[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

5. Buy a truckload of bricks, lay them out in a track and drive over it. Again, sponsors welcome.
6. Hire a tractor and get the car towed out.

I really like your writing style and sense of humor even in state of distress.

The Tractor if the best option here. No chance of a tractor getting stuck in these conditions.

Lay some bricks/gravel on the path for you future endeavors.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

Here’s the still unfolding story. For your reading and guffawing pleasure.



Here are the options that I am considering (not in any particular order)
1. Leave the car there until the road dries up, the green carpet turns brown and crumbles. Then drive up. May take a few months.
2. Dig up the road, get rid of the slippery carpet. Then drive up. May take a few days. With the rains, chances are I have to deal with slush instead of the grass.
3. Rent a Boeing CH-47 Chinook and lift the Manza out of the mess. If anyone is willing to sponsor this, I promise to tie a banner with your name (and your picture for good measure) on the car as it is lifted out. I am sure we will all be on national TV.
4. Call over the local Tata Roadside Assistance crew. They will come with their old battered pick-up (probably a 4x2?). What are the chances that we will end up with two vehicles stranded instead on one at the end of the day? Off-road gurus, do you think a 4x4 will be able to tow us out of this?
5. Buy a truckload of bricks, lay them out in a track and drive over it. Again, sponsors welcome.
6. Hire a tractor and get the car towed out.

Your opinions, suggestions welcome.

cogWheel : Hilarious. You are quite brave to have tried this - judging by the photograph. BTW, you have a flair to weave humor into what is essentially a predicament. I am sure you would sort out this issue by the end of the day - with Tata's help or with other TeamBHPians.

One request : Do write often.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

Cars that go down need not come up.

Hilariously written man! Thanks for sharing. All of us have been crazy sometime. While reviewing the Renault Duster FWD, I came across a spot that was too good to resist. Needed to go all the way down a wet, green patch. I knew it would be tricky to come back up, but it was worth it. Here's the resultant opening picture of my review:


This pic is from the main road, where I'd taken a left and gone all the way down. Mud was wet from the heavy showers a little earlier:


A combination of techniques (climbing in reverse etc.) got me out. The Duster's high ground clearance greatly helped.

Am glad you didn't keep trying, else your clutch would be gone. The sudden turbo kick doesn't help either; it can make you lose traction just when the tyres are starting to bite.

Call for a tractor / 4x4 to pull you out. The rescue will be over in a minute.

[Nempuguru]

In my native during monsoon similar or even worse situation occurs. It is tough to walk half a km distance from tarmac road till house during rain. Motorable mud road is there till house but driving in that stretch is challenging. Best remedy is half truck load of "Mangalore tile" broken pieces which is easily available, mixed with "laterite" stone pieces (again easily available). Slight damage to tires but good solution to slippery, muddy roads during rainy season (I am seeing this from childhood days, road condition and terrain is almost same year after year during rain).

As you have to plan multiple trips to your property in future, you can try this low cost (Jugaad) idea.

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

Your opinions, suggestions welcome.

Simple and easy solution. This is called red carpet welcome to the car !!

1. Take some 20 gunny bags and put them in series at the place where it is getting stuck
2. Drive the car such that all four wheels will be driven on gunny bags
3. Once car reaches the end, and starts rolling on ground, repeat step 1 and 2

This will work if the mud is not too slushy and car can come out.

Let us know your return of the dragon story later

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

1. Cars that go down need not come up.
2. Be wary of the call to “Go green”.
3. Failsafe way to make your wife happy – provide her evidence of your colossal stupidity.
4. Stick to tarmac when in a family sedan.

Mate, your story is nothing compared to an act of stupidity of mine. Have a read .

While I was teaching my sister to drive, I took the car to place a little far away from home, where the roads are empty and surrounded by vacant plots. I had mistakenly entered a dead end .

Instead of reversing out , I tried to turn using the width of the road. The tar road had a shoulder covered by mud and the road was elevated by about 1.5 feet compared to the surrounding plots.The moment the car's rear tyre had touched the patch of mid, the mud slid behind taking the car with it.

The car was grounded . Had to call a few people to push the car out. Ever since that incident, have been very careful in using the width of the road to turn over especially in the ghat roads. Don't want to fall 500 feet with the car. No , I don't play the blue whale games.

Imagine my horror when I grounded the car while taking the car to teach my sister to drive. Decided that my next car will have ample ground clearance and 4 X 4 .

[saurabh2711]

Can you try & fit a scissor jack on the side which has sunk in the mud? With some heavy support to avoid sinking of jack as well. Once you car is lifted up, you might have to use your hand to let your Tyre lose. Lift up as much as you can & then push the car out of the hole. Or fill up the hole underneath with as much debris as possible, then try driving/pushing it out.

This sounds an absolutely stupid idea (don't start pulling my leg), but has worked for my esteem. The support under scissor jack was the so called "wheel spanner" with four arms. I am sorry not sure what is is called (specifically). Jack was placed right at the center of it. The jack had to be opened up to its full height in my case.
Problem was a spare tyre, due to a puncture of the main & it had fairly less trades on it. Tyre kept sniping & black soil under it moved away.

Or you can try doing the same using a hydraulic jack. Here you will have to fill up the hole. You cannot drive off, so that your jack falls off. this happens in case of scissor jack, it can fall off & you can stop your car immediately or someone can pull it off as soon as it falls.

This is only advisable, when you have no support around & you cannot leave you car there for support to come & help.

Regards,
Saurabh

[Enobarbus]

Aha! Talk about trying to get cars out of grass and slush by reversing and pulling? such a blame fool way as that! Why, that ain't a-going to do any good. You got to go all by yourself, to the middle of the woods, where you know there's a banyan tree stump, and just as it's midnight you back up against the stump and slap your hand on it and say:

'Khachar-ullu, Khachar-ullu, ganna-chara pukar,
Choker-pani, choker-pani, Kheench meri car,'

and then walk away quick, eleven steps, with your eyes shut, and then turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody. Because if you speak the charm's busted. And that's how you get your car out.
(with apologies to Mark Twain)

[capslock]

I think you should still answer the call to "Go green". Any tusker or a pair of buffaloes around?

[abirnale]

Similar stuff has happened to me four time of this three times to same car! But without any additional car's help, I was able to come out of the situation. To make it sound easier for your ears - none of them were such a long stretch and ascending.

First incidence was on my first car - m800. Well, I learned that time - M800 is something called as FWD and so I should focus on keeping grip for front tyres. Sounds funny but I was half the age younger than I am today. A small dump of dry leaves and small pebbles got me out. Easy enough. I learnt things faster.

Second was a year ago. I had parked on a green grass surface - just like you had. But it was in the parking lot of Kaas Plateau. Luckily the front wheels were only 3 ft away from a dry surface. All I needed to do is get in reverse, move out of non-traction areas by 6 inches and move forward in first gear. Low and easy - XUV was out on its own in a minute. The area behind the parking was all bushes that overlooked the pond. So it was scary enough to know fate if I screwed up.

Third was during monsoon drive in Malnad region. It was a large patch of grass and slush. many vehicles had been in that area and grass was completely gone with just mud and slush all over. XUV did not have grip. Tried reverse, forward, rocking gently, turning wheels - nothing worked. So asked two onlookers to give a gentle push for 2 ft distance. That worked. Once in momentum, continued with slight left right movement of steering and easy crawling.

Fourth was at a scariest place! Rohathang la pass! The roads from Jispa side to climb onto the pass are slushy and are worsened by truck movement. The channels are at some places so deep that XUV can hang on the median without touching tyres to ground. Misjudged one such channel and went in. When realised mistake, slanted car with one wheel on median and other aside. Seeing that a local Bolero came head on - that freaked more. Applied brakes - biggest mistake - got stuck there itself. Any further accelerator input would simply spin the wheels. You can imagine all choicest expletives by folks behind and ahead for blocking traffic for good 700mtrs. That adds to pressure. Then some good souls came to rescue - forced bolero out of way and a car behind moved backwards by 2-3 ft. That gave much needed space - slight reverse and forward again on the channel with one wheel up got into momentum. On first gear and easy crawling, car was out in under a minute.

My learnings - always park away from slush, pure mud, especially the green cover while it rains. When stuck, slight reverse and forward, movement of wheels should help. If not, add some more weight, drop tyre pressure. If that does also not help, request onlookers for a "dhakka". If nothing - there is always a tow tape in car. Get someone to pull out.

So in your case when all options are exhausted - just use a tow. you should be out by now anyway!

[shady_lawyer]

Originally Posted by humyum

A front wheel drive car will become rear wheel drive car the moment you reverse it out of here

no it won't cause in reverse the back of the car is the front of the car!

[Samurai]

The FWD/RWD doesn't matter, it is not about weight transfer as in a launch. Most cars have better torque in reverse gear than 1st gear. In offroading, torque matters as long as you have traction. But in this case, traction is a suspect, so reversing may not work out either. Towing out or winching out are the only real options.

[Nissan1180]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

4. Call over the local Tata Roadside Assistance crew. They will come with their old battered pick-up (probably a 4x2?). What are the chances that we will end up with two vehicles stranded instead on one at the end of the day? Off-road gurus, do you think a 4x4 will be able to tow us out of this?
5. Buy a truckload of bricks, lay them out in a track and drive over it. Again, sponsors welcome.
6. Hire a tractor and get the car towed out.

Great write-up!

Hopefully you're out by now. If not, don't worry because what you have faced is very common. I got stuck while parked on the road side. It was on a surface that was softer than clay. The trick is to provide a bit of traction to the wheels using a plank/road/old clothes etc. (as some members suggested). If you find it difficult to walk on the surface, then this effort will be futile and a tractor will be the best bet.

Laying bricks can be a solution, but a tractor is going to be cheaper and easier. Ask at the local Panchayat office- they have many tractors to dispose garbage.

I've only seen the Tata roadside assistance team using Bolero Pickup trucks fitted with a crane. Not sure if they'd do any better than your car since there's no 4x4. If Tata can provide a tractor, it would solve your problem. Good luck.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by sudev

Reduce tyre pressure to half or so and then try reversing out. While keeping constant accelerator and giving slight left right rocking to steering once car starts moving.

+1 to air pressure, air down only the front two tyres. And ensure if you manage to start moving, to not leg go off the throttle and gently manage to throttle for maximum momentum. Over revving will create unnecessary wheel spins, so a fine balance between traction and momentum is the key. Keep in mind momentum is your best friend, and don't worry too much about odd under body hits if its soft ground

If rains stop and you get an hours sun shine, that would be the right time to give this ^ a try. Try to build as much as momentum from the flatter ground and do it in one shot, avoid half clutching and keep the revs in the power band instead.

Edit: Human help in pushing would also greatly help, while powering up. So if you have few helping hands, am pretty sure you will get her out without much tyre burn.

[udainxs]

Originally Posted by cogWheel

I am not even sure if I should post this in the “Street Experiences” forum (this was not much of a street) or the “4x4 Excursions” forum (Clearly not a 4x4). Was looking for forum / thread like “Hall of Stupidity”, could not find one. Did I hear someone say “Bad Drivers - How do you spot 'em”? Mods, feel free to shift.

Having been in a similar situation a long time ago, all it took was someone to push the car while the tyres struggled for grip. The tyres gripped shortly after and the car did the rest. The vehicle was a rear wheel drive

You could definitely try this before calling in the heavy artillery.