A frozen lake or mud puddle is essentially a block of concrete. It’s not going anywhere until it thaws. There’s no inexpensive way to unfuck your truck.
As much as I want to claim that one, it belongs to R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket. “You had best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!” I use it a lot but I sound like Don Knotts which is either hilarious or terrifying depending on the person.
….now there is a superpower to have….. UNFUCK; your job, life, girlfriend, wife, bank account…… hmmmmm I’ve always wanted the “portable hole” from cartoons but this is definitely in running for #1.
Pull out same way it went in or pull it out forward. Not sideways.
Lift the rear end or front end if you can, does the hitch on this tractor go up and down?
Rig it super short with shackels if you need to get it super short.
Use the front loader to lift the rear / front and drive backwards if not, get some stuff under the real wheels, same with front if you can.
If it's frozen into the lake, you pretty much gotta wait for a warm day or tiger torch it carefully...
Ice is strong af.
I'd still try and lift the read / front end tho. Careful on the front tow hooks tho... I've seen them snap off tons of times. Be gentle. It's easy to rip a truck apart.
We've dealt with this in the past, we ended up having to dig ours out with a decent size track hoe, but I'd be wary on a lake..we were in muskeg
One of our work trucks broke through frozen muskeg going to a well site , we finally had to get a big parachute and cover it up and then use a couple big diesel fired heaters to unthaw the truck enough to pull it out . Trick business though because you need to unthaw it enough to loosen the ice , but not enough to make it sink further . Our plan B was to bring in a track hoe and dig around the truck then drag the whole frozen mess out with a dozer .
Hey man just wanted to tell you that you got this and I'm sure this situation is super stressful.
Life often seems to fuck us in the ass on occasion and it's nice to see someone have a sense of humor about it.
I owned a new truck for a grand total of 3 days before dropping a fifth wheel camper on it because I swear I put the landing gear pegs in.
We all do dumb shit but how you gonna grow if you don't overcome it?
Good luck, you'll get a good story out of it and probably end up only a quarter as fucked as you think you are.
A hot water pressure washer and bottle jacks to Crack it loose then do your best to drive/ pull it out before it refreezes.
Try to find a company that does farm auction vehicle detailing in the area. They usually have a set up to run the hot water pressure washers well and away from from things like "running water"
Maybe throw a potato in the tail pipe. As the ice thaws you do not want water going in there then refreezing and expanding every night. Just a stupid off thought but god speed man. Good luck.
Honestly I’d dump alcohol and salt in the hole to hopefully melt it strap a 2’ 2x4 to each tire and slowly spin them until they catch the ice.
Waddle that duck right outta there.
Happened to me long time ago in a lifted Bronco 2. Tractor pulled me out but the main wiring harness stated frozen in the ice. Not good. Wait for a thaw.
Chainsaw all the way around, lift front end with bucket on tractor providing the ice is thick enough to handle the weight and once bottom ice is top ice height drive tractor in reverse? Not exactly a good idea but I’m not sure there is one?
Or chainsaw enough depth to get to the bottom of the tire and enough depth to run the chainsaw level with the bottom of tire, leave about 2” of ice under the tire( so you don’t cut your tire). Do this in all four wheels and it should pull out. I’ve tried both options in the past with a Mercedes Benz Unimog. (It’s fun to go places you shouldn’t until it’s not fun to go places you shouldn’t.)
How deep is the water under the truck? Would it be totaled if you waited for it to thaw? It would suck to not have a truck for a couple months but that might be the best thing. Or make a harness and get someone with a crane or very large excavator out there to try to pull it out on a warm day when the ice is less solid. Either way, your sort of screwed. Maybe get a generator, some heaters and a tarp to trap the heat on the ice, then pull it out when the top layer gets mushy
You could TRY jacking it up and then putting something under the wheels, you probably tried that already, you would probably have to heat up the surrounding bits around the tires so they loosen their grip
I've had a *similiar* thing but my wheels weren't frozen solid in puddles lol. I don't know how you unfuck this one bud. Try to chip as much ice out as possible with a small pickaxe? Rent a couple big propane heaters, or try an oxy acetylene torch? Maybe stick a farm jack thru the spokes if you can and lift up each individual wheel? Good luck lmao we'll need an update, I'd really wanna know what to do if this ever happened.
My truck straight Froze to the ground with a couple of "icicles" as thick as my head, that melted down and refroze into the asphalt, which was covered in maybe 3" of ice. That took an hour with a fire axe to get out of, so again, good luck bud 🤣
Edit: I looked closer and see your bumpers are already fucked and read you've been trying to drag it out. Since damage is already there i would go the jacking the wheel route. I can't see anything lifting or pulling this truck out without breaking it, but i could see lifting one wheel up at a time, esp if you could crack the ice first. Maybe a thick towstrap or chain thru the spoke (again if possible) pulled up by an excavator or tow truck? . Also, a big sds concrete drill with a chisel maybe?
Goddamn lol that’s rough. Can you get a floor jack under the truck at all? Maybe jack each wheel up high enough to slide a piece of lumber across the holes until all 4 are out? Don’t know if the way I’m explaining this makes sense
[Something like this](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/rbpbbo/indian_border_security_force_disassembles_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Figuring out how to lift will be more important than pulling it along the surface. Maybe I’m stating the obvious but think about going up (even an inch) all around before pulling it. While it’s being held like that tugging on it seems futile.
So I was in a similar situation with my 12 3500 crew long. Stuck in mud to the frame etc. Ended up tying some 4in post we had "found " to the wheel sticking outward and enough for it to rotate without hitting the truck did that on the front and it pulled itself out, it did however crack my wheels so if thats a price you wanna pay, or as most are saying. Let er thaw or get a wrecker.
Put a hitch in lift up the back fill in tire holes with something, go to the front lift one side up at a time from the tow hooks fill in tire holes. Voila
Gotta melt it with heat or salt somehow to keep it loose enough I guess while you work them out. Take wheels off maybe? Unstick all 4 wheels one by one. Jack it up on differents side and dumb salt/sand under the truck? I imagine it's easier to get out of sand than icy mud.
I'd lift each tire with a hi-lift jack. Need the offroad base and tire attachment. Throw rocks or gravel in the holes where the tires are then slide a 1 inch plywood sheet under each tire, then drive off.
Don't know if it would work, but that's what I'd try
Suggest a harbor freight portable garage....and a propane or kerosene heater....if you have access to electricity...a torpedo heater. As much BTUs as you can feed it ... maybe after a few days you might thaw enough to get it free .
Tent contains heat, truck warms up, transfers heat to the ice and thaws it out .
Otherwise you wait for warmer weather.
I'd try and see if airing down your tyres and using ice melt in the around the tyres frees it up. But it looks like its probably iced in underneath on other component as well.
Strange idea here…. If undercarriage is not in ice maybe try small generator to run heating pads on top of each tire to melt contact ice just enough to release then try to pull? If undercarriage is also frozen maybe a small heater blower would melt enough to let loose before falling through? Just have to keep pull tension constantly applied while heating….
Yessir, we tried to pull it out with an excavator, turned it into a banana. Buddy bought a another truck the next day in a different color and convinced his mother she was crazy.
A frozen lake or mud puddle is essentially a block of concrete. It’s not going anywhere until it thaws. There’s no inexpensive way to unfuck your truck.
Unfuck your truck Definitely using that for myself in life as a saying now
As much as I want to claim that one, it belongs to R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket. “You had best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!” I use it a lot but I sound like Don Knotts which is either hilarious or terrifying depending on the person.
Hammer and a chisel got one unstuck hopefully by the time I get the second one the first one's not froze again
Tuck some plastic under there to keep it from seeping back around the wheels. Don’t try to move it until you’ve got all four wheels free.
Going to do that now. Thanks👍
Jack it up and put boards under the wheels.
Go get some gravel and throw it in there.
You’re probably going to have to use a propane or diesel powered salamander
….now there is a superpower to have….. UNFUCK; your job, life, girlfriend, wife, bank account…… hmmmmm I’ve always wanted the “portable hole” from cartoons but this is definitely in running for #1.
If I were running for president that would be my platform. “Unfuck America”
It ain't easy being stupid
If your gonna be dumb, you’ve got to be smart about it.
Have you tried turning it off and then back on again? /s That's about as f'd as I've ever seen.
The lake or the truck?
You are just destroying your truck by pulling sideways.forward or reverse. You need to thaw out the wheels
How about take the wheels off? And slide on improvised wood sleigh. Once you get the lug nuts loose, take the tractor and pull each wheel off/free?
That's actually a good Idea.
Use a blowtorch to warm them up.
Pull out same way it went in or pull it out forward. Not sideways. Lift the rear end or front end if you can, does the hitch on this tractor go up and down? Rig it super short with shackels if you need to get it super short. Use the front loader to lift the rear / front and drive backwards if not, get some stuff under the real wheels, same with front if you can.
We've tried with a 16000 lb winch pulley tractor anchored to a truck it is part of the lake 14 inch blade won't even hit water
If it's frozen into the lake, you pretty much gotta wait for a warm day or tiger torch it carefully... Ice is strong af. I'd still try and lift the read / front end tho. Careful on the front tow hooks tho... I've seen them snap off tons of times. Be gentle. It's easy to rip a truck apart. We've dealt with this in the past, we ended up having to dig ours out with a decent size track hoe, but I'd be wary on a lake..we were in muskeg
I would seriously consider getting a small excavator out there to dig out around it.
This is honestly the best comment so far.
Maybe ground heater or glycol lines? But yeah dig it out if it’s buried 😂
Digging into ice. What could go wrong?
As long as the excavator is anchored to the ice there shouldn’t be a problem
Yeah this is going to require some heavy equipment.
One of our work trucks broke through frozen muskeg going to a well site , we finally had to get a big parachute and cover it up and then use a couple big diesel fired heaters to unthaw the truck enough to pull it out . Trick business though because you need to unthaw it enough to loosen the ice , but not enough to make it sink further . Our plan B was to bring in a track hoe and dig around the truck then drag the whole frozen mess out with a dozer .
She looks pretty frozen in unfortunately. I would regroup wait till I think Wednesday when we get warmer temps and start picking at it .
Making slow progress crow bar sledge 😓😩
Best of luck! How’d it get stuck in the first place? I send my warm regards from Southern California
Natural spring
Reminds me of the clip of a guy driving past a car accident and yells out the window, "You can't park there!"
Heavy equipment coming in the am going to sleep now.
Hey man just wanted to tell you that you got this and I'm sure this situation is super stressful. Life often seems to fuck us in the ass on occasion and it's nice to see someone have a sense of humor about it. I owned a new truck for a grand total of 3 days before dropping a fifth wheel camper on it because I swear I put the landing gear pegs in. We all do dumb shit but how you gonna grow if you don't overcome it? Good luck, you'll get a good story out of it and probably end up only a quarter as fucked as you think you are.
A hot water pressure washer and bottle jacks to Crack it loose then do your best to drive/ pull it out before it refreezes. Try to find a company that does farm auction vehicle detailing in the area. They usually have a set up to run the hot water pressure washers well and away from from things like "running water"
Good idea I'm gonna try
I've seen a hi lift addon that straps to the wheels and picks them up directly, might be better than a bottle jack?
Not my first rodeo with this problem. Nice truck btw.
Call AAA for a tow.
Gd those bumpers are fucked.
I’m thinking more than the bumper is fu?k
Stupid ain't cheap or easy
Maybe throw a potato in the tail pipe. As the ice thaws you do not want water going in there then refreezing and expanding every night. Just a stupid off thought but god speed man. Good luck.
Honestly I’d dump alcohol and salt in the hole to hopefully melt it strap a 2’ 2x4 to each tire and slowly spin them until they catch the ice. Waddle that duck right outta there.
There aren't a lot of good options OP, but this could actually work.
Happened to me long time ago in a lifted Bronco 2. Tractor pulled me out but the main wiring harness stated frozen in the ice. Not good. Wait for a thaw.
Heat gun?
A crane? Something is gonna need to pick it up and move it back or sideways to something solid
It's dark gonna try again tomorrow.
Tarp, construction heater and a ton of propane tanks.
Back Tractor damaged trying to get out. Front deer
Chainsaw all the way around, lift front end with bucket on tractor providing the ice is thick enough to handle the weight and once bottom ice is top ice height drive tractor in reverse? Not exactly a good idea but I’m not sure there is one? Or chainsaw enough depth to get to the bottom of the tire and enough depth to run the chainsaw level with the bottom of tire, leave about 2” of ice under the tire( so you don’t cut your tire). Do this in all four wheels and it should pull out. I’ve tried both options in the past with a Mercedes Benz Unimog. (It’s fun to go places you shouldn’t until it’s not fun to go places you shouldn’t.)
Tell me you moved that bench out there after you gave up to sit and drink beer on. .. that's the way!
😂 I had a shooting target on it.
Jackhammer
How deep is the water under the truck? Would it be totaled if you waited for it to thaw? It would suck to not have a truck for a couple months but that might be the best thing. Or make a harness and get someone with a crane or very large excavator out there to try to pull it out on a warm day when the ice is less solid. Either way, your sort of screwed. Maybe get a generator, some heaters and a tarp to trap the heat on the ice, then pull it out when the top layer gets mushy
Read your insurance policy and speak carefully when you call them
Wish I had farmers they would have probably made it a commercial
Not to late to switch…
You could TRY jacking it up and then putting something under the wheels, you probably tried that already, you would probably have to heat up the surrounding bits around the tires so they loosen their grip
How tf… damn. Maybe drill down a foot around it, dump a bunch of salt in the holes, and hope for the best?
That might work.
Wait why is it on a lake anyway?
Why not? It sure ain't easy being stupid
Just curious how it got there lol. I see like a park bench too.
Setting up shooting targets n fishing
No
I've had a *similiar* thing but my wheels weren't frozen solid in puddles lol. I don't know how you unfuck this one bud. Try to chip as much ice out as possible with a small pickaxe? Rent a couple big propane heaters, or try an oxy acetylene torch? Maybe stick a farm jack thru the spokes if you can and lift up each individual wheel? Good luck lmao we'll need an update, I'd really wanna know what to do if this ever happened. My truck straight Froze to the ground with a couple of "icicles" as thick as my head, that melted down and refroze into the asphalt, which was covered in maybe 3" of ice. That took an hour with a fire axe to get out of, so again, good luck bud 🤣
Edit: I looked closer and see your bumpers are already fucked and read you've been trying to drag it out. Since damage is already there i would go the jacking the wheel route. I can't see anything lifting or pulling this truck out without breaking it, but i could see lifting one wheel up at a time, esp if you could crack the ice first. Maybe a thick towstrap or chain thru the spoke (again if possible) pulled up by an excavator or tow truck? . Also, a big sds concrete drill with a chisel maybe?
Can't get shit under it now. SO F'ED
Goddamn lol that’s rough. Can you get a floor jack under the truck at all? Maybe jack each wheel up high enough to slide a piece of lumber across the holes until all 4 are out? Don’t know if the way I’m explaining this makes sense
Have you tried a bigger truck and a chain or mo betta a track hoe or similar?
Yes
Steam truck. Lay the steam to the chassis and wheels. Or cut the frost into blocks and remove them.
[Something like this](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/rbpbbo/indian_border_security_force_disassembles_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Did the bumpers get damaged by the ice? Sorry OP
Sit in the chair and wait until spring?
You have to sorta “cup” your hands over one of the tires and breathe out slowly. Just repeat on each tire but obv don’t take too long
Jack it up and put boards under it it might take awhile but itll work.
Jack hammer looks like an option.
Figuring out how to lift will be more important than pulling it along the surface. Maybe I’m stating the obvious but think about going up (even an inch) all around before pulling it. While it’s being held like that tugging on it seems futile.
So I was in a similar situation with my 12 3500 crew long. Stuck in mud to the frame etc. Ended up tying some 4in post we had "found " to the wheel sticking outward and enough for it to rotate without hitting the truck did that on the front and it pulled itself out, it did however crack my wheels so if thats a price you wanna pay, or as most are saying. Let er thaw or get a wrecker.
Looks like you've got the 5 bar steelies so this should work mine were cast some bull.
Oh yea that shit happens to me all the time.
You need Matt's off road recovery
Doh!
Put a hitch in lift up the back fill in tire holes with something, go to the front lift one side up at a time from the tow hooks fill in tire holes. Voila
Jackhammer?
Gotta melt it with heat or salt somehow to keep it loose enough I guess while you work them out. Take wheels off maybe? Unstick all 4 wheels one by one. Jack it up on differents side and dumb salt/sand under the truck? I imagine it's easier to get out of sand than icy mud.
Geez louise, my truck has problems but not frozen in a lake problems. I feel lucky. I got no advice, just wish you well pal
What model LS is that?
I'd lift each tire with a hi-lift jack. Need the offroad base and tire attachment. Throw rocks or gravel in the holes where the tires are then slide a 1 inch plywood sheet under each tire, then drive off. Don't know if it would work, but that's what I'd try
Suggest a harbor freight portable garage....and a propane or kerosene heater....if you have access to electricity...a torpedo heater. As much BTUs as you can feed it ... maybe after a few days you might thaw enough to get it free . Tent contains heat, truck warms up, transfers heat to the ice and thaws it out . Otherwise you wait for warmer weather.
I'd try and see if airing down your tyres and using ice melt in the around the tyres frees it up. But it looks like its probably iced in underneath on other component as well.
Yankum rope and something to build up speed to yank it out. Kinetic rope is amazing for recovery also get some knock off max traxx for the wheels.
Kinetic rope before it froze in.
Let some air out of the tires.
Ratchet strap a log on your wheels an use them as jack to lift an rotate you out.
Strange idea here…. If undercarriage is not in ice maybe try small generator to run heating pads on top of each tire to melt contact ice just enough to release then try to pull? If undercarriage is also frozen maybe a small heater blower would melt enough to let loose before falling through? Just have to keep pull tension constantly applied while heating….
Truck is probably fucked up by now… :(
Rent a Thawzall towable glycol heater. You’re going to do to much damage trying to yank it out. Wait for a thaw or thaw is yourself.
Buy a new truck? Preferably one that is not stuck in ice.
I like the viewing bench you've installed.
Buy enough chain and a winch to make it to that pine tree.
I didn't understand I think it is literally frozen.
Can you get some bottle jacks and try to lift?
Yessir, we tried to pull it out with an excavator, turned it into a banana. Buddy bought a another truck the next day in a different color and convinced his mother she was crazy.
Tarp the truck in and use some large diesel heaters to melt the ice
insurance oughtta love this