Beach Driving

[bmcutright]

Newbie here, bought an 04 TB LS 4x4 mainly to drive on the beach in St Augustine FL. Looking for suggestions and recommendations regarding loose sand getting in the engine compartment/undercarriage, and suggested upgrades (I'm looking into lifting 1.5-2.5" and bigger tires, help keep the truck above the sand, firefighter_4215's build looks great to me).

Just starting out, but I've seen great ideas on Roadie's build as well.

[navigator]

I've done a little driving on the beach here in NC.
Wider tires are usually better.
I ran a 255/70/16 AT on stock rims with no lift/spacers fine.
Later I added a 2" rough country lift, that helped keep from bottoming out on ruts a great deal.
I didn't do a lot of stopping/starting in deep sand though with that mild setup.
Airing down in sand (and most other off road situations) is a good idea.

A couple of gotchas on our platform are:
Our transfer cases require the fluid to be changed every 50k miles.
The grease in our splined disconnect tends to get old and need maintenance.

Make sure you read up on both of those and your 4wd is working properly before heading out.

[D60Destroyer]

Wider tires will so better than skinnier tires. Sand takes a lot if torque to drive on so use of 4-Low takes ALOT of stress off the tranny.

I have 275/65-17 AT's and put about 10 miles of wet and dry beach driving on my EXT yesterday and had a great time. Just don't be the guy stuck without a strap. Even if you go alone. Bring straps and a shovel, a Highlift/Handyman jack if you can. A few years ago at midnight with the tide commin in I had to burry my spare tire as an anchor and handyman myself to it till I was out. Worked the first time.

[ErikSS]

I have a lot of miles in sand with several different trucks. Lowering your tire pressure makes a large difference. Wide tires help a lot. But if you only want to cruise Marc's beach.... I don't think it should be too hard in 4wd.

[bmcutright]

I have stock tires and rims at the moment, is the first number in the tire size the width? I know the last is diameter across. Which increase in the size of the tire makes me need new rims? I don't want to go with monster tires, yet at least, for fuel economy. Takes me about 200 miles to get to the beaches that allow driving.

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[markmc]

Welcome to the party dude..
i can hook you up..

[navigator]

most of the answers you seek can be found in the link in my signature.

[djthumper]

Driving in the sand in the desert is the same concept... Air down.

[NC_IslandRunner]

12psi and 2wd will go anywhere on the beach you could want to go, this is from experience, I cruised through sand that my friends Jeep about got swallowed by.