While heading out for a hike last Sunday, I noticed this TC, in a rather adventurous attitude, on the side of NW Expressway. On our way back late that afternoon I noticed it was still there, obviously hung up on the pavement lip. Why wait for a tow truck? I have a cheaper solution.
Bring a few friends and have them “lift” the rear of the Scion a bit, just enough for the front wheels to pull it out. Or is there an easier way?
Reminds me of the time I accidentally curbed a Geo Storm. (I was 17, and could have sworn there was a driveway there…)
Fortunately, I wasn’t on a hill, so I was able to push it myself enough for the front wheels to make contact with the street. The effort was accompanied by some frightening scraping-metal noises, and the muffler and rear bumper smacked hard on the curb on the way down, but surprisingly the car wasn’t any worse for wear afterwards.
But where are you going to lift? I guess you could use the rear wheel wells.
It reminds me of when I was about 17 and a couple of friends and I were out exploring and went down a road that was being built for a new sub division. When we reached the end I went to turn around. I backed too far up and the rear wheels dropped slightly over the edge in what turned out to be very loose gravel. I used a little too much power trying to go forward and ended up sinking in the gravel. We got out grabbed the bumper lifted it up and moved it to the side. It took a couple motions to get it well out of the holes and then I had my friends push while I was much more careful applying the power and we were free. No need to call a tow truck or worse yet dad.
I’d bump it back enough to back down off the lip and come around closer to the foreground of the picture where it looks easy to make it to the pavement.
I once dropped a *side* of the car into a drain. Left wheels, front and rear (RHD car). The car came to rest solidly on its suspension on the left side. No hope for any traction, with RWD and no limited-slip goodness. We practically had to lift the whole car up and put it sideways. 🙂 No pictures though.
Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember the Shell pamphlets that were given out when you visited a Shell station or the accompanying TV commercials (70’s). But anyway, one commercial stands out where a family was stuck in the mud in a Ford Country Squire station wagon with an open diff and one rear wheel on a firm surface and one spinning in a mud hole. With overdubbed narration, Dad pushes on the parking brake and gas pedal, equalizing the torque for both drive wheels, and causing the wheel on a firm surface to roll and move the car. Not sure if that would’ve worked in your case, but it’s a trick we used in the USMC with HMMWVs and their open differentials (by applying the service brakes, not the parking brake). Powerbraking. You don’t want to do that too long or you’ll overheat your automatic tranny.
I got the same car mentioned above out of being stuck with that maneuver. It works best in reverse with the self energizing style drum brakes. Just enough friction to make the other wheel spin but not enough to impede movement.
Heh, heh. Tried that (among God knows what other stuff). The left side of the car suspension was resting on the ground (with max weight transfer). When we succeeded in giving power to the wheel still on the ground, *that* wheel spun as well, due to less weight on it. That’s when we knew we had to get drastic. Really funny now that I think of it, but at that time it was anything but. 🙂
When I was offroading in my ’94 Mazda Navajo (Ford Explorer) in Kingman back in ’96, I got it stuck in the desert sand. In 4WD, I tried the powerbraking and only caused the one or two wheels not spinning to spin along with the others and dig in deeper. It doesn’t always work. Besides the obvious, such as never go offroading alone (I was alone), always bring a shovel (I had none), and deflate the tires down to 12 psi (I was too lazy), the humiliation of being pulled out by a real offroader in a Dodge Powerwagon taught me to be more careful.
Dodge Power Wagon (and its Nissan clone) are a legend in these parts.
It does work. I never got hung up myself; but once long ago I came across a car full of teen girls at the post office…one of those raised concrete walkway structures that separate the parking lot from the entrance apron. About three feet wide; ten inches higher than the asphalt.
The driver had backed right over it, over the other edge, and the car was caught on the frame. The tire off the pavement was against the concrete edge enough to smoke but not enough to lift the car.
I got their jack out, raised the frame off the concrete, told the driver to set the parking brake lightly and goose it forward. It worked like a charm; the wheel on the ground got enough torque to pull the other tire back onto the concrete walkway, and then it was just a matter of getting her to stop so I could get the jack out before she went over the other side..
That was in the era of free love and all that – but all I got out of it was a “Wow – thanks!” It burns me still….
This whole `free-love’ thing was/is a media scam, if you ask me. Paul would know better, as he lives in hippie central.
My sister got her Lexus IS350 stuck like that in a ditch at the arrival lot at Westchester County Airport picking me up one time. The car was rear wheel drive and was just kicking up dirt in the back – the bottom of the car was stuck on the pavement. AAA could not get it out with a jack, so while we waited we talked about her impending divorce. After a few minutes a county department of public works truck drove by, saw we were stuck and turned around. Four big, strong, men lifted the back of the car while I feathered the car and the car was quickly out of the ditch. We offered moeny for the help, but they all refused.
A year ago this week I slid the LH side of my car into a drain, en route to a favourite holiday spot. I was travelling on a little-used winding, narrow back road in New Zealand know as the “Forgotten Highway”. I’d moved over to allow a cattle truck to pass in the opposite direction, but the camber of the road steepened into a ditch, and as I re-applied throttle to continue, the car just slid sideways on the loose gravel, finally coming to rest at about 35-40 degress, LH side hard against the bank. Have you ever tried to open a door on the upside of a car at that angle? Boy are they heavy!
After a decent wait, a local wandered through in an Isuzu cabover with a load of goats. He saw my predicament, parked in the middle of the road and relieved himself in the ditch while rolling a cigarette, which alarmed me somewhat (although it was impressive multi-tasking). He then towed me forward on a diagonal, which got me out in no time. Only damage was a mudflap came off, and my pride was severely wounded.
The lifting comment reminds me of my college days, when we lifted the back end of a buddy’s Dodge Colt and turned it sideways in the parking space, trapping him. Only took three of us if I remember right. For some reason he didn’t find it nearly as amusing as we did.
One time my 1984 VW Rabbit skidded on an icy turn and both front wheels went off the road. It was late at night and I was alone. I put it in neutral, picked it up by the front bumper (remember when bumpers were that strong?) and threw it back onto the road. I used to purposely park crooked in parking spots and pick up the back of the car to straighten it out just for fun, but that was the only time I ever picked up the front.
Another time, I was told that a certain parking lot was free to park in on weekends, but when I went to leave the gate didn’t go up… it wanted money and I had none. The lot was separated from the road by the concrete curb and a grassy hill. I took the Rabbit off-roading. I decided that it would be easier to hop the curb if I backed over it. Worked perfectly, and I was on my way.
As a CPA (car parking attendant) in college We routinely moved up to midsized cars with 2 people. Just start lifting up and pushing down at one end or the other until the car started bouncing, then an easy matter to move it one end at a time.