Ditto - or not a bag, just a 1 litre plastic container... You (usually) don't need much to get unstuck, just get enough traction to put the vehicle in motion and you should be OK (at least with good snow/ice tires). If not, then you probably should consider staying clear of the roads anyway...


I've been stuck on a gravel road that had just a few ice spots on it. Backed up to turn, got both drive wheels on ice - bummer! Stuck! On a flat gravel road almost totally clear of ice! Only way out was either a good push or risk going further downhill off the road to get the wheels onto gravel.

Sand is good. I used some of it commuting in the morning when I lived farther north. A bag is a good way of carrying it because the bag itself is useful. Hint: Don't use beach sand because the salt will eat your vehicle if you keep it inside. Course builders sand, with sharp grains about 1/16", is ideal.

Another good thing to keep handy is a piece of plywood to keep your jack from sinking in to snow or mud. One foot square is a handy size. A second larger piece of plywood, or a piece of heavy canvas or outdoor carpet, gives you something to kneel and lay down on and helps keep the tools and parts from sinking in the mud and crud.

I've seen plywood break under jacks. I'm looking for a nice, low cost piece of 2'x1', quarter inch plate.

I also keep a rolled up blue ground pad in the truck for kneeling and sitting and tool space, not to mention it is a 6'x2.5' blue rectangle- it will be seen at a distance, that is not a shape/color that occurs in nature. Unless your monolith is really, really cold.

Xmas AM...the city plowed the streets so we all had to move our cars to unplowed side roads the nite before where the only place to park was in the snow banks of freezing slush..this is the aftermath of an hours work with a long handled shovel,roof shingles and a bucket of sand..i was lucky,if this was a back road "up north" i would not have bulled out onto a semi plowed street, but more frozen snow with who knows how far to a county gravel road

Finally got to play w/one of the cold steel shovels I bought as a gift this past weekend. Worked great for chopping I ordered myself one. Parking in unfrozen (but soon to be frozen) snowbanks is the pits. Been there. Unpleasant.

Don't forget about floormats if you've got them - they work great as traction devices in a pinch.

Yup... plywood breaks! You are so right Ironraven. Get yourself to an RV store and pick up a jack pad. They usually sell them in packages of four but you can often find them one at a time too. They are designed to be used under the leveling jacks on those great big RVs. We've got an RV and the 2x2 plastic pads work great and will help prevent sinking into soft ground. They also have some other types of jack pads that have built in handles to place them where you want them. Go online and look up RV jack pads to get some more ideas (Camping World comes to mind).

I carry a German military folding shovel/pick combo year around in both vehicles. I got them for $20 at a farm and fleet store. I think an extra plastic snow shovel or metal grain scoop in winter is a good idea. You can also buy sturdy little plastic snow shovels with retractible handles at Kmart that are a good compromise in winter, but not so much in summer. A friend of mine slid off the road in his pickup during a recent snowstorm, and he had to dig out with his window scraper.

If there are any scaffolding companies around you check if they have any extra pieces of scaffold mudsill (jack pad). These are usually damaged laminated scaffold planks cut into 2 foot lengths.
They go under the scaffold legs to spread the load,
You will never push a jack through one and the jack is far less likely to slip than on steel.

Oh, neat, two ideas- thanks guys.