Beach Driving - low or High??

[snail]

OK.......Just got back from a bit of beach and dune driving north of Perth at a place called Wedge Island and Grey Island.

One KJ Diesel Auto ( mine ) one TJ and one Prado Diesel Manual. Needless to say we had a ball partly because we got lost on the beach north of Grey and nearly got bogged at several weedy stages - no pics just yet!.

Got some dune driving in and both the KJ and Pado came unstuck in very soft dune sand on the eastern side of one particular dune.It was so soft you would sink down to your shins just walking it!!

This all got me thinking about low and high ranges for sand driving - on the hard beach sand it doesnt really matter - you could drive along in rear only and not notice. It really got interesting in the boggy weed patches near the water and dune stuff.

What is better - high or low??

For mine I found high much better for the torque of the diesel and auto....however on really boggy beach sand the motor would work really hard and get hot - nothing a short break wouldnt fix

Your Thoughts??

[glend]

My personal experience in the Simpson Desert dunes is that 2nd High is the go. The CRD has heaps of torque for the situation. Just try to remember to disable ESP when climbing dunes. Momentum is everything in sand driving, especially in climbing dunes, and low range will just stop you dead and dig you in. I saw people trying to climb Big Red in Low Range and reving the heck out of their vehicles and not getting anywhere.

[SeaComms]

Yep, same for me. Second high, the softer the sand the lower the tyre pressure, keep the revs and the speed up and def turn off the ESP.

[BeagleCamper]

For me I did the Simpson in low range (i've an auto)- at 30-50 km/h auto will be in low 4th & 5th & lock up the torque converter. Made for smoother driving as direct engagement between motor and drivetrain & kept the motor ticking along at max torque. I found in high second, the slippage in the trans saw the revs go up and down all the time (I was concerned about overheating trans as I don't have an extra cooler fitted)and occasionally in sudden deep sand the motor would 'die' if the revs were too low (<1200) hitting deeper stuff- whereas in low 4th/5th, always sat at 1500-1900rpm so always buckets of torque and would pull through everything. Of course if higher than 45km/h was needed, eg. run up to Big Red, then high range is the only option.

[Rossow]

OK so when we are talking High, are we saying 4 Partime? or 4 Fulltime?
i'm confused.
I was assuming 4 Fulltime was like All-wheel drive (for slippery road surfaces), and 4 Partime was for very loose surfaces (like sand and mud)

Rossow.

[glend]

I was talking about using 2nd gear (or D2) in high range (4wheel drive part-time), and tyre pressures down to 18psi (to start with) most of the time is loose sand and mud. I use Low range mainly for crawling up or down steep bits and don't like it for sand or mud because it breaks the tyres loose too easily when you want bite.

[whollsee]

AJOR should compile info, including member contributions, on 4WD driving conditions ie surface/crossings, gear selection for most common/various vehicle systems, tyre pressures, basic instructions and publish a laminated quick reference card [A5] for members to purchase and keep in the glove box. Back of card could be recovery techniques and safety considerations, uhf radio protocols... or whatever...nice bit of branding too...just a thought.