Sand driving tips? (1 Viewer)

[Longbow727]

Taking the GX and family to Martha's Vineyard in 2 weeks and looking forward to some sand driving! First time the GX will be in sand so making sure I have my plan straight. Air down to 15 psi, traction control off, center diff locked, 4hi, coast to stop. I have a set of traction boards just in case...

Anything else I need to think about? Anybody else on here going to be there!?

 

[VSPro9]

Taking the GX and family to Martha's Vineyard in 2 weeks and looking forward to some sand driving! First time the GX will be in sand so making sure I have my plan straight. Air down to 15 psi, traction control off, center diff locked, 4hi, coast to stop. I have a set of traction boards just in case...

Anything else I need to think about? Anybody else on here going to be there!?

I have been up in silver lake dunes all summer and you pretty much got it covered, just a few notes:

1. 15 psi seems to be the minimum. i run 11psi on the sand and its a huge difference between 15 and 11! i got a knockoff ARB style tire deflator on amazon and it works great.
2. airing back up - make sure you know where you can air back up, or get a good air pump.
3. recovery gear - boards are fine depending on how you get stuck. ive gotten high centered on a dune and nothing short of a tug from another truck would get me out. grab some soft shackles, a couple d-rings and a snatch strap. less than 200 for all the gear on amazon. bring a long handled shovel at least. i also bring a garden hoe.
4. im not sure how flat it is, but always try to go vertical up hills, its very dangerous to drive across them. same with sharp turns, you want to plan for larger, wider turns.
5. if possible, hose down the undercarriage after. sand gets everywhere and you'll hear squeaks for weeks!

 

[bhsdriller]

think/look ahead and plan where you're going to stop. That's mainly when you'll get stuck when you're trying to get going again

 

[WarDamnEagle]

think/look ahead and plan where you're going to stop. That's mainly when you'll get stuck when you're trying to get going again

That's the hardest part to get used to in deep sand. If you hit the brakes hard instead of slowly coasting to a stop you dig in....and sometimes can't get back out.

 

[Rednexus]

I have the knockoff ARB deflator too and can vouch for it - it's probably the best $32 you can spend on off-road gear: Amazon product ASIN B078T18YMC
I found my GX did pretty darn well in Utah sand at 16 psi, but that isn't exactly dunes. For airing-up I used a 20V Harbor Freight lithium ion compressor ($25 plus $60 for a battery) and had no problem inflating all 4 tires back up to 32 in around 15 minutes total.

 

[VSPro9]

I have the knockoff ARB deflator too and can vouch for it - it's probably the best $32 you can spend on off-road gear: Amazon product ASIN B078T18YMC
I found my GX did pretty darn well in Utah sand at 16 psi, but that isn't exactly dunes. For airing-up I used a 20V Harbor Freight lithium ion compressor ($25 plus $60 for a battery) and had no problem inflating all 4 tires back up to 32 in around 15 minutes total.

Yep that’s the one. Very nice little piece of equipment