Sand driving is a very important skill to have as a 4WDer in Australia, with most of this vast continent being surrounded by and covered in thick soft sand, if you don’t pickup how to sand drive, you may as well stick to the tarmac!

Being such a dynamic environment, sand can change consistency very quickly and turn from an easily navigable hard packed surface to quicksand in just seconds, all resulting in what could be a disastrous situation requiring a comprehensive recovery!

1.Momentum is key
People often get confused as to what this means, momentum just means that you carry your forward movement steadily, many people mistake this for speed. Which too much of can lead to breaking things!

Momentum means keeping a steady throttle, and speed to avoid dropping RPMs, so avoiding unnecessary gear changes, and you should be pretty sorted to get further along.

2.Spot your line

Picking a line through the ruts and soft sand is key to making it to the other side, by analyzing the track ahead there will be no surprises… (well, less surprises) as to the tracks condition, and what is around the bend or past the dropoff.

By spotting your line you’ll be able to predict where your vehicle will be thrown and able to avoid sharp steering movements or unnecessary hesitations on the throttle.

3.Drop Your Tyres

Not on the deck, we mean your tyres pressures, by reducing your tyre pressures with a purpose made pressure release device like the Kwiky Tyre Deflator you can control how much traction your have on each corner, we prefer to run between 18 and 20psi to allow our sidewall to flex and the tread to gain much more contact with the roads surface. This will get you out of most situations no sweat, but can be dropped down even lower to around 10-15psi in an emergency.

When you drop your pressures you must be conscious of the ability for the tyres to be torn from the bead of your 4WDs rims, resulting in a disaster this means you must keep your speeds low, when you are out of the soft stuff, whip out your air compressor to pump your tyres back up to a more comfortable and stable pressure. With a Thumper MKII air compressor, you’ll never have to wait for the servo pump again!

4.Identify when you’ve bullocksed it up!

Even though you will want to give ‘er the berries, and a bit more right boot, when you’ve lost the momentum, you need to back it off and let the vehicle come to a rest, this will save you from digging yourself any deeper. Chuck it in reverse and try to back yourself out to get some momentum to hit the section again!

With everything sorted you should be able to drive through the obstacle no problems with a bit more pace, however, not in every situation. This is why bringing the right recovery gear for self recoveries can make a massive difference, bits of gear like a rated recovery kit like the Hercules Essential Recovery Kit and a long handled shovel always help in the soft stuff, however a fully loaded vehicle may need a helping Snatch from another 4WD (use your recovery gear not theirs) and make sure you take some of the difficulty out of the recovery by digging your 4WD mostly free from the soft stuff. This dramatically reduces the force required to pull your 4WD free and the kind stranger recovering you will thank you. Don’t forget a cold beer from the Kings fridge for your new mate on the tracks!

5.PRACTICE

A loaded 4WD on soft surfaces behaves in a very strange way when compared to on road and your vehicle will perform differently to others on the market, so getting used to the way your vehicle performs is critical, so get out there often and get used to how your 4WD behaves off the beaten path!