Wheeling in sand..

I'm pretty limited in my knowledge of what my '53 A1 is capable of in terms of wheeling. What do you think I could expect with 5:38 gears, 31" BFGMT's and a Buick 231? Think it would go, or just dig a hole? Whats more important in sand, torque or wheel speed? I have gobs of torque, but not much speed.

I'm just trying to find some places close to home to play around at. The Arkansas River cuts right through town and I thought I might see what kind of trouble I could get into there.

Dondo

 

Had mine out on Ohio River beach sand not to long ago and she did fine with tires smaller than yours and without deflating and it did fine. Biggers tires and deflating you should do even better.

 

You definitely want to air down if you need to go up anything. You'll have plenty of power with the 231.

 

Even though you have low gears and aggressive tires your Jeep is still relatively light weight. Tire pressure is key - I'd air down to 18-20 first and try it. Shouldn't have to go much lower than that. Take a shovel just in case

Oh, and don't try to drag race someone in 4lo. You'll go straight down.

 

Heck in the grand we don't even air down, on the NC beach sand you really don't have much problem with digging unless you are in 2wd and come to a stop. I treat soft sand like snow in that if you keep up your momentum you should be fine. I don't drive over dune very often though so I guess I can't say much.

 

Well, it is fairly corse sand where I'm wanting to go. Not too much of the really fine blowsand stuff in the other half of the county. I'm thinking that I should probably find some to go with me, and bring a shovel for them too.. Two people diggin' is better then one people diggin'. Not to mention, might be nice to have help pulling me out if something breaks.

Would narrower tires do better then wide mud terrains? I have a set of almost brand new BFG AT's that are quite a bit smaller then my MT's.

 

I go on the nags head beach a lot. I air down to about 15 pounds. I use regular street tires. The mud and snow tires dig in more and can get you stuck quick. The other post are right,, stay moving stay on top of the sand and keep your speed up. Some of the sand there is deep at the on ramps so I always get a running start. the sand is a little more firm near the water but you can get stuck just as quick. I have found the wider the tire the better since you are trying to skim over not plow through. But then again I have seen every type of vehicle there is stuck. The ones that seem to do the best are the jeeps and toyotas for some reason,,,, guess it is the light weight. But it is a h-ll of a lot of fun, and down here the fish are at the point and thats a pretty long drive on the sand. Good luck and give it a shot you will like it.

 

I got to say wider is better. I was behind a late 5 one time on 44s and rockwells in Corova section of OBX the guy could stop in the soft stuff while I in my stock ZJ nearly was stuck because he decided to stop and look at the view and I was following in his tracks.

 

R) oh so you want me to go so I can help shovel?
Something else that comes into play here is all the trees. So, we can't maintain a high speed everywhere.

 

Well here on the beach it is the other vehicles. Some stopped some stuck, so we can't always maintain speed either. Just start back out kinda slow as to not dig yourself in. the sand is so deep you have to follow in someone elses tracks. The jeep still wants to go straight even with the wheel turned. It just takes some wheeling time to get it right.

 

I have fairly narrow MT's and had no issues in our So-Cal dunes. I aired down to @ 8lbs.

 

whats even more fun is when those tracks you are following suddenly lead up into the dunes where you don't want to go. Then the ride gets hairy for a minute or two till you find some new tracks to follow.

 

Well, umm, I'll help you dig out if you get into trouble too...

 

Go to a carpet store and ask for some old carpet scraps. Cut these into strips, about 3~4 foot long, and throw into the back of the Jeep. You get stuck, just roll 'em out, tuck under the tires and drive away.

 

Wide=Good. The purpose of airing down is to gain surface area. Think of the Jeep as floating over the sand rather than cutting through it (like pizza cutter tires would).