I'm going to state it as well, low-range in the sand. Not just for D3/4's. Any 4wd. I know it is taught in some off-road classes and videos to use high-range in a low gear, simply put, they are just plain wrong! It doesn't take mechanical sympathy into consideration at all!
When are you ever going to go over ~40km/h (I can't remember now what speed the bloody D4 gets up to in low/6th... Only my poor little D1. Haha) in the soft sand? If you are, you are going to break many, many things over time...
I get it, on Fraser the main beach "highway" is like a road. That's fine. Get onto the hard stuff, stop/slow for a moment, pop it into high and go. Getting off the hard? Stop, low, go. It takes seconds to do and will ultimately save you thousands $ over the years.
On top of all that, once you're in low, you have sooooo much torque on tap now! It's a beautiful thing.
Sorry for the rant, but I have seen high-range mentioned in sand driving difficulty threads so many times this year it's getting to me.
I would also lean towards overheating being your issue. Question though... Had you recently crossed through one of the creeks? Maybe the alternator got a little drowning or you have some wiring (height sensors, ABS, compressor wiring, etc.) that might be wearing and the water closed a circuit it didn't expect to be closed. It's a hard one to diagnose without knowing the exact scenario and the codes that had been thrown. Scan tools are your best friend on any modern 4wd these days.
Bookmarks