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driving on sand

9K views 33 replies 20 participants last post by  TANK'S 250 
#1 ·
So I'm going to obx in about 3 weeks and the house we rented you have to drive 10 miles up the beach to get to it. So any tips for driving on sand? I have never driven on the sand before. How much air do I let out of my tires? I have 305/70/16 bfg mt and 16x10 wheels.
 
#4 ·
Hammer down man..just mat the skinny pedal man. It'll be alright...no..lol...these guys are all right in their advice.

I wouldn't air down much more than 35 psi...just enough to get a little squish, you never know when you'll be able to air up. If you know you can air up then by all means drop it down to around 10-15. Just be very careful with the throttle, I'd bring a snatch strap to just in case. That way you can find somebody to pull you out. But you should be fine, plan ahead on turns and stuff because as said, those mud terrains are born to dig.
 
#5 ·
i go to pismo all the time,you have to drive down the beach to get to where you want to camp.
once you get there you turn away from the water and enter the dry sand.

i have 35's on my truck,i air them down to 15 and the toy box also.
im 22,000 gross combined,and drive through the dry sand with my trailer
anywhere i damm well please,have no problems at all

trick is air down everything,truck and trailer
 
#7 ·
There are lots of places to air back up down there. But really it's not that big of a deal running lower than normal pressure because the speed limits are 35 or so in the populated areas. So you won't build up a lot of heat in them anyway.

Like the other guys said, you want a bulge in the tire so it will float over the sand instead of digging into it. Was all around with my Bronco, 35x12.5 mud terrains, and had no issue at basically normal air.
 
#9 ·
i disagre.
i have seen plenty of guys who will only take their tires down to 30,
saying that is good enoughf.
those are also the guys,who struggle,and dig alot.

i saw a guy with 30spi,strugeling,and 1/2 buried.i told him to take the air
down alot more.
aww bs he says,i know wtf im doing,pound sand!!!
about an hour later he comes and askes for a tow.i urgeD him to air down alot more,and he was able to drive out on his own power,NP

i mean they gotta look damm near flat
 
#10 ·
Hes probably going to corolla, nc. Sometimes the sand can be hard and then sometimes it can be real soft. Hope you have a trans temp guage....i took my dually out a month ago and it was getting a bit warm. As far as tire pressures, just remember what you take out you must put back in......wouldnt go real low because you have to drive on the street a ways to get air. I would do 25lbs....that should help plenty good.
 
#13 ·
I was down at hatteras about 3 weeks ago, it was incredibly soft, i didnt air down at all. All I had to do was give it a little more of the go-pedal than idle speed and I had no problems at all. My buddies who kept on trying to go fast kept on boggin down. IMO just do a little more than idle speed and its really not a problem at all. But bring a rope just in case.
 
#16 ·
At silver lake dunes in Michigan the park rangers have signs mandating a maximum of 15 psi in all tires that go on the dunes. always air down for sand, I take my nitto mud graps down to 8, and I cant even tell that they don't have air in them untill I hit the paved roads.
 
#17 ·
Seems like when sh*t starts getting to where you keep trying and trying to just ease across the sand.... and ease across the sand over and over and it just doesn't want to go you could just back up and slowly get rolling faster and faster until you've got some momentum and then just unload 500+ hp to a set of mt's and let the trans shift on out to OD real quick and see how well the sand wants to F with you when you're running tire speed of around 120 to 130 or so.

All this talk of pussing your way along the sand is making me want to puke. Aim that bitch, pull the trigger and rock the F out. If you don't have enough hp to pull the tires at 100+mph then puss your way along the beach...

People put the most hp they can find into their sand toys for a reason. Hp can give you wings in the sand. But you've got to have the power, and the tire. Not enough of both and you'll just screw yourself. And when that happens. STOP!

I think the biggest issue with sand is the morons that just keep burying a damned truck after it stops. It's easy to yank a truck out if you just don't bury it like an idiot.
 
#23 ·
There is no arguing you post in terms of performance oriented driving in the sand. The question I would raise is, how long do you think you could maintain that type of behavior at the location the OP is discussing?

Have you been to OBX? If you have, you already know the answer. If you haven't, I'll be the first to tell you within 20 minutes you'd be arrested and truck impounded. :poke:
 
#18 ·
I go to the beach allmost every weekend I never touch my tires but if I stop I usually spin alot at take off
 
#19 ·
My dad's stock 4x4 4runner makes it all over OBX and Hatteras... I know it's not really an apples to apples, but you should be fine... It's like Charles said... HP and momentum go a long way...

You could just punch it until you get on the hard stuff. I never realized my truck would do decent in the sand, but it's never had much of a problem...
 
#21 ·
That video is awesome!!

I always ASSumed my pile would never make it though the little bit of sand we have around here, so I didn't try. Probably going to keep it that way, since I've got way more tire than engine...
 
#24 ·
Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to carova which is near corolla and I was told that theres a place to air up right when you get off the beach. I'm hoping to have my onboard air hooked up by then too. I think I will try airing down to 20-25 psi and see how that works. I can always let more out. I always have a strap with me too.
 
#27 ·
I'm not saying that, it's like anything else, there's a time and place. Charles' post was way over the top in regards to behavior at OBX. I'm not trying to be a buzz kill. There's alot of people running around on the beach, you'll see when you get there.
 
#30 ·
What they said!

Air down a good bit. I usually go to down around 20 or so.
Last trip to VA beach when they last had that race we all parked on the beach. Very few drove out on their own.
My buddy had my OBS 95 cc lb and the 28 ft enclosed grosing aorund 18-20,000 fully loaded. Aired down all tires, truck and trailer to around 15 and drove right by all the smart%%% people trying to "power through" the loose stuff. Eased right on out no problem. Only thing I would def do other than that is USE LOW RANGE IF YA GOT IT!
Nothing wrong with using it. Just dont go hammering on it hard and dig yourself in. High range is especially hard on the tranny towing in soft sand. Keep it in a gear low enough so its not straining to keep you moving. You'll be fine. I'd air down to around 25 or so , and roll on.
 
#33 ·
I was only offering the other option to sand travel. At the end of the day, when sh*t actually gets ugly, he with the most hp/tire/tirespeed is the one who's going to come out the other side, and no amount of pedal modulation, air pressure or tampons will get you through otherwise.

As for 90% of the terrain people are going to be driving on just "to get on through" what these guys are saying is 100% the way to handle it.

I just wanted to point out that with enough power you will float on the sh*t, and you can pretty much do whatever you want. Although it was pointed out that others might not enjoy watching you dishonor the sand like that, and will take you to jail if you're in the tampax capitol of the earth when you happen to unload copious amounts of power and send a few tandem loads of sand skyward.
 
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