LC stuck in mud tonight..Escape saved it? (1 Viewer)

[Cruiser Kid]

My family recently got a '97 LC. It has seen only road time, up until tonight.

Thought I would impress my 16 month old by putting him in the car seat to go "off-roading". There is a 20 acre field in front of our house. It is grass covered about 5 inches high. It is a little bumpy but no obtacles at all to worry about.

30 seconds into our "trip" at about 7-10 mph I stopped moving forward. The wheels were spinning and I was stuck. Seemed odd in full time 4x4 on a grass field. I figured no worries I'll go into L to lock the center diff and we'll climb out of this, wrong. Got out to survey the situation and the front tires were sunk in about half way to the axle. Front were clearly spinning and back right spun. Back left did not move at all when gas was applied. Anyway, tried the "2nd" button, tried rocking back and forth but nothing just stuck in a grass field.

Went and got the wife and the wife's Ford Escape. Drove directly onto the same surface, backed up to the LC, hooked up the strap and ............pulled the LC right out!! I was devastated. I convinced my wife we needed the LC so we wouldn't get stuck in the deep snow this winter and here she is pulling me out of 6 inches of mud with her Escape.:whoops: The Escape never slipped an inch, I was watching her tires in the rear view while I was backing the LC out of the mud.

I have driven Wrangler's, four wheelers, etc. my whole life. I understand the physics of traction and momentum. I am telling you guys I am dumb founded that we got stuck where we did.

Any thoughts?

Before you ask:

Decent tread on tires
No lockers

 

[BirfMark]

The Cruiser weighs an awful lot more than the Escape, and the Escape still had traction.

There's a ton of other variables at play here (tires, ground condition under each vehicle, vehicle weights, etc), I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Ebag333]

First off, assuming street tires? They're generally not particularly good for mud, very little tread to dig in and grab. There's a reason tractor tires have those giant paddles.


Secondly, you have to be careful (as you've found out!) where you are driving. You found a hole, could have easily found one that didn't have a bottom. Then it wouldn't have been the Ford pulling you out, but a wrecker.

These are extremely capable vehicles, but as you've seen it doesn't matter how capable it is if you've lost all traction. And even in the case of "4WD" it's something of a misnomer. Means four wheels can get power, but the two wheels that turn the easiest will take it all (one front, one back). So in a case like this, it really amounts to two wheel drive.

 

[Frankencruiser]

80's suck. Just let me know where it's at and i'll come haul it off for you

It sounds like you got a tire in a hole and the open diffs got the best of you. Power always takes the path of least resistance, and without lockers that means spinning tires. Try to convince your wife you need a set of ARB's.

 

[Tapage]

I would like to see pic of this scenario ..

 

[BrotherRob]

You got stuck in your yard, I'm not sure I'd want to bring that up.

It sounds like you hit a soupy spot and buried it before reacting. If you were aired down and in low the whole time, you would have fared better. Left foot braking would have helped too.

If you'd driven you Escape into the same spot, it would have been bumpers deep.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Even a tractor can get stuck under the right conditions. MIke

 

[Kernal]

Maybe another option??

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/378609-kaiser-locker.html

 

[SiRaDuDe]

Good tires and lockers work wonders...

 

[Bendcruiser]

My family recently got a '97 LC. It has seen only road time, up until tonight.

Thought I would impress my 16 month old by putting him in the car seat to go "off-roading". There is a 20 acre field in front of our house. It is grass covered about 5 inches high. It is a little bumpy but no obtacles at all to worry about.

30 seconds into our "trip" at about 7-10 mph I stopped moving forward. The wheels were spinning and I was stuck. Seemed odd in full time 4x4 on a grass field. I figured no worries I'll go into L to lock the center diff and we'll climb out of this, wrong. Got out to survey the situation and the front tires were sunk in about half way to the axle. Front were clearly spinning and back right spun. Back left did not move at all when gas was applied. Anyway, tried the "2nd" button, tried rocking back and forth but nothing just stuck in a grass field.

Went and got the wife and the wife's Ford Escape. Drove directly onto the same surface, backed up to the LC, hooked up the strap and ............pulled the LC right out!! I was devastated. I convinced my wife we needed the LC so we wouldn't get stuck in the deep snow this winter and here she is pulling me out of 6 inches of mud with her Escape.:whoops: The Escape never slipped an inch, I was watching her tires in the rear view while I was backing the LC out of the mud.

I have driven Wrangler's, four wheelers, etc. my whole life. I understand the physics of traction and momentum. I am telling you guys I am dumb founded that we got stuck where we did.

Any thoughts?

Before you ask:

Decent tread on tires
No lockers

Now you know why it's called an Escape!

 

[HGiles]

That IS embarassing!

 

[Cruiser Kid]

I would like to see pic of this scenario ..

Tapage- here is your pic. As you can see we just got out of this little jam minutes before the sun was down. As I was driving the field the area that now looks like ruts looked just like the grass around it before I got stuck.



After I cooled down and honestly appraised the situation I was able to see that the conditions were right to get stuck: lots of recent rain, tires not as good as I had told myself, not in 4 wheel low before I was stuck, etc., etc.

I am now wishing I had lockers and tires to try it again!!

 

[aclos3]

You were driving slowly and found a hole. Your front end dug in immediately and you got yourself stuck. At this point, your front end was partially buried and your rear was high (weight balance issue), and your rears couldn't find enough traction to drag the front end out (80s are nearly 50/50 weight distributed, so this feat is impressive).
I'd guess that your tires are crap, or you initially tried driving ahead with way too much enthusiasm. Your wife then came out with her light foot and on much more solid ground with her AWD and got you out. Any vehicle could have done this, the reverse thrust needed to get a front end buried rig out is pretty small.

Honestly, for roads with packed snow, just get four studded tires for the AWD Escape... Your wife seems to have a softer foot and probably feels a lot more at home behind the wheel of the escape -- right? The equivalent tires for the cruiser will cost you double. If you are trying to do truly rigorous snow driving, invest in good snow tires and chains for your cruiser and have a blast.

I've driven almost every vehicle out there and a stock 80 with good tires is never beaten in terms of traction. I run Michellin LTX (OEM equipment for LX450s) and a stock viscous coupled AWD drive system. You will not find a more planted and stable vehicle for snow driving as long as you can maintain it and shod it with appropriate tires.

Cheers

EDIT: I have to add that my final statement is not totally accurate. If you equip the 80 with the proper snow tires, it will of course, out drive one with Michelin LTX tires in the snow.

 

[Cruiser Kid]

Your wife seems to have a softer foot and probably feels a lot more at home behind the wheel of the escape -- right?

Wrong. She loves it. In fact she feels more comfortable in the LC than any car she's driven. Luck for me. I just want the car in the family so I can play with it but in a few weeks we will have our second boy, two kids under two and she loves the security of feeling she is in a tank with kids. Our insurance proves it. When we asked for more information about how the insurance could be so high on a '97 they said that if we ever get in an accident the other car will be demolished. Probably will spend the money and get fairly aggressive tires for the LC.

 

[aclos3]

Fair enough Cruiser Kid. Where are you located? If you're in a snowy state, I'd say that you need to invest in a good set of snow tires and a good set of ATs for the 80. If you only get snow briefly for a few days a year, you can probably get away with ATs all year around.

 

[bobbyp]

me too...

Gotta admit I got stuck over the weekend too.

Driving in the snow to exercise the lockers, got too close to the lake and into the mud/grass on a moderate incline. I didn't have an Escape to save me so it took about a half hour of shoveling and some well placed branches/twigs to get out. Currently wearing stock Michelin LTX tires, fronts 50% and rears 80%, but they loaded up with mud/snow immediately. The tires work fine on snow/ice even on a pretty steep incline if you have a hard surface underneath.

I was a bit embarrassed, any tips on getting out of a situation like this?

Picture after getting unstuck:

 

[Tyler93]

bobbyp---the right tires would have got you out of that one, plain and simple. Cheaper than tires, a set of chains would have gotten you out no problem.

 

[e9999]

not to worry. It's normal. One tends to explore getting stuck in one's backyard, it's just fun... Plus it's good to get that out of the way before you get out there for real...

 

[BrotherRob]

bobbyp---the right tires would have got you out of that one, plain and simple. Cheaper than tires, a set of chains would have gotten you out no problem.

Airing down would have helped too.

 

[wspastorbryan]

I almost flipped mine in a dumb spot. It happens to all of us. And I have a Toyota/Ford family too. The wife's Ford has had to come rescue me before too.