Driving Ford Explorer on sand

[redncindi91]

Does anyone recommend driving their Ford on the sand. We are looking at heading to Newport, OR and maybe even down to Florence and was curious if anyone has ever taken their SUV on the beach with stock tires. I know it could be possible on firm sand, but not sure about the looser stuff.

Red :exp:

 

[Tbars4]

stock tires i would worry about as you have a lot of weight on skinny tires....here is a link to adventures in the sand with a bunch of different explorer's and mountaineers , half with 2 wheel drives but most have bigger tires....
look there until someone else chimes in and goodluck....
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188207

 

[clarkkent]

its easy. my 2wd truck lives on the beach. just air down to 10psi and dont do any harsh stop with your brakes to push sand in front of your tires. when you start on sand, make sure your tires are straight, that your not pointing up hill, and then ease up on the gas and then once u get some momentum, give it some gas. all and all, its easy.

 

[gijoecam]

Driving on sand is almost identical to driving through deep snow. Air the tires down to roughly 10 psi and drive it like you're driving through deep fresh snow and everything will be fine. Momentum is key, slow and steady on the gas and breaks, and if you don't want to get stuck, don't spin the tires.

Take tow straps, apropriate attaching hardware, and know how to use it. It'll be fine even with stock bald tires if you know how to drive it.

-Joe

 

[newtek007]

Take It SLOW!!!

Everything that has been said is exactly right! You have to have a totally different mindset when driving on the sand. Everything is SLOW. If you try to hurry things up in the sand, your DONE! It's kind of like piloting a boat, take everything slow and in small movements.

I drive my stock EB 2002 in the sand in the Outer Banks, NC all the time. Never gotten stuck. Just remember to air those tires down. If you don't, you will cook the tranny in no time!

 

[FROADER]

What you want to do is just air down to 10psi and dont do any harsh stop with your brakes to push sand in front of your tires. when you start on sand, make sure your tires are straight, that your not pointing up hill.

 

[section525]

Air down to about 9-11 psi. No sudden stops. Easy on the brakes and gas. Don't gas it with your tires turned.

 

[clarkkent]

froader.. are you mocking me. haha.

 

[FROADER]

I figured if 3 people said it, why not a 4th or 5th.

 

[Thelt]

I drive in the sand on the Outer Banks of NC from time to time and the key really is to air down your tires. I usually do not go all the way down to 10 psi though. 18 or 20 is usually where I stop and I have never had a problem. I would not want to drive much on the pavement at 10psi. So unless you have an air compressor on you 10 may be a bit low.

I have not had my Explorer on the beach yet but I have had several vehicles and they all did fine with about 20 psi. They include:

Nissan D21 Hardbody truck
Jeep Cherokee XJ
Suzuki Grand Vitara
Nissan Xterra
Toyota Tundra
Dodge Durango
Kia Sportage

 

[L4CX]

I'm so geeked to hear that Explorers do good on sand. That is one of the main things to do for my truck club. We go to the Silver lake Dunes in Michigan. It's a blast. Last time we went I had a 2WD S10. It didn't do so good. But I'm pretty excited to get my explorer out there. All of the advice sounds about right. I'm guessing beaches around there don't really have a lot of hills, so If you run into some you'll have to get a decent amount of momentum to make it up. If you leave a bit of gas left at the very top of a big hill it'll give you alittle extra at the very top, just in case you start bogging down before you hit the top. It's fun though. Good luck.

 

[gijoecam]

You weren't driving a red S-10 about 4 years ago, were you? I saw one that skied off the top of a dune and stuffed the nose... It wasn't pretty.... Folded the frame, severed an oil line, pushed the quarter panels into the doors into the bed, and mangled the front suspension... not pretty....

Silver Lake will be fine at 15-20 psi, and they have air hoses at DuneLand right outside the gate, as well as the party store in town, and the gas station down past Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park. (DuneLand shuts their pumps off at like 6 PM) You'll be fine running the 2 miles back to town at reduced pressures as long as you take it REAL slow. The max posted legal speed between the dunes and town is 35 mph, but half the town's running at 15 psi on the weekends, so nobody moves fast.

-Joe

 

[mysticclam]

I drive er drove my explorer when it worked, on the beach at long beach washington all the time and didnt even air down. I wasnt playing in the sand I was just getting from one end to the other so stayed out of the deep stuff but it worked ok on stock tires, better on 31x10.5s. I don't know about driving on dunes and such up hill but if you are into youtube, here is a video of an explorer going up a big sand hill.

 

[mysticclam]

Oh yeah, i forgot to mention, I have a manual trans, I heard driving on sand can be rough on an auto.

 

[Tbars4]

thats a great video....

 

[L4CX]

GiJoe, That wasn't me. I didn't do any damage......Well.....At least not that much. I would think that an auto would be as good as an auto as long as you keep an eye on it. I hope to have a temp sensor before I go on the dunes. If it goes to high I'll just Take a break.

 

[FROADER]

That was Maniak (a mod on this board) from AZ.

 

[mysticclam]

I didnt realize you could put a video in a post. I just thought I linked it. Cool.
I really want to build a sand rail or baja bug for sand but sometimes I think a stripped down ranger would be more fun. Does the weight of 4wd make a two wheel drive truck better in the sand? Down in Florence Oregon I was in a place that had a big board that said something like "I can drive on the sand, my truck is a 4x4 right?" and the board was covered in pictures of big trucks and SUVs stuck in the sand.

I still think a 2wd ranger with fiberglass body parts , the right tires and enough hp could do sand ok.

 

[gijoecam]

Anything can 'do' sand... it's just a matter of to what degree do you not want to get stuck? Out at silver lake in Michigan, I've seen a 2wd tractor-trailer, I've seen a front wheel drive Chevy Cavalier (yes, a Cavalier!!), plenty of 2wd full size vans (one was painted up like the mystery machine and had a huge Scooby stuffed animal strapped to the roof), and I've seen others drive around all day (avoiding the big dunes, of course). I've also seen SCORE trucks stuck in the sand in the middle of nowhere. It's all in how you drive it.

-Joe

 

[FROADER]

I didnt realize you could put a video in a post. I just thought I linked it. Cool.