Tips for sand /beach driving

[Qwerty]

it's been done to death I'm sure, but ;

Always think about where you're going to stop or slow ... always try and take some high ground even if it just means a lump of sand that's a bit higher. The amount of times i've seen blokes bogged (and myself a couple times) just by deciding on a stupid place to stop.... gravity is immensely helpful on sand (and immensely hindering too ha ha)

If you're bogging down ... don't keep flooring it, youll just dig down in no time ... likewise if you're in a soft patch ... yes its necessary to use a bit of power to get through ... but generally think of how "much" power as a rubber band ... don't let wheel spin be more than say 20-30% faster than your vehicle speed when powering ... or you just make it worse. If you are giving it minor throttle and still car won't budge ... you're proper stuck, no pointing spinning wheels ... get out, dig, maxtrax, snatch .. whatever to unstuck the car.

Obviously there are times where 100% power, some wishful thinking, and a fair bit of aggression is needed in really soft bits ... we have some stretches of beach where I just grab low range, lock the front (lsd rear), third or second gear and scream through (v6 is revvy) and no amount of conservative driving would have got through ... however there's a fine line between situations where that's helpful vs hindrence.. and there are all sorts of dangers in an aggressive method, damage, rocks under sand, control, beadrolling etc.

Takeoffs in boggy sand, as others say, ease gentlhy into it ... if its boggy but still making gradual movements... then keep a nice steady conservative amount of wheel spin as you edge forward ... the moment you give it too much wheel spin you're digging more than youre moving, and you'll be even more bogged.

I find in a slow boggy situation that moving the steering left and right a little sometimes helps.

Sometimes its better to reverse up a little, foreward a little, back a little ... create a little runway so you can get that first bit of momentum going and then lay the power in once you're moving (but remembering not to push wheel spin massively ahead of actual momentum speed).

If and when you feel yourself starting to bog down... be very quick to decide when you're bogged and cut the power ... rather than pushing the envelope and digging yourself down to the chassis in a matter of seconds. Don't know about you guys, but with the V6, locked, on WA's boggy (knee deep!) type beaches ... it only takes a couple of seconds to get yourself royally bogged by keeping the power on. Yu're better off stopping, and trying to back up, or biting bullet and getting maxtrax out then and there (much easier when youre only midly "stuck" but not yet fully chassis bogged)

Careful of weedy patches, often the high tide can cause swirly currents that leave holes under the weed ... BANG a giant pot hole. they hurt.

Personally i run between 12-14psi always. Lowest I've been was I think 8psi to get out of a really nasty, narrow, sloping, incoming tide bastard situation I was in. (seasoned veterans were getting bogged that day, it was like friggin glue).

Be alert ... be respectful of other cars, dont barrel past at excessive speed thinking you're looking good, in reality, our vehicles can very easily jump out of ruts a foot or two left or right, and easily smash into a nearby car, kid, tent, fisherman.

I have a 5spd auto (its mint in sand), but generally choose a gear and stick with it if in a dicey section ... in other words be smart about when you change gears in a manual, you might be better off staying in 2nd and reving through the last bit of a crappy boggy bit, than changing to 3rd, and getting stuck instead etc etc. ALl depends on the situation.

Don't follow mates too closely ... allow a few hundred metres betwen you ... too often youre right up someones ass, hit a patch of beach that is going to need some brawn or power ... guy in front slows / gets into trouble ... and voila you're either smashing into him, or more likely bogged in a bad spot because you had to stop ... if you allow enough room, you can hang back and wait til he's got through (or go help him), rather than all ending up in the same sandpit together.

[NimrodAUS]

How low tyre pressure can I go on the stock h/t Bridgestone tyres that come factory on a 2012 Sr5

4 - 8 psi if you go slow and keep in a straight line...

Lowest I've ever needed to go in sand was 12

Thanks for that. I just wasn't sure if the standard tyres on the 17in sr5 rims would like to be let down that's all. But I'll be general with them

[Qwerty]

dont know about the 17inch SR5 rins nimrod, but my 15inch SR5 allow rims are actually really good for having low bead roll risk ... so says a tyre mate (who also beach drives with me) anyway ... some other mags esspecially wider ones, are a bit more bead roll risky.

anything below 12psi in my mind is entering "only if youre in trouble" territory.

ANother thing to remmeber is heat ... i run mine at 12psi on a hot arvo ... by the next morning parked on beach on a 10c night ... they read 8psi ... once the day warms up or i drive a couple km's they return to 12psi.

Roughly.

[Qwerty]

Tyre pressure is the key, all the vehicles ive pulled out or laughed at lol have way too much air in their tyres. Most of the time i go over let their tyres down to 15psi put it in low range and they continue driving forward. Let them down before you get stuck and take it easy when cornering.

+1 ... obvious to most, but will say that if I stop to help someone whos bogged, first thing i do is check their tyre with my own guage. Down to 10 or 12psi please, otherwise i won't help you ... and guess what, they drive out of it themselves most the time.

[cizzink11]

I have never driven on sand because im worried I will get stuck because im a newb.

With 33x12.5r15 7 inch rim. I was told 12 would be to low maybe 18 to 24psi?

Still havent got max trax yet :/ or mates with forbies.

[Qwerty]

Id go 14 psi mate.
every psi you drop makes a big difference.

I notice a difference betwen 16 and 14psi.

12 psi is a dream on sand, eats it up.

[10 luxxxx]

Yep 12 for sure especially in the sand we have in wa as qwerty mentioned above very very soft.

[FODFA]

How low tyre pressure can I go on the stock h/t Bridgestone tyres that come factory on a 2012 Sr5

4 - 8 psi if you go slow and keep in a straight line...

Lowest I've ever needed to go in sand was 12

Never been below 8psi personally

Cheers Andrew

[kyle300exc]

I use 14 psi on rock climbing, wouldn't be afraid of going a lot less on sand if required. A word of advice though familiarize yourself with resealing your beading just in case.
.
TYRE RESEALING: If you have popped your beading there are a couple of ways to seal it, the easiest is to grab a ratchet strap place in the centre of the tread all the way around the tire and tighten. This forces out the walls of the tyre againts the rim and restricts incoming air escaping. The air will then pressurise the tyre against the rim and seal, REMOVE THE STRAP AS SOON AS THIS HAPPENS as it will be difficult and dangerous to continue inflating.
Rope can also be used, before attempting inflating check to make sure there is nothing on the inside edge of the rim like clay that will stop the tyre from making complete contact with the rim.
If your inflating with the strap tight and air is still escaping you can use a hammer to strike the tread of the tyre or lift and drop the wheel as its inflating to assist in making the tyre seal.
Also helps to have an air tank or a compressor with a good flow of air.

[RonBacardi8]

Just keep I mind that a hot tyre let down to 16 psi will end up being around 12-14 psi when cold.
Really notice it now as I got a tyre monitor now, on the highway at 100km from cold to hot the psi can change over 6 psi especially on hot days. My tires are 38 psi at cold but the other day we had a cold morning in W.A. My tyres were 35psi just from ambient temperature.

Camping over night with low psi (let's say 12psi reduced while tyres were hot) you may wake up the next day starting to drive with 8-9 psi. Big tyres that low are at risk of loosing even more air over night as the bead on most tyres are not designed to hold air at such low pressures.

Had the above happen to my Mickey Thompson MTZ's on the last trip, had 12psi all round (I reduced them to 12 while the tyres were cold so they 12 is what they should be again once cold) but had two tyres leak over night down to 7 psi. Lucky for me the tyre monitor let me know about it once i took off the next morning. I was a bit lazy to even check by looking at the tyres.

[Qwerty]

Mine are at 12psi today hot. Up at 6am to hit beach down track from beach house I reckon they'll be 8psi in morning , probably should throw a bit of air at them. Rather pissed currently !

[FODFA]

I wouldn't recommend the putting a ratchet strap around a tyre and then pumping it up, whillst you can get away with this and many do some dont. If the strap broke due to the pressure and the metal parts flew out and killed you you might be unlucky but you wouldn't be the first person to die doing this.

Most times beads reseat pretty easily, if you need more air volume them pump up your spare tyre to say 60 - 70psi, this becomes an air tank. Rmove the valve from flat tyre and place a piece of 6mm hose over the valve stem, remove the valve from spare tyre and quickly place hose over the valve on spare. You now have full air flow at 60-79psi which will do the job 99% of the time.

If you want to remove sand from the bead then breaking the bead is handy, I made a bead breaker to go on my Toyota jack, after others seeing this I was asked to make a few, here it is and a video of me breaking the bead and cleaning some sand out after some low pressure driving around Beachport.



[video=youtube_share;CGecY47GZ2s]http://youtu.be/CGecY47GZ2s[/video]

If anyone wants a bead breaker then maybe PM me, $35 + postage. ( hope this doesn't infringe any forum advertising rules)

Cheers Andrew

[kyle300exc]

Fair call Andrew, Ive done a lot of tyres of the years and not all 4x4s. Mainly used ropes and a truck knots whist still on the vehicle. But acknowledge your point and agree particularly with some of the poor quality straps available these days.

[Deekay]

Ive blown my engine at stockton

[kyle300exc]

So did my son, a bit unexpected when you consider your driving on sand. Sorry to hear Deekay did that happen recently?

[Deekay]

Just over a year ago. With the hilux's 1kd engines there is a common issue with oil pick ups being blocked because of injector seals. I bought the car and on the second week took it to 4 wheel driving/ fishing at stockton. And because its a manual car it struggled alittle bit because of my unexperience drriving. Just a experience now i guess

[Downesy]

One of these is a must, lets all four tyres down in under 5 minutes .

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BOGBUSTER-TY ... 4220wt_994

[cizzink11]

Arb sells a really good one

[Richiesupercharged]

I love my staun deflators.. ive set them to 16psi screw em on and just sit back and wait..
The ez style deflators are great at what they do for bush and other terrain where you vary your pressures or only want to go down a few pound for comfort but for sand I go straight to 16 so the stauns are gold

[hoodlux]

+1 for the Stauns. I have two at 20psi and 2 at 16, covers most situations.

After 10 years of an auto, got to learn how to drive a manual again offroad! Just need to think a little more about what you are doing. Hit it in 2WD, get stuck, 4WD, stuck again, back out (unless you have diff locks, then you can get further into trouble before being stuck!).

It all comes down to experience and practise. You can't get out of a bog when the pressure is on if you haven't done it when there is no pressure.

Don't be scared to give it a go when close to home / help, it will only make you a better driver. Everyone gets bogged, the difference is some need help, others are self sufficient. But this only comes with practise. When you are confident to travel the Gunbarrel Hwy / Gibb River Rd / Simpson on your own, you are doing OK.

Cheers
Jamie