Thread: D4 Beach Work

Hi All,
I think that you'll find that LR, through their manual, advise removing the covers from the front and rear tow points (and the spare wheel) before venturing off road.

Best Wishes,
Peter

I recommend taking them off, the covers are only for making the bumpers 'pretty' and then if you do have to get recovered and take them off, you don't have to think about where you will store them in the car? I know the back cover is only $30, I had to replace mine (put down and not picked up syndrome).

And any way it isn't for your recovery it is all the others over on Fraser that you feel the need to recover and put some pride in your chest (or head) cause a Land Rover had to rescue them, that is the real reason to take them off and leave them at home.

Have a great trip! Oh and post some pictures, please.

Does anyone remove their mud flaps for off road / sand driving?

I've had a couple torn off

Not me. I wait for them to break, then fall off, and then buy a new set

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

Not me. I wait for them to break, then fall off, and then buy a new set

Yep that's what I've been doing, expensive though...

Heading to Straddie for a week for a bit of beach driving with trailer, I have to remember DSC off, DSC off, DSC off...

Originally Posted by Bushwanderer

(and the spare wheel) before venturing off road.

I hadn't spotted that. Where do they recommend one puts the spare wheel?

Originally Posted by Graeme

I hadn't spotted that. Where do they recommend one puts the spare wheel?

I saw one LR video where they removed the spare from under the vehicle and carefully placed it in the centre of the rear cargo area and tied it down. So, that's where it goes then.

The presenter went on to mention the benefits of taking a mobile phone to summon assistance.

Hi All,

Thanks for everybody's input and advice.

Returned yesterday from Fraser Island safe and sound. It's a beautiful place with lots to see and do and plenty of tracks to check out in a 4X4. Even though it rained heaps it was still a great trip with some funny moments and one low flying incident that myself and the family would rather not repeat.

I'm not certain if there is actually any sand left on the island, as I seem to have had it all in my car.

The D4 once again ate everything up with 'aplomb' as it says in the handbook.... and the 3.0L TD was just superb......one tank of juice all week with lots of driving everyday.

Anyway, technical points:

Tyres: Had the standard tyres on the 19 inch rims. I dropped them to just below 20psi to tackle the heavy, soft stuff leading up to the barge. As I said, it had been raining so it was pretty easy...although having never driven on sand before the feeling of wandering all over the shop took a bit of getting used to.

The tyres did look pretty sick sitting on the hard deck of the barge...even the barge operator asked me if I had them too soft....the D4 was pretty heavily laden.

Due to the wet I never really struggled at any time, even in really deep sand but I could see the potential had it been really dry. I ended up putting up the pressure a little to 21 psi as a lot of the tracks had exposed tree roots which hit pretty hard. Even at 21, no issues ever.

Terrain Response: Turned everything off for the hard/semi-hard stuff, as it just didn't need anything. And even when I hit occasional pockets of soft stuff, it still handled it all fine. Occasionally I knocked the shift into Sport Mode, just to lift the revs.

In heavy sand, I selected Sand Mode and Low Range....absolutely fantastic....just chewed it all up and listening to the diesel growl just really appealed to me but drew comments and wierd looks from my family as I found myself unconsciously mimicking the noise.....gggrrrrrr, gggrrrr, ggrrrr.....LOL!!!!

I did find the display a bit quirky when I'd shut the engine off or changed another screen selection. Often lost the Diff Lock icons.


DSC: Always Off

Mud Flaps: Hit them plenty of times but they stayed on.

Spare Wheel: On

Tow Bar and Hitch: Off (as I figured I didn't need it with the big recovery point on the rear of the vehicle.

Maxrax: Unused.

Recover Point Covers: Off. Now I originally asked the question about these as I was concerned that removing the front one would expose the radiators. Well, I've tested this issue to the extreme during the aforementioned inadvertant low flying incident. If flying off a two foot high creek wash-out at 60kph and ramming the front end of the car into the opposite bank at slightly less speed but hard enough to pop one of my wheel arches, affect my wheel balance and crack my rego plate cover, doesn't damage a radiator then normal driving never will unless you unluckily get a rock or stick up in there....
How did it happen? Driving along the beach in an 80kph zone on the hard sand, manoevering around and slowing down for obstacles as normal. Was on a patch that looked completely clear and them without any warning, came over the top of what looked like a slight rise and there it was. Thank god I was sub 80 as only ten minutes earlier had had to back off due to the D4's incredible ability to creep up the speedo without being noticed (was doing 90+ without even realising it....just loving the experience and the view).

I hit the picks real hard but I knew there was no way I could stop the D4 in time, so I straightened up on the edge of the drop off to prevent a roll-over and we all braced for the ride. I don't think I assisted my children's vocabulary any and whilst I was confident in the occupants being OK was seriously concened that the D4 was going to get broken. It was a hard landing but the car just didn't flinch....remained perfectly straight, no wobbles, no threat of a roll-over....just a bug thump as we hit the other bank.

Once checking everybody was OK, I got out to inspect the damage. My family with the exception of my son (who thought it was a hoot) were a little shaken but none the worst for the incident. The truck looked fine on the first inspection apart from the broken rego plate cover. Then I noticed all the fluid pouring down the front of the radiator....sh*t, sh*t, sh*t. Stuck on Fraser, tide coming in, dubious insurance cover...sh*t, sh*t, sh*t. Jumped back in, to at least get the car out of the water.....it seemed to drive ok. Got out, took another look...by this time the shock was wearing off. "Hang on a minute"...the fluid was clear, put my finger in it tentatively....it was freezing cold...."woohoo"....it was just the fact that I'd injested half of the river on impact and it was still flooding back out!

The steering is still tight and it wasn't till I got on the sealed road on the way home and was around 100kph that I felt the slight vibration. And it was only when I got home and was washing the D4 that I realised the front arch was loose....bit of a bum-bump and it was all fixed.

This was an incident I certainly wouldn't recommend to anybody and could quite easily have been very ugly. Thank god I'd slowed down earlier and hadn't been distracted right at that moment. And funnily enough, I was really glad I don't have a Bull-Bar on as I'm certain that would have speared us in. I'm also glad I was driving the Discovery as it seemed non-plussed about the whole thing.

As the truck still drove fine afterwards, the trip wasn't spoiled...so that was great.

The gravity of the situation was lighted up, when shortly afterwards, whilst fishing, two Dingos made off with all the bait....

Anyway, I'll post some shots, once I download them from my camera and after I figure out how to actually post them...hahaha.

Regards,

Kev.

PS My mate that went to Fraser with me has a 2008 GXL Prado. I have no idea what that comes with standard option wise. It had a leather interior but appeared really basic. Only had some sort of manual diff locker too. Nice enough car but just wasn't in the same league as the D4, looks and finish wise. It drove well but once again, nowhere near as well as the LR. I don't know what he payed for it but I guess it wasn't cheap. It also looked like it had less clearance than the D4 and I noticed him 'levelling' a few tracks with the belly of his car and plowing his towbar.

It did have pretty good fuel economy and a 120L fuel tank and seemed pretty capable as it appeared to have no issues with anything we did....it just wasn't as easy or smooth.