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I’m stuck at lake Powell (page Az)

pablo_max3045

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They "may" have helped if he had enough of them. But with that type of mud, I'd be surprised. I personally try to never drive through mud if it can be helped. Mostly though, because i HATE cleaning out all that crap from underneath.
Mudding is more for rigs running huge ass mud tires and a huge V8 than a wrangler, I'd say.
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omnitonic

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Dang. And the thread starter thought he had it bad. In 1998, I took my YJ out on the sand on Oahu’s north shore near Dillingham Airfield, by Kaena Point, got stuck there too. Deep sand. Took about 7 of us to just push it. Was buried up to its Ass. Got it out. Only had it out that far so we could have a radio at a bonfire. Young and dumb.
Sorry for the not a Jeep post, but this takes me back. I was trying to find some place in Edenton, NC, back in about 1998. I was looking for a particular street while they were in the middle of doing massive roadwork, and I missed it. (This was the age of paper maps and pay phones. I'm old.) While looking for a place to turn around, I spotted a newly-constructed on-ramp in the oncoming direction.

I was in a single axle cabover Peterbilt with a 45' trailer with the tandems slid all the way forward, and I thought I could turn around on that wrong-facing on-ramp. I angled that way, ran over a few cones, and discovered that I was not able to achieve my objective.

Crap.

I can't turn around. I'm not backing onto an extremely crowded highway. What are my options?

Well, there's a road over there. It's about 200'. It hasn't rained lately, and I should be able to off-road this 18-wheeler. (Uh, 14-wheeler.)

I started out across the open wilderness between the ramp and the road, and that's when I figured out that the "dirt" in coastal Carolina is just sand. Big trucks don't like sand.

I got within about 50' of the objective when I dug up to the pumpkin in sand.

Crap.

I started rocking it. I got moving forward. I slipped, dug in, bottomed out. I started moving forward again.

Little by little, I let that little single axle Pete dig and dig and dig. I just let the clutch out in 1st gear, and I let her go to work. She would dig in, bottom out, slam, and move a tiny amount forward before digging in again. In this fashion, I kept digging and compressing my spinal cord, and digging some more. I used to be 5'10" and now I am 5'8" so the spinal cord compression is no joke.

When I got within 50' of the road, the going got worse. The slamming increased, while the forward progress decreased. I made up my mind that if I ever actually got to the road, I was going to go for it, no matter what. There was no sneaking up on it. There was no stopping to check for cross-traffic. I was going or sinking, and it was up to the east coast sand gods and the trucking gods whether or not I would T-bone somebody.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

I kept after it, finally caught pavement, and I was actually on the road I would have been on if I hadn't missed my turn. Whoop whoop! Truck it up!

It's a lot easier to go wheeling in a Jeep compared to a 14-wheeler, I'm here to tell you.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised I haven't managed to get my Jeep stuck yet. Damn, I'm actually pretty good at driving! 😁
 

omnitonic

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I’ve made this mistake before too. Getting stuck in mud and treating it like your stuck in snow. With snow you’re usually already down to the road and can’t go deeper.
When I was pulling a gasoline tanker, my company switched the dual tire setup to super singles, and the dual drive axle setup to one drive and one dead axle, with a locker on the live axle. I was blind siding out of a snowy hell hole one winter night, when I was about to go off into a ditch. I need to pull forward to make a minor course correction.

I burned all the way down to the pavement, but it didn't do shit. I just couldn't pull even 3' up that hill. At the end of the day, the wrecker guy couldn't do anything with it either, and he ended up winching my trailer sideways about 2' so I could miss the ditch.

I also got stuck in that POS going up a hill in a foot of snow grossing about 85,000 pounds. Sure, I got stuck all the time EMPTY, but EIGHTY FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS?! If you can't make it up a hill 5,000 over gross, your company is stupid at buying equipment.

I no longer work there.
 

CaptStarboard

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Ouch. That is not going to be fun at all.

Word to the wise everyone. If you see water anywhere in Utah or Arizona, don't drive anywhere near it. The mud is half peanut butter, half glue and a lot deeper than it looks. Often it doesn't even look like mud.
Good news, it answers the question of how strong the rear recover point is.... multiple, heavy pulls.... good to know! And thanks for the honesty on the situation!

I always say, you never bother repeating a story when it's going well! Adversity maketh the tale!

Cheers,
CaptStarboard
 

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CaptStarboard

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Hello Jeep brothers and sisters. Being we’re on the subject of mud I’d like to pick your brains.
I recently bought 2 sets of Chinese made traction boards for about 85 bucks each set on Amazon. Stupidly I watched You Tube videos on traction boards AFTER my purchase and saw nicely made in America Action Trax with metal studs. I’d have bought these first if I wasn’t so impatient because I believe you get what you pay for.
Do you guys feel a $350.00 set would’ve been overkill and they’re all basically the same or should I just use the ones I have and if they get crappy just upgrade?
Thanks friends.
Check some youtube videos of the real MaxTrax/Treds vs. the knockoffs.... most the real ones will form a bridge and support the vehicle over a small ditch (sometimes you need to stack multiple boards). The fake ones will often break instead of flexing as they should... let us know how you go once you've tried them... We pay $250 for real MaxTrax here in Australia, and I'd trust my families safety with them.... problem with the knock-offs is they are just replicating a pattern, little to no understanding of what they are building and the why's of it's engineering... their goal is to suck you into buying their product because it resembles the one that was actually designed...

Next time you want a cheap knock off, think about the people that spent blood, sweat and tears actually DEVELOPING something worthwhile, only to have rat-bast@rds rip it off. And then realise you helped them in the rip off....

just my $.02...

ta, CaptStarboard
 

Petey

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Getting stuck, no matter where, SUCKS.

Do you know what happens to your loved ones when they’re broken down on the side of the road and they’re scared? Sometimes they tremble. Most cry because they feel hopeless/helpless.

Countless times I’ve been the asshole individual to stop and render aid (or offer aid) to a stranded motorist. In the city, it’s mostly early twenties men with flat tires and no idea how to access the spare and change it. On trails, it’s usually simple repairs or someone ran out of fuel.

At any rate, I’m glad some folks came thru for @stylett9 and he’s no longer stuck.


Where do u hide the bodies!! 8-)
 

JJMalone

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With all of the electronic gadgetry in a Wrangler they failed to develop a feature that works like Toyota CRAWL. Undoubtedly one of the best pieces of software that was ever developed for an off road vehicle. It would have got that thing unstuck easily.
I've owned '16 Tacoma TRD Offroad and '18 4R TRD PRO and I think not. It's better then an unskilled driver for regulating and easing down over obstacles or in sand but it can rapidly overheat your brakes doing that. In sand it works by finding the tires with most traction, crowding the torque converter and bumping those tires regulating their speed with the brakes, pulsating them with the antiloc hardware. It is an impressive work of software though. The programmers need to find a way to overcome the laws of physics.
 

ds1919

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Wow! What a way to spend your holiday bro, I'm glad you made it out okay. My prior rig caught fire in the superstitions last year, middle of nowhere. Picture a pile of camping gear, another pile of food stuffs, another pile of tactical gear (ya know, gunz n optics n stuff), and yet another pile of misc items laid out near this poor Jeep caught ablaze!
Oh, what a pretty penny it cost me..

I did have a wonderful Memorial weekend this time, 7 soccer games in two days, camping and wheeling in the Prescott (AZ) mountains, then wheeling all over the desert down south by Phoenix. I am going to, and totally willing, to drink 6 more beers just for you bro, for not giving your rubi to the drylake gods!!!
 

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ds1919

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Not sure if it was mentioned already, but I’ll bet a kinetic rope would’ve gotten you out. Even with that original 4Runner buddy of yours. Kinetic ropes are powerful.
Yeah they're something awesome for sure.
 

ds1919

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Thanks everyone who also shared their oh crap moments. It’s slightly relieving to think I’m not the only idiot out here making mistakes.

So the last two days have been a bit of an experience for lack of a better term. I was on a camping trip from California to Lake Powell Utah. About 550 miles one way. We entered a dry lake bed where we planned to camp. Due to my complete lack of experience, I was driving on the lake bed and a section of it transitioned to a darker shade of “sand”. As I’m sure you all predicted, I sank instantly which you’ll see from the first few pictures. What’s not entirely clear from the pics is at certain times of the day, you can actually see the moisture sitting on top of the section I got stuck on. But it was just my luck that when I entered at the peak of the day, that thin top layer evaporates which added to my lack of judgement. After many unsuccessful attempts from my friends 4runner to yank me out with a recovery strap, I was fortunate enough to call a tow company that was about 1.5 hours away (1hr of which is completely off the grid driving). When I explained where I was they knew immediately and said, “yeah we’ve had to rescue a few people there already”. They came out with a 90s looking Ford F-250 and an older jeep Cherokee. They linked up “train” style, and attempted several unsuccessful recoveries, and my jeep would move maybe a an inch or two then sink back. They eventually decided they’d have to come back with heavier vehicles. Hours went by and they finally returned with the f250, and f350, and a Silverado 1500. They linked up “train style again”, flung a ton of mud and were successful in dragging me out. The relief I had at that moment could not be described. For 8 hours in the middle of nowhere I had been dreading worst case scenarios of abandoning my JLUR like a complete idiot and explaining to my insurance and bank what had happened.

I paid the family owned tow company and thanked them profusely, and off they went. As they were leaving I drove my jeep in a “safe” direction to fling mud off my tires and then I got stuck AGAIN. By this point it was dark snd they were maybe a half mile away snd I could not flag them down to come back right away. Fast forward the next morning they came and rescued me again. My friends and I packed up and we drove straight off that lake bed... I’m leaving out a lot of details because even though I’m home and safe now, it still just makes me frustrated to think about it, but that is the summary of what happened. Happy to answer any questions so people can learn from my mistake.
The first two pics are being stuck the first time. The third pic is being stuck the second time.

2335007F-AEAD-4055-AA42-EB880E3F5545.jpeg


860EDC0D-994A-4012-B549-ADE65181142E.jpeg


B1ABF074-C3A2-4BEE-98DD-D9598D51193B.jpeg
Forgot to ask, was the Cherokee yellow? Was it Matt's Offroad Recovery?
 

sf5211

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Sorry for the not a Jeep post, but this takes me back. I was trying to find some place in Edenton, NC, back in about 1998. I was looking for a particular street while they were in the middle of doing massive roadwork, and I missed it. (This was the age of paper maps and pay phones. I'm old.) While looking for a place to turn around, I spotted a newly-constructed on-ramp in the oncoming direction.

I was in a single axle cabover Peterbilt with a 45' trailer with the tandems slid all the way forward, and I thought I could turn around on that wrong-facing on-ramp. I angled that way, ran over a few cones, and discovered that I was not able to achieve my objective.

Crap.

I can't turn around. I'm not backing onto an extremely crowded highway. What are my options?

Well, there's a road over there. It's about 200'. It hasn't rained lately, and I should be able to off-road this 18-wheeler. (Uh, 14-wheeler.)

I started out across the open wilderness between the ramp and the road, and that's when I figured out that the "dirt" in coastal Carolina is just sand. Big trucks don't like sand.

I got within about 50' of the objective when I dug up to the pumpkin in sand.

Crap.

I started rocking it. I got moving forward. I slipped, dug in, bottomed out. I started moving forward again.

Little by little, I let that little single axle Pete dig and dig and dig. I just let the clutch out in 1st gear, and I let her go to work. She would dig in, bottom out, slam, and move a tiny amount forward before digging in again. In this fashion, I kept digging and compressing my spinal cord, and digging some more. I used to be 5'10" and now I am 5'8" so the spinal cord compression is no joke.

When I got within 50' of the road, the going got worse. The slamming increased, while the forward progress decreased. I made up my mind that if I ever actually got to the road, I was going to go for it, no matter what. There was no sneaking up on it. There was no stopping to check for cross-traffic. I was going or sinking, and it was up to the east coast sand gods and the trucking gods whether or not I would T-bone somebody.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

I kept after it, finally caught pavement, and I was actually on the road I would have been on if I hadn't missed my turn. Whoop whoop! Truck it up!

It's a lot easier to go wheeling in a Jeep compared to a 14-wheeler, I'm here to tell you.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised I haven't managed to get my Jeep stuck yet. Damn, I'm actually pretty good at driving! 😁
Hey Michael, I’ve been in those situations before too. Did you find yourself sweating and did you find God that day?
The times I’ve gotten myself in a bind like that I’m usually soaking wet from sweat and saying “please God just get me out of here and I’ll stay on the road”. I promise.
 

sf5211

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Check some youtube videos of the real MaxTrax/Treds vs. the knockoffs.... most the real ones will form a bridge and support the vehicle over a small ditch (sometimes you need to stack multiple boards). The fake ones will often break instead of flexing as they should... let us know how you go once you've tried them... We pay $250 for real MaxTrax here in Australia, and I'd trust my families safety with them.... problem with the knock-offs is they are just replicating a pattern, little to no understanding of what they are building and the why's of it's engineering... their goal is to suck you into buying their product because it resembles the one that was actually designed...

Next time you want a cheap knock off, think about the people that spent blood, sweat and tears actually DEVELOPING something worthwhile, only to have rat-bast@rds rip it off. And then realise you helped them in the rip off....

just my $.02...

ta, CaptStarboard
Hi Jeff, thanks for the advice but if you re-read my post I didn’t know about the American made or good quality ones until after my purchase.
As I said earlier you get what you paid for. I’m the last guy to bargain hunt for a cheap knock off.
I just purchased a tarp for under my Mesa 10 tent. I bought from Tarps Now in America. Real canvas hand sown for 159 bucks. Expensive for a tarp but it’ll last the rest of my life.
 

The Pointer

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I've owned '16 Tacoma TRD Offroad and '18 4R TRD PRO and I think not. It's better then an unskilled driver for regulating and easing down over obstacles or in sand but it can rapidly overheat your brakes doing that. In sand it works by finding the tires with most traction, crowding the torque converter and bumping those tires regulating their speed with the brakes, pulsating them with the antiloc hardware. It is an impressive work of software though. The programmers need to find a way to overcome the laws of physics.
Whatever, I have used in my 4Runner to extract myself from a similar situation. It works and that’s what’s important. I don’t give a fuck about its software coding and I cannot say that with any confidence about a Jeep product.
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