Recovery gear was useless on my D3

[Mattt]

Just a quick complaint, for my NYE trip to Fraser Island, I purchased lots of recovery gear (Maxxtraxx, Compressor, Gauges, Snatch strap, Shackles, Shovel etc) and the car didn't get stuck once. :D

I kept the road tyres at normal road pressure, sand mode, DSC off, off-road height and it just travelled along perfectly happy.

Admittedly I didn't venture north of the Maheno, but it handled everything else fine (was based in Kingfisher Bay so did the usual sights).

The worst track was actually the one from the resort up the hill towards Lake McKenzie, the wooden slats had broken up quite badly and I saw a number of cars have difficulty up the hill, including a HiLux which sheared a rear driveshaft and the wheel fell off.

[Rohan]

Great to hear Mattt!
I'm heading up there in a couple of months, seems I may have wasted my cash too! :)
These cars really do rock!

[mottzone]

That was my experience exactly on Fraser. Even pulled out a bogged Jeep (Road tyre pressure, sand mode) MaxTrax etc still awaiting a trial.

Love my D4

Cheers

[Reads90]

Always the better way to be, have and not use it


I carried a second spare wheel around Australia on our 8 month 45,000k trip and never used it once. Got one puncher and that was in the car park at Bunnings Carins and was slow so drove to the tyre shop and got it fixed. So dragged two spare and never used one. But would still carry it again.

[Tombie]

Yeah... Lets run road pressures and **** the beach and tracks more than necessary...

Not impressed!

[Celtoid]

My Maxxtraxx are still in the original cardboard cover...never used in 3 years of beach drives.

Did break out the snatch-strap on my second Fraser trip though....to recover a Nissan Xtrail...LOL!!!

I wouldn't get too cocky thought....on that Fraser trip the conditions were very good for bogging and even with my tyres at 18psi, had to have a few goes at some of hills. There were cars bogged everywhere.

[~Rich~]

Maxi tracks are a waste of space in my opinion, travel with another car / deflate tyres as needed.
Common sense goes a long way as much as experience!

[discotwinturbo]

Maxtrax a waste of space....you don't go hard enough then :wasntme:

I run low pressures on the beach and have been down to 10 on a few occasions. Have towed an xtrail over a dune at Callcup and without 10psi and 4 maxtrax I would not have been able to pull it over.

Have used maxtrax in mud....and low pressures and full height. Have used maxtrax on salt pans....they are sensational recovery tools.

I have also used them twice with our camper in tow.

I would not go bush without maxtrax, but I do go hard.

Brett....

[~Rich~]

Each their own!

[Bren]

Hey Mattt,
I would have seen you there!! I just got back today after taking my Disco 3 S and camper trailer on the trip for ten days. I have only had this vehicle for three weeks and had a completely different experience to you. Got bogged four times, admittedly with the trailer loaded on three occasions but once north of Waddy Point heading to Sandy Cape. The S model does not have enough clearance and as soon as the ruts got deep I would bottom out. I used a lot of other peoples gear though!! Nothing beats a snatch strap and wait for someone else to come along, if you are not travelling with someone.

I have been to Fraser a couple of times in a Series 2A and a Series 1 Disco and never bogged. A bit disappointing buying this great new Disco and it lets me down. I came home and hugged my Disco 1 and apologised for not taking her!!!!!

Any Disco 3 S drivers out there, is a 2 inch lift enough for the Disco 3?

Cheers
Bren

[Tombie]

Bren

It's about the max for the CVs sake!

You did air down and had DSC off?

[ozscott]

Yeah... Lets run road pressures and **** the beach and tracks more than necessary...

Not impressed!

Agreed. Road pressure tyres are probably wrecking the cordage from Kingfisher.

Also, while I'm happy you are wrapped in your car's ability there will be times when it will be tested and the fact that you ran road pressure and found Fraser fine simply means the sand was harder than it can be. Try that at Indian when they haven't had rain for months but heaps of traffic and you will have a new familiarity with your long handled shovel and snatch strap. Good luck.

Cheers

[Bren]

Cheers Tombie,

I had the the DSC off and the tyres down to about 18 and 20. And then down to about 10 when trying to get out. Catch twenty two though! When I let the tyres down the bottom will bottom out more. I worked out that if I got out of the ruts the Disco would go over everything.

[Mattt]

Yeah... Lets run road pressures and **** the beach and tracks more than necessary...

Not impressed!

Well this was my first time off road, and was following advice from a tour guide who used to work on Fraser - he was the one who told us not to bother reducing the pressures until you felt you needed to.

[scarry]

There was a D3 coiler badly bogged at Ngalea(however it is spelt) rocks last week,maybe Bren?
Possibly did have to stop as another vehicle got bogged in front of it.Both took a while to move.

Ah,fun in the soft stuff:D

[Plane Fixer]

Well this was my first time off road, and was following advice from a tour guide who used to work on Fraser - he was the one who told us not to bother reducing the pressures until you felt you needed to.
You have certainly been given a bum steer from someone who should know better; a sad state of affairs on such a place as Frazer where there are people who need little excuse to ban 4wd on the island.
As a driver who has been big enough to admit your inexperience, now is the time to take a proper 4wd course. Even very experience drivers can learn something from a good instructor and have an enormous amount of fun in doing so.

[discotwinturbo]

Each their own!

Heh Rich,

Did not mean to offend mate. Was tongue in cheek.

I have given them a work out over the years, and find them more useful then the winch I had on my previous 4wd.....except the winch was handy to remove a bend out of the steering rod which the maxtrax can't do.

I don't always travel alone but have done on many occasions so find them just as important as my water. Before I had these I used to cut up branches once I had my tyres way down, and exhausted other options.

Brett....

[Datt]

My two cents if it's worth anything:

Road pressures ruin sand tracks, just like not engaging 4wd does. Some people just don't realise this so need to be educated not humiliated.

Maxtrax are great. Just another tool that's not applicable in every situation but useful in many and sometimes in conjuntion with other tools in your kit. I'd rather lend someone my maxtrax to self recover than set up a snatch strap if I can avoid it.

I'm going to put myself through a 4wd course soon as well. Hopefully when I upgrade to a D4. I'm no expert and I'm no novice, but look forward to learning plenty of stuff.

As I said, just my two cents worth and as it's been said plenty of times before; each to their own.

[gotaflat]

Just a quick complaint, for my NYE trip to Fraser Island, I purchased lots of recovery gear (Maxxtraxx, Compressor, Gauges, Snatch strap, Shackles, Shovel etc) and the car didn't get stuck once. :D

.

Sounds like it was fun. And with recovery gear, as the advice and cliche goes, "Better to have it and not use it, than need it and not have it". ;)

Some good advice on here, I am always learning new and old tricks/points too.

[disco2_dan]

If the tracks rutted out a 2" lift will do nothing as its your diff that's the prob, you need bigger wheels

[scarry]

If the tracks rutted out a 2" lift will do nothing as its your diff that's the prob, you need bigger wheels

Not in a D3/4,the diffs are tucked up out of the way:)

as said by Tombie,a lift stresses out the CV's.

Remember it has independent suspension front & rear;)

[~Rich~]

If the tracks rutted out a 2" lift will do nothing as its your diff that's the prob, you need bigger wheels

Not on an independent suspension vehicle!
Diffs stay in the same position, the angles of the wishbones change as does the clearance.

Bigger tyres also improve clearance.

[PaulGOz]

Hi all,

We just got back from 5 nights on Fraser. Having been to Fraser 3 times before once in the D4 I was surprised at how firm the main tracks were. You could have probably driven a corolla to lake McKenzie. We came across several cars stuck most seemed to be utes with ifs front ends and very little clearance some soft readers also appeared to be getting stuck.

The D4 in off road height should be able to traverse most of the sand tracks o Fraser I was driving the beach at high tide in the soft sand and found I had good flotation but h ad my tyres down to 16psi front and 19 psi rear as a result I also kept speeds down at low tide but felt more comfortable knowing I should be able to get through everything at those pressures.
We also towed an off road camper trailer and were able to drive straight past other vehicles bogged without trailers when the trailer was on the back.

The recovery gear is a smart thing to carry ngalaka rocks was blocked often for 30 mins plus as someone was stuck and no-one even had a strap or maxtrax which would have seen the car cleared in minutes this is very inconvenient to fellow travellers in peak times.

On another note I found the behaviour of the gearbox shift points in sand mode spot on it held gears and shifted down early enough to enable torque to continually be fed to the wheels I drove around with dcs on all the time and had no issues.

[dukemasterpro]

Just a quick complaint, for my NYE trip to Fraser Island, I purchased lots of recovery gear (Maxxtraxx, Compressor, Gauges, Snatch strap, Shackles, Shovel etc) and the car didn't get stuck once. :D

I kept the road tyres at normal road pressure, sand mode, DSC off, off-road height and it just travelled along perfectly happy.

Admittedly I didn't venture north of the Maheno, but it handled everything else fine (was based in Kingfisher Bay so did the usual sights).

The worst track was actually the one from the resort up the hill towards Lake McKenzie, the wooden slats had broken up quite badly and I saw a number of cars have difficulty up the hill, including a HiLux which sheared a rear driveshaft and the wheel fell off.
Same purchases and same success on 2 trips once out of Kingfisher and another day trip from Inskip. Did see others having trouble at Indian Head but the tides on the way back and weather closing in made the decision to go deep for us. Now if only I'd spent the money on side protection for the inland tracks bush-stripes! Still having your own compressor was very handy to air down on the rough stuff.

[AnD3rew]

I also have just come back from a couple of weeks on and off the road in beach sand, dirt, gravel, rocks and a little mud, had the winch, Maxtraxx, shovel (was handy for digging damper hole in the campfire) and all the recovery gear. Never used any of it despite some pretty radical tracks. (I did air down on the sand though and used my compressor to air back up again)

The one time I thought I was going to have to use the winch I got halfway up a wicked hill with a tough tight turn between two huge rocks and a washout and got stuck wheels spinning and complete failure to proceed. I got the kids out and safely out of the way and was just about to go and lay out the stuff In preparation for winching and thought ill just have one more go, did a check of everything and realized I was in grass, gravel snow mode, I had forgotten to put it back into rock crawl:wasntme: I put it into rock crawl and it just drove out with no fuss at all:D

Amazing cars. Permagrin reattached.

[OzAd4x4]

Got bogged in some really powdery sand on Stockton on the weekend - forgot to turn the DSC off after a morning tea stop :mad:

Turned it off and drove straight out - recovery gear not needed other than for the Troopy that I stopped to help out :p


Hi all,

On another note I found the behaviour of the gearbox shift points in sand mode spot on it held gears and shifted down early enough to enable torque to continually be fed to the wheels I drove around with dcs on all the time and had no issues.

[disco2_dan]

Ozad, was the dunes still closed at Stockton? I hear your only allowed on the beach and 100m from the shore line?

[OzAd4x4]

Dunes north of Lavis closed - south open. Beach front all open.... there is still a nice amount of dunes to drive on but none of the big ones that will really test your vehicle and skills.

No where near the usual amount of fun you can have on Stockton but still plenty of places to take some newbies and show them how to get bogged ;)



Ozad, was the dunes still closed at Stockton? I hear your only allowed on the beach and 100m from the shore line?

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I've been thinking about the title and original topic and am thinking a bit of French may improve it.

Recovery gear was sans use on my D3 :cool:

[AndrewM]

Similar story to AnD3ew - camping near Preston Beach before Xmas and SWMBO wanted to fish. Being lazy, I just drove down the beach access track at road pressure in highway mode and parked 10m onto the soft sand. After a swim and catching no fish, tried a u-turn and sank like a stone. Dialed up Sand Mode (so I thought) but it just got worse. So out came the early Xmas present, the Maxtrax, and we were off to races! We popped out of the sand like a cork. SWMBO recovered the Maxtrax whilst I kept going back onto the hard track.

Only then did I realise that Grass Gravel Snow does not work all that well in hot dry soft WA sand. Neither do road tyre pressures ha ha. Not turning DSC off probably didn't help either.

OK, I'm the dummy :D but the Maxtrax are great and will be going on all beach trips.

ps. Sorry Gordon - I forgot everything you taught me, but I remember now! And as my father told me, "Experience is the greatest of teachers, but her fees are extortion!"

[DI5CO]

Well this was my first time off road, and was following advice from a tour guide who used to work on Fraser - he was the one who told us not to bother reducing the pressures until you felt you needed to.

A perfect reminder for all of us to remember that we are all not born with 4WDing skills & not to presume that "mistakes" were done on purpose! There are nicer ways to remind people if they have done something "wrong".
Dave

[weeds]

Well this was my first time off road, and was following advice from a tour guide who used to work on Fraser - he was the one who told us not to bother reducing the pressures until you felt you needed to.


You have certainly been given a bum steer from someone who should know better; a sad state of affairs on such a place as Frazer where there are people who need little excuse to ban 4wd on the island.
As a driver who has been big enough to admit your inexperience, now is the time to take a proper 4wd course. Even very experience drivers can learn something from a good instructor and have an enormous amount of fun in doing so.

no need to rush off and do driver training.......just getting out with others or join a club is also a good way to learn or trial and error.

not lowering your tyre pressures isn't the end of the world esp on fraser, there are far more worse things you can do out there that are dangerous i.e recoveries

[connock]

no need to rush off and do driver training.......just getting out with others or join a club is also a good way to learn or trial and error.

Dead right just go and do it. A bunch of mates that wwill pay you out when you make mistakes is how I learn,t, good fun:D

not lowering your tyre pressures isn't the end of the world esp on fraser, there are far more worse things you can do out there that are dangerous i.e recoveries

Herhaps not so much as on beaches but in national parks etc chopping up tracks gets them closed. We dont want to give them any reason to do that do we.

I had the misfortune of listening to a argument between nissan car club from Vic in Ngarkat Conservation Park and the local ranger regarding letting their tyres down and they were refusing to do so and ended up taking the rangers details just in case they did tyre damage, they said they would send him the bill.
Well they were nissan drivers after all :D

[Rohan]

Well, just got of Fraser after a week of fun on the beach & tracks.
Dropped the D697's to about 30 psi (cold) & they worked very well.
Nearly got bogged twice (once me, once SWMBO), both times we were getting off a narrow track to let someone else through, no real dramas, sand mode, low range, dsc off and drove out both times. I have Gordon's rods (!) installed & they were very handy on the rutted tracks and rocky sections, some jealous looks as we went up and cleared with ease :)
Recovery gear stayed packed but it was nice to know it's there!

[~Rich~]

Well, just got of Fraser after a week of fun on the beach & tracks.
Dropped the D697's to about 30 psi (cold) & they worked very well.
Nearly got bogged twice (once me, once SWMBO), both times we were getting off a narrow track to let someone else through, no real dramas, sand mode, low range, dsc off and drove out both times.

To help conserve the islands tracks and to make driving even easier I would of started off with 24psi at the most. Then dropped even further if required, if carrying a load I'd recommend 2 / 3lb lower on the front.

[Rohan]

To help conserve the islands tracks and to make driving even easier I would of started off with 24psi at the most. Then dropped even further if required, if carrying a load I'd recommend 2 / 3lb lower on the front.

Really? 24 is about the lowest I'll go!
In the high country had to drop to about 18 which just about folded the sidewall in half! 30 psi baggs out nicely while still keeping the rim off the ground, every tyre is probably a bit different though.

[~Rich~]

Big Red, 14lbs front 16lbs rear. ;)
Many others vehicles turned up while we where there, no one else made it up first go. They all backed down and lowered pressures and still had multiple attempts.

Discovery 3 up & over Big Red #2 The Simpson Desert - YouTube (http://youtu.be/QyF46v9PXP8)

Yes you are right tyres are different but in my 30yrs of 4wding I've never had a tyre that performed well on sand at 30psi.

[scarry]

Well i got mine bogged badly at Moreton recently:(
Long handled shovel,SWMBO and myself,lots of digging,no one around to help,eventually got her out.Geez we were stuffed,good exercise....was getting dark as well.

Driver error,forgot to turn off DSC,had it in sand mode but the suspension had lowered as we were going over 50k before we hit the soft stuff.
Tyres were already at 20psi,thought about dropping them lower,but decided against it.

Never had the D2 that badly bogged ever and did a lot of sand driving over the years,often fully loaded with the kids and heaps of gear.

With the D4 you have to be so careful to check,did i turn DSC off,is it in sand mode,what suspension height are we at?

It is a pain the DSC and TR mode reset once you turn the car off and on,but i suppose this is for safety.

With the D2,lower the tyres make sure CDL is in and away you go.....no worries.


Yes i know,LLams or Gordons rods would have been helpful...onto the wish list!

[101RRS]

Really? 24 is about the lowest I'll go!
In the high country had to drop to about 18 which just about folded the sidewall in half!

24 would be way to high in some circumstances - and too high at places like Stockton.

I have run my 18s on my RRS at 10 psi - albiet carefully but worked OK.

Garry

[discotwinturbo]

24 would be way to high in some circumstances - and too high at places like Stockton.

I have run my 18s on my RRS at 10 psi - albiet carefully but worked OK.

Garry

I am with Garry.

Our sand must be much softer over here in WA. Even factory tyres I had to go down to 12psi in spots. With my 285/60-18 on GOE rims, my starting point is 18 psi, but if it looks very soft I will start at 15psi or less depending on how others are going and will go as low as 10 (and have) taking it carefully (that said on some of our bigger dunes I might be doing 60kph on those pressures to get up and over).

Brett.....

[Tombie]

Spot on Brett.

[Rohan]

I am with Garry.

Our sand must be much softer over here in WA. Even factory tyres I had to go down to 12psi in spots. With my 285/60-18 on GOE rims, my starting point is 18 psi, but if it looks very soft I will start at 15psi or less depending on how others are going and will go as low as 10 (and have) taking it carefully (that said on some of our bigger dunes I might be doing 60kph on those pressures to get up and over).

Brett.....

Agreed for the soft stuff, but Fraser hard sand beaches are a bit different, was actually considering going up a few pounds!
The hard based and graded tracks are also a lot firmer than big red or Stockton dunes, mainly to cater for all the rental troopies running highway pressures!

[BMKal]

I am with Garry.

Our sand must be much softer over here in WA. Even factory tyres I had to go down to 12psi in spots. With my 285/60-18 on GOE rims, my starting point is 18 psi, but if it looks very soft I will start at 15psi or less depending on how others are going and will go as low as 10 (and have) taking it carefully (that said on some of our bigger dunes I might be doing 60kph on those pressures to get up and over).

Brett.....

Yep - been stated on many occasions that the sand is very different over here. Much easier to have problems, especially when it's hot & dry. I've still only got the original road tyres on mine, but run about the same pressures that you do on sand, and have on many occasions gone places where I've driven around other vehicles which have become stuck because they didn't lower their tyre pressures.

Next things on the shopping list for me will be a set of Gordon's rods (there's been a couple of times where I could have used them already) and probably a set of Maxtrax or similar. Haven't had to use the snatch strap with the D4 yet (though I did use it a few times with the D2 - mostly to recover Nissotas) - but the compressor has had a good workout on plenty of occasions. :D

Getting the spare wheel out from under the rear and fitting the long range tank has helped in sand too. The tank is not as low as the spare wheel was, and I've had at least one occasion in sand where it was dragging it's bum in the sand when the spare wheel was under there.

Pretty sure I've seen yours a couple of times a while back parked on Terrace Road in the city. If not yours, then one very similar (the white bar on the front is what I've noticed most). There's often also a yellow D90 with a large Landrover logo on the doors parked close to the same spot. I'm in Adelaide Tce near the Hyatt - but parked under the building when I'm there.

[~Rich~]

24 would be way to high in some circumstances - and too high at places like Stockton.

I have run my 18s on my RRS at 10 psi - albiet carefully but worked OK.

Garry

I totally agree Garry, I too have run tyres at 10psi in the dunes at Stockton beach.

As many have said it all depends on where you are.

I said 24 for the highest starting point I'd use in sand, this includes desert sand trips. If the sand was wet from rain I'd probably start at this pressure, each day can be different.

The point I was trying to make re Rohan on Frazer is that too many 4wd's run tyres at too high a pressure on sand and many are reluctant to reduce them. This creates diagionally opposed holes quite often in the softer sections. This is quite apparent at busier times on the French Line & QAA line on the side of a dune with the most traffic.
Vehicles towing camper trailers are quite often the worst culprits.

[discotwinturbo]

Pretty sure I've seen yours a couple of times a while back parked on Terrace Road in the city. If not yours, then one very similar (the white bar on the front is what I've noticed most). There's often also a yellow D90 with a large Landrover logo on the doors parked close to the same spot. I'm in Adelaide Tce near the Hyatt - but parked under the building when I'm there.

G'day BMKal,

Not mine. I live in Orange Grove below Lesmurdie. We have about 5 Fuji white D4's in the area, only two with bars, one of which (who is a forum member Heavy Duty) has just had his installed.

I have seen the yellow D90 you have mentioned.

I did get a waive from another Fuji white D4 with a white bar a few days ago around the city.

Brett...

[101RRS]

The point I was trying to make re Rohan on Frazer is that too many 4wd's run tyres at too high a pressure on sand and many are reluctant to reduce them. This creates diagionally opposed holes quite often in the softer sections.

I agree - Fraser has variable sand conditions and 30psi is too high overall - might be Ok on the main east coast beaches but will rip up the tracks when getting off and on the beaches and if a hot day trying to get through the soft sand at the back of the headland (can't remember if Indian or Waddi) would almost be impossible. Unless you want to be changing tyres pressures all day long it is better to go lower and keep to the speed limits on the main beaches.

I have not had my RRS on Stockton so have not run at 10psi there - been there in other vehicles though - I have run the old 60 aspect ratio wranglers at 10 psi in boggy alpine areas where all was OK but needed to go back up to about 18 in harder rocky areas.

Everyone - including me, obviously has their own views on correct tyre pressures - I tend to run lower tyre pressures compared to others on the highway and leave them at that when I go offroad until the point comes that they do need to go down and then lower them to the minimum expected and leave them there - I hate lowering, then pumping back up time after time.

Garry

Garry

[Mattt]

What's the difference between the GOE rods and IIDTool?

[sheerluck]

What's the difference between the GOE rods and IIDTool?

The GOE rods are a suspension component add on to increase the height. An IIDTool is an electronic diagnostic and configuration tool.

[grumpa]

Hi
My 3S has a 2" lift; never had any problems getting stuck!

[discotwinturbo]

Hi
My 3S has a 2" lift; never had any problems getting stuck!

That's funny..."never had any problems getting stuck"...so it's easy to get stuck in a D3 coiler ? Lol

Brett....