Beach 4WDing Secrets REVEALED! How to avoid getting bogged on the sand!

g'day legends I'm Brenno and I'm back again with  another tips and techniques video to get you   camping and for driving better than ever before  in a previous life I was the editor of 4WD Action   magazine and what that means is that I've been  lucky enough to camp and full drive my way around   every single part of Australia and I want to share  with you the secrets and tricks that I've learned   along the way that will make your next off-road  adventure the best one ever so this time around   it is a beautiful sunny day and we're here on  the beach to do a bit of sand driving I'm gonna   let you in on the secrets to avoid getting  bogged when you hit the beach and make sure   that your next feature venture is hassle-free and  stress-free I reckon there is not much better than   4WDriving on a sunny day on a beautiful beach and  I really want to make sure that you all enjoy it   too so in this video we'll first start off talking  about the techniques and the theory behind beach   driving then we'll hit the sand and we'll put it  into practice I'll show you some cracking tips   to make sure you don't get bogged but if you do  don't sweat it because I'll show you how to get   out whether you're by yourself or with a mate this  right here is your glovebox guide to beach driving now before we hit the beach let's talk and  gear for a minute and don't sweat if all of   this stuff looks expensive because the reality  is the entire cost of all this stuff is about   the same price as one night at a dodgy motel up  the road not a whole lot so what do you need to   go Beach 4 wheel driving first up quickie tyre  deflator so cracking better gear cost about the   same as a 6-pack let you drop your tyres really  quickly and really accurately and it is vital for   making sure you don't get bogged out on the dunes  now if you don't carry anything else in the back   of your 4 wheel drive when you go beach driving  promise me you'll carry this the humble snatch   strap this one here is an eight ton Hercules snap  strap and I've got a couple of rated bow shackles   too even if you go full driving by yourself if  you do get bogged someone's probably going to   come along eventually and if you've got your  own recovery gear you'll have a way of getting   out and it's always good practice to use your  own recovery gear too next worth its absolute   weight in gold out in the beach the mighty long  handled shovel now going to show you a couple of   tricks of how to use this really effectively very  soon and finally at the end of the day you've got   to pump your tyres back up before you hit the  blacktop and for that a 12 volt air compressor   now this right here is the thumper max mark -  two dead set speed demon I absolutely love mine alright so the number one rule to prevent  getting stuck when you're out on the sand   is to lower your tire pressures now just use more  quickie tie deflator to drop these tires down to   16 psi that's where you want to be when you're  out on the beach you want to know more about   tire pressures and the effect that they have  on 4 wheel drive performance click that link   in the top right corner where I go into tyre  pressures in detail now the other thing to be   aware of is tide times now there are four tides  every single 24-hour period to low to high what   you want to aim to do is hit the beach about two  hours before dead low tide that way the waters   on the run out you've got as much wide firm  hard sand as possible and you've got around   about a four-hour period until that sand starts  disappearing and the water keeps coming back up   again driving on low hard packs and at low tide is  way easier than high tides super soft sand righto   so one more thing just before we hit the beach  let's talk gear selection now if you're in a   four wheel drive that has selectable two wheel  drive high range and low range what you want   to be is in four-wheel drive high range that  gives you the best combination between wheel   speed and keeping the revs as low as possible  you're in a full time full driver or SUV high   range again but if you have us in a diff lock  hit that button it'll lock the front and rear   axles together you can do low range if you need  to if you're really struggling that high range   is ideal and of course if you've got manual  locking hubs and don't forget to lock them in now how good is this I dead set love beach  four-wheel driving a massive part of when   you're out on the beach here is mechanical  sympathy it's about making sure that you   look after your vehicle so you don't cook it  on any day but especially on hot days and it's   all about finding that sweet spot that balance  between getting a forward drive to go where you   want it to go and not pushing it too hard now a  big trick to sand driving is about getting your   vehicle to move as efficiently as possible whilst  using as little throttle input as possible watch   what happens when I put my foot to the floor  when I take off all that does is walk down   that's just we will spinning that's not what you  want now I'll come to a stop watch what happens   when I gently ease onto the throttle that is  so much easier that is night and day so busy   beaches do get chopped up and deep ruts like  this on busy beaches make four wheel driving   really tricky now the trick here is to find  a well-defined set of ruts and stay in them   because the sands already compacted compressed  within the ruts much easier if you're fully dry   to follow those tracks a lot of the time you  probably won't have much choice anyway your   wheels are going to want a tram track you're  gonna stay in the ruts you know we've talked   about how to get going and how to keep going  when you're four-wheel driving now let's talk   about how to stop like your steering and your  throttle inputs your braking in which should   be gentle and gradual instead of jumping on the  brakes and screeching to a stop when you want to   pull up just slip the gearbox in the neutral  and let the sand do the work just watch the   difference that rolling gently to a stop makes  as opposed to jumping on the brakes and skidding   to a stop and that just makes it so much easier  to take off again when you're ready to get going so the hardpacked sand that's down near the  water line is definitely easier to drive on   than the soft stuff up the beach a little  bit but if you find yourself bogging down   a little bit that's because deceptively dry  sin can actually hide water underneath it if   that happens and you're look in your mirrors  and you see water in those wheel ruts behind   you don't panic just gently turn away from the  water just get yourself up onto the drier sand want to have a crack at a bit of dune driving away  from the beachfront the number-one rule here is to   only ever drive straight up or down the dune never  on a cross angle that risks rolling the vehicle   over you can safely drive down an almost sheer  dune by keeping the nose pointed straight down   and using only the slightest bit of throttle  to keep you just ahead of the sand that you're   bringing down with you remember that golden  rule straight up straight down never sideways OK so something that's not only common courtesy  but actually an Australian Road rule is to make   sure you're past on the left so if you see  an oncoming car just flick your blinker on   the left so that he knows your passing and  left "thanks champ" and that you know that   he's passing left and if he's coming towards  you and he puts his blinker on first just   give him a quick left hand blinker as a bit of  acknowledgement and because Road rules apply all   beaches do have speed limits whether it's sign  posted or not take it easy always slow right   down around people and leave those coldies  in the fridge until you get back to camp all right so what happens when it all  goes wrong and you get stuck look don't   sweat it because everyone gets bogged  on the beach at some time but there's   a massive difference between being stuck  just a little bit and being bogged to your   chassis rails for hours and the difference  is making sure that when you do lose a bit   of momentum the first thing you do is hop  out and have a look at what's going on now that is pretty stuck but crazily enough that's  actually not too bogged there's a big difference   between stopping when you first lose momentum  or keeping going keeping those wheels spinning   and just turning your day so much worse now if  you have a bit of a look it's pretty obvious to   see why we're stuck here you just got a build  up of sand underneath the suspension under the   tyres under around the tires so the first thing  I'm gonna do here before I do anything else is   get the shovel out so what we're gonna do here  with the long handled shovel is just get into   the digging now what you want to do is create  a bit of a ramp just in front and behind each   of the tires clear away a bunch of sand and that  way the tires not trying to climb up a little hill   it's got a gentle slope for it to drive forwards  or reverse backwards now with those little ramps   dug in front and behind all four tires what I'm  going to do is start the vehicle and gently do   it back forwards back forwards rocking motion  see if I can walk myself out of where I'm stuck well that definitely didn't work look sometimes  it doesn't matter how much you dig you need a   snatch recovery or you're not going anywhere  especially if you're like where I am right now   and you're bogged to your chasis rails luckily  I've got a mate that I prepared earlier "hey   Mitcho come give us a hand champ" and we're  going to show you how to do an effective snatch   recovery on the beach now situations like this  where you seriously bogged on the beach that's   where the mighty Hercules snaps trap comes into  play think of this like a giant rubber band under   tension where the recovering vehicle drives away  this thing actually stretches up to 20% when it   reaches its limit of stretch it recoils and then  you get the power of not only the towing vehicle   towing you but the strap recoiling to spring  you free let me show you the right and the   wrong ways to use this firstly when you attach  a snap trap to your vehicle make sure you only   ever do it via proper heavy-duty rated recovery  points now these are almost always bolted to the   chassis rail not tack welders like those little  eyelets that they use for tying vehicles downwind   they're shipping them okay so please promise me  there's one thing that you will never do when   you're out on the beach and you're for driving  don't ever drop the end of a snap strap over a   tow ball tow balls are not designed to withstand  the kind of shear forces that snatch recoveries   generate they have been known to snap and when  they snap the snap trap is after such insane   tension that couple of kilos of metal ball gets  flung at a million miles an hour and go through   a windscreen go through a back window people sadly  have been killed this way it's incredibly tragic   I'm attaching my snap strap to the tow bar the  right way with my adventure Kings hitch receiver   this ultra strong bit of gear simply attaches  with the hitch pin and has a rated bow shackle   to turn your tow bar into a proper recovery  point but in a pinch you can remove the tow   ball completely slide the snap strap into the  tow bar and secure it with a pin that's still   safer than putting the snap strap over the  toe ball and if you've got one handy a winch   dampener or even an old jumper is a vital  bit of safety gear drop it over about the   middle of this snap strap so something does break  it'll arrest whatever's flying through the air OK first let's show you the wrong way to do  it notice how Mitch has driven to the end of   the strap so the tensions already been taken up  this means there's no elasticity available and   the snap straps acting like a tow strap with  no extra advantage when trying to recover the   bog vehicle now let's show you the right way to  do it Mitch is backing up so he's about half a   car length away from me as he takes off you'll  give it just a little bit when all the straps   tension is taken up and it's as stretch as far  as it can it will recoil and add extra energy   to pull me free and one last final thing as the  tow your vehicle takes off the bog vehicle should   feed gentle acceleration on at the same time and  look at that we're free that is one successful   snatch recovery and one last piece of advice  don't sweat it if you haven't got the biggest   baddest for drive out there because when you're  on the beach stock standard vehicles can actually   perform just as well as highly modified ones just  keep your tyre deflater, your air compressor,   your snap strapping shackles and of course your  long handled shovel with you and you'll have a   blast legends for more tips tricks and techniques  to become four wheel Drive guru make sure you hit   the subscribe button and don't forget you can  stay in touch with 4-wheel Drive Supercenter   on our Facebook page our Instagram our  twitter and at www.4WDSupacenter.com.au

Channel: 4WD Supacentre

Views: 567,642

Keywords: air compressors, awnings, awning tents, camping gear, exhausts, led light bars, Titan rear drawers, recovery gear, 4wd action, 4x4, 4wd, camping tents, beach driving, beach 4WDing, beach 4WD, sand driving, sand 4x4, 4x4 beach, how to drive on sand, beach 4x4ing, dune 4WDing

Id: HJdaZd9WX3Y

Length: 12min 30sec (750 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 04 2019