Divided_Wood

Hey all! New JK owner here. Love my Jeep and really happy to be a part of the club.

I did, however, get myself into a little predicament yesterday:



I was out for a nice Sunday afternoon drive when I saw a few little pulloffs on the side of the road. Plowed through a few of them no problem, was having a lot of fun. I've done some wheeling before but never in a Jeep and never in really thick mud. Then I saw this one and thought I'd go for it.

A few things I know I did wrong: 1). Wheeling by myself (even for a little pulloff, I now know why they say not to go by yourself), 2). Not checking the depth before going in. There were some other spots that were super shallow and I assumed this would be the same. Whoops. 3). Clutching in while in the water. This was something I actually didn't know was a bad idea until I got home and looked it up.

First off, I'm glad someone came along to help me! A nice couple in a big F250 pulled me out and we had a good laugh about it (though I wasn't laughing too much while I was stuck by myself without cell service).

That said, I have a few questions. Obviously, I know now that you're not supposed to use the clutch while in the water. But how can I know if I got any mud in there? I drove it home 40 miles and drove it to work today and it seems to be driving like normal, so maybe I lucked out? Also, I located the breather tubes for the axles/diffs and don't think I got any water in them. They both looked very clean and from the pictures I think you can see I wasn't quite deep enough for that to be an issue.

But is there anything else I should be worried about?

It seems to be driving fine, and aside from a little (or a lot) of mud everything looks pretty normal. I'm going to hit up a coin wash after work and get her nice and clean and go from there. I think I got pretty lucky for being so much of a dumbass about this first time here, but just want to check to see if I should have any other concerns.

Thanks guys! Despite being stuck I still had a hell of a time. My mom took one look at the picture and commented on the perfectly good road behind me, but then again, if I wanted to drive perfectly good roads, why would I have bought a Jeep?

MudBather

First thing you should do is get yourself a set of better tires before you go playing in the deep slippery stuff. Those street tires you have aren't going to help you very much.

Divided_Wood

Point taken. Like I said, I'm new to this. I'll avoid the mud for a while until I can get some new tires, and I learned pretty quickly the stock tires aren't great for mud

I'm more wondering about any other concerns I should have after being in the water you see here. It seems to be running fine but I'm just trying to be safe here. After getting stuck, of course. Whoops.

kh202

You should be fine. Doesn't look deep enough to cause any issues

.....that's what she said

Divided_Wood

Even with my dumb mistake of using the clutch underwater? Didn't know that was bad either. It runs just fine and doesn't look too dirty through the vent in the bell housing, so maybe I just lucked out. Had me puckered a bit for sure.

kh202

ah I'm at work and didn't read the whole thing. Shouldn't use the clutch in water, but if you're not having any issues/ noises now, you're probably ok

Divided_Wood

Got it. Yeah, I had no idea that was bad until I got home and looked it up last night. Then I took a look at the hole in the housing and couldn't believe it! Everyone I've read about who messed up their clutch in the mud had failure pretty near immediately, so if it's driving fine I think I may be okay. Time will tell!

kh202

If it makes you feel better i did this about a month ago. Didn't use the clutch but it still makes a little noise when I shift that wasn't there before. Never again!! Do yourself a favor and stick to rocks!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lf6o523hpz...2015.06.29.mov

Divided_Wood

Definitely makes me feel a little better. I can definitely say I'll think twice before hitting the next mud hole I come across!

It was fun as all get out while I was driving, the not-so-fun part is going to be the cleanup today. Never knew mud could get into so many small spaces.

kh202

Yes you'll quickly learn that! Mud destroys things that rocks won't. In my case, both front seat belts were jammed with mud and gravel and wouldn't retract. Luckily the dealer replaced them under warranty!! But yeah, 15 seconds of fun for hours of cleanup, not worth it