Beach driving

Hey all, hows it going? Heading over to straddie this weekend for a bit of camping and im planning on taking the nav for a run on the beach. Being new to 4wding, im after some tips/advice for driving on the soft stuff, as this will be my first go. Look forward to your help.

Cheers, Ant.

Let your tyres down to around 20psi.

Don't get stuck below the high tide mark

Lol, hoping not to get stuck anywhere.

recovery gear is a MUST!

at lease take a shovel, (sand tracks/maxtrax if you have them), a snatch strap (with shackles), a UHF could end up very handy, air compressor for your tyres and thats all i can think off the top of my head.

tips? dont drive too fast, watch out for solid lumps of sea weed on the beach (lumpy and not fun to hit at speed), try keep in the tracks made by others as its pre-compressed sand, dont do tight turns on the sand, and don't drive through the water.

You can get by with very basic gear, A little fold up shovel is handy for digging away sand from your tyres, but I have found that if it is soft enough to get stuck in, it is soft enough to scoop out with your hands if you have to. I also like to carry a snatch strap in case someone coming to help you hasn't got one. They are cheap enough to buy at around $80 for a good one, you can even borrow mine if you need to.

18 to 20psi is good, this will make a huge amount of difference to how capable your car is. You don't need a compressor, just pump them back up at the first servo you come across when you get back on the hard stuff.

Momentum is your friend, you don't need to hit a soft patch at 100km/h, but when you do see one coming, be in the right gear and accelerate through it. High range is good enough for most stuff you will do, if you are particularly worries you could try low range 2nd or 3rd gear but I doubt you will need to. Once on the hard sand below the high tide mark you can even chuck it back into 2wd, it will cruise along there no problems at all. Just chuck it back into 4wd when you want to drive back onto the soft stuff.

Your Navara will cope no problems at all, just enjoy it mate!

like Matt76 said, Momentum is definitely the order of the day. from the sand driving i've done you shouldn't have too many dramas in the Nav. it can start to feel boggy but a little extra power should fix that. on a beach the temptation is to drive in the dry sand away from the water to stay out of the salt water, the thing is there is as much salt in the dry sand as there is in the wet stuff and the wet stuff is much safer to drive in, just not the water. I like to keep my tyres at road pressures until i need to bag them out, kinda gives you a lifeline.

oh and dont use your brakes when coming to a complete stop, it creates little mounds in front of your tyres that make it harder to get going again. roll to a stop where you can.

see me here in the sand at the Murray Mouth, even cutting across the tracks left by others the nav still cruises over effortlessly. YouTube - D22 Navara at the Murray Mouth South Australia

yep pretty much everyone said to down the tyres which is pretty important but dont forget u need an air compressor to pump them back up unless theres a servo near by ;-)

p.s its recommended to down the tyres around 10-15psi

x5 for momentum and tyre pressures. I find if it starts to bog when taking off reverse a little and get ur momentum up on the sand uv already compacted instead of booting it and digging in, this is where coasting to a stop come in like Will said. Most of all don't stress, the nav will piss it in!

I let my Coopers down to 14psi and have never gotten stuck on Stockton. Tyre has never looked at running off the rim.

Dave.

Hey Ant,

We do lots of beach driving over here, in fact that's the only 4 wheelin' I do.

I run tyre pressures between 18 and 15psi. This should be soft enough to keep the beads on and roll through most soft sand, also good pressure for general 4WDing as it does less damage to tracks.

If for some reason, you do get bogged, don't sit there spinning the tyres. Spinning tyres are bogging you worse. Instead, drop your tyres to 12 psi and try reverse SLOWLY then 1st SLOWLY back and forth and "rock" the vehicle forward and backward. The for and aft rolling presses the sand down and compacts it. Go a little further each way as you go but don't spin the wheels. Once you have a compacted patch of about 3 or 4 feet long, use the run up, accelerate smoothly and keep going using the momentum the other guys are talking about and you should drive out.

With tyres down as low as 12 psi, no hard cornering or high speeds, stay below 40kph and pump them up when you can as you can overheat the sidewalls causing tyre failure not to mention rolling them off the bead.

Don't drive too fast and avoid harsh turns as many a 4WD has ended up on it's lid by fanging along and "snaking".

Make sure you are in a gear with plenty of torque so if you hit a soft spot you wont have to snatch a lower gear. As soon as the clutch goes in, the car stops.

When driving down dunes, don't use the brakes but keep the tyres turning in a low gear and accelerate if need be. No fun when the rear end overtakes the front end down a hill

If you are driving up a hill and you can't get up, don't turn around to come back down, reverse down again and try again. It sounds obvious, but I see numnuts do this every weekend at Lano and they usually end up in a roll over.

Make sure you have a pressure gauge and a set of Straun tyre deflators (worth their weight in gold), a snatch strap, quality bow shackles, and a compressor (even a relative cheapie) will do the job. I started with a $79 Auto shop cheapie and it did the job for a few years (however slow and painful). Now have a Bush Ranger which is awesome!

Have fun! Sand driving can be challenging and is easier if you follow someone elses previously compacted tracks.

Get into it!

DJ

Thanks for all the advice everyone, great to see so many willing to share.
Yeah went to the 4wd expo here in brisvegas last weekend and got my self a compressor, snatch strap bow shackles. Really looking forward to it, should be a good weekend. Thanks again everyone.

great thread ... and great advice!!
Have fun and stay safe!!

Ok some more advice. I know some of the entry/exits to the beach at straddie are pretty soft and carved up. Best way to tackle these? Obviously low range would be the go here, but is low 2 ok or better off in low 3?

getting onto the beach is usually downhill, and even in pretty soft sand your car will walk down with ease. First gear high range and you will have no trouble at all.

when try to get off the beach you will need a bit of momentum, try and drive as straight as you can without having to turn in the soft stuff, sometimes it's a bit hard if the tide is high though. If you are a bit unsure low range third but usually high range second with a little bit of speed is what I would normally use.

If you go into it in the wrong gear and you look like getting stuck, don't stress, just reverse it up and have another go.

Just remember to POOOOOWEEERRRRRR!!!!!!!

They sto real quick on sand, so throw caution to the wind and nail it!
Plenty fuel, you'll use shitloads.
Tyres down below 15psi, the difference from 20 down to 15 is incredible

some great advice for you there the only thing I would add is to keep your revs up to just below boost that way if you need power you will have it on tap. I have seen many newbies get stuck running to high a gear and to low revs, once the revs start to drop off its usually a bit of a struggle to get them back. Dont forget its all about revs and momentum if you get them just right you will be amazed what your Navara will do. Oh and have fun to.

Just remember it dont hurt to stop before entering or exiting cutting just to have a look see if some one could be stuck or blocking tracks . It give you a chance to deside what track to use also. Take time ! Have fun !

Not long got home from Straddie, and had an absolutely awesome time!! Did a bit of driving along Main and Flinders beaches as well as keyholes and tripod track and I am very happy with how the Nav performed. Did it all with ease (not that any of it was hard) and didnt miss a bit. Had a great weekend.

Nice job mate. Needs pics!