How to be confident in sand.

[umarcrespo333]

Hello,

Today was my second trip to bidayer or second ever trip to the desert. Although, it was with just one car again so I couldn't harvest the true potential of desert driving. I did not go in too deep for I had the fear of getting stuck and not getting any help. Although during this trip I was more experienced, I was even more scared. Not scared that the terrain is bad but just scared that the car would flip over. Even though I watched countless videos and read multiple forums on how to drive in sand properly, how not to fight gravity and stuff, I still was scared even though i was driving the car properly. I think if this fear continues then I might lose my interest to the desert which would be very hard and emotional. I want your help to boost my confidence, how not to be scared. 

Also I saw an Arab ripping his land cruiser sideways on a dune. What was peculiar? The whole time he had his wheel turned up to the top of the dune which means he was fighting gravity hard yet, he did not flip over. I'm confused. Explain please?

Also I this time I managed to crush a part of the front bumper. But, it just needs some paint, I think!

Also, when I was scaling the back side of the big red dune, I diff locked and use gears L and 2. I couldn't make the half of the dune!(no power). Then I switched the offroad gear to L4 and guess what? 2times better. The car went crazy(huge power!). How? I am confused! explain please. what did i do wrong first? why was there no power before?

Thanks and Crazy Driving!

Edited December 22, 2017 by umarcrespo333

[treks]

In L4 you had twice the traction you had in L2, since the front diff was now engaged. However, when you are climbing dunes the thing you need most is momentum- if you have enough of it, you don't need as much traction and if you get it right, you can get to the top of the dune much more easily. 

The only way to learn how to get momentum right is to join as many drives as you can, and to listen to, and watch, experienced drivers.  

[desertdude]

Practice practice practice. Its like any other skill, the more you do it.The better you get at it, and slowly your confidence level increases. Doimg sideys or side sloping otherwise as its known it not recommended at all for newbies, its an acquired skill and you can read an entire library on the subject and still suck at it. Practical real world experience is where its at. But for now. Go straight up and straight down. Just get used to driving on sand and how you and your car react to it. As for the L4 first of all sorry Treks probably not familiar with the vehicle hence his analysis was inaccurate. The diff lock on your cruiser is a center difflock which you should engage the second you hit sand. You can drive with an open center diff but your car will struggle more and more chances of getting bogged down. Low range are short gears and you can get too much speed i.e momentum and even in an under powered vehicle if you get enough of it you can traverse some decent dunes. L2 youll run out of gear very soon and thats what happened. 

Learn to drive in just D and hone your skills there. Low range for only when you are stuck or have a tricky situation ahead. 

 

[treks]

Maybe I should have stated it more clearly- but my point remains the same. Also, I think it is very difficult to get too much momentum while a vehicle is running in low range. 

For the rest, I completely agree with @desertdude- practice, practice, and more practice under the supervision of an experienced driver is the only way to learn how to drive safely in an off-road environment. Relying on videos will only get you into trouble.  

 

 

[sertac]

You should join our Friday drives. Than you can get information from experienced drivers and become much better.

[umarcrespo333]

9 hours ago, treks said:

In L4 you had twice the traction you had in L2, since the front diff was now engaged. However, when you are climbing dunes the thing you need most is momentum- if you have enough of it, you don't need as much traction and if you get it right, you can get to the top of the dune much more easily. 

The only way to learn how to get momentum right is to join as many drives as you can, and to listen to, and watch, experienced drivers.  

 

3 hours ago, sertac said:

You should join our Friday drives. Than you can get information from experienced drivers and become much better.

Thanks all I look forward to joining any drive that is most possible for me. Although treks and desertdude, you misunderstood or maybe I wasn't clear. I was driving in High ratio in the start and because my car is automatic I was using Gears L and 2 (on the auto gearbox not the off road one which sort of gives oyu more control over your gears like a manual car). I know I hit the diff lock as soon as I touched sand. As you were saying that I would run out of gears, that was not the case. I hardly hit the red line on L (while drivng in High ratio so the 2nd gear was not needed the entire time. Even in the first gear while climbing the rpm would go down and down even though I had traction I was forced to turn around. But in offroad gear L4 I had crazy power. I could feel it. The rpms stayed up in the first gear until the tires gave up and at highest rpm the car sounded a lot louder compared to high ratio.(In the land cruiser auto 2001 there is a diff lock, Off road gears go by H[used this to drive on road the same I was using first in the sand] N [neutral] and L4[crazy power]). I feel that the engine has lost it!? I was wondering if it would be trouble driving on L4 the whole time. 

BTW I did feel less power the first time I went to Bidayer aswell(the engine took forever to rev up). 

It is terribly hard to explain this but I'll end it here. I trust it will be enough for you to understand.

7 hours ago, desertdude said:

Practice practice practice. Its like any other skill, the more you do it.The better you get at it, and slowly your confidence level increases. Doimg sideys or side sloping otherwise as its known it not recommended at all for newbies, its an acquired skill and you can read an entire library on the subject and still suck at it. Practical real world experience is where its at. But for now. Go straight up and straight down. Just get used to driving on sand and how you and your car react to it. As for the L4 first of all sorry Treks probably not familiar with the vehicle hence his analysis was inaccurate. The diff lock on your cruiser is a center difflock which you should engage the second you hit sand. You can drive with an open center diff but your car will struggle more and more chances of getting bogged down. Low range are short gears and you can get too much speed i.e momentum and even in an under powered vehicle if you get enough of it you can traverse some decent dunes. L2 youll run out of gear very soon and thats what happened. 

Learn to drive in just D and hone your skills there. Low range for only when you are stuck or have a tricky situation ahead. 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by umarcrespo333

[Rahimdad]

In low gear the traction control is automatically turned off, when in 4 high you have to manually keep the traction control button pressed until 2 yellow lights appear on your cluster. You will have crazy power in high. When the vehicle has traction control on, in the sands the wheels are slipping so the engine cuts the power. With traction control off you are good to go.

Looking forward to seeing you soon and introducing you to some safety tips as well as your vehicle in a new light.

[umarcrespo333]

1 minute ago, Rahimdad said:

In low gear the traction control is automatically turned off, when in 4 high you have to manually keep the traction control button pressed until 2 yellow lights appear on your cluster. You will have crazy power in high. When the vehicle has traction control on, in the sands the wheels are slipping so the engine cuts the power. With traction control off you are good to go.

Looking forward to seeing you soon and introducing you to some safety tips as well as your vehicle in a new light.

I can't see the tc button in my car :'(

 

[Rahimdad]

Come for one of the newbie trips and I will introduce you to your vehicle, button by button.

[desertdude]

1 hour ago, Rahimdad said:

In low gear the traction control is automatically turned off, when in 4 high you have to manually keep the traction control button pressed until 2 yellow lights appear on your cluster. You will have crazy power in high. When the vehicle has traction control on, in the sands the wheels are slipping so the engine cuts the power. With traction control off you are good to go.

Looking forward to seeing you soon and introducing you to some safety tips as well as your vehicle in a new light.

its an early 2000s gxr. Doesnt have any of that. Doesnt have any traction control.