I started in 8-10” of easy watery stuff. I was keeping a speed of about 4-5 mph. Then I hit some thicker 8-10” mud. I was stuck. I went forward, back, side to side. Nothing helped. I dug a little and my back axle ended up resting on top of the thick stuff. The front end ended up to where I could only see the top half of the front tires.
I was pretty sure I was high centered. Luckily I got pulled out eventually.

QUESTIONS:

1. If I had REAL mud tires would I have gotten stuck in the first place?
2. Is 4-5 mph too slow to go through mud?
3. Since I was high centered would REAL mud tires with those large lugs have pushed water hard enough like a river boat to push out my 600# machine?

I know I need real tires and maybe more momentum. Can you experienced mud riders tell me how to properly deal with mud?
Thanks.

 

3 pieces of advice,

1) Taller tires do help. Higher ground clearance.

2) 3-4 miles per hour may or not be too slow. If you are going fast enough to keep your momentum moving forward then you are going fast enough. If you stop fairly early in the mid pit, you are going to slow..

3) Do the rocking/side to side/jumping forward movement, before you get stuck...

OR

When in doubt, power out, adding any combination of the above in the sticky stuff!!!


RoostKing...

 

I was almost stuck on my 2001 Sportsman400 (stock) I turned the front tires side to side then I finaly hit solid ground. My quad weighs 650 easy!

 

Yup, Momentum is the key word.

-Josh

 

A wise man once said "When in doubt, rev it out!"

 

Jeff, if you don't have a winch you might want to consider one if you'll be mudding a lot. As you noticed, every mud situation is different and ever-changing, so the best thing is experience. After a while you just get a seat-of-the pants feeling for the whole traction/power/wheelspin thing. Adding a winch gave me the confidence to try things I used to shy away from. Now I go through stuff I never thought possible.
Practice, practice, practice - it,s a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

 

YukonRon and RoostKing have good advice. Speed is a hard thing to determine, as really there is no "correct speed" to approach any mud pit. With stock tires, momentum is key like others have mentioned, and with practice, comes experience in learning when the machine is slowly starting to enter that "danger zone" of becoming stuck. This is the point where the side-to-side movement and increase throttle comes to play. The key is just the right amount though-too much, you're in trouble, not enough, you're in trouble.

Adding more aggressive mud tires will help considerably, both in higher ground clearance, and the heavier lugs which grab and "pull" you through the stuff much like I mentioned in the other post about the snow. In comparing the mud holes that my Dad's stock 'Cat will go through, to the holes I go through with my 'Claws, there is really no comparison. The smaller holes where the stock tires on my Dad's machine may have a little trouble, I walk through like nothing. Momentum here doesn't mean a thing, as I can walk out to the middle, stop, back up a bit, then go forward again and climb out of the hole. This is all tire here allowing this to be possible, momentum has nothing to do with it as once you stop, all momentum is lost. Getting going again is the key, and more often than not, stock tires just won't allow that to happen.

The other thing to consider is all mud is different in every place you ride, and especially varies from state to state. As a result, riding techniques will vary depending on where you are, and what type of mud you have. The way I approach a mud hole out here is rather simple-always put machine in 4 wheel, low range. Then, slowly approach hole, letting front sink in to see how deep it may be, and gradually increasing in throttle to keep me going. You have to "feel" for the resistance, giving just enough gas to keep you going in the really thick heavy stuff, but not too much as you could wind up sinking depending on the depth, and how thick the mud is. If you start slowing down, give it more gas to keep the wheel spin up, cleaning out the tires, and grabbing more traction along the way, while turning from side to side. Keep this going till you're out of the hole, you should be fine. Like Yukon mentioned, get yourself a good winch if you haven't already-they, in my opinion, are the single best investment you can make to any 4x4 quad.

Get yourself a good set of heavy lugged mud tires that will be good in all terrain, like the 'Claws, 589's, Mud Runners, Mud Bugs, those Dirt Devils you mentioned, etc.-something you can ride on and enjoy while not getting beat up on hard pack, but will also really tear it up in the mud and snow. You'll be amazed at how many more places that prairie can go with a good set of rubber underneath.

Best of Luck to ya, and hope that helps,

Mike

 

Thanks a lot for the responses guys, I really appreciate it. Now I know how to attack the mud and the rest now will be up to getting real tires and gaining some experience.
Thanks again.