100 in the sand dunes... problems! (80 comparison)

[Darkhorse]

As has already been mentioned, its the WEIGHT factor which gets the 100 boged down...from the physics point of view...
The Force (= mass*acceleration)..has two components, one Vertical Fv and the other horizontal into the Dune...Fh.
The greater the mass of the vehicle , the greater the horizontal force (Fh) digging into the Dune...So actually what you need to do is drive the heavier vehicle with slower acceleration in order to have the same force.
Next time try and drive the 100 at a lower rate of acceleration up the Dune and see what happens...you may get the same effect as the 80 with higher acceleration....

 

[wngrog]

Back to the original topic. lcoking in 4H will give you the most momentum to climb dunes in the sand. .

Disagree. 4L and let that rev limiter do some work.

4H is for hard roads IMO.

 

[SamoL]

I'm just back from a desert trip and I disagree, that a LC100 sucks in the sand.
Mine performed well. In this expedition we had quite different cars:
- my LC100 with ~1" lift and 265/75R16 MT/R tires
- LC125 (the long Prado) with 265/??R17 (32") BFG A/T tires and stock height
- LC70 (short) with a huge lift and 32x11.5R15 BFG M/T tires
- Nissan Patrol on 265/75R16 BFG M/T and stock height

The best car in the dunes was Patrol, as it wasn't lifted and was short. LC125 broke rear diff and LC70 almost tipped over a couple of times. LC100 performed well. We had no trouble with tires and my next set will be 235/85R16 - probably the new Michelins A/T.

Why? All locales drive 7.5R16 (even the LC78 ambulance equipped for rescue missions in the dunes) or 235/85R16. Using larger tires disables you to climb on the high dues (LC70 had to use it's winch on couple of occasions, but the rest of the cars were able to drive up the hill). Wide tires increase rolling resistance in the dunes and eat away a lot of HP. M/T tires may not be the best choice in the dunes, but when driving over a lot of camel grass (small bushes) puncture resistance is also important (we had no punctures).
We were able to do over 40km of pure dune driving per day (after we rescued the front wheel driven LC125 to the solid ground).
In my opinion LC100 is as good as it gets if you need a large car. For only two people I would pick a shorter car.
And for driving in the sand: keep it as stock as possible. My rear bumper didn't do that good and will need some reinforcement.
I have no idea how TRAC would perform if it would be engaging all the time. I've used my rear locker only when stuck and with great caution.
When people break something in the dunes it usually has something to do with mods (mostly larger tires) or locked diffs. It's the driving technique and not large tires that will get you over the dunes . Local people can also do it in a Mazda pickup with only rear wheel drive (front was broken) and 205R16 rethreaded tires . Locals also say that the best thing in the dunes is a 50ccm "motorcycle", then comes the camel and then there are 4x4 vehicles. Well I would put ATVs somewhere in front of the 4x4 SUVs, but it is not far from the truth.

Regards
Samo

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

Great input Samo! Thanks!

 

[SALEH]

SamoL, could u please post some pictures

 

[SamoL]

Here are the pictures:
http://www.tojezakon.com/potovanja/Tunizija2006/Gallery/
For the sand pictures you can start here:
http://www.tojezakon.com/potovanja/Tunizija2006/Gallery/index_12.html

The elastic tow stripe (red) is worth of gold. A friend was able to pull me out twice, when I got my 100 stuck like a pro .

Regards
Samo

 

[SamoL]

 

[bulldog-yota]

As a side note, what engine did the Prado have?

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

Damn that looks like FUN!

 

[SamoL]

As a side note, what engine did the Prado have?

3.0 D4-D

170 horse power

 

[SamoL]

Damn that looks like FUN!

Yes it was. The best offroad trip I've ever had.

 

[ats4x4dotcom]

thats very firm sand there in those pics.

 

[SamoL]

Now it was firm, as it usually is in the winter and there was quite some rain lately. I was in Tunisia also in May when the sand is soft and nothing can help you to get a heavy car over the high dunes. If you want to make long offroad trips, winter is the time to go.
But conditions can change in a day. On the last day when the wind started to blow, the dunes got softer and visibility dropped. So we decided not to make the planned offroad route but to get to the piste earlier.

Regards
Samo

 

[e9999]

So Samo, I was commenting someplace that when I played in the dunes I was doing something like 5mpg (about 3x higher consumption). How did you deal with gas issues in Tunisia? big issue for sand driving in the Sahara or is there still enough gas around?

 

[SamoL]

We have filled the cars before entering the desert. Each car carried around 200 liters of diesel. My fuel consumption was at least double in the dunes.
Because of the new law you can't go to the south Tunisia without an official guide. And if you don't have a guide, all of the gas stations in the desert (and there are very few - one real gas station (that doesn't have unleaded fuel ) and two where you can get diesel from a bottle) are out of reach.

Regards
Samo

 

[wngrog]

Awesome picture!

 

[e9999]

looks just like Pismo...

 

[SamoL]

The thing is, I didn't have a video camera. My wife did a couple of video clips with the digital camera, but that's not it. The clips still need some editing (and also the pictures ).

Regards
Samo

 

[SamoL]

New video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7836891513584364954

Regards
Samo

 

[EL_3grab]

Great editing

Were you driving locked ??