Driving in sand tutorial (Outer Banks, NC)?

[Tim]

I put mud terrains on my rubicon and it handles better on Ft Fisher and Ive never let the air out. To me they have better traction so long as you dont spin them to dig but those lugs are also what help pull you in the sand. Ive always been told AT tires are better but I'm not convinced of that any longer. I really want to try a Mojave to see if its truly that much better driving out there. It could sway me to trade since I really dont do much rock crawling on the coast lol.

I don't have personal experience to comment on the difference between A/T and M/t as I have never run a true M/T tire. That said I have read and watched some stuff lately that seems to support that M/T tires are actually better in sand than A/T. Either one will get the job done.

That said I did air down to 20 psi on my stock Falken A/Ts when visiting OBX in July. No issues whatsoever.

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[smlobx]

^^^

I’m sorry to have to say this but the sand on OBX, is some of the softest sand known to man and not comparable to sand anywhere else.

I’ve driven in Pismo beach, Great sand Dunes NP, the Sahara, the Namib desert and a place or three in the Middle East and nothing compares to the OBX sand.

Every year there are people who’s vehicle catches fire because their transmission overheats, blows a line and the fluid catches fire all because they didn’t air down and float their tires over the sand instead of plowing through them. This happened just a couple of weeks ago. You can probably Google it…

edit…Here is the article

https://www.obxtoday.com/suv-burns-on-the-beach-at-cape-hatteras-national-seashore/

Don‘t be that guy…

 

[Just Mark]

I've driven on the OBX beaches dozens of times. I've been stuck a couple times. Last week I even got the Gladiator stuck when i hit some of the softest/sinkiest (is that a word?) sand I have ever hit while making a u turn. Buried my Gladiator up to the rails in about 1 second. And yes I was aired down and yes I was driving at a constant and reasonable speed. Stuff happens.

It took me about 10 minutes to self recover with a cheap folding shovel and some traction boards. Don't leave home without them.

The good news is: if you air down under 20psi, use 4 high, turn off stability (or just hit the off road plus button if you have it), and use reasonable speed and turn radius, you will be fine 99% of the time.

 

[bac]

^^^

I’m sorry to have to say this but the sand on OBX, is some of the softest sand known to man and not comparable to sand anywhere else.

I’ve driven in Pismo beach, Great sand Dunes NP, the Sahara, the Namib desert and a place or three in the Middle East and nothing compares to the OBX sand.

Every year there are people who’s vehicle catches fire because their transmission overheats, blows a line and the fluid catches fire all because they didn’t air down and float their tires over the sand instead of plowing through them. This happened just a couple of weeks ago. You can probably Google it…

edit…Here is the article

https://www.obxtoday.com/suv-burns-on-the-beach-at-cape-hatteras-national-seashore/

Don‘t be that guy…

I drove out at ramp 4 across from Oregon Inlet last week and kept an eye on my transmission fluid temperature after seeing stories of the burned trucks this summer. Started at 173ºF and went up to about 205º after about 20 minutes.

I had aired down to 20 PSI.

 

[Kickaxe07]

Just dont take advice from this guy

 

[jeepinmike]

I drove out at ramp 4 across from Oregon Inlet last week and kept an eye on my transmission fluid temperature after seeing stories of the burned trucks this summer. Started at 173ºF and went up to about 205º after about 20 minutes.

I had aired down to 20 PSI.

Thats normal operating temp still. We have modern vehicles not 1997 Ford Explorers. Dont worry. Theres so many nanny features to kick in and warn you now to not have to worry about overheating your truck.

 

[JoseQ_80]

Why does airing down work? A 20 to 25% reduction in air results in almost 250% increase in contact (floatation)!

Agreed, and the way it works is because It makes your contact patch LONGER, not WIDER, like a tank tread.

 

[JoseQ_80]

Good video on the topic:

 

[JoseQ_80]

 

[bac]

Thats normal operating temp still. We have modern vehicles not 1997 Ford Explorers. Dont worry. Theres so many nanny features to kick in and warn you now to not have to worry about overheating your truck.

I was more curious than worried. The low 200’s was well below any temperature to be concerned about.

—bac

 

[VBDiesel]

Gladiators love playing on soft sand beaches! Like the others have said, 20 psi or below is mandatory. And don't forget (like I did a few weeks ago) to put it in 4 wheel drive.

I like to see how far I can get in 2wd. Sometimes it's miles...

 

[4xjeepr]

Ft. Fisher in August. Mojave take off 33s MTs on manual trans 20 Gladiator Sport S. Aired down to 20psi and 4 high. Traveled with no problems on the sand. Air down and take it easy and there won't be any issues.

 

[fun2drum]

Ft. Fisher in August. Mojave take off 33s MTs on manual trans 20 Gladiator Sport S. Aired down to 20psi and 4 high. Traveled with no problems on the sand. Air down and take it easy and there won't be any issues.

What a beautiful long stretch of beach that is! - and you can cut across to the other side of the dunes in a couple of places where the tidal creeks flow through and connect to the Cape Fear. I've been thinking about carrying our kayaks out there and exploring them one day.

The only thing about Fort Fisher in my JT is that in those areas closer to the entrance where so many vehicles are bouncing through the sand, it creates humps that will bounce me like crazy if I drive at the 15 mph speed limit. It's because all those trucks going the same speed bounce at the same places and make the humps more pronounced over time. Drive 15mph and you create a resonance that increases the bounce more and more as you go. The bouncing goes away almost completely when you go 20 mph because it disrupts the resonance. I know it seems counter intuitive to speed up rather than slow down, but it works.

Anyway back to topic, yes these trucks are happy as can be on that sand. I was backing up out of my spot facing the ocean one day when fishing with my daughter, and landed both front and back tires in some deep ruts. I mean we actually dropped down into them with a thud. It was that really soft sand and we were deep, so I thought we were done. She looked at me with some concern, I shrugged and gave it some gas to see what I was dealing with. We hopped out of those deep ruts without one bit of spin. That was with stock diameter tires at 20 lbs psi in 4H. My daughter looked at me and said, "Dad - I can't believe you just drove out of that hole like that!"

I can't count the number of times I've gone around guys in 4x4 trucks with huge tires that were being pulled out. There's just something about these Jeeps that are superior in soft sand.

 

[fun2drum]

I like to see how far I can get in 2wd. Sometimes it's miles...

I can believe it! When I forgot that time on Fort Fisher, I made it a long way and even had to go past a stuck truck being pulled out. I never got stuck at all, and only realized it when my tires dug into the sand a bit while I was making a hard turn.

I respect that sand too much to test it that way again, but I thought it was cool I made it that far in 2WD!

 

[Firestarter]

airing down is a must, i went to 20 with my stock rubicon on ATs. 4HI whole time. just keep your momentum on the sugary sand.

don't be this guy

Very nice of that Lexus to recover that stuck chevy

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