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?

Honestly, I would call my roadside assistance provider to pull me out.If it took a while for them to get help to me, I might try to dig out and retract those levelers, but I would not try to lift the rear wheels off the ground with the levelers. At least for my rig the rear wheels are my drive and emergency brake wheels; my manual says to keep them on the ground at all times.Sorry to hear of this uncomfortable situation, but glad to hear flooding risk is decreasing.

I would suggest that you somehow lift the rear end of the coach, with a wrecker, or whatever, so that you do not drag the belly of the coach across the ground if you just tried to pull the coach out. A board under the rear levelers MAY work but you also might find that they can raise the coach for leveling but that they are not strong enough to raise the rear wheels off of the ground.

Being raised on a farm, and still living in farm country with farmers all around me, is there any way your buddy can use his tractor (hydraulics) and lift the camper from the end that sunk? If he has a bucket/scoop on his tractor, or a hay lift (like fork lift forks), maybe you could catch the bottom of the camper and lift it enough to get those jacks out of the mud and also something under the tires?Next time? Put lumber under the tires, especially on dirt and grass.

Yes your plan sounds good. May need some blocking to get enough height.Of course in hindsight the plan should have been executed as soon as the wheel first spun.

DutchmenSport wrote:Being raised on a farm, and still living in farm country with farmers all around me, is there any way your buddy can use his tractor (hydraulics) and lift the camper from the end that sunk? If he has a bucket/scoop on his tractor, or a hay lift (like fork lift forks), maybe you could catch the bottom of the camper and lift it enough to get those jacks out of the mud and also something under the tires?Next time? Put lumber under the tires, especially on dirt and grass.Yeah, hindsight is 20-20. We've had a drought up to last year. Once everything dries out, we are going to bring in a load of gravel for the RV pads. This year happens to be a record year for rain fall. We haven't seen this much for a good 20 years, maybe more. But I still haven't started on my Arc yet :).

Stuck in the mud, any tips? | Good Sam Community

bigred1cav
Explorer
Feb 22, 2017
I called GS road service.
Jim_Norman
Explorer
Feb 21, 2017
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
Explorer II
Feb 21, 2017
"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
Explorer
Feb 16, 2017
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
Explorer II
Feb 16, 2017
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
Explorer
Feb 16, 2017
Time to build an ark.
Billinwoodland
Explorer
Feb 16, 2017
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
Explorer II
Feb 16, 2017
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
Explorer
Feb 16, 2017
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
Explorer II
Feb 16, 2017
Glad to hear that you got it out OK with no damage!

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