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I hate my R4s part II
Some of you may remember that I complained about R4 tires in a previous post where I couldn't get adequate traction in dry clay soil.
Well, today I found that R4 tires really suck in semi-wet clay soil too. It hasn't rained in a week and the soil around here is kind of damp but not mucky. I was out box blading an area that we cleared and found myself about 18" from a slight downhill slope. I made the mistake of stopping there to drink some water and when I tried to restart no matter what I did the tractor slid toward the slope. I was in 4WD, the diff lock didn't help much, and the direction of the steering wheels made no difference at all. Apparently the tire lugs were plugged and were incapable of gaining traction. I ended up sliding down the slope sideways and getting stuck.
See my pics 4-6.
Attempts to pull it out with my truck in 4WD failed - the M&S tires on the truck got about as much traction as the R4s on the tractor but at least the truck didn't get stuck.
I guess I'll go winch shopping tomorrow. And I'll be looking for some R1s ASAP.
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I hate my R4s part II
Good thing you were smart enough to stop while you were still ahead of the game.
I guess R-4's are like most compromises in life.
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I hate my R4s part II
Ken, I can tell you for MUCH experience, in the situation you described, the R!'s wouldn't have been any different.
The clay is the problem, NOT the tires.
The winch is some assistance, but a LONG cable is even better, and less money. We use a 250' cable at the farm, it is about 1.5" diameter, maybe even a little larger, I can't recall, but it's BIG, and very heavy, we drag it out into place with an ATV or horse. Hooked to the stuck machine and away from the stickiness to the 'rescue' machine, a little patience and pulling and hopefully voila.
The other invaluable tool is a pull frame. Never try to use a winch or cable without one. It is basically a big triangular frame, about 15' high in our case, the bottom flat has teeth which dig in to the ground for traction. The top has a stout ring to which the cable is attached. It is used by placing the flat 'toothed' side on the ground about 25' away from the stuck machine, inline with, and perpendicular, to the direction of pull, the cable is attached to the ring with the frame standing up at about 45 degrees. a strong chain is then run from the ring to the stuck machine. When you pull on the cable the fram tilts upwards translating the lateral motion into an upward pull LIFTING the machine up out of the hole, and NOT trying to drag it straight forward into the earth.
Best of luck.
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I hate my R4s part II
Sorry Ken, I often see farmers looking for new farms. I tell them to buy the land and not the buildings. You can build a new building in a year or less with ease and to improve the land it will take a life time. Ken, you are just stuck in a greasy, wet, gooie, clay hole thats all!!!!just remember if you can't dig down chances are you can slide off.
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I hate my R4s part II
This might be a circumstance where a set of diamond pattern chains could help you out.
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I hate my R4s part II
I made some progress getting off the precarious position. I just drove forward and knocked down a few trees in the process. All four wheels are on fairly level ground now BUT I can't get back up the hill and I can't turn around. If I try to get out by going forward a LOT of trees will get knocked down in the process.
Tomorrow I'll try a combination strategy to back up the hill. Install some chains (thanks, Mark!), use a shovel to try to smooth out the approach up the hill, and put down a couple of pieces of plywood as a ramp. Right now there's a hole near the top of the hill it just can't get out of.
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I hate my R4s part II
Thanks for the info, Murf, but you're interfering with my worldview. I want to blame the R4s and have R1s make it all better 
The pull frame makes a lot of sense but I don't have the equipment here to make one. If there were some big trees between the tractor and the pull vehicle a pulley could probably be rigged but, unfortunately, that's not the case.
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I hate my R4s part II
The fronts would be the easiest to chain, assuming the loader is on the tractor.
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I hate my R4s part II
I got stuck last week going to get hay in a similar position. This time it was with my truck. I couldn't go foward w/o taking out a cattle pen, couldn't get the truck to go backwards up the hill and it wouldn't slide sideways to help me avoid the slope. I got out by using a large ammount of hay underneath my 4 wheels .
I think if you get your TRUCK traction it will pull the "relatively" lighter tractor out. I also have the junky M&S rated tires so I know what you are dealing with. The hay does help give it some bite.
Don't feel bad ojn Friday I also saw a huge cement truck get into trouble on clay at my buddies last week. SO bad thta it slid sideways to the point of falling into the forms it had just filled. Even with an excavator trying to ull it it still almost flipped into my buddies soon to be living room. Whatever side they pulled on the other would just slide out making the angle very precarious indeed! The guys were trying not to look nervous in front of the customer but afterwards they wer hooping and hollering like THEY won the World Series.
Good luck
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I hate my R4s part II
In muck, no tire is going to much better. Once the tire tread lugs are full of it they just spin as you have first hand experience with now. Sometimes you can push yourself backwards with the loader bucket before you get in beyond the point of no return. Aggrivating isn't it?  Glad you were able to get it out without any damage.
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I hate my R4s part II: Tractor Tires -- Tractor Maintenance Discussion Forum
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10-27-2003, 16:07 
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