How to drive in the sand???

4

4Runner_Fan

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Heading down to North Carolina on Wednesday and may take the 4Runner out on the beach. Problem is... I have no experience with driving on the beach. I know that I need to drop it into 4wd but not sure whether to lock the differential or not. Any advice would be helpful. I did read the 4wd explanation by Thai but he generally only mentions slipping in mud, not in sand.

I think I need to keep constant acceleration / deceleration??
Drop it into 4 low if I am getting stuck??
Lock the diff if I get stuck??


Thanks in advance.
 
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From my experience driving in really deep sand at Carolina beach you want to keep the center differential locked in low range and transmission in drive with OD off. The reason I put it in low is because your pushing through the sand with your tranny in constant slip which really heats up the tranny big time. In this situation, my tranny cooler came into good use and I believe your '03 comes standard with a tranny cooler. So yeah, lock the center differential so you don't put extra stress on the center Torsen differential.

Hope that helps.
 
4runner,

The LINK you gave is the same one on the thread i linked to above. Just scroll down on the thread and you will see the same link.

As for sand driving, i would definitely lock the center diff because this ensures 50/50 power split; that is the center diff is not playing it's game by shifting power back and forth because this creates sudden power shift (or loss to one axle) which is NOT a good thing in mud or sand.

As for 4-LO or 4-HI, i would use 4-HI. 4-LO may not provide enough speed (momentum) due to it's low gearing. In addition, if you start to feel stuck, 4-HI provides more acceleration to power/accelerate out of trouble. However, if you're climbing a sandy hill, then 4-LO may help because it gives you more torque. If you're just driving on the beach, then i think 4-HI is a better choice.

Hope this helps.
 
I'd say just make sure you're not alone out there! take some recovery gear and have fun! part of the fun is getting stuck and trying to get unstuck! :) this way you learn from experience and then you'll know by feel on what to do on specific situations.

good luck and have fun!!!
 
Are you by any chance going to nags head? I drove a tundra on the beach down there. Make sure you let some air out of your tires and stay in the ruts. Dont go close to the water either.... I would reccommend locking the center dif and you dont need 4wheel lo.
 
Woh, i was just down there this past week. Got back last night. I was staying in Swan Beach. However I was driving my dads H2. That thing pulled through great...occasionally i had to drop it into first. I love driving down there, so much fun. I'll get some pics up if i can. But you should probably have no problem pulling through in 4-HI. Just keep moving, don't stop. I saw a bunch of people in jeeps and stuff stuck because they stopped and dug themselves into the sand. The only hard parts are driving over the dunes.
 
FOLLOW-ON QUESTION

Okay, so I have a 2001 with VSC/tract etc and all that nanny crap. In sand, if I have the truck in 4HI and the center diff locked, does this disable the trac/vsc? Would hate to get to a point where I have to spin a little and have the damn truck cut all my power and apply brakes. Or do I have to be in 4LO with the diff locked to disable this stuff?
 
i believe your system is the same as mine: this means that if you lock the center then the VSC is disconnected but the TRAC is still enabled (don't know any way to disable that).
 
Good Times is right. ATRAC is ALWAYS on. VSC is the only thing that you can turn off in 4wd models. This is very good because it is VSC (not ATRAC) that dethrottles you!
 
Yeah but

ATRAC applies brakes to slipping wheels, no? And if all wheels are slipping isn't ATRAC going to slow me to a stop?
 
Yes, ATRAC will brake a slipping wheel. However, if all wheels are slipping, ATRAC is less agressive (less wheel speed differences across the axle). In addition, if you're aggressive with throttle and rev past 2000 rpm, ATRAC tends to back off as you rev your engine...thus, allowing you to spin your tires to get out of trouble.
 
Thanks Thai

that's great info. I suppose at the end of the day I'll just have to get it out in sand or mud (oh the hassle of cleaning it) and figure it out for myself - there's no substitue for experience, eh?

Or I could wait for winter and it's not-so-painful-to-clean-up conditions...
 
Why do I have to login everytime I post? Grrrr.

Be sure and get your vehicle to a good do it yourself high pressure car wash after driving on the beach. You will have sand/salt on every part of that Runner. Wash the undercarriage and wheel wells thoroughly. That salt will rust a Yota faster than you can spell it.
 
You shouldn't have to log in every time, Go to the user CP, then click edit options, there should be an option under there about automatically loggin in
 
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