Have ever had your car, truck, or ATV stuck in the mud? This is not rare around Crown King, Black Canyon City, Dewey, Prescott and surrounding areas, especially if you are on a dirt road or trail during the monsoon season. Getting unstuck from the mud can be difficult but if you ever find yourself in this situation here are seven steps to take.

7 Steps to Take if Your Car is Stuck in the Mud

Stay Calm and Assess the Situation

If you are stuck in the mud, don’t panic and attempt to accelerate your way out. That can actually make the problem worse. Stay calm and get out of the vehicle and try to determine exactly what is going on. How deeply are the tires embedded in the mud? Is it just one wheel, or more that are the problem?

Everybody Out!

Do you have passengers on board? If you are stuck in the mud, get everyone out. After confirming conditions are safe, make sure everyone exits the vehicle. This will reduce the amount of weight, perhaps preventing further sinking.

Develop a Strategy

After a complete inspection, thoughtfully consider your predicament in order to confirm the nature and extent of being stuck in the mud. Determine a strategy and determine a course of action.

Let’s Rock and Roll

If you’re not too deeply stuck in the mud, the easy way out may be to move your vehicle back and forth to gain momentum and traction. By rocking back and forth in the correct manner, you may be able to roll out of this without even getting mud all over yourself. Make sure you are in low gear for automatic, or second or third gear on a stick shift. Accelerate gently forward. Then shift to reverse, move gently backward. The key word here is “gently.” If you spin your tires too fast you may make things worse. Hopefully you will gain enough momentum and traction to lift yourself right up and get back on your way.

Wiggle and Dig

If the rocking motion is not doing the job, try wiggling the front end by turning the wheels to the left and then to right a few times to start clearing out a little room around the wheels. Then, grab your shovel if you brought one. If not, consider using your hands if you have a pair of gloves with you. Clear out all the mud you can from around your tires. This will reduce the angle of ascent. A flatter surface around the tires may allow you to increase traction enough to haul your way out.

Other items can be helpful as well, such as sticks, leaves, rocks, gravel, cardboard, etc. Place these items in front of your wheels, then try to gradually and slowly accelerate forwards.

Redistribute the Weight

If one or more drive wheels are the problem, try putting extra weight as close to them as you can. Hopefully, this will push down the tires so you can gain more traction.

Hoist 4x4 recover Vehicle

Call Hoist Towing & Recovery

If you are stuck in the mud and all else fails, just call the pros at Hoist Towing & Recovery. Our flatbeds and 4×4 Off Road Recovery vehicles can load and tow any kind of vehicle safely out of the mud to the destination of your choice. Our rescue and recovery team is available 7 days a week to come to the aid of stranded vehicles on trails near Prescott, Dewey, Crown King, Williams, Flagstaff, and many other areas throughout Arizona. Call us anytime at (928)-660-0606.