Stuck in the mud, any tips?

[Billinwoodland]

I store my MH, 35' Monaco Monarch, on a buddy's ranch next to his fiver. The spot we use is slightly higher then the surrounding ground, on dirt, but in winters past even after a good rain I have never had a problem getting the MH out. If you have been following the news, there is imminent risk that the Oroville overflow levi may breach. Yesterday he calls me to tell me that the mandatory evacuations for the Oroville - Marysville - Yuba City areas (N. California area) included his ranch and he was moving his fiver, and suggested I get my MH. As I started to move it, the rear wheels sunk, not bad, but sunk. We spent hours digging last night, and tried pulling it out with a tractor. Later, we discovered that the levelers in the back were in dirt. Against my better judgement with all the "experts" trying to help on the ranch, I tried extending the levelers to see if we could raise the wheels. And yes, they sunk and now won't retract.

So the MH was left last night, and the danger of flooding seems to be decreasing. I plan to go back out tomorrow after the ground has another day of drying out. Our next rain is Thursday. My thought is that I need to get under the MH to dig out an area by the levelers in the rear so I can get a long crow bar under there to get the leveler back up. Then, if I can get a large board under the levelers to provide more surface area to distribute the weight, my thought is to raise the rear wheels up enough to get gravel under the tires. That's my plan, any other suggestions?

[bigred1cav]

I called GS road service.

[Jim_Norman]

Depending upon how deep the mud is and how far you have to travel in it, LIME will dry mud. not garden lime, but masonry lime. However be careful with it, it will burn your skin.

[Groover]

"I have a neighbor a few doors down that had his motorhome sitting next to his house on a gravel driveway. A few days ago we drove by and saw the motorhome had sunk into the ground and was sitting on it's belly. He worked for a couple of days to finally get it out. So gravel wouldn't hurt, but it's no guarantee the dirt under the gravel wouldn't get saturated and the motorhome still sink. "

When battling nature we can reduce our risks but never eliminate it. It seems like we regularly hear news reports about some unprecedented natural event causing trouble.

It does seem like it is a good idea to keep pads for the leveling jacks around to use anytime the ground is or could get soft. At the very least this would help the jacks retract. You might lose a pad but I would rather that than dig a trench under my motorhome and crawl in there to free the jack. Mine is so low that I can barely get under it with it not sunk in mud. The very thought of having to do that with it framed out is terrifying.

[timmac]

Billinwoodland wrote:
"As Bill explained in his initial post, the ground had been solid for years. Until the recent unusually heavy rains hit the area. By the time he was warned that it needed to be moved it was too late. It happens... He dealt with it... "

Thanks Dutch, i was going to respond but decided not to. There are always Monday morning quarterbacks out there.

No Monday quarterback here, its a fact if something heavy stored on dirt in a area with rain and possible heavy rains from time to time like Northern California heavy items will sink into the ground, seen it many times with old construction and farm equipment set out back not being used where I was from in the mid-west, it needs to be stored on no less than a rock pad or when the sky opens up and the rain pours in the heavy stuff will sink over night..

I now live in Vegas with only 2 inch's of rain per year but yet I still rock a nice pad for my motorhome in my back yard so it to wont sink into the mud when we have our monsoon's..

[msmith1199]

Billinwoodland wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
I have a neighbor a few doors down that had his motorhome sitting next to his house on a gravel driveway. A few days ago we drove by and saw the motorhome had sunk into the ground and was sitting on it's belly. He worked for a couple of days to finally get it out. So gravel wouldn't hurt, but it's no guarantee the dirt under the gravel wouldn't get saturated and the motorhome still sink.

Yeah, and we went from a drought to the most precipitation we've had in 50 years. The overflow at Oroville dam that caused all the headaches has never been used in the 50 year history of the reservoir.

The AAA driver told me this season he has extracted more vehicles and RVs out of the mud then he has ever seen in his 25 years in the industry. They are now forecasting 5 more days of rain.

The overflow would not have been used this year either if it wasn't for the hole in the regular spillway. They lowered the flow to that which is why they have to use the emergency spillway. So it wasn't the amount of rain, but the failure of the main spillway that caused all the problems.

[GoPackGo]

Time to build an ark.

[Billinwoodland]

msmith1199 wrote:
I have a neighbor a few doors down that had his motorhome sitting next to his house on a gravel driveway. A few days ago we drove by and saw the motorhome had sunk into the ground and was sitting on it's belly. He worked for a couple of days to finally get it out. So gravel wouldn't hurt, but it's no guarantee the dirt under the gravel wouldn't get saturated and the motorhome still sink.

Yeah, and we went from a drought to the most precipitation we've had in 50 years. The overflow at Oroville dam that caused all the headaches has never been used in the 50 year history of the reservoir.

The AAA driver told me this season he has extracted more vehicles and RVs out of the mud then he has ever seen in his 25 years in the industry. They are now forecasting 5 more days of rain.

[msmith1199]

I have a neighbor a few doors down that had his motorhome sitting next to his house on a gravel driveway. A few days ago we drove by and saw the motorhome had sunk into the ground and was sitting on it's belly. He worked for a couple of days to finally get it out. So gravel wouldn't hurt, but it's no guarantee the dirt under the gravel wouldn't get saturated and the motorhome still sink.

[wildmanbaker]

Bill, glad to see you handled the problems. If foresight were like hindsight we would all be a lot better off. Thanks for letting everyone know how it turned out.

[olfarmer]

Glad to hear that you got it out OK with no damage!

[Billinwoodland]

"As Bill explained in his initial post, the ground had been solid for years. Until the recent unusually heavy rains hit the area. By the time he was warned that it needed to be moved it was too late. It happens... He dealt with it... "

Thanks Dutch, i was going to respond but decided not to. There are always Monday morning quarterbacks out there.

[Dutch_12078]

timmac wrote:

Billinwoodland wrote:
I store my MH, 35' Monaco Monarch, on a buddy's ranch

Your pic says its a 2008 Monaco and you stored on dirt in a rainy area, WHY,

A load of rock in a large dump truck cost only a couple hundred dollars, now its sunk to the axels all to save few hundred dollars..

Next time get some rock and a shovel and protect that motorhome..

As Bill explained in his initial post, the ground had been solid for years. Until the recent unusually heavy rains hit the area. By the time he was warned that it needed to be moved it was too late. It happens... He dealt with it...

[Mr_Mark1]

hanko wrote:
well I got my info from a very reliable source CNN.

The guy was trying hard as he could to get that baby out of there! LOL!

MM.

[timmac]

Billinwoodland wrote:
I store my MH, 35' Monaco Monarch, on a buddy's ranch

Your pic says its a 2008 Monaco and you stored on dirt in a rainy area, WHY,

A load of rock in a large dump truck cost only a couple hundred dollars, now its sunk to the axels all to save few hundred dollars..

Next time get some rock and a shovel and protect that motorhome..