stuck in da MUD!!!

i was out sunday after some prime oak, down a trail that was alittle softer than i thought it was....

Hi Mike, nice 300U. Spent many hours on one in the late 50s early 60s. Plenty of trees around to chain a rear wheel to and have the 300U pull its self out of the hole.

JimB

hey Jim, i did get it out with a come along(big one), but just for future ref how do you use the tractor to pull itself out, do you need an attachment on the rear wheel for a cable or chain to roll up on while you power it up??

Been there ! Done that !

If you use a self extraction (chain or cable), use only reverse, and chain to both tires, near the bottom, and to a tree. only go backwards 2 or three feet (no more even if it seems OK it is not). Reset the chains and do it again. 3" max.
The chains will come up over the tire and take you out pronto. Going forward will flip the tractor over backwards. Too risky any other way. Jim

Hi Mike, I would hate to scratch the paint on your beautiful 300U. Use with EXTREME CAUTION, we used to put a chain around the tire thru the hole between the hub and the rim avoiding the tire valve stem and hook the chain in the center of the tire. Now find a sturdy tree of at least 6" in diameter in a straight line behind the tractor wheel and hook the other end of the chain to the tree as close to the ground as possible. Now the rear wheel is a big drum for a winch. With tractor idling and in LO T/A Rev let the clutch out while holding the opposite wheel brake. The tractor should roll the chain under the tire pulling itself backwards. Sometimes as the chain wraps on the tire it will slip off the center of the tire, so spin the that wheel forward and take up the slack in the chain at the tree end. It is a little more difficult on a 300U as it doesn't have a differential lock, you either have to chain both wheels or apply the brake on the wheel without the chain to transfer all the power to the wheel with the chain.
Today I would use a heavy poly rope and an old piece of carpet around the tree to protect it from damage. I am always VERY CAREFUL any time I pull anything with poly rope with a metal hook on the end as it acts like an elastic ban and the tractor operator will be its target. Read a story a few years ago in a farm mag of a farmer pulling a stuck truck with a poly rope with steel hook on the end, the hook let go, hook came flying back thru the rear window of tractor cab hitting operator in the head.
The same chain a rear wheel to a tree can be used to pull tractor forward but if rear wheels are deeply bogged, when the pull comes on the chain the front end of tractor will go in the air so to prevent this run the chain or rope over the top of the front axle.

Before I get slammed on this site, I will explain the reason for this method of pulling a tractor out of a mud hole. We had a 300 acre wood lot 7 miles away from the home farm and we would take one tractor to the woodlot in the fall and leave it there until the snow got to deep to work. The wood lot had beaver swamps, creeks, mud holes and steep hills. So if you got stuck it was 14 miles round trip with to get the other tractor.

JimB

I agree with this (and glad you extrapolated) Both wheels and short hauls are best. Jim

hey guy's thanks for the tips, i'm going to print them out for next time....

Get someone to pull you out or use come along for safety sake DO NOT use a chain hooked to the wheels.

That is a good way to find you and the tractor dead in the mud.

I won't argue with someone who is careful and knows how to make something work but be advised that chains can break and do snap back and go through back windows killing the driver.

Best bet is to go by a 12 volt winch at Harbor Freight or somewhere for under a hundred bucks. Hook up extra pulleys to get all the pulling power you want. It can have other uses as well such as for an overhead hoist or use on a trailer or your pickup bed.

(quoted from post at 19:43:29 09/08/10) I won't argue with someone who is careful and knows how to make something work but be advised that chains can break and do snap back and go through back windows killing the driver.

Best bet is to go b(u)y a 12 volt winch at Harbor Freight or somewhere for under a hundred bucks. Hook up extra pulleys to get all the pulling power you want. It can have other uses as well such as for an overhead hoist or use on a trailer or your pickup bed.

Click to expand...

Mr Saftey - An electric winch (esp one from HF for $100) would not be rated for the weight you need. Yes, you could use pulleys to up the pulling force, but it still isn't rated for that pull. In addition, you better throw another 0 on that price if you would like something rated for overhead lifting. That is more dangerous than the chain! As for in the pickup or trailer I can't knock it until you tell me you could use it to secure your load. :lol:
I think a "snap strap" or other nylon pulling device is the safest thing to use to pull a stuck vehicle out. They are designed to not fly at the operators in the even of a break. Weighting the chain is another option that greatly increases saftey.

If you use a chain to pull always lay a jacket or a rug over the chain when pulling. Seems to keep them from flying as much.

I don't see anyone explaining the basic concept of chaining to the wheels...

In one method, you are essentially driving ON the chain, and it's wrapping around the tire. With the chain hooked to an immovable object, such as a large tree, either the tractor moves or the chain breaks.

The tractor's tire works as a winch drum... VERY risky especially if not done properly.

The cheap HF winch idea will work fine... You can't hurt yourself because the cheap winch motor will stall out long before it exceeds the tensile strength of the cable.

It won't pull the tractor out straight-on, but if you "double the lines" a couple of times, forming a block-and-tackle, you will get plenty of pull and the winch will NEVER see more than its rated capacity. Your only limitation will the the length of cable. It's only 20'. After you double up the lines twice, you will only have 4'6" of pull.

I saw one of these tractors sitting in an orchard in SE PA. Didn't look quite as nice as yours. But appeared to be all there. Hal

You could let someone with a different color of tractor come and pull you out so he can have something to brag about. Simpler, cheaper, and possibly safer.

Yeah, I suspect that most of the cases I'm thinking of where a chain snapped back through the back window probably involved someone taking a running start and jerking on the chain and not necessarily from a dead pull although I've broken a 1/4" swamp chain from using it to pull on. Oil drilling spinning chains always made good swamp chains for swampers to use.

It dosen't have to be a tree you chain too. We have used the same method but chained to another tractor. The stuck tractor will pull it's self out when another tractor can't tow it out.

Hi Everyone, I agree with everyone that said that hooking a chain to a rear wheel and a tree was dangerous but there were few options in the late 50s and early 60s. When we had a 300U our other tractor was a JD 420. If the 300U was really bogged the 420 could not pull it out. The only option was a tree or spin the wheels on the 420 until they were in the ground about 8" then use it as an anchor and attach a chain to the wheel of the 300U. Re chains, we only used grade 90 chains of 5/16", 3/8" or 1/2" and used the appropriate chain for the load.

If I was hauling logs with a tractor today, I would purchase a 3pt mounted PTO driven logging winch like the one at this site:http://www.hud-son.com/JL601.htm. The advantages are that you never have to worry about tipping over backwards when a log catches a rock or if you get stuck you can use the winch to pull the tractor out.

Drive your tractor safely
JimB

It wasn't known to be as dangerous back then bc tractors were still pretty new.

I also failed to mention that braided cable is better than chain if you are really stuck. We would use two 4wds and two cables to pull stuck floaters/airflows/post sprayers out that way and I have yet to see one break. I should post the pics someday!