Nebraska Clay Mud

[Climber]

A couple of years ago on the way to Utah / Colorado for wheeling, my wife and I decided to take a detour.
In eastern Nebraska, there is a fossil site called the Ashfall Fossil Beds:
Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park
https://share.google/dZeEuEp2rSZWySa4t
It had rained the night before, and when the road turned to dirt, it devolved into a surface I haven’t encountered before, the road had about 4” of slick clay mud that my Bronco could barely navigate. No matter the steering input, or dive mode, the truck went where it wanted, not where pointed. A few times I almost slow tumbled into the ditch. After a while, we got back on the pavement and continued on, never making it to the fossil site.

Anybody on here from Nebraska that has experienced this and could give some pointers, I’m all ears! Fortunately, I didn’t have to test the friendliness of the local farmers to ask for a yank out of the ditch.

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[DuneRunner]

Tires make the biggest difference. Never driven on this in Nebraska, but I have in Australia. A couple of the rigs with us had AT tires, and they were really struggling, but the MT tires seemed to do fine.

 

[Climber]

Tires make the biggest difference. Never driven on this in Nebraska, but I have in Australia. A couple of the rigs with us had AT tires, and they were really struggling, but the MT tires seemed to do fine.

@DuneRunner my stock tires couldn’t evacuate the clay, I believe you are correct, sir!

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

Tires.

There’s a similar mud in Utah formed when it rains on the fine-grained sand of bentonite clay. It gets deep and sticky fast. The wider your tread, the more mud you’ll eject, but it sometimes doesn’t matter, as you’re still driving on jelly. Mud & Ruts mode can help a bit, as it will asymmetrically stutter the tires to try to throw off mud. I’ve found SLOW (like 5mph max) and M1 is really the only way. We call these tires ‘glazed donuts.’

 

[Climber]

Tires.

There’s a similar mud in Utah formed when it rains on the fine-grained sand of bentonite clay. It gets deep and sticky fast. The wider your tread, the more mud you’ll eject, but it sometimes doesn’t matter, as you’re still driving on jelly. Mud & Ruts mode can help a bit, as it will asymmetrically stutter the tires to try to throw off mud. I’ve found SLOW (like 5mph max) and M1 is really the only way. We call these tires ‘glazed donuts.’

Tires.

There’s a similar mud in Utah formed when it rains on the fine-grained sand of bentonite clay. It gets deep and sticky fast. The wider your tread, the more mud you’ll eject, but it sometimes doesn’t matter, as you’re still driving on jelly. Mud & Ruts mode can help a bit, as it will asymmetrically stutter the tires to try to throw off mud. I’ve found SLOW (like 5mph max) and M1 is really the only way. We call these tires ‘glazed donuts.’

@HalfmuleFarmer love the ‘glazed donuts’!

 

[Smocaine]

Lockers OFF in this kind of mud, it will only get you more sideways. If you have a chance to prepare then drop your tire pressure as low as you dare.

 

[userdude]

You surf not sled dog mud. And yah those are "Max Traction" not "Mud Terrain" tires. If they say M/T on the side, at least (R/T is the same, voids are too skinny to clear mud).

Make sure and get under and really spray all that out of everything.

 

[Climber]

You surf not sled dog mud. And yah those are "Max Traction" not "Mud Terrain" tires. If they say M/T on the side, at least (R/T is the same, voids are too skinny to clear mud).

Make sure and get under and really spray all that out of everything.

It took a while to spray it off!

 

[userdude]

It took a while to spray it off!

I wonder if we have the same limestone crap y'all have; the color looks pretty similar. Really not fun stuff. There's some other types of mud we have here that will blow off on the highway, but that not that stuff.

 

[EasternSierra]

I ran into some similar mud once in Saline Valley (near Death Valley). The trail ran along the edge of a playa (normally dry lake bed of silt/clay). Because it had rained there was a surface layer of sticky mud. That mud started caking on the tires, making them not just glazed donuts, but ones that were growing larger and larger with each revolution.

I saw where that was going. So I stopped, scraped off what I could, and turned around. Fortunately the mud wasn't deep or I could have been totally stuck. Good thing I had a shovel.

 

[Climber]

I ran into some similar mud once in Saline Valley (near Death Valley). The trail ran along the edge of a playa (normally dry lake bed of silt/clay). Because it had rained there was a surface layer of sticky mud. That mud started caking on the tires, making them not just glazed donuts, but ones that were growing larger and larger with each revolution.

I saw where that was going. So I stopped, scraped off what I could, and turned around. Fortunately the mud wasn't deep or I could have been totally stuck. Good thing I had a shovel.

As simple as it sounds, I was most puckered by this than any other ‘off road’ experience!

 

[crenca]

As simple as it sounds, I was most puckered by this than any other ‘off road’ experience!

Just last week I was pre-running a remote trail alone and got into some mud (rainy season around here), and it was dicey - locked up (it was flat) and could barely move, cursing myself for not spending recent time with the Zoleo app interface.

I have "hybrid" tires currently (MT EXP's) and they have just enough blocky shoulder that I made it through, not sure if the OEM AT's would have done it.

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

It’s interesting in your first post you say “Fossil Beds” because here in Utah this clay dust is exactly what turned into the mud and rock that trapped a bunch of dinosaurs and made a lot of significant paleontology happen. With the right conditions this dust turns to sticky clay with then turns to rock. Perfect for trapping both dinos and Broncos! Learning moment for me today: expect any site known for fossils to have nasty, sticky clay after a rain!

 

[Climber]

Just last week I was pre-running a remote trail alone and got into some mud (rainy season around here), and it was dicey - locked up (it was flat) and could barely move, cursing myself for not spending recent time with the Zoleo app interface.

I have "hybrid" tires currently (MT EXP's) and they have just enough blocky shoulder that I made it through, not sure if the OEM AT's would have done it.
Mud performance will definitely effect my next tire choice!

 

[Z because X was taken]

Drop your air pressure.

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