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We’ve featured plenty of off-road excursions gone awry over the years, but it’s hard to top the embarrassment of getting a jacked-up, two-wheel-drive Jeep Wrangler stuck on a tiny mound of snow in an otherwise clear parking lot. Mall crawler, you’ve met your match.
The video popped up on Facebook earlier this week, and while it’s frustratingly short on details, there’s plenty to learn from the struggle. It opens with the previous-generation JK Jeep Wrangler already high-centered on a small pile of snow, no more than a few feet tall. Being a rear-wheel-drive truck—you can see the non-driven front axle is thinner—its ratty off-road tires and lift kit are of no help whatsoever.
Complicating things for the uncomplicated driver is the fact that the Wrangler has an open rear differential, so the engine’s power will follow the path of least resistance. With one back wheel slightly off the ground, all revving does is make the airborne tire spin like a sad pinwheel. The Jeep is well and truly stuck.
The cameraman continues filming as the driver saws the steering wheel back and forth. After half a minute or so, two guys walk up, say something to the desperate wheelman, and peer amusedly at the spinning rear wheel as the clip finally ends. There’s no information on where this was recorded, or how long it took them to pull the Wrangler from its icy perch. Unless the driver has a few buddies put weight on that floating tire and push it down, it’d be hard to get it off there without another vehicle.
As to the why, well, there’s nothing Jeep people enjoy more than parking on snow piles when given the chance. Partly because those piles sometimes cover legitimate spots, and partly because they can. Most of the time. It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand.
h/t Jalopnik