Driving on Sand

[Wilsil]

It was also when I first met John , but that is another story .

Don't stop there Jo, go on.

[laney]

hey folks

so i took the pathy out on the beach here in the south west. bloody marvellous

read through all the tips and tricks and didnt have a drama the whole time. top notch advice. specially leaving the overdrive off!!

laney

[path2000]

I've tried sand driving with a Subaru Outback at Cronulla Sand dunes and Stockton near Anna bay. As the Outback is relatively light, it had no troubles even with road tyres at 25psi. Main issue was ground clearance.

I tried the Pathy recently between Crescent Hd and Port Mac and learnt of its limitations. Driving forward was ok on the soft beach. I tried to keep within other vehicles wheel track but the tracks were wider (Toyota Prado wide). This caused pathy to fish tail between tracks so I just did the best I could with one side in one tyre groove. The engine and gear box worked very hard. We reached a point where a Jeep tried to turn around and was totally stuck. It was being dug out by a few people before being towed out. By this time the tide was only approx 3m from the Jeep.

We decided to head back and there was no room to turn. With a little push we took off in reverse up the beach. This was very hard work for the Pathy and I learnt of its limitations. It just does not have the grunt in reverse. I had it flat to the floor and just not enough torque to pull it through the sand. It just lost momentum and stopped. Lucky a Prado was able to snatch me out. The rear of the Pathy was totally loaded with luggage so this may have contributed to its effort on that day. The sand was also soft deep. You could not drive on any hard packed sand as it was covered by water.

Once on the more compacted sand I reversed upward and turned around. It has no problem in forward gear.

Perhaps planning your turn location is important to avoid reversing in soft sand.

The Prado did everything effortlessly and even acted as a recovery vehicle...amazing performance.

[Wilsil]

What was your tyre pressure?
If you had it down to 20psi, go lower to 15 or even 12psi.

[Duke]

Were you in high range or low range? Hi range reverse should be able to get you up to enough momentum easily. I've never had any problem reversing the pathy on the beach, and we get some pretty soft sand in WA!

[Wilsil]

What you say Duke, soft sand it is!

[path2000]

Were you in high range or low range? Hi range reverse should be able to get you up to enough momentum easily. I've never had any problem reversing the pathy on the beach, and we get some pretty soft sand in WA!

I was in High range. When it stopped I tried forward and back in low range but it started to dig in so changed back to high range. Whilst being snached out I had it in high range and easy on the juice until it was out and up the beach.

I have only H/T factory bridgestones but my Outback did it all on raod tyres.
Low 20's psi should have done it. I still find the R50 too heavy for its modest donk and in town 16-17L/100 is what V8's use. R50 has so much going for it, just needs more power Scotty. It drinks like an 8.

[Duke]

Low 20's is too high for soft sand IMO, I'd go down to at least 18psi or even 16psi, its amazing how much easier on the car it is to run at a lower pressure (saves a bit of fuel too). I've never had to be snatched out, just grab the shovel off the roof, dig out behind the tyres, reduce pressure a bit more and out she pops.

[Wilsil]

When we go on te beach, I drop the tyres first to 20psi.
If it is getting softer, I go directly to 15psi.

[Jarh73]

I now ask the locals what pressure to run!

At Salt Creek in SA i spoke to the guy at the road house, well he came up to me actually and asked what we were doing in the area, i said 4Wdriving on the beach down to Kingston.

First question he asked:

What tyre pressures will you run?

I said about 20psi.

He replied:

Nah mate go straight to 15psi and you won't have a problem.

Sure enough at 15psi i didn't get stuck, not even close, only once i actually dug in and couldn't go forward but just backed out and got some more momentum.

I'm not sure if others have felt it, I know my brother didn't, but once you get to the correct speed for a given bit of sand you can feel the car kinda lift up on the sand, you know its floating across the top cause you need much less throttle. You can't pick the right speed from the start, as sand varies so much but once you float across its very easy going. Obvioulsy the right speed depends a lot on vehicle weight and ground pressure.

Motor bikes get through sand purely on momentum and literlly floating above, so to the Dakar 2WD Vehicles.

If you can maintian that speed you will climb most dunes and sand obsticals.

Cheers

Justin

[andypathfinder]

I am going 4WDing for the first time as this is my first 4WD vehicle I ever owned, this weekend and we are going beach driving I was going to ask the forum for some tips but reading what others have written on the forum, I guess I dont have to. I have been told that the beach we are going on here in SA is going to be very soft.

[Bobby]

Whats your vehicle, R50 or R51?

[jo.]

Were you in high range or low range? Hi range reverse should be able to get you up to enough momentum easily. I've never had any problem reversing the pathy on the beach, and we get some pretty soft sand in WA!

I was in High range. When it stopped I tried forward and back in low range but it started to dig in so changed back to high range. Whilst being snached out I had it in high range and easy on the juice until it was out and up the beach.

I have only H/T factory bridgestones but my Outback did it all on raod tyres.
Low 20's psi should have done it. I still find the R50 too heavy for its modest donk and in town 16-17L/100 is what V8's use. R50 has so much going for it, just needs more power Scotty. It drinks like an 8.

If you think the Pathy has no power on the beach, try driving the Patrol. Give me my pathy on the beach anyday!

Infact, I love driving the Pathy on the beach, only ever been stuck once, and you all know how much time I have spent up there. I have never had an issue with lack of power, do you need to clean your filters or something?

JO

[nato]

I got stuck doing a u turn and dropped into some gravel from the front end. Once got it out usinf high and eventually low range, the mud spray was only on 2 wheels. Do R51 have LSD? I would have thought that the mud splatter would have been more even on all tyres. Sorry to get off the beach talk, but thought this would be relevant quesiton to ask anyway.