Roving in Deep/Loose/Dry Sand...

[Catatonic Comanche]

Here on the east-coast a LOT of my off-roading has been spent roving down desert beaches searching for that perfect fishing spot or just my own section of the Atlantic Ocean. Given that as it may, I have witnessed the baddest of the bad manage to bury themselves beyond self-recovery...mostly due to lack of sand-roving.

 

It happened to me back in 1993 on Ocracoke Island, NC...my third time sand-roving. A Wrangler owner was digging-out his buried Jeep in a very rutty loose/deep sand area near where many 4x4 enter and exit the beach. In my experience, the beach entry/exit area is one of the most popular areas where many manage to bury their monsters!

 

Like the inexperienced sand-rover that I was at the time I parked my 1989 Mitsubishi Montero right inside of two ruts that were in the sand in order to assist the Jeeper. We managed to dig out the Jeep and like the fool I was, I gunned my Swamper Thornbirds right into the rut! The Jeeper parked in a safe flat-sand area to help dig me out! About a minute later, this HUGE monster-Ford F-something with happened along with a chain and said "follow my lead!"

 

The Ford man hadn't pulled me out of my trench only 30 seconds before his engine stalled! I had noticed that it had been idling a bit rough. He appeared to be experiencing electrical difficulties as his cranking powere was not strong enough to turn over his engine. I parked my Montero on a nice safe flat spot of sand next to him and broke out the jumper cables while the Jeeper remained to provide moral support, "leave no man behind", etc.! The jump-start worked and the big Ford's engine turned-over!

 

At this point, all of us were out of immediate danger from our embarrassing moments of glory and at the earliest opportunity, we all bid each-other adu, hopped back in our 4x4s and hauled @$$ away from that bad-luck area! Ever since that experience, I have always respected the sand and haven't returned to any situations beyond self-recovery.

 

That being stated, is there any recommendations out there concerning what sort of suspension setup works best in deep/loose sand, i.e., clearance, locked/unlocked, etc.? I would like to add on-board air at some point in the future as low-pressure is great on sand. Perhaps I should just keep respecting the sand! :bowdown:

 

Thanks for reading!

 

V/R

 

:cheers:

 

Paul

[Pete M]

Air down, air down ,air down. That's all you really need. And even a $20 plug-in cheapie compressor can air you back up. It just takes lots of time (and pay attention to the duty cycle so you don't over heat it). I myself prefer a Co2 tank as onboard air.

 

 

 

Also I'm moving this to the pub unless you provide some pictures.

:needpics:

[Catatonic Comanche]

Also I'm moving this to the pub unless you provide some pictures.

:needpics:

 

Pictures of being stuck in a trench?! That was a BAD day and it is certainly not one I need to relive through photographs! I'll see you in The Pub, Pete!

 

:cheers:

 

V/R

 

Paul

[Pete M]

What's that saying? "A bad day wheeling is better than a good day at work" I've got pics of every time I've been stuck. And the time in the sand was a simple fix. I walked around and aired down the tires (like I should have done earlier but was too lazy to do that time). Then drove away (and did it without hitting that tree).

 

[BLHTAZ]

If you are going to be in sand a lot, you should run All Terrain tires and then do as Pete said...air down.

 

Swampers are the last tire to try and run in sand as they do nothing but dig down and even aired down, the side walls are so stiff that it doesn't help a lot.

[Pete M]

He has Thornbirds, which should do well in sand.

[mvusse]

First, ditch the Thornturds. They look nice, but are the least functional (non-functional) tires Interco ever designed. Second, air down and be gentle on the throttle. You want to spin your tires sloooooowly. Spin them fast and you're just digging holes. P rated, or LT rated 6 ply (load rating C) will probably do best. D and E have too thick of a side wall to balloon out.

[Pete M]

Thornbirds should be a great tire for the sand since they are so utterly non-aggressive in the tread area.

[jtdesigns]

I always thought you need big balloon tires for sand. Kinda like a tractors turf tire.

[Pete M]

You need the broadest surface area you can muster. Really big tires help, but I've seen Jeeps on stock car tires do awesome in the sand when aired down to 10 psi. A really aggressive tire works ok in the sand, but if you give it too much gas, it'll dig a hole right quick. A less aggressive tire is more forgiving in this respect and is the preferred sand tire for normal rigs.

 

[SoloCamo]

Yup...in fact sand is about the only offroading I do in my comanche. I simply air down my Street oriented 235/70/15's to about 20psi (I don't have a way to fill them back up before getting out onto the road) and away I go.

 

I've only been stuck once and that was trying to back up, uphill with my tires foolishly at 33-35psi. (tis how I learned why NOT to run high psi in sand :wall: )

 

Smooth, wide tires mixed with the comanche's light weight makes it an excellent sand vehicle, even with my 2wd.

[Eagle]

I always thought you need big balloon tires for sand. Kinda like a tractors turf tire.

Correct. The bigger the better. Off-road tires with sizes like 31x10.50-15 or 33x12.50-15 are called "flotation" tires for a reason -- they were intended to be large, oversized tires that would "float" over sand. As Pete said -- air down. You want to spread the load out over as large a contact patch as possible.

 

Locked is good, both axles locked is better. The last thing you want/need in loose sand is one wheel digging a hole while one or more another wheels just stand around and watch.

 

Also, speed is good. Stopping is your enemy. A few years ago I went to Chile at the invitation of NAXJA member "Mike in Chile" to see what kind of trouble I could get into with his "Total Traccion" 4WD club. Near the coast of Chile they have a HUGE area of pure sand dunes, about 12 miles wide and 20 or 25 miles long. That's where we went. Two of the guys on street tires got hopelessly stuck right at the entrance. Mike's (wife's) XJ did pretty well, but eventually we got to one very high, very steep dune that everyone wanted to climb, and nobody good. Roberto, driving a very well-prepped older Toyota Land Crusher could only make it halfway up -- and he was our rescue vehicle.

 

And then we heard in the distance the sound of an ENGINE. I don't mean just any engine -- this sounded like a NASCAR stocker with open pipes. (As it turns out, the engine was basically a NASCAR engine.) "Ah," said Mike, "here comes El Gachito. Now you'll see how to drive the dunes."

 

And then over another dune comes this ... thing. It began life as a Camaro, but it had been stripped, fully caged, had axles on it that must have been three feet wider than the tub, and about the biggest, widest tires I have ever seen. And, of course, the afore-mentioned NASCAR engine. He pulled up, watched for a few minutes as the other guys made more futile attempts to crest this monster dune, then headed toward his beast. "El Gachito" didn't speak English, but through Mike he asked if I'd like to ride shotgun. "Go for it," said Mike, so I accepted.

 

So El G fired up the beast, backed off about 100 yards, and took a run at the dune. He started rolling slowly, and just before the base of the dune he planted his foot and in the passenger seat it felt like I was in an F-15 hitting afterburners on a short runway. The thing took off -- and we made it about 2/3 of the way up. Farther than anyone else had gotten, and we weren't dug in down to the axles and needing to get dug out like everyone else, but we didn't top it.

 

El G muttered something in Spanish that I remembered from 7th grade Spanish class as indicative of bovine excrement, backed down to the starting point, moved a wad of rags on the floor between the seats and reached down with a wrench through a hole in the floor pan. I pointed and shrugged, asking "WTF?"

 

"Quatro por quatro," he said. Yeah -- this dude runs the dunes 90% of the time in 2WD, relying on the flotation of the huge tires and pure speed to keep him from sinking in. He gets very unhappy if he actually has to use 4WD -- but in this case he had to. So he gets it into 4WD, stuffs the rags back in the hole, and takes another run. This time he hit the loud peddle a little earlier, too -- and we crested the dune doing probably 40 MPH, like it wasn't even there. Speed and flotation are your friends in sand.

 

And there endeth the reading for today.

[SuperWade2]

This was more about a lack of speed+the depth of the sand, but since I was stuck, I figured I give you dudes a chance to point and laugh... :oops:

 

Was aired down to about 8 PSI, but don't think I was using my lockers at the time... Had to get a slight tug back down the hill... Took another run and went up just fine...

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

When I lived in NC we used to go camping on the beach a lot. All my stucks were self imposed on purpose in order to unload the truck easier. Slam on the brakes to dig the fronts in, then kick the gas so the rear settles in, lowers the rig about 6 inches so it is easier to get in and out, load and unload. Time for recovery, let 10psi out of the tires, stick it in 4-low and let the stroker idle out of the hole. I have 33x10.5" BFG all terrains.

 

I actually really like running on the sand. If anybody knows of a place in the Florida Panhandle/Florabama area let me know.