Beach driving a 95 Monty SR?
- Thread starter Styyy
- Start date
SoCalMonty
Explorer
You shouldn't need anything special...the most important thing is tire width, and you've got that covered. Lower the tire pressure a bit so the sidewalls bulge a little, and that's about all you can do. May wanna make sure your cv boots are solid. I hate driving in sand. Good luck!
jeep-N-montero
Expedition Leader
off-roader
Expedition Leader
My $.02?
4WD & as low a Tire Pressure as the rim will allow. I'd guess 15psi would be max. Any lower and you will have to be concerned with the tire slipping on the rim. The key here is to have as big a footprint as possible to prevent you from sinking in and even then it's always a possibility to have to contend with.
Keep your momentum going especially on any kind of upwards incline in sand. The moment you start to slow down or stop, your tires will start to dig into the sand. You want to avoid this. Of course driving this way, you need to know what's ahead of you on the other side of a dune so take care when doing this.
A shovel. Even one of the small folding military ones is fine.
Optional Items...
A winch with a good anchor (another vehicle, pull pal, buried spare tire, etc.) is nice to have if you really get stuck.
Sand ladders are another nice option to have especially if you do this frequently enough. You can buy them for as low as $150 for a pair of Smittybilts or pay more for other brands.
HTH.​
4WD & as low a Tire Pressure as the rim will allow. I'd guess 15psi would be max. Any lower and you will have to be concerned with the tire slipping on the rim. The key here is to have as big a footprint as possible to prevent you from sinking in and even then it's always a possibility to have to contend with.
Keep your momentum going especially on any kind of upwards incline in sand. The moment you start to slow down or stop, your tires will start to dig into the sand. You want to avoid this. Of course driving this way, you need to know what's ahead of you on the other side of a dune so take care when doing this.
A shovel. Even one of the small folding military ones is fine.
Optional Items...
A winch with a good anchor (another vehicle, pull pal, buried spare tire, etc.) is nice to have if you really get stuck.
Sand ladders are another nice option to have especially if you do this frequently enough. You can buy them for as low as $150 for a pair of Smittybilts or pay more for other brands.
HTH.​
off-roader
Expedition Leader
In my experience, it's usually not needed IMHO unless the beach is very rugged or your cresting a dune sizeways but I suspect you'll have bigger problems if your doing this very often. 
Be sure you bring a strap. Never know when you might get to do this...
:wings:
Be sure you bring a strap. Never know when you might get to do this...
:wings:
Just because you're 600m from the sea doesn't mean it won't come in over the space of say 20 minutes.
Nothing to it really,I wouldn't lock the diff personally,it drags a wheel and makes a mound of sand and can get you stuck. Give it a good washing with fresh water as soon as you can too
Nothing to it really,I wouldn't lock the diff personally,it drags a wheel and makes a mound of sand and can get you stuck. Give it a good washing with fresh water as soon as you can too
off-roader
Expedition Leader
This is critical as well!
I've used a home built under vehicle wash 'device' made using PVC pipe and shaped kinda like a hockey stick... \_
The bottom is ~3' long and I perforated it with 1/8" holes so water can spray out. The top has a standard hose screw head so I could connect it to my garden hose.
I used that hose screw head which is attached to a short section of 3/4" ID pvc pipe 6-12" which in turn is connected to a 45 deg angle bend which is then connected to a longer section of pipe that again is connected to another 45 deg bend which is connected to the 3' long perforated section which is capped off. Total cost was <$20 and IMHO it works a whole lot better than putting a sprinkler underneath the vehicle.
HTH!
^^ I built something very similar to what you're describing,used a bit of Qual-pex with holes in it bodged onto a hose fitting,worked really well until I reversed over it. I live about 5 minutes from the coast so I seem to end up on the beach more than I should. I drive into a river with it to get the worst off and then just ppowerwash it when i'm home
And something really important I should have put into my earlier post,don't reverse it in 2wd,you'll bury it up to it's tits in no time at all! I did it once,and it nearly ended badly.
Not as bad as this hero though :sombrero:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MzzHpPyTL8
And something really important I should have put into my earlier post,don't reverse it in 2wd,you'll bury it up to it's tits in no time at all! I did it once,and it nearly ended badly.
Not as bad as this hero though :sombrero:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MzzHpPyTL8
scrubber3
Not really here
Lower the tire pressure. I go to about 18 psi. Put it in 4 HiLoc. Unlocked rear diff. Just accelerate slow and you should be good to go. I never once came close to getting stuck. I used to drive mine on the beach almost every weekend when I was in NC. North End of Carolina Beach.... Oh how I miss it.
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its not that the tires sidewall bulge that aids in floatation its the length of the footprint of the tire when aired down. So tall tires with plenty of rubber between the rim and tread are ideal, wide tires are kind of a wash between better floatation but they create a bigger "wave" of sand infront of the tire to overcome. Air down to around 15 psi and don't put yourself in a situation where you could get stuck in an area below the high tide mark. The only times I have seen anyone get stuck on the beach was because they were being lazy and did not air down, its literally as important as selecting 4WD.
