No joke, I once lifted a 2wd F150 that was buried to it's rear axel in sugar sand on a riverbed here in Oklahoma that could not be mitigated with the assistance of a tug strap and my trusty 4Runner. However, we were able to resolve it with a simple lever made out of a long log and a stump.

We rolled the stump over just behind the truck, and it was so large that we had to use a few walking-stick sized branches to wedge it towards the truck on about a 150' run. Then, we found a dried out log that was about 20' long and at its thickest point near its base, probably 2' in diameter, tapering up to about 10" in diameter at its broken off top. Luckily, it was a completely dried out driftwood log that was remarkably round and easy to roll with 3 guys.

So we rolled it about 50 yards or so to the back of the truck, placed the smallest diameter end up underneath the rear hidden hitch (which was touching sand, he buried it so deep before I got there), and then lifted the heavier, wider end up as high as we could and put the large stump underneath it as close to the truck as possible (that acted as the fulcrum, and was about 4' away from the tailgate).

Once under, just the weight of the trunk with the mechanical advantage was enough to start lifting the rear end a bit. Then, I walked out to the end of the lever-log and started to lift the truck pretty well with just my weight (around 180 lbs), then my 200 lbs friend jumped up there and we were able to completely pick up the back end of the truck, rear axle and wheels completely suspended. However, just getting it in the air did nothing.

So while we sat on the end of the log, our third friend started back-filling in the holes with sand, sticks, tall river-weeds, a few cardboard beer boxes, and even a large scrap piece of carpet that someone dumped out there. We set it back down on all the junk and it compressed it pretty good and still could not get out of its own holes, so we moved the fulcrum (the large stump) to about 1.5' away from the tailgate and repeated the process. This time, GREAT SUCCESS! lol. It freaking worked. Unbelievable.

My buddy then told me that I was the smartest man alive. I took the compliment, but honestly, had I not just seen the first massive stump just sitting there, the thought would have never crossed my mind. It just so happened to be in the perfect spot to spark an idea.


My rendition of the event: