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Taking the Explorer to the beach!

I wonder how that would work on the 20" rims upper teens with a little amount of rubber might not be the best idea.
 



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I wonder how that would work on the 20" rims upper teens with a little amount of rubber might not be the best idea.
Just read the specs again and they say Minimum Running Ground Clearance is 7.6". Therefore since the 20" has a 1/2" greater diameter than the 17", I'm assuming that it will have a clearance of 8.1".
BTW, the Owner's Guide does not recommend going off road with the 20" wheels. Probably due to a greater risk of wheel/rim damage.

Peter
 






I am sure that the owners manual says that for other reasons, like people who air down but aren't bright enough to air up before attempting to go highway speeds. These are after all explorers and the Firestone disaster is always in the background. If it is a 1/2 inch diameter would you need to half that for the just the bottom? I specifically avoided the 20", given a choice of a bit more clearance, or rolling over the sand and saving the tranny, I'll take the rolling.
 






Just read the specs again and they say Minimum Running Ground Clearance is 7.6". Therefore since the 20" has a 1/2" greater diameter than the 17", I'm assuming that it will have a clearance of 8.1".
BTW, the Owner's Guide does not recommend going off road with the 20" wheels. Probably due to a greater risk of wheel/rim damage.

Peter

20" wheels have lower profile tires, the ground clearance will be the same on 20" as it is on 17". Overall diameter of the wheel + tire doesn't change (significantly).
 






20" wheels have lower profile tires, the ground clearance will be the same on 20" as it is on 17". Overall diameter of the wheel + tire doesn't change (significantly).
Overall diameter of a 20" wheel is 30.04" while a 17 is 29.54". A difference of 1/2".
I use both sizes.

Peter
 






Taking my 4wd explorer to the beach-need some help!

Hi all. The wife and I are on vacation and we're going down to Carolina beach next week. While there, we want to take our 2011 ford explorer xlt 4wd (with towing package) on the beach and I'm looking for some tips.

I've seen some videos of other people with explorers on the beach and it seems like it handled it just fine. The beach we're going to is extremely soft at the start but it firms up a bit after that. I've been told just to be aggressive when I first get on the sand because that's where you're most likely to get stuck.

Once we get a bit out on the beach, we'll be stopping the car and staying for a few hours. Besides the obvious of not staying too close to the waterline because of the tide taking my car out, is there anything I should do so my car doesn't settle in the sand too much? Maybe go back and forth a few times in the same area to pack the sand down? Just spit balling here.

In the event I get stuck, I've got a recovery strap (4"x30') that does not have hooks on it. Apparently, the explorers don't have tow hooks welded on them. Where would you suggest I put the recovery strap on?

Any other tips?
 












Any other tips?

Make sure you know where you are. National park areas require a permit, and list of tools that you must carry with you.

Example for Hatteras:

http://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/off-road-vehicle-use.htm

Other places do not require permits, but I always make sure that:

- I air down before driving on the beach. Some of the real estate companies have air pumps at their offices (Corolla as an example), and/or gas stations to air back up when done.

- Find and record the number of a tow company in case you get stuck.

- Stay on well traveled areas, stay out of the salt water, mind the tide, look for drop offs, stay out of softer areas. In other words...common sense.

- Hose off your vehicle when done, especially underneath.
 






If it's really soft, I'd air down to 14 psi. 12 psi if you are struggling.

The key with approaching really soft sand is to get a good running start while still on firmer sand and to keep moving.

If you find you are stuck and really spinning wheels, STOP. It will generally make things worse, you will dig your wheels in and bottom out. The moment it feels like you are stuck, stop, air down some more and dig out. Most people who get stuck have not aired down enough.

So, best to start out well aired down so no worries. I'd go to 14 psi if you have really soft sand and it should not be a problem.
 






If it's really soft, I'd air down to 14 psi. 12 psi if you are struggling.

The key with approaching really soft sand is to get a good running start while still on firmer sand and to keep moving.

If you find you are stuck and really spinning wheels, STOP. It will generally make things worse, you will dig your wheels in and bottom out. The moment it feels like you are stuck, stop, air down some more and dig out. Most people who get stuck have not aired down enough.

So, best to start out well aired down so no worries. I'd go to 14 psi if you have really soft sand and it should not be a problem.


this.

i 4x4 on the beach several times a week (fishing) and there are some supplies that will help you in the event you get stuck:

-shovel (bought a mini, non collapsable shovel at HFreight for 5 bucks)
-jack (stock jack should be fine, make sure you can access it and use it)
-jacking board ( the thicker, the better; an 18" piece of 2x12 is what i use)
-tire pressure gauge (light up ones are a plus in case it gets dark)
-coiled air hose w/ tire chuck (if you air down and need to air back up, some places have hose hookups)

whatever you do, DONT pull in head first towards the water. park perpendicular, you won't have a problem getting out that way.

take your car keys and clip them via carabiner or something similar on the OUTSIDE of your vehicle. In the event you lock them inside, and don't know the code/keypad access doesn't work (like mine :D ) you won't be screwed

KEEP YOUR WINDOWS CLOSED!!!
i cannot tell you how annoying it is to wipe your dash clean to find it covered in dust and salt and potentially have it scratch the dash pad or door trim.


:salute: goodluck and keep it in 4x4 HIGH, as sand doesn't require much torque but instead surface area/momentum
 






this.

i 4x4 on the beach several times a week (fishing) and there are some supplies that will help you in the event you get stuck:

-shovel (bought a mini, non collapsable shovel at HFreight for 5 bucks)
-jack (stock jack should be fine, make sure you can access it and use it)
-jacking board ( the thicker, the better; an 18" piece of 2x12 is what i use)
-tire pressure gauge (light up ones are a plus in case it gets dark)
-coiled air hose w/ tire chuck (if you air down and need to air back up, some places have hose hookups)

whatever you do, DONT pull in head first towards the water. park perpendicular, you won't have a problem getting out that way.

take your car keys and clip them via carabiner or something similar on the OUTSIDE of your vehicle. In the event you lock them inside, and don't know the code/keypad access doesn't work (like mine :D ) you won't be screwed

KEEP YOUR WINDOWS CLOSED!!!
i cannot tell you how annoying it is to wipe your dash clean to find it covered in dust and salt and potentially have it scratch the dash pad or door trim.


:salute: goodluck and keep it in 4x4 HIGH, as sand doesn't require much torque but instead surface area/momentum

Thanks for the advice everyone! I need to go buy a shovel today but have everything else.

One question-you said don't pull in head first towards the beach but park perpendicular...can you explain that again? It seems perpendicular to the water would either be my front or back pointing right towards the water.
 






Thanks for the advice everyone! I need to go buy a shovel today but have everything else.

One question-you said don't pull in head first towards the beach but park perpendicular...can you explain that again? It seems perpendicular to the water would either be my front or back pointing right towards the water.

He's referencing any down slopes towards the water, which you often have if the tide is out. Since it is basically a hill, safer to park sideways on it with the side of your Ex facing the ocean and gradually drive along and up it too get up the slope rather than straight up where it would be easier to get stuck.

That being said, always smart to park above the high tide mark in case you get stuck, but that is good advice for parking on any hill/slope.
 












this.

i 4x4 on the beach several times a week (fishing) and there are some supplies that will help you in the event you get stuck:

Demo? I have been wanting to take the explorer out and give it a try instead of the bronco but always change my mind at the last minute. I've had it on the harder packed stuff at the thumb and it did ok but haven't gotten into the soft stuff.
 






Demo? I have been wanting to take the explorer out and give it a try instead of the bronco but always change my mind at the last minute. I've had it on the harder packed stuff at the thumb and it did ok but haven't gotten into the soft stuff.

I'm up in Nantucket for the first time with my Ex. The car I keep up here for beaching driving/surf fishing is a 2009 Escape. The Escape has plenty of clearance (especially when I ripped off the front plastic air dam) and is light, so it floats over the sand real nice.

The Escape has handled to the real soft stuff (and it gets real soft and boggy on Nantucket in some spots) fine and it has the FW/AWD.

I've had the Ex out on the tamer beaches (which are still pretty soft) and it has been fine, but with its weight and the fact I am keeping the front air dam on (concerned about dips that you have on the beaches here) I won't go in the real soft areas, but I see Ex's on the beaches all over around here.

The only dealer on this small island is Ford. Everybody drives a 4x4 SUV or pick-up on this island as you can drive on the beaches. Noticed at the island Ford dealer the vast majority of Ex's on the lot are AWD XLT's. Now, this island is the wealthiest zip code in Mass. and one of the wealthiest in the U.S. (honestly, the price of everything is ridiculous - I bring a lot of food up!).

I think they are stocking the XLT's due to the 18's being better in the sand. Not as if people can't afford the Limited with all the Range Rovers and Benz SUV's around here.
 






Went out-got stuck...lessons learned

Well, we went out today to Fort Fisher in North Carolina and bought a day beach pass. We took the air down in each tire to 15 psi. Getting on the beach was fun and no problem but I could immediately tell that we didn't have enough ground clearance as some of the established ruts were so deep that our muffler/etc was bottoming out if I went more than 10 mph across some of the ground. I kept it around 5 mph and we finally got out to the beach. It was low tide coming to high tide,so we stayed on the soft part because the slope was too much of an angle due to low tide.

We were moving along pretty good at this point so we tried to park. The first time we did it I saw all the trucks there and they were parked perpindicular to the water, basically they backed up to the ocean. I was confused and couldn't remember what the final word was from this thread so I tried to follow their lead. Huge mistake. The sand was just too soft and no matter what, the front air dam would start bottoming out on the sand. We aired down to about 13 psi at this time because both front tires were buried. We shoveled around the tires and were able to back out, which meant we went down towards the water...if we had gone forward I think we would have gotten stuck again since the sand was so soft.

We approached the slope at an angle (because due to backing out we had gone over the slope) and the tires were sliding a bit on the wet/compact sand, but we took it very slowly and managed to get back into a rut and get ourselves out. We debated parking right there parallel but I was worried since we were already sitting so deep in the sand.

I'm not sure what else I could have done with the sand being how it was. I was aired down to about 13 psi but I was afraid of going any lower. Maybe tried making my own path instead of using the established ruts since they were so deep? The front air dam still was hitting the sand/bottoming out as we were driving. As a result, there is a part where if you are looking at the front of the Explorer, on the bottom left, you see a cutout on the bottom and it looks like a plastic scoop of somesort that is just packed with sand. I got out what I could but wasn't able to get everything out. I'm trying to look at diagrams right now to figure out what it is, but I'm not getting too far. Any ideas?

Also, any other ideas on what we could have done different? I think we would have been alright to stay out there and just park parallel above the slope, but all the sand was so soft and I was worried about being able to get up the momentum to get out of there.
 






I believe that's the air intake for the additional oil cooler with the tow package.
 






I believe that's the air intake for the additional oil cooler with the tow package.

Yep it appears you are correct. I was able to identify it through some other threads on this forum and sprayed it out with a hose and made sure to get the rest of the undercarriage.

The wife and I are debating attempting it again tomorrow. This time, put the air down to 12 psi from the beginning, and if we are bottoming out using other people's paths, perhaps try making our own? Also, we plan on parking parallel to the water as indicated earlier in the thread and pretty much just stopping in either one of the ruts from someone before or the one that we create on our own. Maybe this would help with the bottoming out?

Thoughts? We were reading the owner's manual, and of course it says to NOT lower the tire pressure and just use the rut/hill/grass mode (the one with the tree) if we get into a similar situation. I think we mainly messed up by trying to park perpendicular to the ocean like the trucks were doing, and then when we had to back up, we ended up with the chassis on the slope which just got us stuck. After we got out, we were back in someone's rut that was parallel to the ocean. We even stopped a few times while in the rut and successfully started moving again, but we were so sick of it and worried about getting stuck again that we decided to call it quits.
 






Well, we went out today to Fort Fisher in North Carolina and bought a day beach pass. We took the air down in each tire to 15 psi. Getting on the beach was fun and no problem but I could immediately tell that we didn't have enough ground clearance as some of the established ruts were so deep that our muffler/etc was bottoming out if I went more than 10 mph across some of the ground. I kept it around 5 mph and we finally got out to the beach. It was low tide coming to high tide,so we stayed on the soft part because the slope was too much of an angle due to low tide.

We were moving along pretty good at this point so we tried to park. The first time we did it I saw all the trucks there and they were parked perpindicular to the water, basically they backed up to the ocean. I was confused and couldn't remember what the final word was from this thread so I tried to follow their lead. Huge mistake. The sand was just too soft and no matter what, the front air dam would start bottoming out on the sand. We aired down to about 13 psi at this time because both front tires were buried. We shoveled around the tires and were able to back out, which meant we went down towards the water...if we had gone forward I think we would have gotten stuck again since the sand was so soft.

We approached the slope at an angle (because due to backing out we had gone over the slope) and the tires were sliding a bit on the wet/compact sand, but we took it very slowly and managed to get back into a rut and get ourselves out. We debated parking right there parallel but I was worried since we were already sitting so deep in the sand.

I'm not sure what else I could have done with the sand being how it was. I was aired down to about 13 psi but I was afraid of going any lower. Maybe tried making my own path instead of using the established ruts since they were so deep? The front air dam still was hitting the sand/bottoming out as we were driving. As a result, there is a part where if you are looking at the front of the Explorer, on the bottom left, you see a cutout on the bottom and it looks like a plastic scoop of somesort that is just packed with sand. I got out what I could but wasn't able to get everything out. I'm trying to look at diagrams right now to figure out what it is, but I'm not getting too far. Any ideas?

Also, any other ideas on what we could have done different? I think we would have been alright to stay out there and just park parallel above the slope, but all the sand was so soft and I was worried about being able to get up the momentum to get out of there.

Driving on soft sand is a learned experience. It takes experience to know what you can and can't do in any 4x4, and with the Ex you have further issues of ground clearance. The front air dam is only 7.5 inches from the ground.

I posted above you park sideways to the ocean on any slope so you can drive along and up it - or just stay away from it. I also posted my experience on Nantucket and its soft sand beaches. I don't believe the Ex is capable on real soft sand with deep ruts where you need a lot of ground clearance.

That being said, I don't know the beach you were on and the conditions and where it may have been better for you to drive on that beach. Knowing where not to drive comes with experience. You had your first experience. Learn from it based on what worked and what did not. You may be able to drive the beach fine with experience. You did manage to get in and out - and when you got stuck you still dug yourself out so that beach may not be too bad and you just need to get more acquainted with what you can and can't do, when to push the gas, when to glide, what to avoid, where you can park and be able to drive off without getting stuck, etc. A lot of it is learn as you go for challenging beaches.

I have been driving beaches for decades. I can look at a beach and the changing terrain as I drive and know immediately if I should avoid something or if I am OK. I know without trying there are beaches on Nantucket I won't take the Ex from experience. There are also beaches where it is fine.

12-13 psi is as low as I would go, you you were aired down as much as you could be.
 



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Also, why I would not go below 12 psi. I have never had a prob at 12 psi, but below that you could pop a bead and have a useless wheel/tire until you get it to a shop. If you pop a bead or get a flat with the Ex on sand you will have to get towed as it does not have a full size spare. My Escape did not come with a full sized spare, but since it is my primary beach vehicle I keep one in the back.

If you were to go below 12 if stuck, I'd do 10 psi on the rear tires. Less chance of popping a bead on a tire that does not turn like the front wheels do.

Popping a bead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_bead
 






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