Thread: Towing a heavy camper trailer on sand?

"We found the camper excellent and only sold to get a small offroad hybrid van that we felt would be more suited to a six month trip."

Also following this thread with interest because, like Scott (LRD414 quoted above earlier from this thread), we have an offroad hybrid van which comes in at 1800kg dry (so quite a bit heavier than your flip-open campers!) but about the same ball-weight. We are probably going to be somewhat less adventurous than others, but Australia is just a big sand island so sooner or later we will encounter it with the van attached. The van tracks the same as the D4 and is easy enough to take down the tyre pressure, but still the idea of being bogged with a big rig attached doesn't exactly fill me with excitement.... Interested to see what others have to say about towing in sand.

I'd also be interested in hearing peoples experiences of towing a van on sand which DOESN'T track the same as the D4?

Rough measurements of the inside of the tyres for:
car = 1400mm
caravan = 1800mm

The van is 1.85t dry, but holds 180L of water plus whatever gear/food/beer is carried.
On the plus side the van is a duel axle outback model (off road height etc)

I saw some pretty big vans on Fraser Island but I suspect I'd need a full crew to get this out if I was to get bogged?

A little left (or right) of the main topic and bound to get a few grumpy thoughts, but..
I won’t help recover rigs that in my opinion are too stupid to be where they are.

My opinion is subjective and based on many factors of course

So I would also suggest in addition to wheel track and tyre pressures, is to make sure whatever rig chosen can be recovered by the operator or travel companions from the environment it is attempting to traverse.

I've had the same thoughts about my RR and 4-wheel, 2.5T van where the van's track is 250mm wider than the car's. Whilst not a complete new set of tracks for the van's front wheels reduces the impact, de-bogging 4 wheels carrying 2.5T is not on my favourite activities list.

Originally Posted by Graeme

... de-bogging 4 wheels carrying 2.5T is not on my favourite activities list.

Debogging ANYTHING is quite low on my list of preferred activities. We've only got a ~40 year old Tirfor, Maxtrax, a snatch strap, sundry shackles and pulleys and a shovel so it's always gonna be hard work...

To tow in sand I would say that one set of Maxtrax for each axle of the car and trailer and a good snatch strap is the absolute minimum requirement.

I would also recommend never travelling alone, making sure you have some sort of winching capability and lowering all tyre pressures to 18 or lower. Remember that it is almost impossible to back a trailer down a sand hill and you will never back out of where you come to a stop in soft sand, even on flat ground where you would normally be able to back out the Disco alone.

Having said that, however, I have towed my 2.5 T Kimberley Karavan with the D4 along a 20km long reasonably soft white sandy bush track in the Mid West of WA without any issues. I was travelling with my son in law in a GU Patrol. The KK has a similar track to the D4 although it was made to suit a 100 series LC. The track was pretty flat though and it would be a different story on a soft sand hill. The trailer will probably add at least 30% more drag if the wheels follow the same track as the tug so if you can only just make it through without a trailer you wouldn't get through with one.

Hi Bob, Your track would have varied by 2mm

We just returned from a trip to Coffin Bay SA and towed our Eclipse off road hybrid camper estimated at 2-2.1T with around 220L water and ball weight 215kg (measured just prior to hitching up with ball weight scales). The camper track is the same as the D4. The track into Black Springs varies between quite soft sand and rocky and is hilly in places. I lowered tyres to 20psi rear (accounting for tow ball weight, rear drawer system, fridge, LR tank -empty by this point on purpose, rear wheel carrier and 2 teenagers in back seat!); 16psi front and 14psi on the camper. DSC turned off, low range, sand mode.
At one stage we had to stop for oncoming vehicle and then climb a reasonable slope in soft sand from stand still- no problems! On the return journey some days later I realised that during a TR mode change (mud/ruts to sand) the DSC comes back on automatically and all of us (wife + 2 daughters) sensed us bogging down- quick mental check and realised "turn off DSC again!" and amazing what a difference that makes- drove out no problems at all.
So in summary- D4 should have no problem at all with 2T camper in soft sand with appropriate tyre pressures, DSC OFF, sand mode, low range and back up as per other posts. I had Maxtrax on the roof (didn't need them) and Snatch strap on board not required. Good luck to OP. You'll be impressed as I was too!