Explorer in the sand

[Thelt]

Any of you guys take your explorer off road in the sand? I think we had a thread on this before but I was curious if any new people had any experience. I am planning on taking mine to Cape Hatteras this fall for some surf fishing and I am curious to see how well it does. The stuff I have taken out there before have been more off road oriented rigs like a Toyota Tundra and Nissan Xterra.

 

[carlover]

Just lower the psi on your tires and youll be fine. Around 15 psi should be fine. The explorer is a very capable off road vehicle.

 

[Tbars4]

...10 pounds and you will be fine...and here is a couple links of our summer dune trips....

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188207
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193025

 

[L4CX]

Mine did great at Silver lake dunes up here in Mears MI. I was very pleased. I did pop my tire off it's bead though. I was down at like 12 PSI. It was because I was being "cool" and doing donuts around a water hole and hit edge and "thumb" my tire came off. Here's a Pic

Fun time. I have Yokohama Geolanders. They are usually at 41, I don't know if that is just those tires or just an explorer thing. It could be why it came off. Either way, Have fun. It's a Blast. Keep your eye on the Tranny too. Mine got quite hot.

 

[Thelt]

On other vehicles I have taken to the beach I have aired down to about 18 or 20 psi and have had no problems. 12 seems too low.

 

[Tbars4]

...if you go to the links posted in post #3, all those vehicles were aired down to 10#....but they are on the sand dunes....the beach area you can run at normal air...

 

[Maniak]

We ran our '92 at Glamis..

We have a rear locker and were running 32x11.50's on 8" rims. The tires were load range D (I found I can't run near as low of pressure on my load range C 12.50 tires)..

Here's some video from it..


~Mark

 

[Exploderpilot]

low tire pressure, and gobs of skinny pedal! when in doubt, do not lift!

 

[Tbars4]

...maniak, i love to show people that video who ask about sand...it says so much more than words...

 

[IZwack]

Running on sand requires a lot more from the engine and you'll find that if you drive for a long distance, the temp gauge will climb pretty high -- so watch that.

 

[Exploderpilot]

that's a pretty good representation of how you have to drive in the sand. you don't need paddles and a twin turbo v-8. it is so much fun though.....maniak, you ever seen robby g out there?

 

[Tbars4]

Running on sand requires a lot more from the engine and you'll find that if you drive for a long distance, the temp gauge will climb pretty high -- so watch that.

...that goes for the tranny too...

 

[Thelt]

I have done a lot of sand driving at Hatteras over the years. When I first started I did not air down my tires. I could make it without getting stuck but it was difficult. After airing down to 18 or 20 psi it was a lot easier to do. I have never had a vehicle overheat on the beach except for one time I was with my dad and he took a old Subaru Brat down there and drove it about ten miles up the beach without airing down. It overheated. That was when we first started though and did not know any better.

My only worry with my Explorer is if you look under it you can see these diagonal supports running to the rear wheel area. Those seem like they would lower the ground clearance a good bit. I guess it has to do with the rear independent suspension.

 

[Maniak]

that's a pretty good representation of how you have to drive in the sand. you don't need paddles and a twin turbo v-8. it is so much fun though.....maniak, you ever seen robby g out there?

I've only been to Glamis once.. so I haven't seen robby g there. Every January I go camping out in Painted Canyon (near Mecca) and that year the box canyon flooded so we left early but weren't ready to go home.. so we went to Glamis for a few days..

~Mark

 

[mounty71]

Maniak, i didnt know that video was of you. I've seen the video several times and it is just awesome to see it, it looks like you had one wild ride!

 

[jp450]

I have been chasing the stripers on the Cape Cod National Seashore for about 10 years now. First with a 93 ranger, then a 99 ex Sport and now an 05. I must say that airing down is the most important thing you can do. When I first started to go I would only air down to 25 PSI. After exparamenting with the tire pressures I have found that 12 PSI is the best. Keep in mind that the softer the sand the more you need to air down. Up here at the CCNS the sand is very soft thus the lower pressures. If you go to Florida and see people on Daytona they dont need to air down at all because the sand is so hard.

For the OP: you want to make the tire as wide as possable to keep it "floating" on the top of the sand and not dig in and spin. If you do feel the wheels start to spin, STOP and back up. Be careful and don't risk your safety or your ride... Pay attention to the tides too. I have seen MANY people get stuck doing things they had no business doing... then getting swamped by the incoming surf. I don't even want to know what the salt water does to a frame... If you do get stuck, when you get out fix your holes... We are loosing more and more drivable beach every year to envrionmental groups because people abuse the beaches... So please tread lightly and pack out more than you carry in...

 

[Thelt]

Thankfully North Carolina still has plenty of beach that you can drive one. They do restrict you to some areas to protect sea turtles and birds but it is not unreasonable.

Cape Hatteras has many miles of accessible beach. The core banks, home of cape lookout lighthouse, has plenty of beach you can drive on. Wilmington even has an area near fort fisher.