First Time for Everything - Getting Stuck
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 116
Likes: 30
From: SE Michigan
First Time for Everything - Getting Stuck
2016 XLT Sport / 5.0 Supercab / stock tires / 4WD / no locker
Got stuck for the first time last week. Not when/where I thought it might happen, but inadvertently - when I wasn't expecting it.
We spent the week on Hatteras Island and made numerous trips out onto the sand to hang out at the beach and swim in the big waves. Deflated tires to 20-25 PSI, stayed in 4H, kept moving, and avoided areas that looked 'suspicious'. No problems. Easy peasy. We did see a dude in a white Escalade flying down the beach like a Baja racer and another dude in a lifted pickup stuck pretty good.
However. On the way out of town at the end of the week, I made a u-turn to get gas & ice and dropped the right side wheels into the soft mud (the shoulder looked flat, but there was a 18-inch deep ridge of mud hidden by the grass). 4H moved us about 15' forward before it became useless (I couldn't get the right front wheel up the ridge) and 4L worked for another couple feet before the frame bottomed out & we were done. Called the local towing company.
[Probably should have immediately went to 4L.]
In the meantime, a guy in a full-size Chevrolet (had to be a Chevy, of course) stopped and offered to pull us out. While getting set up, the tow truck guy shows up (little Japanese (?) truck with a lift and big sand tires) and he's PISSED. Yelled at me, threatened to charge me double if he had to come back, physically threatened the nice guy who stopped to help. Crazy. My favorite line was, "ain't no way he gonna pull you out wit DAT." As if.
The Chevy effortlessly pulled us out and we were on our way.
Moral of the story: Always pay attention, not just when you're in a higher-risk environment.
Got stuck for the first time last week. Not when/where I thought it might happen, but inadvertently - when I wasn't expecting it.
We spent the week on Hatteras Island and made numerous trips out onto the sand to hang out at the beach and swim in the big waves. Deflated tires to 20-25 PSI, stayed in 4H, kept moving, and avoided areas that looked 'suspicious'. No problems. Easy peasy. We did see a dude in a white Escalade flying down the beach like a Baja racer and another dude in a lifted pickup stuck pretty good.
However. On the way out of town at the end of the week, I made a u-turn to get gas & ice and dropped the right side wheels into the soft mud (the shoulder looked flat, but there was a 18-inch deep ridge of mud hidden by the grass). 4H moved us about 15' forward before it became useless (I couldn't get the right front wheel up the ridge) and 4L worked for another couple feet before the frame bottomed out & we were done. Called the local towing company.
[Probably should have immediately went to 4L.]
In the meantime, a guy in a full-size Chevrolet (had to be a Chevy, of course) stopped and offered to pull us out. While getting set up, the tow truck guy shows up (little Japanese (?) truck with a lift and big sand tires) and he's PISSED. Yelled at me, threatened to charge me double if he had to come back, physically threatened the nice guy who stopped to help. Crazy. My favorite line was, "ain't no way he gonna pull you out wit DAT." As if.
The Chevy effortlessly pulled us out and we were on our way.
Moral of the story: Always pay attention, not just when you're in a higher-risk environment.
5 Year Member
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 1,290
Likes: 426
From: Bethel, Maine
To date, I've used it to pull myself out once...after missing a turn and then misjudging the edge of the drivable shoulder vs beginning of the snow-filled ditch as i turned around. Fortunately, it wasn't 'long before someone stopped and offered to help...and couldn't do a damn thing using my recovery strap (not enough traction on the road, they just spun). Next guy stopped, I ended up using him as an anchor point and was out of the ditch in minutes.
Did I mention this was Christmas Day, on a state highway in either eastern Idaho or western Montana, on the way home from a "quick" trip to Jackson, Wyo., with over eight hours of driving left to do? Yup, the cost of the bumper and winch was worth it right there.
Dumb question, but did you attempt using the Elocker or do you not have one? i have had some of my pickups in beyond hairy situations up to the tops of the wheels and been stock in 4L and 4H, and pulled the **** out and it creeped out like a champ
5 Year Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 459
Likes: 159
From: Florida
I got one, 2nd time for me. First time alone. 2016 RCSB fx4 stock tires.
I Went through a muddy trail, that requires slow speed because it’s curved around a tree (this whole sentence sounds wrong).. I had been through it before in my 2012 fx4, so I felt confident. I had the e-locker also. I got Stuck as stuck can be.
I had to hike about a mile out of the woods in Boar country to flag someone down. Most people didn’t stop because I looked like a serial killer walking out of the woods.
finally a Chevy 4x4 dually came and he had gear. Yanked me out with a thick chain (after several rolling tugs). I offered him cash, and he said “no, just help out the next guy you see stuck.”
I Went through a muddy trail, that requires slow speed because it’s curved around a tree (this whole sentence sounds wrong).. I had been through it before in my 2012 fx4, so I felt confident. I had the e-locker also. I got Stuck as stuck can be.
I had to hike about a mile out of the woods in Boar country to flag someone down. Most people didn’t stop because I looked like a serial killer walking out of the woods.
finally a Chevy 4x4 dually came and he had gear. Yanked me out with a thick chain (after several rolling tugs). I offered him cash, and he said “no, just help out the next guy you see stuck.”
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 7,383
Likes: 3,535
From: Georgia On My Mind
Regarding the E lock question;
Where I'm from the clay is so slick after a rain, if you loose momentum, you stuck. Just a front wheel against a small log and you ain't movin.
Clay packed tires just spin. It's about like ice.
Pecked out on my iPhone.
Where I'm from the clay is so slick after a rain, if you loose momentum, you stuck. Just a front wheel against a small log and you ain't movin.
Clay packed tires just spin. It's about like ice.
Pecked out on my iPhone.