Newbie with a beach driving question

[ForeOSU]

Hi everyone. First time Jeep owner (2020 Wrangler Unlimited) since last Friday. So far I've done nothing to the Jeep so everything is stock. I have two very newbie questions:

I live in Gainesville, Florida, and love heading over to Crescent Beach. Does anyone have any experience driving on the sand out there? The sand up where you drive tends to be looser and less packed. I'd appreciate any thoughts on taking it out onto the sand with just the stock tires. Am I just asking for trouble? Another thread from a couple of years ago recommended reducing the pressure to about 12 psi and keeping it in 4L and said that this was all that was needed. Is that still good advice?

Second, I really don't want to lift the Jeep. I was told that I could go up to 33 inches on the tires. Is there anything I need to worry about if I do that?

I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks for your help.

Alex

Congrats on the new Jeep. I’m in the same club. Mine is two weeks old. We’re from Ohio but we head to Crescent Beach every year for two weeks in July. It’s the best!!

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[mackh4x0r]

Hey, I've been driving on the beach over in Delaware since at least 2004. Our beaches are very, very, soft. Do not use 4L! This is completely wrong information and totally unnecessary. This will make your tires dig in and you'll be doing 3 mph on the beach.

I have a JKU Rubicon now but it should be similar for the JL. I personally do not air down unless I'm going to a place like the Outer Banks (where I drive on the beach everyday for a week) but if you're going for the day you are probably fine if you don't air down. If you're really new to it and the Jeep 15-30 psi is probably good.

Don't heavy throttle. If you can't move forward put your Jeep in reverse and backup until you can't. Pull forward, reverse, repeat until you can get enough traction to go. Don't slam on your brakes, let the Jeep stop itself. Stay in other tracks.

Someone mentioned turning off traction control. Traction control sometimes over-corrects your tires and causes you to slow down when you don't want to. I used to do this in my 2010/2007 Jeep's, but in my 2015 something changed and it rides better with traction control ON. I don't have a JLU yet, but on the JK's there are two modes for the traction control. Simply pressing the button turns off parts of the system but holding the button for 10-15 seconds turns the entire system off - not sure how that works on the JL yet. I can't really say for sure but I would leave it on for now and see how it is. I'm thinking the Florida beaches are not like our Delaware/Outer Bank beaches.

Take your time and you'll be fine. Good luck and have fun!

 

[charlie00tj]

I've been beach riding in all of 5 my Jeeps and other 4x4s. I never let air out. I always used 4hi with traction control off. Never had a problem.

 

[crazy90'skid]

I'll chime in because I was in 29 palms for a year and while I didn't have a jeep I had a truck and drove in all of the sand, 4 hi is all you should need, most times I could get away with 2wd fine. The philosophy I've learned is always give yourself a buffer if i get stuck in 2wd i have 4wd, if that doesn't work I have low range, and I can air down if I need to at any point but airing up is a pain. It is highly dependent on weight if you are loading the jeep up air down to increase contact or get wider tires to reduce the pressure you put on the sand. My truck was a 2014 Silverado 2 door short bed with a 5.3 v8 and only a 3.08 rear end, it hauled ass anywhere I took it and didn't get stuck at all. At one point I even tried by being in 2wd and sinking my rear to the frame and it just popped out in 4 hi... I say that because that was just a truck with an ifs and stock tires, if a wrangler couldn't do the same I'd start asking if they are so offroad worthy after all.

 

[rallydefault]

Beach driver here, too. Forget if I posted this in this thread or another one, but I find this handy little rhyme has served me well every time I've been on the sand, including really soft and deep dunes and the more packed stuff toward the water:

4 wheel high and 15 psi

Good luck!

 

[Movenpuck]

If anyone is in the market for portable air, I just picked up a direct connection compressor from Harbor Frt for 65.00 bucks.

 

[MotoMax]

Here on Hatteras Island sand driving is all I do as far as 4 wheeling goes. I have a fairly stock JL Rubicon unlimited and 315 KO2's on stock rims.
I found that turning traction control OFF is a must. Hold the button down for a full 5 seconds until you hear a beep. If you just push the button and the light comes on that won't do it.

And with an 8 speed auto 4WH works fine. With all those gears 4WL is not necessary. Actually I find it awful.

And lastly, because of my stock 7.5" wide wheels with big tires I run a lower air pressure just to get a decent contact patch on the pavement. 29 front and 27 rear. So I don't even bother to air down. And I can still get thru the deep sand on the ramps onto the beach.

So with a JL Wrangler:
TC off. Hold button 5 seconds till you here a beep.
4WH
Air down some optional, a good idea with smaller tires.
Experiment and have fun!

 

[Sand Flea]

If driving on 'stiff' sand, stock tires aired up and 4-Hi should be fine.
However, the sand here is soft and gets even softer the more vehicles churn and fluff it up.
I see trucks buried to the frame all the time because the knuckleheads refuse to air down.

I've used 4-Hi and 4-Lo and have found that for me, 4-Lo works better and traction control is automatically turned off.
Every year here we have vehicles that burn to the ground because the transmissions get so hot the fluid catches fire.
Having the transfer case in 4-Lo keeps your engine revs up and the tranny fluid cooler.

Airing down here is essential. I use Stahl auto-deflators calibrated to 18 to 19 pounds which seems to be the sweet spot on the stock tires.
As someone else mentioned, the smoother the tread, the better off you will be in sand.
Off-road meats with lots of mud tread just did you in deeper. Great for mud, not for sand.

So for me I, air down, select 4-Lo, and go.

 

[cosmokenney]

I'd definitely keep her in 4H instead of 4L. Air down as others have said. And keep the speeds up a little. Momentum helps a lot!
Also consider some max trax as a fall back.

 

[Brian0128]

If driving on 'stiff' sand, stock tires aired up and 4-Hi should be fine.
However, the sand here is soft and gets even softer the more vehicles churn and fluff it up.
I see trucks buried to the frame all the time because the knuckleheads refuse to air down.

I've used 4-Hi and 4-Lo and have found that for me, 4-Lo works better and traction control is automatically turned off.
Every year here we have vehicles that burn to the ground because the transmissions get so hot the fluid catches fire.
Having the transfer case in 4-Lo keeps your engine revs up and the tranny fluid cooler.

Airing down here is essential. I use Stahl auto-deflators calibrated to 18 to 19 pounds which seems to be the sweet spot on the stock tires.
As someone else mentioned, the smoother the tread, the better off you will be in sand.
Off-road meats with lots of mud tread just did you in deeper. Great for mud, not for sand.

So for me I, air down, select 4-Lo, and go.

You and I drive on the same type of sand and have similar experiences. If more people monitored their transmission temperature while driving in soft sand at low speeds in 4Hi they would start using 4Low. The OP is going to be on a beach with a speed limit of 10mph and many of the replies saying to use 4Hi at that low of a speed is going to result in a transmission temperature in the 220+ degree range in soft sand.

When you can carry more speed such as the 35mph speed limit in Corolla Beach, NC then 4Hi works better but you are also moving more air across the radiator and transmission cooler at that speed.

 

[rallydefault]

When you can carry more speed such as the 35mph speed limit in Corolla Beach, NC then 4Hi works better but you are also moving more air across the radiator and transmission cooler at that speed.

The places I go recommend for you to stay in 4H instead of 4L, and that's across deep dunes and near the shore line. To their credit, I hardly see anyone stuck or stranded in these places (all places are run by a nature preservation organization; they have rangers and such that patrol the grounds). Haven't had a problem 4H at 15psi, and I've never had to mess with my traction control either. Speed is always slow, of course. Probably over 10mph but nowhere near 35 mph.

 

[Brian0128]

The places I go recommend for you to stay in 4H instead of 4L, and that's across deep dunes and near the shore line. To their credit, I hardly see anyone stuck or stranded in these places (all places are run by a nature preservation organization; they have rangers and such that patrol the grounds). Haven't had a problem 4H at 15psi, and I've never had to mess with my traction control either. Speed is always slow, of course. Probably over 10mph but nowhere near 35 mph.

At 15psi you would never have an issue. I'm talking more of the posters saying that they don't air down or only air down to 25-30 and run in 4HI.

 

[rallydefault]

At 15psi you would never have an issue. I'm talking more of the posters saying that they don't air down or only air down to 25-30 and run in 4HI.

Oh, gotcha.

 

[aeonixx1001]

Air down your tires and you want to be in 4L in soft, loose sand. You shouldn’t have any issues! Have a good time!

Only problem airing down your tires is how far do you need to go to air them back up. It would probably destroy my tires to run them on blacktop at 12 psi for any length of time.. Just a thought....

 

[aeonixx1001]

At 15psi you would never have an issue. I'm talking more of the posters saying that they don't air down or only air down to 25-30 and run in 4HI.

I can agree with that, maybe 24-30 psi Nothing drastic and it depend on the sand is it a real torque killer like sludge or is is just sand. Sand is funny stuff, Stay fast enough you can stay on top of it and really have a blast. If you get into the OMG sand (thats also getting into everything) then 4 low will keep you moving, but who the hell drives in sand like a Grandma? Sand is for flying........

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