Wheeling in sand..

Everything stated so far is good, I do alot of wheeling in So Cal. The best tire for running on sand is a bald or smooth one. But since you can't get there on bald tires, the less aggressive the better. Oh the carpet trick is excellent.

The first time I went on the dunes I had a brand new set of Goodyear Wranglers MT/Rs, the same style they put on Hummers. I had to stop on an incline, I was following a line of vehicles over to the sugar bowl and a quad got stuck. When I tried to go I just dug in to the axles. I was lucky to be on a hill I just put it in reverse and backed down. I was alone that trip, and it scared my enough that I didn't go down into the bowl that time.

Jay

 

oops brain fart - was thinking of the truck (street psi is 35)

I think the lowest I've gone to was 12-13 in a k5 blazer w/ 35" mud terrains.

Last year I pulled an s10 blazer out at oregon inlet NC. it was running stock tires, full pressure, no lift and with 5 obese people in it. Once unstuck they asked what they should do now...I said get a different truck. They weren't nearly as amused as i was.

 

wanna race ? :twisted:

 

Glamis, circa 1976
running the F4 with my 15" wide cross grooved Delta floats @ 10 psi
same tires I still run today with the V6
note the Bantam in front of Jeep
drove Jeep to Glamis with Bantam in tow, hauling sand tires and camp gear
other than the really steep, soft, high horsepower dunes, you could pretty much go where you want to

 

Word to the wise- some river sand looks dry on top but is actually bottomless (pudding consistency) when the crust is broken. I saw a Toyota truck that had sunk to it's wipers after breaking thru, in some river sand at the Red river north of Dallas Fort Worth area. Probably cost him a ton to get that pulled.

 

I rember one time a oregon inlet right beside the bridge, a new blazer buried up to the windshield. The water was rushing over the roof. They drove out during low tide and fell asleep! Lucky it was just the truck they lost. Gotta watch those tides!

 

i live in arizona and have never aired tires down except for rawk crawling. in the sand out here (and there is plenty in my house too), you need lightness and lockers. the heavier you are, the more you sink in the sand. lockers/whatever traction control you have will keep all 4's pulling. wide tires are a major plus in the sand. the more sand you can keep under your tires, the longer you can stay on top of it right? your jeep should stay right up on top without trouble even if you stop assuming you have descent tires and lockers. i have a friend out here with an old dodge powerwagon. 400/727 on 35's and front and rear lockers. you cant stop that damn truck. if its in the way, he goes over it, through it, under it but not around it. tires and lockers-and the only time he spins is when he wants too.
your jeep being lighter, you could do the 4x4 thing on sand without lockers, but i would deffinately get atleast a loc-rite in the rear. something...and bring a long tow strap incase you find an unfriendly sand bank (well, find the BOTTOM of said sand bank..) =)

 

I would agree - I live in New Mexico, lots of beach, just no ocean. I'm running BFG All Terrains 33x12.5x15's on 8" rims and the performance in sand between 30psi and 16psi is HUGE ! Going up a hill with 30psi all I did was dig in, with 16 it will chug along and pull me through. I could probably do even better with 10 psi, but I need to drive to/from the area and do not have ability to air back up yet -

 

maybe i will have to try to let the air out some and see what happens..=)
we have just never done it..not saying it doesnt help at all.
can anyone say "bead locks?"

 

dad says that before the gov't closed the dunes here (early '70's): dual wheels were hot (650x15 inside and 600x15 outside), goodyear 'terra' tires (31.50x15.00x15) worked good, 389 poncho w/tripower was iffy(worked better ith dual quads), 425 olds was better. might have a pic of dad's flattie with the olds around somewhere...........