150 on Sand - Awesome!

[LaoK User account deleted at own request. Find all posts View Profile Close LaoK]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

I just completed a 4WD Course and had the good fortune to be given a 120 series Toyota Prado 3L Diesel Automatic.

The Prado is just incredible in sand and we managed to get one sunk deeper than any of the vehicles in the photos of this thread. All four wheels were spinning in soft, fluffy sand on the top of a big sandhill. A spectacular vertical spray of sand from all wheels. The Prado did its best to get over and along but the fluffy stuff at the top had been churned up by the whole day's training and it was like driving in sifted flour. She was on her belly. The recovery training kicked in and we soon had her free and on her way again, albeit backwards down the steep sandhill. I walked down the hill and back up it again with some wood for under the rear wheels and couldn't believe how a vehicle with three adults in it could get to the top of a hill that I was struggling to walk up.

We also drove around sandy firebreaks and it was like a Sunday drive.
We had the street tyres at 20psi.

In a word...WOW!

The recovery was using a high lift jack and a long-handled shovel. Nothing else.

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

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

I just completed a 4WD Course and had the good fortune to be given a 120 series Toyota Prado 3L Diesel Automatic.

The Prado is just incredible in sand and we managed to get one sunk deeper than any of the vehicles in the photos of this thread. All four wheels were spinning in soft, fluffy sand on the top of a big sandhill. A spectacular vertical spray of sand from all wheels. The Prado did its best to get over and along but the fluffy stuff at the top had been churned up by the whole day's training and it was like driving in sifted flour. She was on her belly. The recovery training kicked in and we soon had her free and on her way again, albeit backwards down the steep sandhill. I walked down the hill and back up it again with some wood for under the rear wheels and couldn't believe how a vehicle with three adults in it could get to the top of a hill that I was struggling to walk up.

We also drove around sandy firebreaks and it was like a Sunday drive.
We had the street tyres at 20psi.

In a word...WOW!

The recovery was using a high lift jack and a long-handled shovel. Nothing else.

HA!! photos can be deceiving.. a hi-lift and a shovel - you weren't bogged enough..

two winches, 4 shovels (45 minutes of digging), 2 extension straps, 2 pulleys, 3 4wds, tyres lowered to 12, that is stuck..

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

HA!! photos can be deceiving.. a hi-lift and a shovel - you weren't bogged enough..

two winches, 4 shovels (45 minutes of digging), 2 extension straps, 2 pulleys, 3 4wds, tyres lowered to 12, that is stuck..

Sounds like one epic recovery. Do you have any videos or photos?

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

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Presumably the car was up to its windows then? Haha!

[LaoK User account deleted at own request. Find all posts View Profile Close LaoK]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

...two winches, 4 shovels (45 minutes of digging), 2 extension straps, 2 pulleys, 3 4wds, tyres lowered to 12, that is stuck..

I guess that you spent 45 minutes digging the big hole that you drove into?

The Prado was on its belly all wheels spinning freely. NO daylight underneath. Without manually digging a hole I don't know how much more bogged I could be. I was digging to get it out, not to make it look impressively deeper. LOL

All good banter, guys. Love the humour.

[LaoK User account deleted at own request. Find all posts View Profile Close LaoK]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

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

Had a quick try of a Nissan Patrol and the thing didn't want to go anywhere on horizontal sand. The three of us were convinced that the handbrake was on. In a word (about the Nissan Pootrol) what a DOG!

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

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Had to wind the windows up to keep the sand out :lol:

No photos or video it was a very hot day and the third time I was stuck for the day..no-one wanted to be doing the recovery.

I'm a Nissan convert, and I can tell for certain that I would have been just as stuck in a patrol as I was in the prado.

It's all good fun!

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Just spent a few days in Geraldton. Took the kids through the sand dunes and did some beach driving. Amazed at the ease with which I got through everthing, never looked like getting stuck even with 6 people in the car through the dunes.

Tyres down to 26psi and did disable VSC and TRC before going into the soft stuff. I think low range puts less stress on the car as there is a small gap between gears. Also need to remember to select 5 when using sports mode in low range otherwise tend to rev out in 4th.

[lafona00 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close lafona00]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

One of the best to avoid a lot of digging is the Air Jack. I find it very useful.

Dig a little... into the desert sand...
Put your Air Jack... Lift both wheels same side...
Fill the hole with sand...

Do the same the other side of the car...
Deflate the Air Jack... lower your tyres a bit more (for very short use) may be 10 or 12.

Then drive slowly out of the pain...

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

One of the reasons I left the tyres at 25psi was so that if you get stuck you can let them down to 12psi and have a go at getting out.

[LaoK User account deleted at own request. Find all posts View Profile Close LaoK]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

One of the best to avoid a lot of digging is the Air Jack. I find it very useful.

Be careful that you don't burn the bag with the hot exhaust. The bag spreads out more than you think it will.

[lafona00 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close lafona00]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

Thanks for the advice, I will need to be careful...
I don t even know where the exhaust are runnnig under the car... middle, side...
I will have to check.

Thanks for the advice

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

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

One of the reasons I left the tyres at 25psi was so that if you get stuck you can let them down to 12psi and have a go at getting out.

Well ya wouldn't have got stuck on 12psi!!! And at 12 ya can always drop to 8 or even 6 if you have decent tread...

[lafona00 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close lafona00]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

One of the reasons I left the tyres at 25psi was so that if you get stuck you can let them down to 12psi and have a go at getting out.

Well ya wouldn't have got stuck on 12psi!!! And at 12 ya can always drop to 8 or even 6 if you have decent tread...

+100.
18 is a minimum...
In the Saudi desert (Liwa) we are advice to drop it directly to 15.
Then you ll see.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Re: 150 on Sand - Awesome!

One of the reasons I left the tyres at 25psi was so that if you get stuck you can let them down to 12psi and have a go at getting out.

Well ya wouldn't have got stuck on 12psi!!! And at 12 ya can always drop to 8 or even 6 if you have decent tread...

Not sure you read the post, I didn't get stuck.

How low you can drop the tyre pressure has nothing to do with tread, and I think 6 psi is starting to push your luck.