Took the Ex on the beach today

[James909]

I just wanted to share my first serious wheeling experience with my Ex. Thankfully this doesn't belong in the Whoops! forum. I had taken the Ex on the beach once or twice before but that beach was basically just a dirt access road that a FWD compact probably could have made it through. So today I took it to a different beach and have become hooked on wheeling. I'm sure that the modded Explorers on this site would have had no problem with this area but for a stock Explorer there was some challenging terrain. I have no offroad mods to my Ex but I must say it handled the terrain surprisingly well. At the area where I was you could either drive along the oceanfront or follow a trail that weaved through the dunes. There was some hills, deep sand, and a water crossing (about up to the hubs). And I didn't get stuck once. There was one time though that I got a little nervous when I went through deep, soft sand that no one else had gone through, but the Ex kept on going. Unfortunately there's no mods planned for my Ex right now as it is my DD. But when I get out of college if the finances are available I will get a more fuel efficient DD and then let the mods on the Ex begin! I'm still learning when to use low range, should I use low range in the sand? Since the speed limit was only 10 mph I used low range the whole time. And I aired down to about 15 p.s.i. Is that a good pressure for sand? Here's a few pics of the Ex that I took. Unfortunately I don't have any action shots. And BTW the terrain in the pics is very mild compared to some of the terrain that I went through.

 

[little x]

Looks good.
Don't get it stuck in the ocean, I've been there, done that. It's no fun.
15 psi is good.

 

[James909]

Thanks. I didn't really get too close to the water because there wasn't too many other vehicles out there so I didn't want to get stuck and then have the tide come in.

 

[burgundy1994xlt]

Enjoy. Looks like fun to me. We have around 20 miles of driving beach up here in southern washington state on the coast. Nothing challenging because its totally flat but its great to get out there and avoid the tourists (and watch them get stuck on the approach lmao)

 

[DeRocha]

Nice Explorer and pics of the beach.. As for what pressure to run your tires at it all depends on your tires. 12-15psi is the ball park for running in the sand, you are basically lowering the pressure to increase the contact area of the tire to help float it (instead of dig) over sand.

4x4 High is mainly for on-road use @ speeds above 20mph. At speeds below <20mph (when 4x4 is needed) I am in 4x4 Low. Low range gives ~250% more power to the wheels to keep them moving without overworking the motor and transmission.

 

[burgundy1994xlt]

Forgot to say, Nice lookin' rig ya got there

 

[James909]

Thanks guys. In the spring I'm going to paint the pillars because as you can see they're flaking and it's bothering me. I am also going to install tow hooks in the front. Because the trail on the beach is only wide enough for one truck to pass at a time so if I was to get stuck it would help to have hooks in the front too in case there was a truck in front of me willing to pull me out.