150 on Sand - Awesome!

[Mark from Brisbane Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark from Brisbane]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

MInes a GXL so none of that real fancy stuff....but have to agree very capable on the Sand....have had two trips to Straddie, and a couple to Bribie and whilst nothing incredibly challenging it seems to make mincemeat of whatever sand you throw at it.....I run AT's so that helps and always drop the pressure from 40 back to about 25.....I only selected low range once when going up a fairly soft dune.

[gxllouie Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxllouie]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

MInes a GXL so none of that real fancy stuff....but have to agree very capable on the Sand....have had two trips to Straddie, and a couple to Bribie and whilst nothing incredibly challenging it seems to make mincemeat of whatever sand you throw at it.....I run AT's so that helps and always drop the pressure from 40 back to about 25.....I only selected low range once when going up a fairly soft dune.

hey mark,

your gxl does have all that fancy stuff - just not the multi terrain select. did you leave your traction control on then?

also, road tyres go better on sand than ATs - more surface area to stay afloat and less tread to dig you in.

louie

[Mark from Brisbane Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark from Brisbane]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Yes mate left the TC on, just not all that dial up fancy stuff on the Kakadu (and maybe the VX as well??)

Know what you mean re tyres, but at about 24 or 25 my BFG's seem to have plenty of rubber on the sand to not worry it at all.

Besides I have a set of Maxtrax's "just in case"

[gxllouie Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxllouie]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Yes mate left the TC on, just not all that dial up fancy stuff on the Kakadu (and maybe the VX as well??)

Know what you mean re tyres, but at about 24 or 25 my BFG's seem to have plenty of rubber on the sand to not worry it at all.

Besides I have a set of Maxtrax's "just in case"

nice - i've got some x-trax II - worked well on straddie getting the x-trail out (after digging for forever)

i haven't taken the prado on the beach yet and have heard mix reports about its TC on sand. can't wait to try it out though!!

louie

[Geoffy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Geoffy]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

i haven't taken the prado on the beach yet and have heard mix reports about its TC on sand. can't wait to try it out though!!

louie

From my personal experience with 4WDs I've owned, basic TC and Dynamic Stability Control don't mix well with sand. TC because sand driving involves various amounts of wheelspin and TC prevents wheelspin.

DSC is worse. I had a situation a couple of years ago where I had to sneak around a log just above the high water mark and then quickly drive back up (on an angle) into a deeply rutted track. Waited for the wave to go out, went around the log and the second the car dropped into the rut the DSC went nuts (clearly it thought we were out of control) so it braked, momentarily killed power and by the time it gave me some power back it was all too late and we got bogged.

I always switch both off as soon as I hit the beach. (and I've never been bogged with it all switched off).

[Silvo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Silvo]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

ok, i had another crack at the sand last week.. AWESOME..

i think the issue i was having was tyre pressure being too high. i dropped it to 14, and left it in H4 all day, traction control left on, DSC left on.

the only time i locked the centre diff and put it in L4 was when i was towing out a couple of nissans

[lafona00 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close lafona00]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

+1
Tyre pressure down to 18.
AT22 as tyres.
central diff on

BUT I always take off stability control and traction control.

[gxllouie Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxllouie]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

i ran full road pressure towing a box trailer at chrissie - no problems. admittedly there wasn't a lot of soft stuff, but i deliberately found some to test it out. if on fraser, etc i would drop pressure to 18. i found that the electronics work pretty well on the sand - a lot better than my old x-trail that would bog every time the stability control kicked in!!

louie

[lafona00 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close lafona00]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

i ran full road pressure towing a box trailer at chrissie - no problems.
louie

Here you would not go very far with your full road pressure...
The desert needs 18 max...

[Jase150 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jase150]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Agree with the sand ability of the Prado - it is unbelievable!!!

A few points -

I ALWAYS turn off TC and VSC the constant beeping drives me nuts and they could easily get you stuck.

The beach I mainly drive on is among the softest you would find anywhere (Redhead/Blacksmiths in Newcastle), road pressures would get you stuck on the track on the way onto it! I have muddies and whilst they capably get MOST places on 15psi, everything works much better lower, even down to 10psi as the MTRs have quite stiff sidewalls (no problem with them digging in at that pressure either). The Grandcraps however, were a different story, anything below 15psi will see constant bead leaks (had both fronts go at once, that was fun).

Rarely do I need low range unless trying to conquer the bigger dunes but I always engage the centre lock - just in case, as once stuck it won't engage.

[gxllouie Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxllouie]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

i ran full road pressure towing a box trailer at chrissie - no problems.
louie

Here you would not go very far with your full road pressure...
The desert needs 18 max...

i agree - i always drop pressures for the beach. at chrissie i had an 80 series with a winch with me, so i decided to give full pressures a go for something different.

louie

[CJW001 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CJW001]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Finally got my avatar to work..... sand is awesome

[Silvo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Silvo]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Finally got my avatar to work..... sand is awesome

nice, i was up at stockton on the weekend again..

sand is awesome, until you are up to your belly in it, digging doesn't really work, and you need 2 x 4wds, winches, and an anchor 4wd to pull you out backwards.



dan

[CJW001 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CJW001]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

like most things, your right.... its fun till you come to a grinding halt!...... down side of the sand was that I was cleaning it out of the car for weeks... mud is atleast easier to clean..... still it was heaps of fun!

[KILR150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close KILR150]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Overall really happy with our new prado ! We did some beach driving down west coast of WA , Esperance ! I found it to be great .. We did in counter a few small issues but that was only due to my laziness of not getting out and letting the tyres down :-) The car has no modifications as yet .... did keep up and make it everywhere that our friends did with there modified 4x4s ... :P