Every spring I'm plagued by stuck truck syndrome.


Hit ground that's a little muddy, and the slick tires just spin and sink in. Then I have to jack up the wheels and put boards under them, sometimes more than once before I'm out. I have had quite enough of that.

There's a wide selection of tires available with claims of being great for traction in mud. But I wonder if a military tread would get a better grip than other tires that allegedly are good in mud. Anybody have experience with both kinds to share?

I have a Jeep which gets wheeled hard. Honestly Military tires are not great. I used BFG Mud Terrain T/A KM2s on my jeep which sees mud and street. On my farm truck which is basically mud/dirt/sand only (I have places where the ground is very muddy) I use Interco Super Swamper Boggers


In my experience military profile tires don't have great lug spacing, and don't have enough flotation compared to commercially available options. Still though, looks like they will be better than what you have, and I know they will be a lot cheaper than the other two options I listed above.

Steve, just put it in 4 wheel drive.

Military NDT (Non Directional Tires) load up just as quickly as a standard tread street tire and they are not the greatest on wet pavement because they ride on the centre section on hard surfaces where there is no tread! I had a set on a Land Rover, but replaced them with a set of tall, skinny snow tires that dig out much better.

NDTs were supposedly primarily designed to confuse enemy forces on account of their non-directional design, but the first time you find where a vehicle shod in these tires has turned, it isn't too hard to figure out...

A good set of aggressive mud & snow tires would do much better. Add a set of chains and a Scott Wyeth "Power Puller" hand winch(same design since the 1930's, made in the USA) to your tool kit and you'll always be home by supper!

Keeping "Mister Thrifty" in mind:

Do you only drive your truck on dirt roads around the farm? If so, then you might be able to score a lightly used pair locally and mount them yourself with no or only bubble balancing.

If you don't have the equipment to dismount your old tires and mount the new ones, check your local tire dealer for a pair of lightly used tires that someone swapped out for larger or even more aggressive tires and have them mount them. Again, balance optional depending on where you drive the truck and how fast.

(Message edited by cudaman on April 20, 2017)

Skinny tires are good in snow. Wider tires are good in mud.

I think Mark is on the right track. I'd check with tire shops and/or car dealerships to see if you can find some that were taken off (I think they actually call them "take-offs") for an upgrade or maybe some used tires in OK shape.

Of course there's a limit to what you can do with what boils down to 1 drive wheel. Maybe you should consider a Livingood 4 WD setup for that thing.

Wait for the ground to firm up?? Bud.

Steve
How about snow chaining her up before you go out.
I went to a garage sale when I left the the San Fernando Valley 40 years ago. I got a pair mud (I mean) dirt cheap.

Steve It only took two times stuck in my neighbors drive way for me to trade my two wheel drive truck in for one with four wheel drive.
I bought my truck while living in California and learned a lesson when moving to Missouri.

Looking at these, looks like something an enterprising gentleman could duplicate with a piece of 2x4 and an old leather belt:

https://www.amazon.com/Trac-Grabber-Unstuck-Traction-Solution-Cars/dp/B01BDWRECU

super swampers! any way to lock up the rear makes all the difference. you can do a lot with 2wd and a spool. probably not an option. wider as someone suggested will help. granny low with little wheel spin wins if you can keep your foot out of it. point and shoot using momentum is popular with much hp, not a good option for you. lock up the rear, snow tires and put a winch on it. looks like fun if you are not trying to get somewhere!

Steve,

A truck driver showed me something once in the snow that was quite interesting and might help you. Jacking up that truck on soft ground can't be fun then putting slick boards looks like too much time and frustration...

I am sure that you have lots of chain from auctions. What he did was took chain and put it in front of the tires and then made a "zig-zag" pattern the width of the tire in a straight line. This is the same as having chains on the tires and he drove right out.

Don't know if it would work on soft ground but think that it might, the tires would spin less on "grease" but could still sink. I would try that before jacks and slick boards to see how it works.

Tim Moore

I concur with the above wisdom, and have had much success inquiring at the local tire dealers about what they call "pull-offs"...ie, tires with all of much of their life left in them that a "Bro-Truck" owner has sacrificed in order to mount garishly large tires.

I concur with the above wisdom, and have had much success inquiring at the local tire dealers about what they call "pull-offs"...ie, tires with all of much of their life left in them that a "Bro-Truck" owner has sacrificed in order to mount garishly large tires.

Case-in-point are the tires on my old homebuilt trailer. They were pull-offs with more than 90% of their original tread. I scored them for $40 apiece, mounted and balanced. And, while they're not mud-tires, I'm sure pull-off mud tires can be had too.

I have BFG mud and snow tires on my pickup. Great onroad and offroad. Also long lasting and quiet but not cheap. Never been close to being stuck and there are lots of muddy roads here.

I agree with used tires for this application. used to use them racing junk cars on asphalt oval. cheap used tires from police cruisers. I agree bfg mud and all terrain tires are pretty good. we ran bfg all terrains in the baja 1000 on a class 3 jeep. free pit service was part of the deal. Held up well though you can still destroy them in that setting.
Used and cheap, wide lug anything would most likely help. I will say you can get anything stuck going where you shouldn't but where is the fun in that?

what's that line from Jeremiah Johnson? March, maybe April, the green and muddy season. some folks like it , mostly farmers......

I run 600x16 tires on my 1947 Dodge daily driver. The summer tires are poor in snow and not much better in mud.

I do, however, run studded knobby 600x16s in winter and they are excellent in snow (and pretty good on ice). They don't come pre-drilled for studs and required, I think, 155 fixed depth holes per tire to accommodate 8mm studs.

Anyway, I expect the studs aren't necessary for mud but the knobbies look really cool and might just do the trick for you. I don't recall the cost but they came thru a collector car tire dealer weren't overly expensive.

Chris,I like those and I am not the one getting stuck. wish they were 20inch to put on the back of a tt. Much better than the bfg tire if Steve is not on asphalt a bunch.

Those studded knobbies are beautiful.And pricey.Steve,what about good old tire chainns?
On one or more of my T funcars,l just wrapped old dog chain round and round,and wired it together.

Sorry,missed Kirks post.

Steve ,your truck has the solution on the front!
DODGE the mud holes.

These got me out. About the only time this truck goes on pavement is when I go to gas it up, so I think the chains will stay on most of the time.

Chains are the way to go if there is no pavement. Before kids when I used to have time to run mud trucks I had a Bronco with 38 mud tires and chains off of a Cub tractor in the rear no one could believe where that truck could go, just point and shoot.

Oh, and I like the farm jack/ high lift in the first picture. They can be used for so many pushing, pulling, lifting or crushing jobs. Heck they are even a good educational tool; they teach you to be very careful with a load when the truck falls, strap/chin slips ect... I'm glad lawyers haven't made them safe but useless yet

Steve, that loose end will slap the fender and may knock the paint off

Paint?

I beg to differ with Tim Smith. In mud, the best thing to do is get the wheels spinning as fast as you can so the tread will "clean". The rougher the tread, the better it will clean. I had a '65 Chevy 3/4 ton four wheel drive pickup that I put a Chevy 396 325 horsepower big block in with a four speed transmission and two speed transfer case. It would sling mud balls all over the place in second gear on the high side of the transfer case with the four barrel open. The best mud tires that I ever used were Firestone "Super All Traction", they had a tread that was similar to a tractor tire, very directional. They also had a "Super All Traction ND", a version of the same tread that was non directional. I've seen other tire brands that had pretty much the same tread. Just my experience from plowing through mud roads and fields for many years. I agree that the old military tread tires were pretty poor for mud. I have also heard the story that they were made that way so that the enemy wouldn't know which way they were going. They could have done the same thing with any tire tread, just as Firestone did. I never understood their thinking, and they used the same tread for years.

Slow and easy does usually work better in snow and ice. Dave

lol David, you just entered a different world when you brought big hp and big tires, and still have momentum. Put paddles on them too and skim at some point. All fun. not sure Steve has that option to get his lugs clean. His chains are doing the trick at slower speed and rpm. I am glad he finally got out as I was worried.

Glad you got it out, Steve.

Looks like you "out-thriftied" us all, crafting a solution from parts you already had at hand.

Steve, now that you got it out you better go cancel that new 4 wheel drive P U order. I would hate to see you spend $60,000 if not needed.

If I got a 4WD PU it would probably be another one of these.

As a former tire shop owner of thirty years, for mud you want a wider open tread tire that will stay on top of the mud and self clean. For snow, a skinny tire like a T's that will dig down to the ground to get a bite would work best. The tire studs help most on ice, or hard packed snow, where they can get a grip. Most states have laws about when studded tires can be used, in Indiana it is from October 15th to May 15th.

I'd had 3 Willys Overlands over the years, a 56 pick up, 55 station wagon and 59 utility delivery and all were as durable as heck and as basic as you could get. Built through Ford as the Ford Rural here in South America till 1976 with some front end sheet metal changes. There are a couple running around town but the owners won't sell

Love that pic of Steve and his "Black Hat Squad"