Thread: D3 vs Freelander 2 for towing ind sand

The D3 will make life a lot easier, good luck
Mike

If I was towing a 1.5T camper trailer through soft sand (which I do with my D4 and my Adventure Camper Trailer) with any 4WD I would make sure I had another vehicle in the convoy and at least 4 Maxtrax and perhaps 6. If I wasn't with another car I would have a winch and Maxtrax. Obviously the car and trailer will need pretty low tyre pressures.

I would think that a FL will struggle for traction with the heavy trailer due its lighter weight but I could be wrong. In WA it is easy for us to go out and find a patch of sand to get some practice before going to a more remote place. However, not so easy on the east coast!

Bob

Originally Posted by BobD

If I was towing a 1.5T camper trailer through soft sand (which I do with my D4 and my Adventure Camper Trailer) with any 4WD I would make sure I had another vehicle in the convoy and at least 4 Maxtrax and perhaps 6. If I wasn't with another car I would have a winch and Maxtrax. Obviously the car and trailer will need pretty low tyre pressures.

I would think that a FL will struggle for traction with the heavy trailer due its lighter weight but I could be wrong. In WA it is easy for us to go out and find a patch of sand to get some practice before going to a more remote place. However, not so easy on the east coast!

Bob

The trade off is a 2tone D3 vs a much less weight F2 . dogging in sand is on a formula i.e. tyre surface area =floatation and the surface pressure = weight / tyre surface area . not an expert but own and drive both in sand ( no trailers) and the F2 floats often where the D3 has to power out!

adduce try the F2 in sand with and without trailer. Then D3 may be no better though it is very heavy.

Love my Maxtrax only carry 2 though.

BDB

I think it's the clearance that's going to be the biggest downfall of the free2 - tyres on it are 235/60 x18 so I'm thinking they'll have to go down to sub 15psi. The van has massive 75 profile at tyres which I run at 50psi so I'll drop them way down as well and hopefully that will help it to float rather than plough.
We will have friends at the campsite already so the navara could give me a drag if needed ;(

It's not garuanteed that the D3 would be better, the main things the D3 has over the FL is low range which debatably is not much of an advantage in sand and probably more power although depending on engine and weight trade off, I don't know if this is by a huge margin. And Clearance, this might be the most important.

On the downside the D3 is heavier.

Of you can have trial on some sand with the FL before you have to change your mind it would be worth a try. I'm not sure you are garuanteed enough of an advantage to justify the cost of the changeover.

That is unless of course you are looking for an excuse, in that case, yes you definitely need a D3

If it doesn't get bogged itself driving to get you...or punch a hole in the bottom of its radiator going over a small sand hump...Cheers

Andrew - I'd be trading my 325i (m sport pack) for the d3 & wife keeps her free2

Originally Posted by BDB

Love my Maxtrax only carry 2 though.

BDB

Yeah, I carry 2 without the trailer but I make sure I grab another two from the rest of the family with the trailer.

If you want to see what a Disco 2.7 can do towing a 1700kg trailer in soft sand, have a look at the GOE Facebook site and watch a D4 tow the camper trailer up a massive sand hill at Yanchep. Both my son's TDI300 D1 and my son in law's GU 4.2 Turbo Diesel Patrol only made it 2/3 of the way up this same hill with no trailer. In the case of the GU, we used 4 Maxtrax to get to the top as it was a bit dangerous to back down from where he stopped.

Bob