Technical Tips for moving cars in the dirt?

I've used skateboards . If you already have some wheel dollies then just get some 3/4" T&G Stranded and roll it around.

 

lots of good stuff here.
the big headache is there is nothing to hook a come along around and the angle of access for a winch is pretty steep. i already called my buddy who is a tow operator and he's gonna look at it also. one way or another, its coming out of there.

 

You surely have room to drag the car around from being sideways dont you, if not, how did they get it in there?
So you cant even back a short wrecker around to it?
How about using one of these or something like it on the very back of the rollback bed with it sideways from the car, sitting in the driveway with the cable through it?

.......or "something" like this? (not my drawing but you get the idea if the little stick man were the winch)

 

....or if your buddy has one of these. (worth watching)
https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...=7cf968a01b9987a39dc7d74e65254998&action=view

 

A fast food tray works good for sliding also

 

Get a couple of axle shafts out of an old rear axle. Drive them into the ground with a sledge hammer and chain your come along to them.

I once saw a wrecker pull out a transport that was jammed under a bridge this way. The wrecker just slid on the pavement, the wrecker driver drove a couple of axle shafts right thru the pavement chained the wrecker to them and pulled the truck out. A cop tried to stop him, the guy told him to go direct traffic and let him do his job. The cop did as he was told.

If you listen to me about the planks, plastic and shampoo it will take hardly any effort to move the car unless it is a steep up hill pull.

 

Like PB said use a jack and fall jack it. I might use a hydraulic and 1 square foot plywood. That is how mobile homes get moved. Probably 30 minute job.

 

Over the years in health care I have taken care of multitudes of individuals who have made heroic efforts to move cars, trucks, trailers, boats, airplanes, outhouses, you get the idea.

I could fill a book with the heroes that tried to save ten dollars and had a ten thousand dollar accident. Guys, just takes a nanosecond to change your life forever.

Consider k9racer's advice and hire a good roll back guy and/or forklift.

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I agree w/ Kent ....

You are in someone's backyard.

If things go the way you don't intend - you could end up injuring yourself or someone else & damaging property.


Jim

 

Ya know any local magicians...???

 

My dad and I have moved cars sideways for years by jacking up the car with a handyman jack. Get it as high as you can and the push if off the jack. Sometimes a guy can get it to go about 2 feet. It takes some time but it works. Biggest thing is to take you time and BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!

 

the towing company we call for towing has one of these
we make the joke of to call them and put the key into the ignition is $600 , and its $400+ per hour port to port .. but it has a pretty good reach and at full reach it can lift 20 ton , it gets called out about once a week they told us . and its mostly used for non towing , mostly its used as a crane .

 

With this you just move the house out of the way.

 

'won't work in a lot of situations but I moved a car like you are describing by myself once.
it had sat long enough the rotten tires had sunk into the soft soil,
the car needed to move laterally about ten feet before I could get a trailer up to it.
I dug under the car enough to get a jack under it and up,
once up I slid two large I beams under it
with the beams laying on their sides, flange edges up on some 2x12s.
a bit of grease on the beam flange edges and set the car down on them.
the steel on steel of car frame on beam edge had almost no friction and took very little push to get the car to move.

 

the answer is always bobcat

 

"All right Rusty, lets just wheel you into ER 3 again......Nurse Amplebaudee should have your dad back from x-ray in a few minutes............. Hey, by the way, you guys ever get that car out of the woods you told me about when I was sewing you up last month?"

 

Think safety third.

 

I've used 2 railroad ties with thick wall tubing on top to slide a car sideways. Steel frame on steel tubing moves pretty easy.

 

Helsing do we really need the "Rescue Randy" lecture? You have made your point. The ER dialog is a little much. What's next? Corks on forks?

 

In the junkyard to move cars with no wheels we've used hoods off other cars before. They slide pretty easy if you jack it up and stick them under.

Might need four of them to go sideways though.

 

A lateral move on a locked up car.
Needs...
A B. F. R.( jargon for big f'ing rock) this is the pull point. It can be made...more on that later.
A winch or hoisting device... Come-A-Longs, Power Pulls, Coffin Hoists, Chain hoist, block and tackle, electric winch remote switch is Ideal
A heavy duty pulley with a heavy duty hook( if turning a 90...requires two bfrs)
Heavy duty chain and hooks ( make sure the hoist/Come A Long hooks lock up securely to this heavy duty chain)
Avoid rope especially nylon yellow ski rope...Rope stores a lot of energy and fails suddenly even strong rescue rated kernmantle can fail suddenly on sharp edges. Chain can fail as well but there is some warning(most of the time)
The key here is to use heavy duty working components where the bfrs or car will fail before the chain/cable/rope does.....
wood.... 1x4s ideal if tires are up you made need wider 1 bys if the tires are down....even dogeared fence boards will work. I would cut these to about 24 to 30 inches in length.
If you have to dig the wheels out of the ground, you may need some cribbing blocks and wedges to lift the car as a safety and a base for your jack.
If you do have to dig it out you may need a 2x6 board to support the car as it slides over the wheel holes in the ground.
Dish soap as mentioned.

Pull point (BFR) option 1. Two 4x6 or bigger posts...
If the owner is gracious enough to let you dig, set a 4x6 or bigger post at least 2 feet into the ground packed in. Align the post to where it's a straight line to the attachment point on the car. You may can get by with one but two are much much better for a straight pull. Your chain will loop around the base. Have top soil, grass seed or sod ready to repair the hole. If you are careful you may can cut out the grass patch and replace it.
(bfr) option 2. 6 heavy duty T posts...
Drive three of these posts down past the flange for each pull point, Arrange them a few inches apart in a shallow triangle with the leading edge of the triangle opposite the attachment point on the car. Wrap your chain around these.
(bfr) option 3. A vehicle...
Not the best but align a vehicle parallel to the car. Simple physics suggest that this vehicle needs to be heavier but it's not absolutely necessary since you are pulling on lubed boards. it's a good idea to lower the air in this vehicle's tires to provide more friction to hold the pull.

Simply place the lubed boards under the tires, attach the hoist to the brf and the car and pull. Keep a watch, if it's not moving try more lube...keep and eye out for movement at the bfrs.... It should move well. Use common sense.
You can use the bfrs a pulley and a bumper mounted winch to make a 90 degree pull. Use care.

Gandy Dancer method.....
More labor involved maybe more chance of damage to the car(rockers)..... Have several of your friends with iron digging bars, place the car on the lubed wood wedged the bars under the frame rail against the ground at at a count heave...

 

Well lets see here I'm 48, been a car guy all my life my pops is 68 and been a car guy all his life and I cant count how many times we have jacked up old shit and pushed it off the jack so we can get it home with not one injury. Like I said be careful.

 

Dynamite.

 

Geez, all this danger talk has got me thinking. Just about everything we talk about on this forum relates to dangerous activities of some kind, and we're generally a bunch of DIYers. I don't think side-slipping a car is any more dangerous than pulling a motor or dropping a transmission (on your head) or welding (yourself on fire) or lifting a body, etc.

Be careful, take your time, be situationally aware. Slow and steady wins the race.

Oh, and despite what the other guy told you, I'd still try to free up the frozen wheels and get some inflated tires on that thing. There's still hope you could push and turn it out of there.

 

Put a floor jack on a piece of metal plate (1/4 steel or aluminum). Go from front to rear and move a few inches at a time. I used a Harbor Freight aluminum jack with bad success - it bent the side rails of the jack. A good steel jack is better and use wood blocks on the jack pad to minimize how high the jack has to extend.

 

Plywood (actually cheap osb)...my garage has a dirt floor, and I've used the plywood and wheel dollies often. I'm a 155 lb 69 year old, can move the car myself. A few weeks ago I used the same method to roll my rear end out

 

I use a '53 GMC 3/4 ton with 4 complete 302'' Korean war army truck engines in the bed. It'll pull a '56 Cad 60S with 3 frozen drums quite easily, but you have to use compound ...

 

With extra long forks.

 

well the first thing I would do would be to move them to some cement. preferably flat.

 

The lowest buck idea: obtain 4 cardboard boxes and flatten them out at the correct corners. Get a can of ultra glossy paint and paint one side of the flat cardboard boxes. Use another non-painted flat cardboard box to place under a jack and jack up one end of the car and place 2-sets of painted flat cardboard boxes under each wheel, painted side down,. Do the same on the other end. The glossy paint will allow the flat boxes with the car residing on top to slide and glide over any surface as you push and pull for as far as you need to go.