Thread: Recovery gear was useless on my D3

Originally Posted by Mattt

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.

Originally Posted by Plane Fixer

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

Originally Posted by weeds

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

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

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!

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by ~Rich~

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.

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

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.

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!

Originally Posted by Rohan

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