And now for something completely silly...

[PeteTheRookie]

Playing with "Hercules". ('66 4500) Moved the snowed in Camry and spent about 1/2 hr clearing nice place to park it. Then I decide to widen the cleared part of the driveway a bit. Push a big snow pile off the edge of my raised gravel driveway on a area that is at the bottom of a pretty steep grade. Well, I get that small mountain of snow pushed off the side. Pick up the front loader and the right rear wheel sinks about 3 feet down into nothing but snow. I had gone off the edge of the drive probably about a good 3 ft! Now, in hind sight I should have shut it down and come in and post a pic and asked for suggestions as I in my limited novice experience did not know how to get out of this mess. About 1/2 hr into it all I had managed to do was spin the left rear wheel and slide the whole thing deeper and further into the snow covered ditch. After another 1/2 hr, with my son and a neighbors "assistance" and suggestions, neither one with any experience either It was stuck! Listing over at least 30 degrees and the loader wedged up a against the trunk of a 70+ foot white pine tree. NOW, the thought crossed my mind to shut it down and come in and ask for advice. BUT i really needed to get it out before the Mrs. got back from shopping as she was pretty mad when she left. So I thanked my son and my neighbor and asked them to leave me be so
I could think.
Finally I planted the front loader and raised it about 3 feet. Put the back hoe out so it was about 5 feet from the back and slight to the right. Needed to be to right because other wise when lifted it start to tip to the right! That was pretty scary. About 6"s at a time was finally able to move the rear end back up over the berm of the gravel driveway. Then dug in front loader fully rotated down, placed it in reverse and upped the idle until just before the rear wheels wanted to break free and spin. Then I rotated the loader bucket gaining a few inches at a time. Repeated 5-6 times until it finally backed out.
I learned I need to place some stakes along the driveway so I know where it ends when its 3-4' under snow. And how to balance and lift the entire machine on the bucket and hoe. When all was said and done it was about 2 embarrassing hrs I was stuck.

Pete the Rookie

 

[oldtanker]

Glad you got out OK. "Vehicle recovery" can be a tricky and dangerous job. If you get into that situation again please ask for help!

Rick

 

[Ecnerwal]

Remember that "crushed under tractor" is not an uncommon way to die. You have to be careful , when things go wrong they can get bad in a hurry. I guess you do have a ROPS on your unit IIRC, so be sure to wear the seatbelt so the ROPS can do its job (which is preventing "crushed under tractor.") Keep bystanders/helpers out of crushing range.

My driveway markers of choice (based on price and longevity) are 1/2" PVC electrical conduit. Don't rot like wood ones, far cheaper than the fiberglass rods, don't cause much if any damage if you hit them. A roll of reflective tape makes them easy to spot. 2-3 markers from a 10' stick depending on snow depth.

If you are not squeamish about what happens to the ground, the backhoe can pull the tractor out of a lot of situations far faster (and in bigger chunks) than the loader bucket can push it (and the loader bucket, flat, can be used to raise/float/slide the front on if the front wheels drop into a hole). Reach out, plant the hoe, free up the wheels, and haul. Stabilizers not on the ground, obviously. Likely not what you want to do in the middle of your driveway, but you can fix the hole in the driveway once you've gotten out of the ditch.