tyres in deep sand
 

Has anyone found the yanking steering from left to right technique when pushing though deep soft sand works?

Some local drivers do it - I always forget to try probably because at the time it feels like it will make things worse.

The theory is it clears sand away from in front of the tyre which gets in the way - or so I've been told

Thats a new one on me , the idea with sand is to try and "float" over top of it lower tyre pressures to increase footprint and drop ground pressure , swing wheel about will just disturb sand more and dig you in . When stopping on sand try and do so gently so not to build up wedge in front of tyres which will require increased power to push thru/over HTSH

Mud yes, snow yes, sand no.
Heard about it, tried it, but never found there to be an appreciable advantage from it on sand. Maybe I wasn't near enough getting stuck each time I tried.

Hi

Have tried it in deep sand in my iveco 4x4 but i only seem to remember when i know i need all the help i can get, so will try anything,it seems to have helped but didn`t want to go back though the same sand just to see if it didnt help.

Kevin

tyres
 

Not sure chris. Personally have never actually got "stuck" in sand, touch wood.
However, the first time we planted tyres on Erg Chebbi. My bro in a disco, road tyres, me in defender 110 with BFG mud terrain. He grounded within 6ft, (we had both read that road tyres should out perform off road tyres.) Anyways, he dug out, delflated and never had another problem, i didnt need to even deflate, although i did later just to see effect (even better traction) and never experienced any problems.

Sure, I tried that technique several times. It worked fine when I was really stuck is powder sand and even deflating tires below 1 bar did not seem to help. I just switched to low gear in my LC80, turn the wheels a little bit from right to left and did not exaggerate with acceleration. Libyans did it almost every time they were stuck, looking confused when being offered kinetic rope :eek3:.

Cheers

There are different types of sand hard dew filled morning sand , soft midday hot sand, bulldust, big bowls of talc, and each deserves a separate technique. There are occasions when I have found it worked, mainly when in deep ruts to try and catch the edge, works better in half dried clay, but I'm not a fan in sand as momentum is god and playing with the wheel only detracts from that.
Remember the adage
" An inch of momentum is worth a ton of traction"

True, if one has momentum better not waste it with yanking its steering. I thought more about trying to gain some momentum after being completely bogged in soft sand. Also true, depends on type of the sand. It will probably not work in a sort of whitish powder sands (talc?), in that dreadful terrain only maintaining momentum seems to work. Lately, going through a pit of such talc, all 220 hp of a FZJ80 was enough to make some 25 km/h

For sand driving 2nd or 3rd gear in low range. keep the revs up.

Could you please define deep sand? How can you tell its not just that easy shallow stuff? ;)

I recently tried driving up a dune slowly till it just about stopped (having read this thread and wondered :)) She moved forward about 20mm every few seconds. Then tried steering left and right, and that same slow movement continued, so no different.

I thought that "technique" was for mud tyres in ruts when there is a better firmer surface on the rut sides than the squishy mush in the rut bottom? I haven't driven much on sand but can you get a firm enough crust on the sides to get more grip with lock applied?

.. define deep sand? How can you tell its not just that easy shallow stuff?

It's not so much deep sand as soft sand into which you can sink deeply - finer round grains which dont lock together as well as less weathered, angular grains to support a tyre (that's one PoV).
In a desert there are various ways of reading it but experience is best - like knowing the the slip face of a big dune is not ascendable and a windward face may not be either in some places (see 01.35 on this vid), creek beds will have finer alluvial sand (and less room to manoeuvre), or just go on the appearance of other tracks. But even on a flat trackless sand sheet you can get caught in an undetectable soft patch quicker than you can react.

... tried steering left and right, and that same slow movement continued, so no different.

Now we know then, but 20mm every few seconds does sound like the vehicle was slowly sinking.

I thought that "technique" was for mud tyres in ruts when there is a better firmer surface on the rut sides than the squishy mush in the rut bottom?

Yes, that's what I thought - theory is once the flat of the tread is all clogged up, the side lugs of an MT tyre bite into the rut sides and get a little traction. Or so I've read.

... can you get a firm enough crust on the sides to get more grip with lock applied?

With a couple of rare exceptions (less arid regions; true feche-feche) in my experience there is no discernible 'crust' on desert sand that makes any difference to driving. But you often hear talk of it.

Chris
"In a desert there are various ways of reading it but experience is best - like knowing the the slip face of a big dune is not ascendable and a windward face may not be either in some places"

You piqued a thought Chris, at what I find catches people out driving on sand. Is that it's not so much as recognizing the type of sands, an important knowledge that may be, but that the angle at which you attack. In sand dunes horizon level is lost so we get caught out thinking that what looks flat is in fact 30 degs. or more.

I love sand driving its the best ,if you think its hard, its not. Just a few techniques learned.

Crusty tales
 

Hi all,

I've only experienced a crust on sand after it's been wet
a) after rain
b) early in the morning if there's been dew
c) in sandy oueds when the river's drying up

In each case the crust was pretty friable and didn't offer any discernable extra traction.

If the sand is covered in small ripples (less than 25mm apart) it's generally hard enough to drive on. Wider ripples mean softer sand. No ripples can mean very soft - or rock hard, no-one said it was easy!

Happy trails,

Jojo

I haven't tried 'yanking' the steering, but I have found that steering side to side in a fairly wide arc fairly quickly does help sometimes, particularly when I've been driving on beaches with deep soft sand.
I haven't analysed why, but it may help transfer traction from wheel to wheel (across a Land rover diff), and maybe clear sand.

My best instruction in sand driving (and no doubt I'm not teaching many on here anything new, but useful for some) was from a Libyan desert guide who just uses gravity - if you're stuck on even the slightest hint of an angle in sand, steer down hill, and always come to a halt (just prior to giving up and getting stuck, or just parking) with the wheels pointing downhill. In fact, just steering down hill when you're about to bog down in sand tends to keep you going and get your momentum back again. The trick when going uphill is to know when to abort, circle back downhill and take another run.

Hi guys,

I've never considered yanking the steering wheel as a way out of trouble, because, as twobob said, momentum is all that matters, so why waste it!

In the Gilf I watched our local driver use an unorthodox way of getting unstuck in soft sand. Rather than shoveling away sand in front of the wheels, he would put more sand ahead of the front tyres and very, very cautiosly spin the wheels to make the truck climb on top of it. I must admit quite often it did work pretty well. By making the front weels climb a bit higher, more clearance was created under the chassis, reducing drag on the axles burried in sand.

Getting bogged down while going uphill is not a problem, that is until your front wheels are over the crest but the rear ones are still on the upward slope. It's a common mistake when the driver becames too cautions following a charge up a dune ending in a spectacular jump. Getting down in reverse and taking a longer run usually solves the problem.

The worst scenario I can think of is approaching a dune in the wrong place, only to find that the descent leads to a deep sand bowl. No amount of yanking will help! :oops2: