Mud n Grass, best driving method?

markomate · Feb 5, 2015

Hi
I dont do a lot of off-road driving, it showed last week when I managed to get stuck in what looked like a fairly benign field!

After walking the ground, we drove in, to park the car off a narrow track.

It was at the top of a hill, bit damp but not too soft.

Tyres are Grabber AT,s with about 10mm of tread.

Got about 5 metres in when the TC went mad and the car stopped, quick look out the window showed all wheels gently turning, we had low ratio selcted, no diff lock on mine but since all four wheels were rotating I guess it wouldnt have helped!

We dropped the tyre pressures to about 20 all round, no progress, my mate pushed and we moved close enough to a tree line to use the winch.

Pics below, as you can see were were not exactly axle deep! The top pic is as we drove in then manged to turn left and point up the hill, the bottom pic is as we got out, we used the winch twice, once to get up the hill to the tree line, then on a gate post to get out, you can see the abrupt change in direction!

So what did I do wrong? What would have been the best approach?

Even lower tyre pressures? More right foot?

Advice very welcome!

Thanks

Mark

jamesmartin · Feb 5, 2015

highest gear as possible but without going to fast with revs needed to for tc to perform best about 2000 ,it reduces torque to the wheels so reducing wheel slip, achieve a comfortable speed to create enough momentum and leave it at that , accelerator pedal wont help by pressing it further

Danhdefender · Feb 5, 2015

Diff lock always get me out of stuck situations

trax · Feb 5, 2015

if the mud is clay or sticky it can clog at's right up. wider blocks on muds clear a lot easier

hope that was your field as it's a bit of a mess

Vincemcdonald · Feb 5, 2015

Soggy grass can be a real pain as you found out.
I don't think that your driving technique was at fault at all. You could have driven it like a lunatic on a rally stage and ended up slliding to the bottom of the field and being properly stuck.
More aggressive tyres is the only solution I can think of.

johnlad · Feb 5, 2015

basically wrong tyres and lack of momentum, traction control seems to be a hinderance in the mud

DiscoPol · Feb 5, 2015

Ask wolfy, he's your man.

blackstrat · Feb 5, 2015

DiscoPol said:
Ask wolfy, he's your man.

:hysterically_laughi

Turboman · Feb 5, 2015

markomate said:
Hi
I dont do a lot of off-road driving, it showed last week when I managed to get stuck in what looked like a fairly benign field!

After walking the ground, we drove in, to park the car off a narrow track.

It was at the top of a hill, bit damp but not too soft.

Tyres are Grabber AT,s with about 10mm of tread.

Got about 5 metres in when the TC went mad and the car stopped, quick look out the window showed all wheels gently turning, we had low ratio selcted, no diff lock on mine but since all four wheels were rotating I guess it wouldnt have helped!

We dropped the tyre pressures to about 20 all round, no progress, my mate pushed and we moved close enough to a tree line to use the winch.

Pics below, as you can see were were not exactly axle deep! The top pic is as we drove in then manged to turn left and point up the hill, the bottom pic is as we got out, we used the winch twice, once to get up the hill to the tree line, then on a gate post to get out, you can see the abrupt change in direction!

So what did I do wrong? What would have been the best approach?

Even lower tyre pressures? More right foot?

Advice very welcome!

Thanks

Mark

I wouldn't say there is anything much you can do in those conditions, it looks like a clay that is full of water and gone incredibly soft. A tractor would struggle with that, and do terrible ground damage at the same time.

When the ground is as bad as that, I would usually try and go about 1500 rpm in 2 low box,try and keep the throttle pedal steady and just steer. If you rev it and spin the wheels the tyres will just dig you further into the soft pish. And more aggressive tyres will only dig quicker.
Letting the tyres down helps, but the only easy way to get through that is to come back when its dried out.

Turboman · Feb 5, 2015

I got over this bit!

But I couldn't get up here

D90mitch · Feb 5, 2015

You're all soft, I've been in equal or worse - nothing booting it wont sort out

The only time's I've ever been stuck are due to bottoming out, never anything else.

Seriously though, as said above the best way to tackle it at first is high gear low revs in diff lock, no point in spinning all yer wheels if you don't have to, just gonna wreck the land.

markomate · Feb 5, 2015

Cheers guys! Customers field, so I didnt want to mash it up, or scare the sheep!

Ok I dont feel too bad now! I know the tyres were not good for soft mud, we had been in some worse looking stuff that day with no probs but that was just mud, water and rocks, coped very well.

The deep ruts in pic 2 were just caused by the weight of the Disco as we were winching it out!

It was only after we got out we realised there were no other tracks so even the farmer didnt go there!

Orch · Feb 5, 2015

D90mitch said:
The only time's I've ever been stuck are due to bottoming out, never anything else.

Yeh big plus one to that.

Decent tyres and TC have pulled me through everything so far.

Sounds like decent driving methods in the OP though.

Turboman · Feb 5, 2015

D90mitch said:
You're all soft, I've been in equal or worse - nothing booting it wont sort out

Back in the seventies, my neighbours father tried that in a 2wd tractor going up that field, and ended up sinking in up to the gearbox casing

When the clay is completely saturated there is only one way to go, down!

Turboman · Feb 5, 2015

markomate said:
Cheers guys! Customers field, so I didnt want to mash it up, or scare the sheep!

Ok I dont feel too bad now! I know the tyres were not good for soft mud, we had been in some worse looking stuff that day with no probs but that was just mud, water and rocks, coped very well.

The deep ruts in pic 2 were just caused by the weight of the Disco as we were winching it out!

It was only after we got out we realised there were no other tracks so even the farmer didnt go there!

Not surprised the farmer doesn't go there, he will know how to read his own ground. It will probably be hard as rock in the summer, though.

Winching is fine, if there are any attachment points, ground anchors aren't great in saturated ground either.

Further down the valley, a big Poclain swing shovel was digging duck ponds on my neighbours ground. It dug out a huge pit, and was then unable to either dig or track itself out. The pit was filling with water, and the machine would have been filled to its roof overnight. :lol: Worth 150k, the machine

It was eventually pulled out with a big 150 horse winch tractor, and the assistance of another digger, just before dark, The plant hire bloke looked relieved, too say the least

Afraid I didn't have the camera on that occasion, though

Mr Noisy · Feb 9, 2015

There is an off road site near to me called silverdale

It's a mixed forest site, mainly sticky mud but it's greasy as it's an old slag heap

However there is a section which is basically a grassy field and when it's wet that is THE most feared part of the site!

D90mitch · Feb 9, 2015

Mr Noisy said:
There is an off road site near to me called silverdale

It's a mixed forest site, mainly sticky mud but it's greasy as it's an old slag heap

However there is a section which is basically a grassy field and when it's wet that is THE most feared part of the site!

Let me at it

warrior · Feb 10, 2015

Special track tyres center diff lock and front and rear air lockers would drag mine through, would make a mess of the field tho

Iann · Feb 11, 2015

there is a good slippery grass bit at the end of this link.
no mud tyres just electric gizzmoes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1dLWVpK0bc

Turboman · Feb 11, 2015

warrior said:
Special track tyres center diff lock and front and rear air lockers would drag mine through, would make a mess of the field tho

That should be a good set-up for traction, I have had ARBs front and rear in a series before, and it was great on the forestry tracks.

Not too different in practice to my Detroit and Trutrac with centre diff locked.

You probably would get across OPs field,it is fairly flat!, as you say it would be a mess. But trust me, you wouldn't get up here, this is where the tractor bellied out years ago.
When the ground is steep and saturated the problems add up. you can see here the tracks where I have gone down the slope. But coming up would be a completely different story, any wheelspin would turn the clay to liquid, and once you sink in a foot, there is no progress. And the slope is far too steep to turn sideways at the worst part, you can see where I have turned where it is less steep at the bottom.

Mud n Grass, best driving method?

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