Almost Stuck

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blksn8k

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Joined
May 24, 2006
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Location
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I was at my Pennsylvania property over the weekend. On Friday afternoon I decided to take a ride down the gas well road about a quarter of a mile from the house to my field where I parked the Trac and went for a walk around the property. It's important to note that there is about a 100 foot drop in elevation over that quarter of a mile. On the way down I realized the snow was a lot deeper than I expected, especially as I got closer to the field. However, once I broke out of the woods and into the open field there were only a couple of inches of snow on the road through the field. The ground is bare here in Ohio but it sure wasn't in west central PA.

Long story short, I couldn't make it back up the hill. There was at least ten inches of snow on the road just above the field starting at a sharp 90* left-hand turn that is shaded by hemlock trees. The deep snow ran most of the way back to where the road got really steep which meant it was difficult to get a good run at the steepest part of the road. To make matters worse the temp was in the high 40's which meant the snow was melting and very heavy plus there was a thick layer of ice underneath. On the first try I was only able to make it a few yards past the sharp turn before it buried itself. After digging it out I was able to back it back down into the field where I left it overnight. :sad:

On Saturday morning it was just cold enough that the snow had frozen again which meant that I had a somewhat hard packed set of tracks to follow. Even at that the best way to describe it was that it was like driving in deep sugar on top of a glass table. It took several tries but I finally made it out. The real key was to turn off the traction control. It would kill the power as soon as I hit the turn and/or the BFG All-Terrains started hunting for traction and then I would loose all my momentum. Very frustrating.

But as soon as I turned off the TC and manually held it in 2nd gear it was able to maintain enough speed to pull itself back to the top of the hill. Whew! :driving:
 
It's such a defeated feeling to leave a vehicle stuck overnight. Been there, done that. Glad you were able to get it out.
 
Thanks. If anyone had seen the predicament I was in they probably would have never thought it would be possible to drive it out of there. With the right tires and by turning off the electronic nannies the gen 2 Tracs might actually surprise you with their off-road ability.
 
I've only been stuck once. I used my ST to go retrieve a skydiver that landed off-site. I have a 4x4 and had those damned Goodyear Wrangler RT/S piece of crap tires. I got stuck in 4x4 Lo in 1/2 inch of wet silt. Unbelievable.
 

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