Buses and muddy fields

[tomhamrick]

I thought I would bring up Richard's rope trick again. See the link below.

http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=2484.msg26093;topicseen#msg26093

Tom Hamrick

[bobofthenorth]

My experience is to avoid a muddy field at all costs.

What Cliff said.

I put my bus on the frame one spring when the frost went out underneath where I had parked it.  I thought it was OK there but it warmed up during the day and when I tried to move, down it went.  I used a 2-1/2 yard loader with forks to move it - put the forks under the engine cradle to take some of the weight off the drivers and hooked to the safety rings for my towbar.  The details of the tow aren't important other than to reinforce that it takes really big rigging to get these things unstuck if you get them seriously stuck.  Parking on planks isn't going to help if you drive off the plank onto soggy ground. 

[Len Silva]

Just don't do it.  I once saw a 4104 that belonged to a college.  Some students had driven it on the beach and got stuck.  In less than 30 minutes, they destroyed the engine, transmission and clutch.  An incompetent wrecker pretty much destroyed the rest of the bus.

Get a 4 wheel drive schoolie or stay on the hard stuff.

[viento1]

Lets say you got a MC5 stuck... where would one wrap the chains?

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Only place to hook on on a 5 is the tow hooks under the tire compartment. When i got mine the hooks were missing so after a couple of years i decided i better get a set in case i ever got stuck.  MCI wanted a fortune for them so i got a set from Sam Caylor for a reasonable price.  Never have used them but at least now i got them.

[buswarrior]

Do not spin the tires on a coach.

Do not go on soft ground with a coach.

Do not put the coach in a position where it may spin the tires.

Think hard about letting the coach park on ground that is not improved without a board under all the tires.

If the tires sink in even a half inch, the force needed to get it out of that little dip is large, spin them in deep like the above picture, there is great risk of damage to the coach during recovery attempts.

Do not spin the tires on a coach.

Having sufficient number of 2'x2'  3/4 plywood boards that you can walk the coach forward one board at a time will get you off the ground that went soft after the rain. See how they did it in the Sahara during WWII with those metal sand rails, and some hardcore types still do today, for "recreation".

So, 6 boards to park on, and 4 more to use to walk it out, 6 makes it easier, with the tag and drive axle boards so close to sharing. They may also be used to help with leveling, but aren't available for escape if they are piled under the wheels already.

Tire chains?  If already stuck, in the hands of a novice, they'll be good for digging the hole deeper, quicker, if you can even get them installed.

Did I mention, do not spin the tires on a coach?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[zubzub]

This is a very interesting thread.  I have always been concerned about getting stuck and now I am even more concerned.  I like the ideas about the stretch line and the walking boards, and I wish I had a tag as I had never thought of the advantages of being able to lift the tag and then put blocking under it to raise the drives.  Years ago I got snowed in 300 yds down a country road (freak early snowstorm) I was contemplating using boards to walk the car out of there when a local  farmer helped me out.  Still wish I had had a chance to try that....maybe one day with the bus.
I am going to put my vote in for Belfert parking in the field, getting stuck and then polling the board for recovery suggestions

[bobofthenorth]

Getting stuck (and unstuck) can be a lot of fun and a genuine testosterone fest.  But its best done with small things like Jeeps or quads.  The larger the unit the bigger the chance that something expensive is going to get broke.  I've been around stuck farm tractors, stuck highway tractors and had my bus stuck - "don't go there" is the best solution.  We once had a high floatation truck stuck so bad that it took a backhoe and a Cat with a winch to get it out.  The problem with getting something big stuck is that the damage is often unseen and lurks for a few days or weeks and then appears at the worst possible and most expensive moment. 

[Lin]

Considering all that's been said, a wise person would not put themselves in such a position.  However, is a bus owner a wise person?  Now, if you really want to try it, it would seem it could be done with the right preparation.  As mentioned, you can walk the bus over some bad terrain using plywood boards.  There may be other materials that would work also.  So, if you went prepared with at least eight 8 foot lengths of 1 inch plywood, you should be able to move forward eight foot at a time.  That would only be 2 sheets of plywood if you went with 1 foot width.  If, as it seems, you will have a whole crew of guys with you to move the boards, it may not take too long to go 100 yards.

I once was passing the Algondones sand dunes off I-8 when they were filming "Stargate."  They were doing the shooting far from the roads.  As we looked, we saw a wonderful sight.  A new limousine was speeding across the sands as if it was on the interstate.  I do not know what material they had laid down, but we do know that it was temporary, and probably easy to do.  I always think back and wish I had gotten a picture of it.  The point is that if you really want to do it, it can be done. 

[Old4103]

If you really want to get creative, back during our little squabble with the folks in china and North Vietnam, a bridge over a branch of the Mekong river was blown down.... (and NO IT WAS NOT MY FAULT.... ), VC and NVA would use that river branch as an access for resupply without fear of interference from the US military..... Until....

Some bright guy had the idea to bring in a couple of heavy lift helo's and portage about 6 PBR's beyond the bridge. Boy, I'll bet the VC were surprised when they saw those boats open fire from just a few meters offshore.

I've forgotten what model of helicopter was used, but it had a lift capacity of 11 tons, which was what the dry weight of the PBR was.

Now, if you got 2 of those helicopters, you could put them together and have no problem moving that itty bitty Dina out of the muck!

Maybe for fun, you could add some un-copyrighted LED's without resistors to light up the area.

[Len Silva]

These guys could probably help you out.

http://www.pacificwood.com/crane-mats.cfm

[Hi yo silver]

Old 4103,
They were probably Sikorsky "Flying Cranes".  What's a PBR?
Dennis

[gyrocrasher]

Old 4103,
They were probably Sikorsky "Flying Cranes".  What's a PBR?
Dennis

PBR= Pabst Blue Ribbon.

[BG6]

Anyone have any special tricks for driving a bus on a muddy field?  Ground clearance on my Dina is not an issue.

I am trying to convince my friends we should take the bus on a road trip next month, but we have to park on a grass field.  They had a loit of rain last year and the field was quite muddy.  The entrance and first 100 yards in is covered with rock, but obviously I can't park in the way of everybody else.

I am hoping it will be dry this year unlike last year.

My trick is that I don't do it.

Think about this a little.  If you weigh 200 lbs and wear size 10 shoes, each step you take you are putting less than 5 lbs of pressure on each square inch of footprint.

Your coach puts over 50 lbs on each square inch of footprint.

Now, I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but . . .

[BG6]

Lets say you got a MC5 stuck... where would one wrap the chains?

Around the neck of the guy who drove it into the mud.