I got my car stuck in the back yard.

I drove my Miata through my front lawn and around to the back to drop off my trailer. Several hours later, some snow fell and I can't get it out. There's an incline that I have to get up, and there's no other way to go. I have one tree I could winch off of about 50 ft away, and I have a 2000lb ATV winch from HF that isn't hooked up to anything.

I tried kitty litter, 2x4's, pushing...nothing works.

My thought was to bolt the winch onto a 2x4, strap that vertically to a tree, then winch using a jump start box as a power source. Any thoughts on that?

Otherwise, I explained my predicament at work at our office meeting, asking for help with someone with a truck, and got laughs but no offers to help. Looks like I'm on my own.

It might work fine, I don't know, but the picture I have in my head of a winch bolted to a 2x4 strapped to a tree seems to end with an emergency room trip.

My dad had a harbor freight hammerwinch at one time that had some sort of u-bolt type arrangement on the back side. We would slide that through a bit of black iron pipe and then brace that pipe against something immovable in order to use the winch.

Maybe time to sign up for AAA?

Yeah, that should work. I've got a little HF winch that I built a frame for, which I call "The PortaWinch," with a motorcycle battery on it. I attach one end of the frame to a tree and the winch hook to the stuck vehicle and pull the car up the the hill when I have to.

Put a bunch of weight in the trunk and air down the rear tires? Bolt on snow tires?

The winch should work as well.

EvanB wrote: Put a bunch of weight in the trunk and air down the rear tires? Bolt on snow tires? The winch should work as well.

There are snow tires on it at the moment, but the tread is woefully worn. I'll try letting some air out. The yard is slick as snot from the snow. Not much grass either, so it fills the treads with mud pretty quick.

wae wrote: It might work fine, I don't know, but the picture I have in my head of a winch bolted to a 2x4 strapped to a tree seems to end with an emergency room trip. My dad had a harbor freight hammerwinch at one time that had some sort of u-bolt type arrangement on the back side. We would slide that through a bit of black iron pipe and then brace that pipe against something immovable in order to use the winch. Maybe time to sign up for AAA?

I do have AAA, would this be covered do you think? The road is easily 100+ feet away, which is a bit of a problem.

OSULemon wrote:

EvanB wrote: Put a bunch of weight in the trunk and air down the rear tires? Bolt on snow tires? The winch should work as well.

There are snow tires on it at the moment, but the tread is woefully worn. I'll try letting some air out. The yard is slick as snot from the snow. Not much grass either, so it fills the treads with mud pretty quick.

Sounds like you need to give it more throttle to keep the tires spinning and clear the mud out.

EvanB wrote:

OSULemon wrote:

EvanB wrote: Put a bunch of weight in the trunk and air down the rear tires? Bolt on snow tires? The winch should work as well.

There are snow tires on it at the moment, but the tread is woefully worn. I'll try letting some air out. The yard is slick as snot from the snow. Not much grass either, so it fills the treads with mud pretty quick.

Sounds like you need to give it more throttle to keep the tires spinning and clear the mud out.

It's digging holes in the yard. I gave 'er the business. I just called the wrecker company to have them come out and see if they can do it.

Not sure what types of distance they can do, but standard aaa covers extrication that requires one truck and plus can get you two trucks.

I don't see the winch as being too dangerous. Dangerous was me last night pulling the cherry picker loaded with an engine out of the sunken asphalt with a come-along attached to the back of my truck. I would give the winch a try first.

Got any old carpet to toss under the front wheels or anything like that? Anything for traction that will stick to the ground as well....

Team of sled dogs, FTW.

Might be worth a shot - try reversing out

Buy a pizza and case of beer, invite neighbors and or friends over to consume and push.

What you do is this, tie one end of the rope to the tree and then air down one rear tire. Wrap the rope arround the tire a couple of times and then SLOWLY drive the car up and out using the tire as it's own winch. This only works if you have a limited slip. And you might die.

oldopelguy wrote: Buy a pizza and case of beer, invite neighbors and or friends over to consume and push.

Better make sure the pushing precedes the beer and pizza! I've had beer and pizza help on moving day that didn't work out at all.

4x4 w/ a tow strap. Buy the guy beer.

AAA is sending a truck, but I don't think their cable is going to be long enough.

I think your cheapest solution is to buy 100ft. of tow rope and hook it up to a car on the pavement. 5 of these? http://www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-x-20-ft-tow-strap-36612.html

Do you need new snow tires anyway? You could order new snow tires, put the car up on jack stands, take the wheels off and go get the snow tires melted if this isn't a time sensitive operation.

You could also rent a truck from HomeDepot or U-haul ($19.99 + miles)

I did this same thing a couple years back. A friend with a WRX dragged my car out.

I vote for lots of people pushing (or pulling if you have a long rope). And pictures

What a hilarious calamity!

Do you have ANY friends with a 4wd/awd?

Trade Miata for Subaru?

Is it out yet??

just ratchet strap the winch to the tree sans 2x4 and borrow a battery from something. not sure a jump pack can power a winch for long. it's pretty much how i pulled my engineless impala into the garage, except substitute 4x6 post for tree.

I'm a special kind of stupid. The tire that's spinning has frozen mud in between the treads. I gave it one last valiant effort with 2x4's, a jack, and lots of swearing, broke down, and called a tractor. He should be here in a little while. $50 bucks isn't worth my sanity, and hopefully provides a valuable lesson...

Yup, I would have backed up on carpet or traction mat to try to achieve lift off speed to hoon onto the road, failing miserably i would be so far into the trees it would take a skyhook at $10,000 dollars an hour to get the car out.