Thread: No reverse drive when bogged in sand

Sorry confused - the title says no reverse drive when bogged in sand - implies to me that the car would not go into reverse (a gearbox problem) - but the discussion is about lack of traction when trying to back out of a bogged situation. So wheels turn backward but no grip - yes the problem when you are bogged.

When all else fails - go to Rock Crawl - the D3/4 then acts like a "normal" 4wd with a locked CDL.

Garry

Originally Posted by Tombie

Interesting observation test I’ve done over the last few days - how warm do my tyres get between home and nearest servo (how many go to check tyre pressures).

In 1.15km my tyres warm up enough to change pressure by up to 2 psi... all in just over a Kilometre.

Hence why I do mine in the workshop at home.

Funny that ... we all know this ... as in our tyres warm up when you drive but I've never really thought about it too much. You make a very good point.

Like me, most people have probably already driven on the blacktop or graded road to get to somewhere where they will need to air-down. I'm only guessing, but it's certainly true for me. So that would mean when folks talk about dropping their tyres to 16 or 18 psi ... their tyres are probably already warm to hot....meaning their cold temp pressure would be considerably lower.

So if you're camping on Morton Is or something like that, when you wake in the morning, your tyres are probably 13 or 14 PSI.

Originally Posted by garrycol

Sorry confused - the title says no reverse drive when bogged in sand - implies to me that the car would not go into reverse (a gearbox problem) - but the discussion is about lack of traction when trying to back out of a bogged situation. So wheels turn backward but no grip - yes the problem when you are bogged.

When all else fails - go to Rock Crawl - the D3/4 then acts like a "normal" 4wd with a locked CDL.

Garry

I have never tried reversing in soft sand in hi-range but I think the Op is talking about the car being unresponsive, not losing traction.

A couple of times when the conditions have been really benign, I've switched 'everything' off in my car and just driven. The last time I did this was on Fraser Is .... it had been raining heaps. However, there were a couple of times that the car just appeared 'asleep' and basically just didn't do anything when confronted with even slight inclines. I'm at a loss to explain this as it should be the same as driving on the road and then pulling up a driveway but a couple of others on this forum have described experiencing this too. Not often, but it happened more than once.

I used rock crawl not long ago to get out of a bogging and it worked a treat. Must admit I was being very lazy and did not bother dropping tyre pressures as I was only going a little way along a beach.... alright going forward but reversing was the prob.
Anyway it worked a treat and back we came with no hesitations at all.
Always make sure DFC is off after changing functions, something I learned not long ago.
Happy bogging.
AlanH.

Originally Posted by garrycol

Sorry confused - the title says no reverse drive when bogged in sand - implies to me that the car would not go into reverse (a gearbox problem) - but the discussion is about lack of traction when trying to back out of a bogged situation. So wheels turn backward but no grip - yes the problem when you are bogged.

When all else fails - go to Rock Crawl - the D3/4 then acts like a "normal" 4wd with a locked CDL.

Garry

I will use low when in sand now on, and try rock crawl as first option if I get stuck. Thx! The wheels were not urning much so think the guy has nailed the problem...

When ever I go offroad I nearly always go into low range - I am not sure but I think it is still good for about 100kph so more realistically you rarely get above 60 so there is really no reason not too.

Originally Posted by garrycol

When ever I go offroad I nearly always go into low range - I am not sure but I think it is still good for about 100kph so more realistically you rarely get above 60 so there is really no reason not too.

100kph in low range? You'd better wear a hard hat and safety boots to avoid the flying pistons!

In my 6-speed D4, low range 6th gear 2500rpm is roughly 40kph.

Thanks for the tips about using Rock Crawl to get out of a sand bog, especially with MaxTrax. Wheelspin kills the trax, and the best way to avoid wheelspin in a D4 is rock crawl. I guess once you're moving you probably have to floor it to keep some momentum over the rest of the bog patch?