We went to Dumont Dunes near Death Valley this weekend. After unhooking the toyhauler I screwed in my brand new Staun Tyre deflators and aired the Procomp All terrains down to 25PSI. Saturday was the 5th annual clean up day and I wanted to be able to go anywhere there was trash. We took a test drive out to Little Dumont. I had never driven in sand so I was nervous but pretty soon we were out on the dunes! The lockers and tires worked great. At 25 PSI the tires didn't have too much of a bulge, possibly 20PSI would work better.

For the trash pickup I hooked up my buddy's 16' open trailer and we went back to Little Dumont. We found an old boiler in a bunch of barbed wire. We won us first place for largest item and a trophy. I pulled the trailer over a couple dunes! There are some pictures in my gallery called Dumont Dunes.
Michael

 

Yeah Riko. thats what i'm talkin about. Have you hauled your toy hauler out into the sand yet?? drop your tires to 15-20 psi and that X is almost unstoppable even with the hauler on board. do it all the time at Winchester bay and Florence got to post some pics. got to get down to Dumont and Glamis someday. still working on the trailer mod pics my X is the same color as yours Toreador Red. love it

 

I have aired down to 6psi with my F250 at the Oceano dunes. Never had a problem going that low. If you ever get stuck with 20-25psi dont be affriad to go lower it helps a ton. I have some picks of my X and F250 out at Oceano in my Profile.

 

I was going to say the same thing about taking t he tire pressure much lower. In sand or deep snow, you need to air down into the mid teens at least to make a really big difference. Just don't forget to air back up when you get back on the road. I wouldn't travel a mile on the asphault when I'm down at 10 - 12 psi.

 

I have pulled into the sand at 20 psi late summer when the sands been worked by previous vehicles and you can feel it going soft as you first get stuck stop drop the pressure 5 psi to 15 and walk right out no problem just don't dig youself in before you air down some more . okay I know why not air down to 15 to begin with ? It takes 30-45 min to air back up when its time to leave, air down trailer too.

 

I also agree with the air pressure. I am a Glamis attendee. I visit Glamis about a dozen times a year. When we Use the EX for toy hauler duty I usually drive in far enough to make the truck struggle with full tire pressure. That is usually where we camp, about as far as we can get with full tire pressure. Then I level, and disconnect etc, etc. The wife loves to cruise her truck, so I air her down to 12 psi, and she goes, and goes. It has been stuck a few times, and they get heavy, real heavy to remove. If you get stuck, stay off of the gas, and try not to bury it, usually only makes it really tough for the next guy to help.
With the tires aired way down, the trailer moves easliy when it comes time to go home. I do it that way for a little insurance, and ease of mind to know I can get the trailer out.
Nice pics by the way, and good job with the clean up efforts, way to go..

 

I love those pictures. Did you ever slip at all? Also did you have to use 4x4 alot?

 

All;
Thanks for the replies! I was nervous going in so I had it in 4x4 with the lockers engaged. My buddy was in a 34' Bounder towing a 16' trailer with a sand buggy and quad. It was dark and we got in farther than we planned and he got stuck, got off the gas and didn't bury it. I had the Stauns so we aired the duals and the front tires down to 30PSI. He drove it right out at that point. I was in the wrong position with the Toyhauler and was able to start it up and go anywhere even before airing down.

The next morning is when I drove around at 25PSI. I see now that it makes sense to go to 25PSI and if you get stuck drop to a lower pressure. We had a decent air compressor on the trailer with the sand buggy so airing up wasn't a problem.

After I got some time in the sand I was able to take it out of 4x4 and still go without a problem. I wasn't in the dunes at that point though.

The dunes clean up is a blast. We take the kids with us and put them on the trailer. It becomes a competition among them to see who can get the most trash.

MadMedic, great pictures in the dunes! I didn't realize the SDs and EXs could do that. I wish I would have asked about driving in the dunes BEFORE I went!
Michael

 

I am a glamis rat my self, and my excursion has seen a whole lot of sand dunes including climbing oldsmobile to the very top!

the cleaning up of the dunes is very much appreciated! thanks!

 

I Eat Hybrids,
Sorry, I forgot that you asked about slipping. I really didn't have any wheel spin. I couldn't believe it when I was going UP a dune but it just kept on pulling. When I had the trailer I was really worried (it was pretty much empty though) but it went right up and over. I should have taken a picture of the tracks it was leaving. They looked very similar to the TRX400 quad that was with us!

As a side note, I had a 28 year old man from Germany with me. He had never seen a desert or ridden a quad. It was about 100 degrees on Friday and we just about broke him! A cold shower, some water and an hour nap put him back on his feet. He got right back on the quad and hit it again. He had a blast. On the trip home he said "In Europe everybody hates George Bush, now I see what he is fighting for. America is a place of freedom. Not many people in Germany would fight for Germany." We stopped by a Walmart for snacks and he bought an American Flag. He said he would proudly display it at his house in Germany. As I dropped him off at the airport he said "It is a sad day as I have to leave America."

 

rikosintie, thats good that you didnt have any problems. I always wanted to know how a 2wd does in sand dunes and mud.

 

AMEN rikosintie, Thanks also for the clean-up! Took the Ex out to Pismo when I had the Goodyear MTR's, dropped to 25, had a blast, left it in 2wd until I got into deep dry stuff, never had to go lower. Pulled the Toyhauler out with my 99 F-250 CC 4x, like 75F350 said, I went till she slowed/stopped with full 50 psi, parked, dropped to 20 and drove out. Big thing I found through 6 yrs in the Marines as a Vehicle Recovery Mechanic (3523,wrecker driver, master of the stuck and broken) @ North Carolina, California AND the (bigsandboxweshouldhaveleveledandtakeneverything) Saudi, that if you start to spin STOP, to many guys hammer down and start on their way to china. You can safely air down to 5psi and go slow and drive out, big thing when you are aired down, no sharp turns!! slow steady and easy, mud, mud is when you hammer down baby!

 

This forum is great! I will definitely use the "Drive in until it starts to bog, unhook, air down and have fun approach" the next time. I did read that if you start to spin STOP before I went. My buddy did just that in his motorhome and it saved us a long night of digging.

Pickupmanx2, good to have you home! I hope you can share some of your knowledge with us.
Michael

 

Reviving an old thread!

We are a big Glamis family, and just sold our sandrail over the summer. We still plan to make a trip or two to hang out with friends and family. So our Excursion is going to be our "duner". Really, we will mostly be on the sand highway, so rolling whoops and maybe some of the fairly easy trails around Olds, and the Drags. I may get the bright idea to see how it does climbing stuff, mainly Comp and Olds. Its a 2000 V10 4x4, has a 6" lift, and 35x12.5s tires, but other than that its stock, even the gears. What should I expect out of it if I do make a run up Olds? Everytime I hear or see an excursion climbing it, its a diesel.

 

The Ex might surprise you with how it behaves. I could make it up sand dunes my buddy in his 5.4L F150 4x4 couldn't.

Check out the SoCal chapter located way down the forum page in the Regional Chapters section and do a quick search using "Pismo" as your term and you'll find a few get-together threads with pictures. Sean had his V10 powered Ex cruising on the sand during those good times.

Stewart