80 in the sand!

[e9999]

well, back from Surf n Turf.
For those of you who (still) don't know, this is an event held on the beach near Pismo in Central California, in the middle of a gigantic sand dunes area. We are talking very large (some 100 ft +) sand dunes, some mild, some very very steep.
I had never driven the 80 in serious sand and was expecting to get stuck all the time.
Well, to my surprise, after airing street Michelin LTX tires down to 15 psi, the truck went anywhere I pointed it. Of course, I limited myself to reasonable stuff, not vertical slopes, but altogether, I was amazed. Surprisingly, I didn't even need to hold much speed usually, the truck just went on. I even managed to climb up some ledges without any trouble. Just plain very impressive.
And all this with only the CDL on, not the end lockers. Not sure whether that was even necessary but had it on the whole time anyway. Figured it could only help. My guess is that I could probably have kept the other lockers on too, but there was no need.

Well, wow!

E

so, surprisingly, soft loose sand is not as ugly for a good truck as (I was) expecting. Good news! Basically, now seems like crossing the Sahara may not be out of the question, well, at least sand wise. Maybe these stories of these guys having to dig all the time were from old Land Rover with skinny tires time?

 

[concretejungle]

Cool. Sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to seeing all the pics you took and are about to post!

 

[e9999]

Cool. Sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to seeing all the pics you took and are about to post! %$#@^

errr... we forgot the camera...

E

Hmmm.... did you guys check this thread cuz you thought I had been getting stuck in the sand patch in my yard...? sheesh....

 

[RavenTai]

I was wondering how low the LTX's could go, 15 PSI is pretty low


glad to hear the 80 does well in sand, my chevy could not handle the sugar sand in FL

 

[cary]

I went to pismo once, I won't go back!!!!!

Last year after riding the Sulvang Century, my buddy and I (while our wives are screwing around in Santa Barbara) decide to go out to Pismo in my 91 Pathfinder. I air down to about 18 psi and go heading up the first dune, nice and easy climb in second gear (5 speed manual) 4-low. I forgot one little thing from when I used to ride dunes on my motorcycle. The wind that makes that nice rolling dune on the climb, causes a near vertical drop on the backside. We crest what appears to a rolling top, when the right front tire all of a sudden drops out. I wake up and realize what is happing, and do the only thing I can, crank the wheel to right and punch the gas.

As we are going down the face of the dune (About 50 feet) I notice by buddy who is pretty much fearless looks like he is about to crap his pants. I thought I would hit the front on the transition on the bottom, but suprisingly, the combination of nearly no front overhang and keeping it in the gas kept it from happining. We drove around some more but left after a half hour or so.

My thought crusing around the dunes after the initial oh crap:

1) These people are nuts. You never know who is going to come flying over a dune.

2) For many of the dunes, you have to get a run at them, and then you don't know what is over the other side.

3) This violates all the rules of 4 wheeling. Mainly, go slow to not break things and always check the section before you drive it.

Cary

 

[reffug]

errr... we forgot the camera

E

Hmmm.... did you guys check this thread cuz you thought I had been getting stuck in the sand patch in my yard...? sheesh....

Figures you

Why didn't you air down the tires in the yard.................

 

[e9999]

I was wondering how low the LTX's could go, 15 PSI is pretty low


glad to hear the 80 does well in sand, my chevy could not handle the sugar sand in FL

surprisingly, at 15, they did not look really flat, bowing out some of course, but not flat at all. The walls on even these light duty tires are probably much stronger than we imagine.

Don't know anything about sand, but that looked like normal California sand. Not talcum powder but not very rough either. Maybe it's rougher than some and holds better together, not sure.

E

 

[Chris_Geiger]

errr... we forgot the camera...

I love the sand! I run my BFG's at 9 psi!


Here are some photos from this weekends Surf N Turf event:

More photos Here:
http://www.marlincrawler.com/events/2004_surfandturf/index.htm

 

[e9999]

I went to pismo once, I won't go back!!!!!

Last year after riding the Sulvang Century, my buddy and I (while our wives are screwing around in Santa Barbara) decide to go out to Pismo in my 91 Pathfinder. I air down to about 18 psi and go heading up the first dune, nice and easy climb in second gear (5 speed manual) 4-low. I forgot one little thing from when I used to ride dunes on my motorcycle. The wind that makes that nice rolling dune on the climb, causes a near vertical drop on the backside. We crest what appears to a rolling top, when the right front tire all of a sudden drops out. I wake up and realize what is happing, and do the only thing I can, crank the wheel to right and punch the gas.

As we are going down the face of the dune (About 50 feet) I notice by buddy who is pretty much fearless looks like he is about to crap his pants. I thought I would hit the front on the transition on the bottom, but suprisingly, the combination of nearly no front overhang and keeping it in the gas kept it from happining. We drove around some more but left after a half hour or so.

My thought crusing around the dunes after the initial oh crap:

1) These people are nuts. You never know who is going to come flying over a dune.

2) For many of the dunes, you have to get a run at them, and then you don't know what is over the other side.

3) This violates all the rules of 4 wheeling. Mainly, go slow to not break things and always check the section before you drive it.

Cary

yes, that's right, some (many?) have one face much steeper than the other.
Trick, I guess, is to go as slow as will allow you to get up there. If you take a flying run at it, you need to stop at the top. Of course, if it's a sheer drop, then you got to go back down in reverse (interesting!) But that's what I was impressed with, really, that the 80 did not really need much of a running start. I was able to "crawl" sort of up most dunes. AWD plus aired down tires and CDL, I guess. And I think street tires are actually better than mud tires for this.

If it can make you feel better, during the Poker Run where we had to follow folks, my wife couldn't handle it and had to sit in the back. Was not that wild a run, even. But these dunes can be impressive.

And yes, there are a bunch of yahoos out there on ATV and 2WDs zooming around. Didn't like that part much.

E

 

[NorCalDoug]

My wife was driving on the dunes during the poker run. We lost track of where the guys in front of us went. Wife asks, "which way?", I say "straight ahead..." Not realizing that we're at the top of a dune...with a shear drop off on the other side.

We drop





















Daughters in the back are screaming...




















Whoosh...we hit sand again...and cruise right down the bowl and up the other side. When we got to the top and turned around, we saw that we were airborn for six to 8 feet -- you could see our tracks at the top, then virgin-untouched-sand, then our tracks again. It was a hell of a rush...but we didn't do that again.

I need to get a pic of the tracks and post them.

Agree about the yahoos zipping around, they're not always being safe -- but that's why they have the flags on their vehicles and why we need to keep an eye out for them. And anytime you fly up a dune, you need to make sure someone's at the top to let you know that it's clear or to keep it clear. Common sense, really...

 

[fzj80kidpen]

The deal with sand

I have had the displeasure of being stuck in sand on the beach with a rising tide. Here is what I learned from a local who got me out.
Larger sand particles (little shells) are bad.
Steep beach is bad.
Heavy tread is bad.
You want bald tires (not shovels), fine sand on a flat beach. Then have fun.
Dunes now that another story

 

[FirstToy]

That's crazy Doug, I wish I saw that! Yup some of those drops have you puckering, especially the night run!

Cary, I think 15-18psi is kinda high. I ran 10 psi all weekend and that was perfect. Good traction and I never got stuck.

 

[MoJ]

Chris -

What was the 4-runner in the last pic doing? Looks like a complete drop off behind him.

 

[Big_Moose]

Fun times for the third year in a row at Surf & Turf! Didn't take too many pictures with all the fun, stuffing my face at the NorCal Buffet, Hanging with SLO guys, drinking Shiner, and jumping dunes!

Here are a couple of poser pictures [Alvaro has some pics of me jumping the 80]

 

[orangefj45]

Chris -

What was the 4-runner in the last pic doing? Looks like a complete drop off behind him.

that pic was taken at the creek crossing going out to the beach. looks a lot worse than it is.

 

[yooper]

Chris -

What was the 4-runner in the last pic doing? Looks like a complete drop off behind him.

There are two 4runners in that pic! Lookit the tires and the windshield.

 

[Big_Moose]

Here are a couple of "Turf" pictures through Big Falls

 

[e9999]

what the ????

you guys got my 80 tech thread moved.... grrr....

Yo, mod, eh! this was a tech thread about 80s and sand-running capability...

really wanted to hear about 80s and sand stuff!

sheesh.....

E

 

[Biff]

Chris -

What was the 4-runner in the last pic doing? Looks like a complete drop off behind him.

Actually thats just a little stream that has a 4' sand bank. We parked our rigs there to take poser pics. This one is mine.

 

[Brentbba]

Ok, how do you link multiple pics on one response???????