D4 on Big Red

[BobD]

Climbing Big Red north track in early May 2016


Video didn't work so since I can't delete the message I have put a couple of pretty poor photos up.

[Tombie]

?????

[matti4556]

Why for no flag on the Landcruiser? :o

[scomac]

Why for no flag on the Landcruiser? :o

Because he does not want to stand out when stuck half way up Big Red !:p

[BobD]

I didn't say in this post that my D4 flew up and over the top with me backing off at the top. No one else on the day could get anywhere near the top. The closest was a Prado who thought he would copy my line and stopped about 10 m from the top where it started to get really soft.


I will try to post a video when I get an MP4 version from the Landcruiser driver with no flag who is my son's mate. We were travelling in a convoy of three cars on a five week 13,000km trip from Perth to Perth via Central Australia, Gulf of Carpentaria, Darwin and the Kimberley.


We didn't do the Simpson, just went for about 10 minutes into the Desert from Big Red and back but I did think he had a flag until I saw these photos.

[ramblingboy42]

There's no requirement for every vehicle in a convoy to have a flag.

[ramblingboy42]

BobD , were you doing e/w or w/e crossing?

On the w/e approach there have been up to 4 different tracks each one becoming harder as you go north.

Last year when I drove big red from the east there was only one track available which was difficult at the time as a Patrol had ploughed it's way up not long before me.

There had been a fair amount of wind erosion and several mtrs had gone off the top.....a fairly steep knoll left on the southern end of about 4-5mtrs proved impossible to top.....but it changes and this was "pre season".

[BobD]

That was the west to east track at the northen end. The south track and the east to west tracks were easy and no need for speed, just like all the sand hills we crossed on our short trip into the desert. It amazes me that people continue to dig up these hills when all of the cars in our convoy just walked over the hills with no speed or wheel spin required. I don't know how they make it so difficult. The harder tracks up Big Red are a bit different, however!

[scarry]

Two years ago,we got there late in the arvo,after a crossing from the west.

There were two guys with a late model LC tray back each,they had spent most of the day trying to get up the hardest track.One had lowered his tyres to 12 psi,still couldn't get up.

The fully loaded D4 shot up like a walk in the park.I did take a long run up,and had to back off at the top as I was flying.They were amazed.

When we left the top I forgot to turn off the DSC.:mad: as I restarted the D4 and it bogged down.We were lucky to get going without a bit of help from the long handled shovel.Rock crawl,DSC off,a bit more body height and it scrambled out.:D with the Tojo owners looking on:D

[BobD]

We had quite a crowd watching and all the Toyotas wanted to have a go after seeing me do it. Before we got there no one was even game to go down that track as it looked so steep. I did about 6 runs to show it wasn't a fluke and to show off the D4 a bit but no one else could get anywhere on it.


I did it in both third and fourth low range sand mode on different runs, not auto mode. I've found that you have problems if you let the auto change gears as you need too much throttle to get it to go to a lower gear and the D4 cuts power.

[LRD414]

I don't think you mentioned tyre pressure Bob?

Scott

[BobD]

Somewhere around 18 front and 20 rear when cold with 285/60R18 BFG K02 tyres and a heavy load in the car.

[saljosax]

Hi...we're heading up to Big Red and the Hay River Track soon in a convoy of 4. We bought a 2015 D4 with 19" wheels but there's no chance of getting GOE 18" in time. Do you think the 19" will be OK? Should I put AT tyres on?
Thanks in advance...

[BobD]

19 inch tyres are fine. I would get a tougher AT tyre for the sharp stones around Birdsville and other places but the 18 inch size is not essential. My car was fine on WA sand with OEM 19" tyres and the sand around Birdsville is much firmer than WA beach sand. The only soft bits are near the top of the dunes and we did not have any problem with those bits. Only the first few cars through for the season might have trouble.

[LRD414]

Here's my contribution to the "D4 on Big Red" club.

Late July this year and it was pretty chopped up with the turn part-way up quite difficult to do smoothly. 265/60/R18 and quite heavily loaded.

I got up easily at 16 psi but earlier attempts at between 22 and 18 psi saw me dig in near the top.
The video is from the second-from-north line and the northern most line was even softer but the turn less chopped up.

https://youtu.be/KIrNNW8-U7c

First time on a big dune. It was absolutely brilliant fun, as you can see by the silly grin at the end.
The cheer squad is my two little nieces, so you may want to turn the sound down a bit.

Cheers,
Scott

[scarry]

Link to my run,i actually forgot about this vid(seniors disease):D:angel:

It was that long ago i can't remember what settings i had the vehicle in,but i remember backing off at the top.I also held the suspension button down in off road height most of the way as it wanted to drop down due to the speed.The vehicle was heavily loaded,tyres on around 18psi all round.

It actually did it a lot easier than i thought it would.

Big audience of LC owners as well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNwYSXMEkGU