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Anyone been stuck in mud or snow?

Epigram

Active Member
Has anyone been stuck in the mud and prepared to share their experience or advice?
Now that the dust of Christmas and New Year has settled I thought I would give you guys a laugh at my expense.

It was late December:
I cleaned and washed the MP so that it could hibernate in a nice warm dry barn where it can gobble up as much electricity as it wants and be ready for action in a couple of months time.
There is some debate as to when the monsoon season starts and finishes in the Wye Valley but December was even wetter than usual.
The route to the barn is via a couple of fields and passes through a field gate which has cut up and rutted.
Not wanting to get the vehicle dirty, I drove slowly through through the gateway staying on the high side of the muddy ruts.

The inevitable happened. The vehicle sunk into the soft turf up the rims with a bow wave of mud and turf in front of the front wheels. It was well and truly stuck right in the middle of the gateway.

Much as I hanker for four wheel drive, it would have made absolutely no difference in these conditions and it was clear that no amount of digging and mats was going to get me out of this mess.

Luckily a tractor (a 50 year old pride and joy) was on hand and the rear tow hitch of the MP was connected to a tow rope ready for an ignominious reverse tow.

Despite being a competent driver, my wife (I’ll call her Mrs Epigram) has not, and does not want to drive the MP - “I’m not going to be the first to put a scratch in it” is her usual response.

However, after persuasion and quick course on gear location - “But that lever does the washers on a VW! “ she got in and engaged reverse while I pulled the MP backwards with the tractor.

While being pulled backwards, the MP slid sideways and down into the rutted quagmire in the gateway.

Mrs Epigram panicked and, thinking the van was going to hit a gatepost, accelerated so that she could steer away from the post.
The MP was now accelerating towards the tractor faster than the tractor could escape and I am now the one who is panicking!

Mrs Epigram, relieved that that she is now clear of the gate post slams on the brakes and stops the MP. The tractor is still moving in reverse as fast as it can go and is rapidly taking up the slack in the tow rope but I manage to stop without snapping the rope.

The towrope is disconnected, I level out the quagmire of ruts in the gateway with old carpet and anything else I can find to smooth the way.
I back up the MP a good 30 yards........

CHARGE !

I fly at the gateway, traction control flashing and rear end snaking like a slow motion dragster.

There is no stopping me now. Through the gate and into the barn.

HOME AND DRY !

Well not exactly. There is mud up the sides of the van past the windows and the wheels are caked in brown ooze.
I spend the next half hour cleaning up as best I can.

Lessons learned:

For me: Put the van away when its dry next time. I will do the usual checks for roof blisters when I get the remaining mud splatters off the roof.

For Mrs Epigram: By stealth she has now driven the MP 15 yards backwards and one yard sideways. Who knows ? I might persuade her to go forwards in 2020!

Happy New Year to all, may our travels in 2020 be enjoyable and safe.
 

Steve B

Active Member
Great write up, had me gripped! 4WD helps in certain circumstances but it’s all about the tyres. I used to do a lot of clay pigeon shooting and the amount of LR Discos and other similar types that got stranded on flat wet grass was high. They all had tarmac road tyres and relied on old 4WD’s with all terrain or mud terrain tyres to rescue them.
 

BabaJen

Active Member
4WD is invaluable for getting out of mud and snow.

However it has to be matched to tyres. I have Michelin cross climate on my 4 motion Cali and never had a traction problem, although some near misses.

With typical big manufacturer arrogance a 4WD vehicle was delivered with Bridgesone Turanza's, totally hopeless on anything wet other than drained tarmac. My first job on delivery was to get the tyres changed.
 

Gyll

New Member
Has anyone been stuck in the mud and prepared to share their experience or advice?
Now that the dust of Christmas and New Year has settled I thought I would give you guys a laugh at my expense.

It was late December:
I cleaned and washed the MP so that it could hibernate in a nice warm dry barn where it can gobble up as much electricity as it wants and be ready for action in a couple of months time.
There is some debate as to when the monsoon season starts and finishes in the Wye Valley but December was even wetter than usual.
The route to the barn is via a couple of fields and passes through a field gate which has cut up and rutted.
Not wanting to get the vehicle dirty, I drove slowly through through the gateway staying on the high side of the muddy ruts.

The inevitable happened. The vehicle sunk into the soft turf up the rims with a bow wave of mud and turf in front of the front wheels. It was well and truly stuck right in the middle of the gateway.

Much as I hanker for four wheel drive, it would have made absolutely no difference in these conditions and it was clear that no amount of digging and mats was going to get me out of this mess.

Luckily a tractor (a 50 year old pride and joy) was on hand and the rear tow hitch of the MP was connected to a tow rope ready for an ignominious reverse tow.

Despite being a competent driver, my wife (I’ll call her Mrs Epigram) has not, and does not want to drive the MP - “I’m not going to be the first to put a scratch in it” is her usual response.

However, after persuasion and quick course on gear location - “But that lever does the washers on a VW! “ she got in and engaged reverse while I pulled the MP backwards with the tractor.

While being pulled backwards, the MP slid sideways and down into the rutted quagmire in the gateway.

Mrs Epigram panicked and, thinking the van was going to hit a gatepost, accelerated so that she could steer away from the post.
The MP was now accelerating towards the tractor faster than the tractor could escape and I am now the one who is panicking!

Mrs Epigram, relieved that that she is now clear of the gate post slams on the brakes and stops the MP. The tractor is still moving in reverse as fast as it can go and is rapidly taking up the slack in the tow rope but I manage to stop without snapping the rope.

The towrope is disconnected, I level out the quagmire of ruts in the gateway with old carpet and anything else I can find to smooth the way.
I back up the MP a good 30 yards........

CHARGE !

I fly at the gateway, traction control flashing and rear end snaking like a slow motion dragster.

There is no stopping me now. Through the gate and into the barn.

HOME AND DRY !

Well not exactly. There is mud up the sides of the van past the windows and the wheels are caked in brown ooze.
I spend the next half hour cleaning up as best I can.

Lessons learned:

For me: Put the van away when its dry next time. I will do the usual checks for roof blisters when I get the remaining mud splatters off the roof.

For Mrs Epigram: By stealth she has now driven the MP 15 yards backwards and one yard sideways. Who knows ? I might persuade her to go forwards in 2020!

Happy New Year to all, may our travels in 2020 be enjoyable and safe.
Yep. I have a static caravan with grass and just a thin strip of hard standing - the rest of the drive being covered by my deck. My last vehicle was a pick up and was fine but the Marco Polo did feel a tad sinky after all this rain. I meant to remember to park elsewhere but arrived late one Friday night after a long, long working week, turned into the drive and sank straight away.

In the morning I had a go with some old carpet and a lot of prayer but to no avail. In the end I called the nice young man on the Mercedes International Thunderbirds Button and amazing RAC van rocked up the other side of a cup of tea and a little lie down an hour later.
Hats off to the RAC man who had to tow me sideways because of a fence. It was close but perfect. I shall be well cautious of soft ground from now on.
 

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Method7

Active Member
I agree with @BabaJen about tyres, I’m sure if you put 17inch wheels with normal 60 ish profile winter or chunky tyres on a standard 2 wheel drive MP it would be far more capable off the tarmac.

I would bet a wedge of cash that a 2wheel drive MP with appropriate Off road tyres would out perform a 4matic with 19” low profile sport tyres in leaps and bounds.
 

Shah62

New Member
My MP rear wheels sunk into mud whilst parked on a grass verge on Saturday. Thought I'd be OK with winter tyres but clearly not. RAC estimated an arrival time of 90 mins. Tried with mats but no luck. Eventually four strong and slightly intoxicated guys coming out of a local pub came to the rescue. With their help I managed to get back onto tarmac. Lesson learnt!
 

Epigram

Active Member
The sequel to my original post is that I took the MP out of the barn about a month ago to expose the roof to frost and see if it blistered - I would prefer to know the worst sooner rather than later..
Despite the ground being completely level, its a heavy vehicle and the ground was so wet the wheels sunk in and it wouldn’t move.

Pulled it back in the barn with the tractor.....wife has now driven it forward!
 

Steve B

Active Member
My wife parked on the grass to keep away from a blind bend on a B road, about a month ago. RAC towed it offMP stuck on grass jan20.JPG
 

Method7

Active Member
At least no one ran into you.
I think with this wet weather I will treat my self to some traction mats. Anyone got any experience?
unless you bolt them to the side of your MP You’ll never have them when you need them! I carry a rope and a heavy duty ratchet strap and use them like a winch, not had to on this MP but it’s worked on lots of vehicles in the past.
A single truckers hitch will give a 3-1 ratio, double them up and you can snap a rope..
 
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