beach driving tips?

[toddjb123]

Drove on the sand for the first time July 4th weekend. Wasn't crazy about the way the automatic sand setting had the truck responding in soft sand, but I only got to play around with it once for a short trip.

Any suggestions on what settings and tire pressures you use for LR3 beach driving? The dealer suggested I try mud/ruts or auto to compare the response. In a nutshell, I'm used to a little more engine response to quickly get the truck up on top of the soft sand, from a stop. Once on top, the truck drives great. ...what happened, I guess, is the traction system detected wheel slippage and kind of stuttered my wheel/gas response. I eventually got up on top of the sand but it took 10 times longer than I think it should have and in the process it "looked" like my $55K vehicle needed a push. It didn't, but it looked that way.

Anyway, figured I'd ask for tips and play again. I have a lot of beach driving experience with several vehicles. However, its my first time doing it in a "smart" off road vehicle.


Thanks in advance for any tips. It certainly is a great vehicle to take to the beach. With all the seats folded flat you can fit all kinds of toys in the back. Nice!

 

[AussieLR3]

Turning off the DSC helps to stop the D3 wanting to limit wheel slip by braking the slipping wheels hence stopping forward progress.

I haven't tried this on sand but it's something I've read in the manual and applies to the other off road settings.

Chris

 

[toddjb123]

Thanks, Chris. Read that as well when I got the truck, but forgot about it loooong ago. I'll give it a try!

 

[disco1]

I'm not familiar with the new fangled electronics in the LR3, but irrespective of how good the system is, in soft sand you need to air down. If you didn't do this, this would explain your difficulties.

 

[juice]

I took my lr3 on the beach. Didn't like how 'sand mode' held gears... I was driving fast on wet/hard pack sand and didn't want the engine to rev that high. I ended up driving in the default setting.

In the deep sand, I used sand mode (didn't turn DSC off), and it was fine. I had no problems driving on fully inflated stock tires. To get over ruts of soft sand from a stop took a little extra effort, but I was kicking sand.

Like with any truck, the lr3 could get dug in with any combination of tire pressure and 'vehicle intelligence'... its more about driving smart and not stopping somewhere you can't get out.

Don't forget that shovel.

 

[drkirk]

i just got back from a weekend at Pismo Beach. Sand program works great for getting around but... if you really want to move try normal program. We tried some hill climbing where lots of momentum was needed to get up the hill . hitting the floor in sand program resulted in the computer cutting the power before 30mph. ouyt of sand program we could hit the hills at 30 or 40 mph and have enough momemtium to get to the top.

so results are mixed ... sand program works for cruisin on sand but for extreme hilll climbing driver must take over and punch it over the hill.

 

[drkirk]

Oh forgot to mention 15psi

 

[toddjb123]

Dealer told me he wouldn't drop those tires below 20 or 25...something to do with low profile, vehicle weight, whatever.

Anyway, I took it on the beach again last week. Had it out a lot. Without deflating the tires I was fine in Sand mode with DSC off. Only pain is you have to hit DSC off every time you restart the vehicle. Worked fine though. Anyway, if I was making long beach trips I'd deflate the tires, but i was just going out to sand points or short sand roads and the rover behaved great.

Even got to tow somebody out in soft sand! That's always fun. Put the rover in low range mode, hooked to the rear hook, no problems.


Only complaint is there is too much to do. With my old truck I'd just tell the wife to get in it and drive and she'd be fine. Now I have to say "raise the vehicle, put it in sand mode, hit the DSC button until the light comes on in the display..." Too complicated...it should just raise up and do the other stuff when you set it in sand mode IMO.

 

[Freeflytim]

http://www.muddyoval.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1764

"In the sand, the beast held it's own, although you could tell it's quite heavy. I drove on moist/browner sands at full pressure but aired down to 25 psi for the deep "red" sand. "

 

[hysterwv]

^^^^ Hey! That's me!! Yep, the heft was noticeable, but no problems whatsoever. I don't think I'd go below 25 psi. Even the guys in lifted Jeeps and older Pick-ups w/ 33x12.5's on 15" wheels don't go much below that and they have MUCH more sidewall that us. I just think it would be too easy to damage a sidewall that is so thin (respectively) with such a heavy vehicle.

I think sand mode was a drag (literally). It was good for steady driving but the transmission can't "read" the terrain. I'd drive it in "manual" mode so I could upshift when things firmmed up or I was going downhill. Otherwise it would hold the gear too long on harder packed sand.