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Most embarassing place you've been stuck in your Ru?


RavenTBK
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Pisses me off, but the night before last, just after sundown, I had the ATV loaded up in the Brat and took my girlfriend out into the national forest to the motocross pits for a ride.

 

She poked around on the quad, and I took the Brat around. I did a couple hillclimbs and off camber crap, and decided one more climb then I'd call it a night and ride with the gf some more. Went up the hill without incident, but the backside was a bit steeper than it looked with the headlights.. about halfway down the right side dropped into a wash which caused the left wheel to hang and spin the steering to the left. Applying counter force to the wheel and continuing to slide down I felt a RRRIP. Damn ragjoint ripped in half. Damn steering wheel spun as freely as that one at the top of the McDonalds playground does. There I was, on the backside of a hill, front end dropped in a wash, left rear hiked up higher in the air than I've ever had it before, and no replacement (its been on order with the dealer for a week). I attempted to get out to flag my gf down, but without my counterweight, the Brat wanted to roll over and lean up against the wall of the wash.

 

Long story short, after three hours and two hands worth of skinned knuckles, I was about to give up as I couldnt get the wheels straight enough to coast the rest of the way down the hill. Then I remembered I had a snatch rope at the house. I used my mom's S-10 pickup to pull on the snatch rope that I hooked into the hole on one of the wheels to straighten the front end enough to roll about 3 ft down. I rolled a lil bit, then rehooked the rope, rolled some more.. about an hour later I get off the hill.

 

Pretty much, I was stuck on the backside of a hill, on a trail barely wide enough for an ATV with no steering control whatsoever.

 

To make things worse, after I got it down the hill, I went into work to grab my towtruck. I arrived back at the pit with the towtruck, but attempting to back to it proved hopeless, as I ended up sinking in the sand and getting my damned towtruck stuck! Fortunately since it was around midnight on Friday night, there were the usual batch of drunken rednecks sitting around a bonfire on the far side of the pits. I managed to find one that was sober enough to still stand, and he gave me enough of a tug to unstick the towtruck, afterwhich I just got on the gopedal like it was goin out of style. Got through the sand, picked up the Ru, and gunned it to hell to get back out onto the hardpack.

 

So, to make me feel better while I wait for my OEM ragjoint to arrive Wednesday-ish, where is the strangest place you've been stuck in your Roo?

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My brakes went out right in front of an Autozone so I pulled in and used the emergency break to stop. The manager said I could leave it there as long as I wanted as long as I bought the parts from him. It was a 24 hr. store so I left it there 2 weeks and then a friend and I fixed it in the parking lot.

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oh man, when my dad first got the subaru i know have we were headed up to a camp for a winter retreat with my curch back home. when we got stuff unpaced i decided to "park" the suby. i thought it would be cool to pull it into the snow bank in a foot or two of snow. i put it in 4hi and went for it. well it was very wet snow and the street tires didn't do crap. i was stuck with two tires in the deep snow and to on the parking lot area that was clear. and to top it off i was kinda hi-centered. then the rest of the people got up there to find my suby stuck in the most visible place and were wondering what i was thinking all weekend. :D

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Midwest 2:

Flat road, nothing to tie to, everyone else stuck or made it out and isn't going to try going back in. Authorities accusing us of destroying the road. The least capable cars are making it out and the ones with all the goodies and good tires are getting stuck.

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Typical trails on the island are HEAVILY wooded (at least the challenging ones are) Cutting any trees bigger than say 4 or 5" to make a trail (or get yourself through a trail) is cheating. Half the time your line includes figuring out how to fit through narrow openings between trees without busting your mirrors or lights.

 

The funniest situation I've been stuck in was when I tried to climb an off-camber mossy ledge with trees on either side, and slid downhill to end up sandwiched end to end between 2 big trees, about 4" forward of the grill, and 6" back from the tailgate. Also adding to the difficulty was a roundish boulder about 2ft round that got wedged between my rear quarter panel and the ground when I slid, lifting my passenger rear wheel off the ground. Another thing to mention was that I didnt have any bumpers on, so there was no way I could have made it out without serious body damage. I had to call a friend to winch it out carefully.

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Last winter I got stuck in the middle of the Northgate mall parking lot when I tried to climb atop a big pile of snow the bulldozers had pushed together. With nothing to attach a rope to, I was stuck. A Civic and a Neon both tried to pull me off, but it finally took a big K5 Blazer to pull me off.

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I have a few, two involve snow and my FWD 3AT wagon, and the other a destroyed balljoint/DOJ. All three in my friends yard.

 

First, I was being the screwball teenager that I am, and was drifting in his driveway, well, I think this tells the story better than I ever could.

3242Loyale_in_the_ditch_4-med.JPG

Yes, I'm 2 feet from his driveway, and about 20 from the most major highway in the area!

 

 

The other Loyale one was at his concrete parking slab, I decided I'd park it with the front bumper pushed into the snowbank, well, I pushed it a bit to far into said snowbank, and the front wheels came up off the ground. Go get the lawn tractor and a chain! :banghead:

 

And the third, I was flying through the swamp behind his house in my GL, and found a nice big rock, the hard way. Made a horrible sound, but no obvious damage. I later found out that it had sheared the nut of the end of the balljoint, which pulled apart in the flattest part of his yard, which, in turn, pulled the circlip/balls/cage out of the DOJ, making it almost completely undriveable, even in 4WD.

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I've had my legacy in some pretty sick places (#4 rated trails in CO) but the one time I got stuck was when I lived in Lakewood, CO and was out wheelin with my cousin at a basin by my house. I was going up these sick hills and through some pretty nasty mud and never got stuck. Then my cousin says, "see if you can get up this hill" as he point so to this innocent looking hill. I never even got to the hill. I ended up getting high centered on a semi-sunk boulder in the mud. After a while of him and I pushing on the car and gunnning the gas...we were free. I lost my passengers side front mud flap to that boulder and my floorboard on that side is about an inch higher now. Stupid rock!!!

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Before I had a lift.... tires... or even 4WD.... I was playing around in an old abandon parking lot. Lots of big puddels but pretty flat terrain. The middle of the parking lot looked pretty soft.... but how bad could it be?

 

I got plenty of speed up and was in 2nd gear. Figured 'hey i got lots of momentum Ill just blast trhough it to the other side where its dry'. Hit it hard and just kept on flooring it. Then I felt it get deeper and started sliding around a little. Soon I flet it rubbing on the bottom floor boards... then I knew it was game over. Lost all momentum and just stopped. Stuck upto the floor boards in all of about 9 inches of mud.

 

So basicly I got stuck in an old parking lot! :rolleyes:

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Let's define "STUCK"!

 

Stuck is when you can't move--If you can still move (even a little) then your not stuck!

 

Years ago...up in the Uintas (9500ft) with the Hatch, in June, I removed my passenger seat and threw in my Honda Trail 70 and my cross country skis. Armed for what ever awaited me I boldly began trail blazing. I was working around the remaining snow drifts and opening up trails that had not seen vehicles since October.

 

Later, needing to hook up with others, I turned around and headed back to civilization--or at least the campground. As I began retracing my original path, I began to get bolder, as I had already been through this area earlier.... I began "Bank Busting" rather than going around the snow difts....

 

I saw a particularly nice one with dry road on both sides....

 

I hit the gas and everything looked good....until I backed off the gas because I hesitated just a bit...to this day I don't know why?

 

There I was stuck on a snow drift, 40ft long and 2ft high with nothing on board to help me get unstuck. The wheels were spinning freely as the whole car was high centered on the snow...

 

I ended up using my X-C ski pole to remove the snow under the car and free up the under carrage. I used my feet and floor mats to scoop a trail out...

 

Not a lot of fun...

Glenn

82 SubaruHummer--usually laughs at the other 4X4's in the snow....

01 Forester--Been high-centered but not stuck!

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Back in about 1992 my buddy Ed and I took my 79 subaru 4wd wagon after school to this small wooded area in town behind another friends house. Long story short we got the car majorly mud bogged and were stuck badly. The good part was that Ed lived about 4 houses away and had this old 60 something dump truck that we thought we could use to pull the car out. Well it did....but Ed wasn't paying attention to hand signals and pulled the car into a tree with the hatch open mind you. Needless to say I had to get a new hatch for the back of the car and had to make up a BS story for the old man. :rolleyes:

 

Oh the good old days....

 

Matt

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looking forward to singletracks addition to this thread.

we had a good time getting stuck and unstuck in his roo last year.

hopefully he can come up with the goods.(hint,hint)

 

suttle arent I?

 

 

 

my best stuck story doesnt involve a car.

i was on a quad back in new hampshire poaching snowmobile trails in the spring with my g/f.

we were tearing through the mud making a mess.(young kids!):rolleyes:

when all of a sudden a huge mud hole was in the trail.

eh, i was on a yahama big bear no problem.

went for the middle, no skirting this monster and bam thick black mud over the foot pegs completly stuck.

posted signs every fifty feet means serious private property owner.

so quickly gather all tree debrise dig out trenches in front of tires with feet and hands, lay branches.

then find huge rock and long stout branch.

use the rock as a prop to lever off of with the long stout branch to break suction, while the g/f gives it gas like the cops were on her rump roast.

funny sight it was, her fish tailing that beast out of the mud.

she had to work it hard or it would have slipped off our little tracks to freedom.

so we are out! celebrating our success with some much needed herbal remedies, and incomes pissed off property owner.

the hole was a mess and i really felt bad. just about a whole tree was in the mud and a big huge rock. the guy most likely used the road alot in the summer and would have to do alot of work to get it back.

i tried to calm the guy but he was too upset. he took the expired reg. # off the quad and i booked it out of there. what a great time i had. never heard nothing about it either.

looking back at it now i think its the fastest i ever got into and out of trouble.

 

 

now lets hear the roo story!!!!!

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Well the whole reason I got the 85 DL 4WD wagon was to avoid getting stuck. Last winter I spun it into a ditch and drove right out. So as an entertaining alternative here are other stories of me getting stuck over the last 20 or so years.

 

With the lamination still fresh on my first drivers license I yell, BAJA, and drive my '62 Chevy into a field full of tall grass. Get stuck when my front tire wraps around a large cast iron pipe at speed. (Florida)

 

Shooting cows with a BB gun in the '62 we see a pickup coming from across the field, and assume it is the farmer coming to protect his cows. In my haste to escape I floor it in the mud and get stuck up to the axles. (Florida)

 

Now at the mature age of 18 I try to slide sideways behind the strip mall (I think you young'uns now call this drifting) and hit a patch of soapy mop water behind the restraunt. The 180 gets my fenders and bumper wrapped around the post that hold up the fence around the dumpster. Escape by prying the fenders off with a large steel pipe. (Florida)

 

Riding with some guys in a jeep, the driver tries to negotiate a four-foot deep mud bog full of swamped logs. We get stuck, and pulled out by a Ford truck. (North Carolina)

 

Delivering pizzas in my '87 Sentra I get stuck bumper deep in front of somebodys trailer when my front tires drop into a huge muddy puddle covered by 10" of snow. The customer comes out in his pajamas and pushes me out. (North Carolina)

 

After closing time, we take the 80-something pizza delivery trucks out for a little ride up the mountain in the rain, for hours of mud slinging fun without getting stuck. When the guy driving hits the pavement at the bottom he floors it and we spin around, jump a ditch sideways, and stop bumper deep in a muddy corn field. (North Carolina)

 

Trying to slide sideways onto a gravel road in the Sentra I succeed and wind up with two tires hanging in a 'backhoe' ditch. (North Carolina)

 

Now all growed up I fill my '01 Nissan 2WD with trash and head to the local dump. I get there and the attendant says, "you can only go up there in a 4WD." Being the kind of guy I am, I push the issue and say I want to go up there anyway. They say, "fine - go ahead." Where I proceed to get stuck half way to the dump place and get pushed out by a fine fellow in a 4WD Toyota. I take my garbage back home. (Colorado)

 

Trying to avoid carrying a bunch of flooring down my the muddy driveway of my brother's partially built house in the middle of the night on the side of a mountain I back down the freshly graded driveway in Dad's 80-something Nissan 2WD truck. Stuck again. (Virgina)

 

Have I learned anything from all of this? Hell no. I want to put the 27" studded snows for my Nissan on the DL wagon, then go get stuck on a fire road in the Colorado foothills somewhere!

 

- James B

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I've been stuck so many times in Subarus, I've forgotton more than I remember or could be prompted to remember. All of your stories are seriously lacking pics. So, I dug up some picks of me stuck, I'll type up a quick story for each.

 

 

Stuck1, 78 4X wagon, my first Soob.

I was eyeing a big long hole, sure I could make it thru, it just looked like a puddle. I went in about 15 feet and it got really squshy fast. So, being a rookie, I stopped and tried to back out. That was that, it just sunk. So, my buddy thought he'd drive around and push from the front. (we had no tow ropes) He got just as stuck as me just as fast. So two of us headed out and hiked 5 miles to find a guy with a Jeep to get us out. The Jeep got the Soob, but not the Jeep. We had to get anothre guy with a winch and a snatch block to get the Jeep out.

(I'd kill that hole with my hatch!!)

 

 

Stuck2, 83 brat, 3 inch lift, 28 inch swampers

One of the first serious trails I'd ever been on. Mike W and I discovered it when we first took out our hatches together. Reiters Pit, we call it the Hobbit Trail. Mike got kinda stuck the first time he went thru goning the other way. That was WWWAAAAYYYY before the trail had been used and abused and dug out.

Heading out in the Brat, I thought I'd give it a try. What could happen, I get stuck? Sure enough, there's a tree root that has a deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep rump roast hole on the other side from guys with 36s getting stuck in the same spot and digging it out worse. I was resting on the rocker panel, with the font tire dangling over.

The water ws so deep inside that the passenger seat was under. It splashed over the console and soaked me when they pulled me out.

2 Soobs had to tie to eachother to get me out.

 

 

Stuck3, 86 hatch, 3 inch lift, 28 inch swamper ssrs

Just plain forgot to put it in low range when I shoved into the deep snow. Booged down, lost momentum, and that was that.

 

Stuck4, 82 Brat, (Bob) 3 inch lift, 28 inch swamper ssrs

Tried to be the brave guy and tackle the impossible. Clutch got wet. Say no more.

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Yeah.. I asked for Subaru stories. :P

 

I know, its all useless without pics. I wish I had some.. but it was after sundown when I arrived at the pit, a bit after 9p when the ragjoint ripped, and just before 12:30 when I came for it with the towtruck. Unfortunately, my camera was left at home, the batteries on charge to be ready for work later that night.

 

Anywho.. more pics pls!

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BTW.

 

He did ask for Subaru stories. Stories about getting stuck are cool, but ones about quads and chevys are off topic. ;)

 

 

Let's hear 'em.

still new to subaru's. im working on singletrack to get his roo story in this thread so i had to give a little to get a little, ya know. i thought a small deveation from the topic would be effective for this reason. if i had pics to show you'd be more forgiving!

 

nice going by the way with stuck story and pictures very well done.

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thats beautiful, morgan

 

 

 

this is what happens when i try to get stuck: i dont. there are no mud pits in vegas or the surrounding areas. very rarely do we ever see even the slightest sign of h20 in the skies, and every time i do its at work downtown.

 

 

so anyway, my story. twas a dark, gloomy day when all the sudden BOOM CRASH BANG went the thunder right after my computer screen flickered and died. rain then followed, just daring cars to attempt to withstand the awaiting floods. so i gathered my things (shoes, socks, pants --- wait, just kidding) and booked it home. well, more like floated since its a huge flood zone the whole way there. I dropped off my things, picked up some tools, headed to my friend steve’s house, grabbed some sodas, and headed for the hills. (the hills consists of dumped dirt from construction zones all over the valley – also known as trash alley valley.) after driving around finding no water whatsoever, we located a giant puddle (well, giant to us vegas folk) and decided to have some fun. Steve got the camera out and took some shots as well as some footage of me thrashing around. The first time I went thru I ran into a bush on the side of the pit which got me stuck due to no previous engagement of the 4wd mechanism. Tsk tsk. We pushed it off back into the pit and tried again. I broke a flood because of that damn bush.

 

 

 

Got a couple more pics, headed back home, and washed down the little monster.

 

 

 

Herrrs sum documentashun fer yalls.

 

5405offroad_adventures_II_006.jpg

 

5405offroad_adventures_II_008.jpg

 

5405offroad_adventures_II_002.jpg

 

see some more in my album. link's in the sig.

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Ok, so, Dustyrider and I took my wagon out to the Black Ridge CA, just outside of town, but 1500' higher. This was last February, at night, when I'd only had my wagon a few months and it was still stock. It was during a snowstorm, of course.

 

We knew we would be in deep snow, but didn't realize how deep. We started of down the trail, and quickly came to a hill we couldn't climb. This was maybe 300 yards from pavement. After discovering we could not back up either, we thought that now would be a good time to put the chains on.

 

After stuggling with the chains for a bit, we got um on, and started driving out backawards [no room to turn around] when the car slid into deep snow on the low side of the road. We used the hard plastic case from the chains as shovels and dug the car out as best we could, but the damn thing would not drive out of the ditch. We dug more and more, till we had cleared all the snow within like 10' feet of the car. But still, even with Dave pushing and me hammering the clutch the car wouldn't pull its self out of there, even when we both knew full well it should be able too.

 

So anyway we come to realize the problem; the driver's side door had been in deep snow so I was crawling across to the pass side to get out; at some point I knocked the 4wd lever slightly so it wasn't engaged and the car was running 2wd. The dash light was on and everything.

 

So we actually put in 4wd and it drove right out of there. Well, acutally I got it stuck again, but not so bad the second time. Then we drove out of there.

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