Worst stuck
- Thread starter IronPercheron
- Start date
I got a pretty good stuck story ....
My dad and I were out alone in the Panamint valley , one of the driest hottest places in the US....
We came to this wash and I got out and walked it to test firmness, wetness, etc...it felt really firm underfoot...
I made my way across it and quickly broke through a hard upper layer into some soupy mud... uh oh
Front and rear lockers got me nowhere I was STUCK , and stuck good . What to do ? No other vehicles around, no natural anchors to tug off...
I remembered a technique from my rock climbing days , you can dig a U-shaped channel in the snow , and if you have enough surface area , you can safely rappel off it . So I dug a U shaped bollard around a clump of vegetation, and threw my strap down in there....
I held my breath and started winching ...
And we were free ! We only needed to pull out about 15 feet to get on firmer ground....
Dad and I cracked a cold one and breathed a sigh of relief , what a great memory lookin back on it now ....
My dad and I were out alone in the Panamint valley , one of the driest hottest places in the US....
We came to this wash and I got out and walked it to test firmness, wetness, etc...it felt really firm underfoot...
I made my way across it and quickly broke through a hard upper layer into some soupy mud... uh oh
Front and rear lockers got me nowhere I was STUCK , and stuck good . What to do ? No other vehicles around, no natural anchors to tug off...
I remembered a technique from my rock climbing days , you can dig a U-shaped channel in the snow , and if you have enough surface area , you can safely rappel off it . So I dug a U shaped bollard around a clump of vegetation, and threw my strap down in there....
I held my breath and started winching ...
And we were free ! We only needed to pull out about 15 feet to get on firmer ground....
Dad and I cracked a cold one and breathed a sigh of relief , what a great memory lookin back on it now ....
Pathfinder III
Thats pretty cool. Put that idea in my head for the future.
Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
Wasn't a worst stuck but was fun playing in the snow. Need to get back out to it and see the countryside. Good times
Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
Advocate II
This was pretty bad. We were 12,000 feet up on a "dry" lakebed called "Dasty Nawur" in Eastern Afghanistan, same as above, dry at the surface but soup underneath. The little dry layer didn't stand up 12,000 lbs of armored over landers and we were STUCK. The bad was that the folks that wanted to kill us, saw us, and tried to engage from a ridgeline. The good was that we were 4K away from them in the middle of the lake. Our CAS got there before their mortars did and we were able to eventually recover the stuck vehicles and get moving. It was tense for a while though. Lesson learned about the length of recovery straps. We couldn't get enough standoff with our short 20 ft straps to pull the vehicles out without sticking the recovery vehicle. We eventually interlinked (no joke) 6 recovery straps together to get far enough away. After pulling 12k of armored vehicle out, those Kevlar and nylon straps are permanently welded together. Everything is a lesson.
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
Been known to bury my spare for an anchorI got a pretty good stuck story ....
My dad and I were out alone in the Panamint valley , one of the driest hottest places in the US....
We came to this wash and I got out and walked it to test firmness, wetness, etc...it felt really firm underfoot...
I made my way across it and quickly broke through a hard upper layer into some soupy mud... uh oh
Front and rear lockers got me nowhere I was STUCK , and stuck good . What to do ? No other vehicles around, no natural anchors to tug off...
I remembered a technique from my rock climbing days , you can dig a U-shaped channel in the snow , and if you have enough surface area , you can safely rappel off it . So I dug a U shaped bollard around a clump of vegetation, and threw my strap down in there....
I held my breath and started winching ...
And we were free ! We only needed to pull out about 15 feet to get on firmer ground....
Dad and I cracked a cold one and breathed a sigh of relief , what a great memory lookin back on it now ....
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Advocate II
This is a great story. I love that you documented it like that. Fantastic.I got a pretty good stuck story ....
My dad and I were out alone in the Panamint valley , one of the driest hottest places in the US....
We came to this wash and I got out and walked it to test firmness, wetness, etc...it felt really firm underfoot...
I made my way across it and quickly broke through a hard upper layer into some soupy mud... uh oh
Front and rear lockers got me nowhere I was STUCK , and stuck good . What to do ? No other vehicles around, no natural anchors to tug off...
I remembered a technique from my rock climbing days , you can dig a U-shaped channel in the snow , and if you have enough surface area , you can safely rappel off it . So I dug a U shaped bollard around a clump of vegetation, and threw my strap down in there....
I held my breath and started winching ...
And we were free ! We only needed to pull out about 15 feet to get on firmer ground....
Dad and I cracked a cold one and breathed a sigh of relief , what a great memory lookin back on it now ....
Sent from my iPad using Overland Bound Talk
yes sir, that was our next option , I'd probably still be out there considering the time it would've take to entomb a 37" tire , winch off it , and excavate it back out ....
I know it's different trying to do a recovery when someone is shooting at you (horray CAP!), if you ever have to interlink straps try to put a stick or some rolled paper or something in the middle of the link if you ever want to get them apart again. You can also get a sailing tool called a Marlinspike, it's a tapered, curved, and pointed piece of steel (usually part of a folding knife) used by sailors to get knots apart that are crusted with salt and swollen with spray. You just work the spike through the knot and can start loosening it a bit at a time until it opens up.This was pretty bad. We were 12,000 feet up on a "dry" lakebed called "Dasty Nawur" in Eastern Afghanistan, same as above, dry at the surface but soup underneath. The little dry layer didn't stand up 12,000 lbs of armored over landers and we were STUCK. The bad was that the folks that wanted to kill us, saw us, and tried to engage from a ridgeline. The good was that we were 4K away from them in the middle of the lake. Our CAS got there before their mortars did and we were able to eventually recover the stuck vehicles and get moving. It was tense for a while though. Lesson learned about the length of recovery straps. We couldn't get enough standoff with our short 20 ft straps to pull the vehicles out without sticking the recovery vehicle. We eventually interlinked (no joke) 6 recovery straps together to get far enough away. After pulling 12k of armored vehicle out, those Kevlar and nylon straps are permanently welded together. Everything is a lesson.
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
Between the sticks and the marlinspike you should be able to get anything apart.
I once stuck an m916 and m870a1 outside of a F.O.B not to be named.
Had to get winched out via hemmet wrecker. .. the life of a convoy troop I suppose.
Seen hemmets stuck too
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Had to get winched out via hemmet wrecker. .. the life of a convoy troop I suppose.
Seen hemmets stuck too
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Ditto, it was much better when I had 33s haha I have 37s now and I love my folding land anchor now
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Mine was on a recent trip through Land between the Lakes. Went on a road that we thought was a fire road, but ended up being a rutted trail. Got through just fine. Once we reach half way on the trail we turned around and went back the way we came in. On the trail we had encountered around five Jeeps that had been bogging the trail. On the way out, the area was not the same as it was just 45 mins prior. You could tell it had been bogged out pretty badly with all the Jeeps going through.
It took a TJ strapped to a XJ to winch me out from the backside of the truck. I was buried frame deep and was just pushing a wall of mud with my front bumper.
It took a TJ strapped to a XJ to winch me out from the backside of the truck. I was buried frame deep and was just pushing a wall of mud with my front bumper.
This was last year in Hollister, Ca. My old FJ60. Group said follow the leader. I was the leader, nobody followed. 
Got pulled out backwards.
Got pulled out backwards.
Doesn't look too bad except the fact the we were about 2 feet away from our rear tire going off a into about a 7 foot drop. Took 2 vehicles about an hour and a half to get through 40 yards of this crap.
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
Influencer II
My friend and I were up in New Hampshire on a two week excursion in our rigs. The trail had a deep trench running through it. On the left side of the trail was a small pond that had a steep drop off, the right side was a 50 foot drop. The trench appeared to be caused by the pond draining down the hill so it made this section very narrow to cross. I spotted my friends xterra across without a problem. We knew my vehicle was going to cause more problems because it is a little wider than his. He spotted my front tires across and said my back end was good. I slowly crept forward and BOOM! He was wrong and the right rear tire decided to take a scenic route into the collapsed part of the trench. This caused my truck to be resting on the rear portion of the frame.
All looks fine on the drivers side.
About that... This was before my lockers and transfer case upgrade, but I still don't believe they would have helped because the front end was barely touching the ground. It took about 15 minutes to pull my truck out of the precarious position. Needless to say, I never fully trusted his spotting the rest of the trip.
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
All looks fine on the drivers side.
About that... This was before my lockers and transfer case upgrade, but I still don't believe they would have helped because the front end was barely touching the ground. It took about 15 minutes to pull my truck out of the precarious position. Needless to say, I never fully trusted his spotting the rest of the trip.
Sent from my iPhone using Overland Bound Talk
Last edited:
Traveler III
This was by far my worst, and what caused me to sell my truck.
This is at some off road park in the Middle of Nowhere, AL. I remember there hadn't been a drop of rain for over a week. I figured this would be the best time to go try out this park just to see how capable my little Ranger was, and most importantly to get good instagram photos. The picture bellow was taken at the very beginning of the trail. I did not make it ten feet past the front entrance. In my defense, I walked the ground before trying to cross it in a vehicle. There was only a tiny little puddle in the middle and it didn't feel too soft. This is appeared to be an obstacle that anyone would cross and not think twice about. I was very, very wrong. The second I drove over it at around 10 mph the outer layer cracked and my truck went straight into a hole filled with thick mud. After 2.5 hours of trial and error with several different vehicles, it took a big tractor to free it. The absolute worst part about this is that I drove it home. I wasn't thinking straight. A couple of days later after I got all the mud off, I found liquids seeping from every part of the rear end. The front shocks were also destroyed as well as a small hole in the radiator and my front bumper being bent out of shape. There were probably plenty of other issues that I didn't bother checking, it was already 12 years old and had almost 300k miles. The truck was not worth fixing so I sold it. Fun while it lasted though. Learned a good lesson in always being prepared for the worst. And never go exploring alone.
The truck has 5 inches of lift on it and 33 inch tires. Taller than a stock f-150. Here it felt like getting out of a sports car, it was so low
This is at some off road park in the Middle of Nowhere, AL. I remember there hadn't been a drop of rain for over a week. I figured this would be the best time to go try out this park just to see how capable my little Ranger was, and most importantly to get good instagram photos. The picture bellow was taken at the very beginning of the trail. I did not make it ten feet past the front entrance. In my defense, I walked the ground before trying to cross it in a vehicle. There was only a tiny little puddle in the middle and it didn't feel too soft. This is appeared to be an obstacle that anyone would cross and not think twice about. I was very, very wrong. The second I drove over it at around 10 mph the outer layer cracked and my truck went straight into a hole filled with thick mud. After 2.5 hours of trial and error with several different vehicles, it took a big tractor to free it. The absolute worst part about this is that I drove it home. I wasn't thinking straight. A couple of days later after I got all the mud off, I found liquids seeping from every part of the rear end. The front shocks were also destroyed as well as a small hole in the radiator and my front bumper being bent out of shape. There were probably plenty of other issues that I didn't bother checking, it was already 12 years old and had almost 300k miles. The truck was not worth fixing so I sold it. Fun while it lasted though. Learned a good lesson in always being prepared for the worst. And never go exploring alone.
The truck has 5 inches of lift on it and 33 inch tires. Taller than a stock f-150. Here it felt like getting out of a sports car, it was so low
I guess this counts as being stuck. My friends and I went to do a little night wheeling and on our way back I was going to bash through a big puddle on the side of the road. Didn't realize that there was a second smaller deeper puddle after it and when I hit it at 10mph+ it sheered the upper ball joint, severed the brake line, bent the tie rod and tore the CV axle apart. Definitely should have gotten out to take a look but hindsight is 20/20. This was due to the ball joint being maxed out because they guy I bought the truck from thought it would be a good idea to have the Bilsteins set at 2.8 and then add another 1.5" spacer on top without a diff drop and on OEM control arms. This actually ended up happening on the passenger side too while I was driving down the road. Needless to say, the suspension has been fixed since then but I still live in fear that it will happen again. Also, don't let the smile fool you, I was pissed and ended up paying a little over $2,000 to fix it
Here's the second time
Here's the second time
Advocate II
Long before the solid axle conversion I was out with some friends and half my truck broke through some ice and plopped us on the passenger side. One of a few of my stucks.
First date with my now wife in high school we went out in my jeep and were splashing through puddles and driving around this area near Bakersfield, CA called Hanglider Hill. It might be all subdivisions now, not sure. Anyway, I did not know about distributor caps at the time and it got wet and died. She was less than stoked because we were a long way from a payphone at the time. This was 1994, so those were still a thing.
I don't think we walked far when a dude in a pickup came along. I told him what we needed and he took us back to the Jeep, cleaned the distributor with some newspaper he had in the truck and we were back in business. Not the worst stuck truck wise, but I had a tough job digging myself out of that hole. Though I eventually did.
And here we are...
I don't think we walked far when a dude in a pickup came along. I told him what we needed and he took us back to the Jeep, cleaned the distributor with some newspaper he had in the truck and we were back in business. Not the worst stuck truck wise, but I had a tough job digging myself out of that hole. Though I eventually did.
And here we are...
