Beach driving season is finally here, and with more people than ever looking for their slice of summer paradise the odds of hitting a churned up and particularly soft bit of beach that will bog you down is becoming more and more likely.

Here are our top tips to making sure your 4WD can be easily freed from trouble on the beach, without having to upgrade your whole 4WD.

When you get stuck, first step is to slow down, and think about the situation, by panicking and a trying to give it more right boot, you might get stuck worse than before. By stopping and thinking twice you might be able to simply reverse out.

The trick is to simply take off a little bit more slowly in reverse, and gradually ease the throttle on, as soon as you feel it start to slip traction, ease off, jump out and assess how bad things are.

If you are still sitting on your tyres, and not on any other part of your vehicle then you may only have to drop down your tyre pressures, this will let your tyres contact patch elongate offering a larger contact patch to the sand, and giving you less downward pressure and more grip.

The fastest and easiest way to drop your tyre pressures down is to use a KWIKY Tyre Deflator, this clever valve core tool captures your tyre valve and prevents sand from getting inside, whilst dumping stacks of air in a controlled and precise manner, the integrated bourdon tube gauge gives you an accurate idea of exactly how much air has been released, and prevents you from having uneven traction from side to side.

If you are bogged in the sand, you should consider dropping your pressures down to around 10-12psi this is extremely low but will offer the most amount of grip for getting you free.

With your tyre pressures dropped and your 4WD in low range, try reversing out, the reason we reverse is because the sand you previously drove on has been compressed by your tyres and compacted, offering a stable surface to drive out of.

Digging

If low range doesn’t work, you are going to have to get creative with a long-handled shovel and start digging in the space around your tyres and in the path ahead of your tyres, by creating a path, you will have a bit of a ramp leading up to the upper beach surface, which should be perfect for getting you free.

Even if you have troubles, driving out this is your strategy for getting clear of deep sand.

Snatching

If you are tackling sand tracks you shouldn’t leave home without a recovery kit, at minimum bring an Adventure Kings Snatch Strap Kit, this affordable and simple kit, includes a snatch strap rated to 8000kg of force and 2x 4.75T rated Bow shackles. 

This intuitive recovery kit works like a bungee and essentially slingshots your 4WD out of trouble, and into freedom, thankfully there is usually another 4WDer just around the bend on most of the beaches around oz and by simply flagging down a fellow 4WDer and discussing your recovery, you can get pulled out of trouble really quickly.


With both 4WDs engaged in 4WD low range and in second gear, a short run up with about a meter of slack will preload the snatch strap and begin to stretch ready for the smoothest recovery on the beach.

When you are all set up, a snatch recovery will surely get you free and when it does, it is a good idea to get your tyres re-inflated with a Thumper Air Compressor as running on low pressures for too long or at faster speeds can cause issues with your tyres longevity and break down and wear out your tyres prematurely.


To see the full range of beach driving accessories, head to www.4WDSupacentre.com.au call our experts on 1800 88 39 64 or drop by one of our locations to get your hands on all the essentials in person and to see the full range in person!