rmgill
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One of the other issues you'll run into that I've seen is quite valid is the shape of the underside the vehicle.
On a deuce you have big axles and other parts of the under carriage that get stuck on the mud as you sink down into it. If the mud has LOTS of stiction, you have to not only push the mud that's in front of the front wheels, you ALSO have to push the mud that gets up and around the differentials. You effectively turn the underside of the truck into a plow and if you don't ahve enough grip on the more solid deeper mud you're not going to go anywhere.
My Ferret and Dingo, as designed had solid underside plates that covered up all of the internals save for the axles coming out the side. Where they got into mud, they could if the conditions were right, more or less skate over the mud like a alligator on it's belly propelling itself with its legs over mud. It doesn't walk so much as surf over the top of the mud. If the tires don't grip however you're back to square one and you get stuck anyhow.
As others have pointed out, the duece has the issue with the front axle being a serious liability since most of the weight on an empty truck is concentrated there. Chains over the front's and rears are a big help. Singles are as well if you're going to be sinking anyhow. If you want to try to stay on top of the soft ground, you want to lower your ground pressure as much as possible.
A rear facing winch would be a VERY good idea as that would allow for reversing out of the nastiness. If you look at a lot of WWII era trucks, the british ones had racks for stowing chains and had midship winches for forwards OR reverse winching operations. The ARtillery Tractors had this especially commonly.
I would think that an 8x8 Deuce or 5 ton would be MORE capable over soft ground than the 6x6 would be. Specifically because you're able to spread your weight out more and the front mounted engine isn't concentrated on one axle. A midships engine will also help as that's even more spread out.
Ultimately, for proper soft ground performance, you want a tracked vehicle with tracks as wide as possible.
On a deuce you have big axles and other parts of the under carriage that get stuck on the mud as you sink down into it. If the mud has LOTS of stiction, you have to not only push the mud that's in front of the front wheels, you ALSO have to push the mud that gets up and around the differentials. You effectively turn the underside of the truck into a plow and if you don't ahve enough grip on the more solid deeper mud you're not going to go anywhere.
My Ferret and Dingo, as designed had solid underside plates that covered up all of the internals save for the axles coming out the side. Where they got into mud, they could if the conditions were right, more or less skate over the mud like a alligator on it's belly propelling itself with its legs over mud. It doesn't walk so much as surf over the top of the mud. If the tires don't grip however you're back to square one and you get stuck anyhow.
As others have pointed out, the duece has the issue with the front axle being a serious liability since most of the weight on an empty truck is concentrated there. Chains over the front's and rears are a big help. Singles are as well if you're going to be sinking anyhow. If you want to try to stay on top of the soft ground, you want to lower your ground pressure as much as possible.
A rear facing winch would be a VERY good idea as that would allow for reversing out of the nastiness. If you look at a lot of WWII era trucks, the british ones had racks for stowing chains and had midship winches for forwards OR reverse winching operations. The ARtillery Tractors had this especially commonly.
I would think that an 8x8 Deuce or 5 ton would be MORE capable over soft ground than the 6x6 would be. Specifically because you're able to spread your weight out more and the front mounted engine isn't concentrated on one axle. A midships engine will also help as that's even more spread out.
Ultimately, for proper soft ground performance, you want a tracked vehicle with tracks as wide as possible.
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