FJ in sand

jayfrem · 03-15-09, 01:34 PM

Has anyone taken the FJ out on sand dunes ( desert style ) sand ?
Wondering how it would perform here in Saudi where the new job took me. Lots of land cruisers around here as Toyota has the biggest market share here. Boy they do hold up their prices even with the downturn of the economy. You have to wait 2-3 weeks at the dealership for an FJ.

Jay

knoll0351 · 03-15-09, 02:18 PM

I only took mine once and it did perform very well. However I also have a Sami and choose to wheel it in the sand instead. Sand gets into everything!!! When I rebuilt the trany in the Sami it even had sand all up in it! So yes it does well, not sure I'd want to take a chance on damaging it though

Good luck in Saudi man!

BigyellowFJ · 03-15-09, 11:54 PM

We have had ours out in the sand too. It does well but its a heavy vehicle, We had to air down to about 8 psi the day we were out as we were very heavy with equipment, As others have said, sand gets in everything and we are still finding it 6 months later !

lgrt · 03-16-09, 11:47 AM

head over to You Tube and search FJ Cruiser in sand dunes... you'll find lots of posting showing the FJC in action in the sand and a lot of them are posted from folks in your area.

joebob2586 · 03-16-09, 12:24 PM

I take mine out to ocatillo wells all the time it handles awesome

jayfrem · 03-16-09, 01:01 PM

Does sand really damages the drivetrain parts? I spent much more time in rocks/snow in Lebanon. Sand is much less stressful in terms of mechanical stress.

knoll0351 · 03-16-09, 01:51 PM

??? I'm going to say even more stressfull than most. As in the snow you can go from no traction to full traction and stress a lot of parts. Also it does get into everything which will also wear down internal components. I'm going to say that sand has been harder on my Sami than anything else I've driven it in... Just my .02

joebob2586 · 03-16-09, 07:06 PM

I agree sand is harder on everything although so is mud...offroading isnt a cheep sport either way you look at it...you have to be prepaired for things to break, it happens...the FJ is great in the sand, but after everytime i wheel it i pressure wash it, clean the engine and steam the under carrage...so Im trying to keep the FJ new...im in the process of starting a build of a baja truck so that can be my sand rig...will be a long build but once its done the FJ will be strictly a trail truck.

BigyellowFJ · 03-16-09, 11:23 PM

I feel the sand is about as tough as you can get on a vehicle. Sure, rocks can have a devestating effect if you don't pick your line well, but sand causes constant stress and strain. Just think what its like to run or walk thru sand compared to other terrains. The softer the sand the harder it can be to move thru it. The key to sand is speed ( but not too much) and floatation. Loose either speed or floatation and your sunk. If there is hard pack, stay on it. Another example of sand related damage is last year a few of us went to Pismo and we followed a guy who took us into an area where we hit a large sand burm at 15 mph in a turn. We both ended up with the dreaded inner fender buldge. But with any 4WD, some days your lucky and some not. That day 2 FJs, 2 Jeeps and and Chevy pickup limped home with some wounds and 1 CJ got away free of damage. Sand looks easly just before it eats your lunch