Thread: Sand driving in a D3, what am I doing wrong?

Hi There,
No offence taken, I was in auto and I did switch the engine off at one point during the heat of battle, I don't think I reset the DSC to off, this could well have also been a factor. I was in auto not manual, I did contemplate the shift to manual but at that point the only thing that was going to get me out was a snatch strap. Reading the manual after the event of course, the manual does say you could give the mud / ruts program a go if the sand one doesn't work, that's all well and good as long as you have a second chance!!!
So all in all a great response from all, all helpful stuff very constructive. Thanks very much.

I had the same experiences at the Fitzgerald River National Park with a Discovery 3.

Crawled over some rubber mats to enter Triglow Beach, set the vehicles automatic terrain system, let down the high profile tyres, within about 3 mins we were stuck.

I think I had managed to travel about 25 meters through soft powdery sand fully laidened with the tyre pressures down to 10psi. after a few interesting photos and 9 hours later!

Usually in my 85 County I would be able to just back up and make the same pass with a little more momentum.

I found the Disco 3 I couldnt manage to reverse through sand without wanting to dig itself down even further, this was pretty worrying to me as the vehicle had just been purchased 2 months ago.

After that ordeal, I was stuck once again in Walpole but this time was able to be pulled out be the local sea rescue in his tractor .

The disco's are an extremly heavy vehicle especially with the ballasting weights around the vehicle. Id like to thing the weight of the vehicle especially laidened, and wrong tyres in soft sand will bog any vehicle.

In soft powdery sand i now always take the County.

Also a major contributor here is the weight of the vehicle; some 500Kg heavier than a RRC, this is a huge problem with most large offroad vehicles nowdays, the shear bulk of them is a big hindrance.

It is a testament to LR engineers to get these D3's and RRS etc as good as they are off road, AND on road, as they are no lightweight.

JC
(Edit; just saw the weight issue covered in above post , so x2 from me then!)

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

what youve just encountered is a phenomenon known as surface liquifaction. very vaguely what happens is the first vehicle person/object/pressure application and release squeezes the sand and dislodges some of the water thats held within, this process shifts the sand and opens up "passages" for water to come back in raising the water content.

Once this happens theres less friction between the grains of sand so the next time a vehicle passes over or pressure is applied and released it happens again and even more water is let in. In most places you can get 2 vehicles through and the 3rd cops a bogging, if the tides high theres more upwards "pressure" from the water and you might only get one
ITs a very similar phenomenon to "breaking the crust" that forms on the surface of a flood plain. Once your through the water wells up from the weight of the vehicle pressing down on the surface which then disolves the surface from a hardpack to wet clay and the rest is a case of "recover quickly or loose the vehicle".

the alloy rims have a bead retainer built into them and you can go down to 8 psi providing you dont get stupid with the steering or noise. Be warned at that pressure youre more at risk of "cutting" or "folding" the side wall and tread face with the edge of the bead.

This sounds very similar to the experiences I've had with quick sand, but looking at the pic this wouldn't be the case. Areas of sand I've found that liquify are usualy on flat hard packed damp areas usualy level with the water table or next to a source if water at almost the same level he was to high up the dune for this I think and the sand while it's wet it's still not damp enough also with the quicksand I've found it tends to fill in your track for the next poor unsuspecting 4wd to find... It just melts back in and levels out it's pretty cool, I've got some video somewhere I will post..

As for reversing out, it wouldn't work because of the side slope and the car would just drift down towards the water further and sink deeper in... It looks like the sand had been cut up by the first vehicle just making it loose and boggy. Unless you could have drive down the side slope to flat ground snatching would have been the only way out, tho it could have been avoided but you have to learn your new 4x4, every one is different, going from the v8 county to the gutless deisel prado was a learning experience for me!

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

Sounds like the DSC to me, no offence. Were you in drive or manual? I'm not what I'd call an experienced sand driver but I've done a bit. In soft sand I drive in manual as I find auto doesn't cope too well.

Keep in mind to, soft sand + 3000kg of D3 + loss of momentum = bogged

It does sound like DSC to me too... when you mention an apparent loss of power... did you hold in the button until the DSC off light comes on? I'm quite happy with mine in sand as long as DSC is off... and I've got 18" wheels too that wouldn't be the best...

Originally Posted by cal415

This sounds very similar to the experiences I've had with quick sand, but looking at the pic this wouldn't be the case. Areas of sand I've found that liquify are usualy on flat hard packed damp areas usualy level with the water table or next to a source if water at almost the same level he was to high up the dune for this I think and the sand while it's wet it's still not damp enough also with the quicksand I've found it tends to fill in your track for the next poor unsuspecting 4wd to find... It just melts back in and levels out it's pretty cool, I've got some video somewhere I will post..

As for reversing out, it wouldn't work because of the side slope and the car would just drift down towards the water further and sink deeper in... It looks like the sand had been cut up by the first vehicle just making it loose and boggy. Unless you could have drive down the side slope to flat ground snatching would have been the only way out, tho it could have been avoided but you have to learn your new 4x4, every one is different, going from the v8 county to the gutless deisel prado was a learning experience for me!

you'd be surprised how little water it actually takes for it to happen. you dont have to have surface water.

If the supporting soil under neath the layer your driving on gives way theres nothing to support the patch you are driving on and it sinks. about 5k south of a place called windy harbour there was a great spot for it at high tide, its a slight depression in the lay of the beach and if you were the 4th vehicle along in the line and doing less than about 30KpH youd just sink like a stone to the chassis in fine dry white sand.

once snatched out all thered be to show for it was 4 holes in the sand shaped like funnels in the middle of the wheel tracks. Great for the locals for a laugh on the city blokes who didnt know better.

Hi Blknight,
Great info, I definately didn't leave four hardly identifiable funnel flutes, the beach looked like something after the Normandy landing, being a little bit worse after I'd had my go. The vehicle to me is a technical marvel, I just have to learn how to drive it in these conditions or not get to this point in the first place. In hindsight which is a marvellous thing I should have maybe pulled up a lot earlier and had another run, I had travelled maybe 300 to 400 meters and i was still moving, it was the engine dying that was my undoing, I suspect that the DSC hadn't been deativated after my intial problem when I stopped and restarted the engine again. Having a cable connected to the throttle is a good thing on a lot of occasions, in my opinion, relying on a computer to tell me where the throttle should be I find a little disconcerting.
Thanks again for the info makes my decisions about driving into this stuff a little bit more, lets say, educated.

+1 for the manual mode, I've found that the vehicle is more controllable in manual mode, you can still stall it in sand though if you pick the wrong gear.

Regards
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