So I was talking today with my dad, swapping stories of my idiot friends and having to pull out their trucks, and I was thinking...what all kinds of vehicles have you had to pull out with your Toyota? Weather it be stuck in the mud, on a hill, in the sand, etc.
Which brought me to my second thought, when you're stuck, who pulls you out? Have a designated "recovery friend" or just whoever's closest on the trail?
I just think it'd be interesting and I always enjoy reading other people's "stuck" stories. I'll start out with a few ones of my own...
Me pulling out:
So my buddy back in high school got a brand new F-150 King Ranch for his 16th birthday. He was one of those "Yeah I'm a redneck but I live on the nice part of town and don't know a lick about the outdoors" kinda kids. One day I have all my friends out at my farm, and we all go ride through the fields in my Land Cruiser and his truck. He ventures off for a few, which is fine. I hit some super muddy sections and barely don't get stuck (go lockers!). I find him and tell him to avoid that section. It's pretty dark now. I'm across the field and what do I see, his headlights spinning around doing donuts exactly where I told him not to. Then...they stop spinning, and just sit . We all just sit in my truck and watch. About 5 minutes of the head lights not moving, and my phone rings. "Hey, uh...I'm stuck"
So since it's pitch black out, we leave the truck there, and head back to the farm house for the night. We come back in the morning with our old tractor. This this is a beast, and we hook up to his Ford. Well, the tractor just starts doing wheelies and the truck doesn't budge. Hook up to the rear, and the tractor starts to bog down and almost get stuck itself. Crap. So I say just for kicks and giggles I'll yank on it with my Cruiser. Then, it moves a little bit. I keep going, and pull the sucker right out. Somehow I managed to outdo a very strong tractor and pull my buddy out. with my Land Cruiser. Yota FTW!
A "Aw crap, I'm stuck" story:
So my Cruiser has a reputation around town for being a total beast off road (we just have mud bogs around here, and it does pretty well). Because of this, anytime anyone is goin muddin, I get a call. One of my buddy's calls me and tells me this kid has "called me out" and says his Titan is sooo much better. So I meet up with them, and we do a few runs through the mud holes. Then he goes down this muddy trail, struggling the whole way. I breeze through it, showing off along the way. So then Karma comes and gets me back. I see a spot no one has driven through in what appears to be forever. So I'm like heck, I got that! Well, I almost had that. Muddy water was up to my door handles on the passenger side, and about a foot shallower on the driver side. I'm cruisin right through, and almost make it out, when I lose all traction. At this point, my front end is completely out of the mud, but I can't pull myself out. So I'm totally confused. Try backing up...can't move. Truck won't budge. So I hook up to that Titan, and he pulls me right out. Look around my truck to reveal a 2x4 that was cracked is sticking out of my passenger side rear tire. Don't have a clue how it got in the mud hole, but my tire is completely flat (and has a board sticking out of it...). Then it starts to pour down rain. So here I am, work in an hour and a half, in the rain in the woods, with a flat tire. We jack it up as fast as we can, and remove my spare. I just threw the old tire in the trunk (I always carry some drop cloths to avoid screwin up my interior, and slapped on the spare. I made it to work 5 minutes early. But I am confident that if there were no half a board in that mud, I would have made it right through
So in closing, I can recall pulling out an '05 F-150 King Ranch, '06 King Ranch, '97 Z71, Mid 80's bronco, '96 Ranger, '08 Ranger, an Excursion, H3, couple of Jeeps, and other random people that I have either come across in the woods or pulled out of ditches.
Only been pulled out by that Titan, the same '97 Z71 I pulled out, and a tow truck once when all else failed (a lifted Dodge yanked on me, two Z71's did, a Jeep did, and a Kabota did, all only to either get stuck themselves, or just fail altogether)
Whenever I get stuck, in my truck or a friend, I always call my dad first, because if he can't pull me out, he knows someone who can (he does construction and there's always someone with a big truck on a job site)
Which brought me to my second thought, when you're stuck, who pulls you out? Have a designated "recovery friend" or just whoever's closest on the trail?
I just think it'd be interesting and I always enjoy reading other people's "stuck" stories. I'll start out with a few ones of my own...
Me pulling out:
So my buddy back in high school got a brand new F-150 King Ranch for his 16th birthday. He was one of those "Yeah I'm a redneck but I live on the nice part of town and don't know a lick about the outdoors" kinda kids. One day I have all my friends out at my farm, and we all go ride through the fields in my Land Cruiser and his truck. He ventures off for a few, which is fine. I hit some super muddy sections and barely don't get stuck (go lockers!). I find him and tell him to avoid that section. It's pretty dark now. I'm across the field and what do I see, his headlights spinning around doing donuts exactly where I told him not to. Then...they stop spinning, and just sit . We all just sit in my truck and watch. About 5 minutes of the head lights not moving, and my phone rings. "Hey, uh...I'm stuck"
So since it's pitch black out, we leave the truck there, and head back to the farm house for the night. We come back in the morning with our old tractor. This this is a beast, and we hook up to his Ford. Well, the tractor just starts doing wheelies and the truck doesn't budge. Hook up to the rear, and the tractor starts to bog down and almost get stuck itself. Crap. So I say just for kicks and giggles I'll yank on it with my Cruiser. Then, it moves a little bit. I keep going, and pull the sucker right out. Somehow I managed to outdo a very strong tractor and pull my buddy out. with my Land Cruiser. Yota FTW!
A "Aw crap, I'm stuck" story:
So my Cruiser has a reputation around town for being a total beast off road (we just have mud bogs around here, and it does pretty well). Because of this, anytime anyone is goin muddin, I get a call. One of my buddy's calls me and tells me this kid has "called me out" and says his Titan is sooo much better. So I meet up with them, and we do a few runs through the mud holes. Then he goes down this muddy trail, struggling the whole way. I breeze through it, showing off along the way. So then Karma comes and gets me back. I see a spot no one has driven through in what appears to be forever. So I'm like heck, I got that! Well, I almost had that. Muddy water was up to my door handles on the passenger side, and about a foot shallower on the driver side. I'm cruisin right through, and almost make it out, when I lose all traction. At this point, my front end is completely out of the mud, but I can't pull myself out. So I'm totally confused. Try backing up...can't move. Truck won't budge. So I hook up to that Titan, and he pulls me right out. Look around my truck to reveal a 2x4 that was cracked is sticking out of my passenger side rear tire. Don't have a clue how it got in the mud hole, but my tire is completely flat (and has a board sticking out of it...). Then it starts to pour down rain. So here I am, work in an hour and a half, in the rain in the woods, with a flat tire. We jack it up as fast as we can, and remove my spare. I just threw the old tire in the trunk (I always carry some drop cloths to avoid screwin up my interior, and slapped on the spare. I made it to work 5 minutes early. But I am confident that if there were no half a board in that mud, I would have made it right through
So in closing, I can recall pulling out an '05 F-150 King Ranch, '06 King Ranch, '97 Z71, Mid 80's bronco, '96 Ranger, '08 Ranger, an Excursion, H3, couple of Jeeps, and other random people that I have either come across in the woods or pulled out of ditches.
Only been pulled out by that Titan, the same '97 Z71 I pulled out, and a tow truck once when all else failed (a lifted Dodge yanked on me, two Z71's did, a Jeep did, and a Kabota did, all only to either get stuck themselves, or just fail altogether)
Whenever I get stuck, in my truck or a friend, I always call my dad first, because if he can't pull me out, he knows someone who can (he does construction and there's always someone with a big truck on a job site)
Last edited: