Bville-Bud

I'm going to the beach next week with my 15 JK Rubicon and need to get smarter on driving on the sand. What do I need to do with traction control etc. to make sure things keep moving forward?

Any other suggestions for playing in the sand? I will air down, have a compressor, snatch strap, shovel, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts!

karls10jk

Are you coming down to the famed OBX? If so then you're already prepared enough. Just drop your tire pressure (depending on the weather) and you'll be fine. If it's hot and dry then you'll need to drop it closer to 15-18psi than if it's cool and wet. The sand down here isn't tough at all, you've just got to be smart about it.

Yes to keeping momentum but even then, the jeep does well. 4lo if you've got an auto to keep the transmission from working too hard.....is what I hear from folks with the auto. I've got a manual and only go to 4lo when it starts to dig down.

If you intend to park on certain beaches (Corolla), you'll now need a permit to do so.

Bville-Bud

Thanks for the reply! Not OBX, but Chincoteague. I have lived in Virginia my whole life and never visited there, so me and my girl are making a long weekend of it.

rob_engineer

Use 4lo, not 4 hi.

rsbmg

My suggestion would be to toss an on/off switch in for your traction control. It's one of the best mods ever.

Rednroll

I just wrapped up playing in sand dunes for the past four days.

Turn traction control off by pressing and holding the ESP button for 8 seconds while in 4WD. You'll hear a ding, and your dash will say "ESP OFF".
Airing down to 15psi worked well for me.

If you're climbing sand hills like I did in the dunes and have an automatic, look into getting a Trans cooler installed. As I learned, climbing sand hills will heat that trans fluid up pretty quickly. I would do the trans cooler and run in 4WD Hi. Even without the trans cooler, if you're not climbing hills, then you should be fine in 4WD Hi. 4WD Hi is really more preferable in the sand, you want speed and momentum to keep you moving, especially in soft sand.

rob_engineer

All wranglers since 2012 with auto trans have factory installed trans coolers. Running in 4LO keeps the trans cooler compared to 4HI. I can't comment on the 'momentum' advantage of 4HI vs 4lo because I've never driven in sand for long distances. For me, 4HI is only when driving on the paved roads that are snow covered. If I'm off road I'm either in 2wd or 4LO. However, maybe my outlook would change if I was in a very large area of soft sand and driving at higher speeds.

tjkamp

If you are in sand and I starts to chatter (wheel hop, whatever you want call it) back off a little so as not to break things.

Rednroll

Agree on 4LO keeping trans cooler, thus the reason I suggested one is needed if you don't already have one. There's no right or wrong answer. Many seem to prefer 4Hi in sand and make some good points as to the reasons why, and from my experience I tend to agree with those points, so that's what I use. Maintaining speed and momentum, and not spinning your tires seem to be key points for not getting stuck in soft sand which just tends to fit with 4WD Hi. I was also climbing dune sand hills, and getting up enough speed to make it up a lot of those hills would not be possible in 4Lo. When I think of it, sand is similar to driving in soft snow.
https://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/b...se-649177.html

rob_engineer

I normally skip over long posts because I only read this forum on my phone. However, I enjoyed your long posts. Nice write ups.