it and a thick line of brush was on the left side. In the brush next to the Jeepster was a swamp. The cleared zone was about 6 feet wide and about 800 feet long. The Jeepster was about 1 foot from the fence. On the other side of the fence was my hay pasture. So it was wide open.
I tried to back the Jeepster out, hoping it was dry enough. It was not. The back wheels were spinning. I thought for a minute and went for my tractor. I drove my tractor perpendicular to the fence on the hay meadow side. The ground was higher and drier and more solid. I pulled up about 50' down the fence from the Jeepster.
I lowered the front end loader over the fence as low as I could without touching the fence and hooked a chain up to it. I ran a second chain to the Jeepster and hooked the 2 chains together.
Geometry lesson - the chain will stay the same length, so if I increase the angle and the tractor does not move, the Jeepster must move, right? Visualize a triangle. Another way to think about it - When you pick up one end of a rope that is tight, what happens to the other end of the rope? It comes towards you.
That's exactly what I did - I raised the front end loader and as the chain followed it, it pulled the Jeepster out about 8', which is all I needed. I jumped into the Jeepster and backed up to under the front end loader and unhooked to chains. Then backed out the rest of the 800'.
It was pretty slick. My engineer dad would have been proud. I didn't even think about pictures or a video until I told my husband how I got it out.
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