sand under vehicle

I know in Noosa there is a car wash after you come off the beach where you drive through back and forwards with jets of water shooting up underneath the car to rinse off salt/ sand etc. It is coin operated and you pay for 1,2,3 minutes etc. perhaps there is one in your area.

Hi i put on swimming goggles and get under the truck. Messy but it works.
Cheers

Zippy Lou
There is only one way to rid your vehicle of sand and salt, and that is water, water and yet more water, and NOT from a high pressure spray (garden hose and nozzle is ideal), and yes you will get wet.
Regards
Athol

Some people place a sprinkler under the car and move it from time to time, then finish off with a hose.
Regards Philip A

Agree... Start by hosing yourself down first that way you have the inevitable sorted. Then you need to get in there and look for all the traps things like inner guards on top of fuel tanks up on top of the coils etc. Medium pressure and volume is the go.

Find a fresh water creek.

Persistance is the answer.

Now a while ago, I sand blasted the interiour of one of my aluminium boats in preparation for a repaint.

so after I was finished, I vac'ed it out...then i blew it out with compressed air and vacked it again.....then I hosed it out, getting into every place that I could....followed by a spray with detergent from a pressure sprayer, folowed by a good going with the pressure cleaner followed by another hoseing.....then I let it dry, blew it out with compressed air, vacked it out again , then the detergent and the hose again.

I thaught that I got as much as I could.

So off arround the road to my may who is a genius alloy welder to get a few bits welded up and a couple of additions.

we rolled it off on his lawn, turned it over and a heap of sand came out.

NOW this is a boat that is completely stripped, fairly open, no floor, no fittings, no hoses, no wiring harnesses.

Getting sand out requires persistance and lots of it.....and then always expect to find some later.

For My 4wd I have made up a couple of probes with brass tube and drilled drass rod on the ends.....I baught one of the similar aitems from the 4wd store..and yeh it gets into some places but I was not satisfied with it....so I made a couple of my own...they hook onto the hose.

you have to get plenty of bulk water flow and into all those cavities in the chassis and such places.

Sand is not so much of a concern.....the salt is a worry.......plain water does not remove salt resudue all that well.....you need some sort of deteregent...then plenty of clean water.

cheers

Everyone has studiously avoided the obvious answer ...



Don't drive in sand! ;)

The only way to get MOST of the sand out of nooks and crannies is :

Remove all underbody protection plates and clean off, refit.
These usually hold lots of sand and although you'd think it would bump off during normal driving, it doesn't.

High pressure (as in pressure cleaner) is only good for removing surface material.

Use a good high volume hose pipe, if nothing else available, then the hose at home will suffice.
No nozzle, just flat out.
Get the vehicle on a slight slope, use the hose to start at the high end of the chassis, and work along letting loads of water flow through, work along access holes, and you'll see the sand coming out, then eventually the water running clear.
Turn the vehicle around and repeat the other way.
Give any tubes running across the chassis a blast the same way.

Do this to all your cross members, other gaps in hollow cross members, across the top of cross members, etc.

Do this for any gaps in under guard splash panels, mudflaps, other gaps.
Often it is better to remove mudflaps because so much can gather there, as well as mud / dirt, so best to remove a couple of times a year and get really clear, ensure drain holes are unblocked.

I find tailgate holes allow dust and fine sand to accumulate, so I force water in there, lift tailgate up and down to rinse, drain, repeat until all clear, then allow water to drain with tailgate in closed position.

Sand isn't too bad, try mud and sand, it gets EVERYWHERE and dries like concrete !!

As someone has already mentioned the old timers use a garden sprinkler and just drag it along from time to time. Pressure cleaners are only good for pushing sand into tighter spots. The low pressure seams to work better.

Great advise from everyone, I thank you all. I have found a place in Brisbane, at Geebung that removes gaurds etc and then cleans them, so might give them a try.

Personally I can't see why you'd worry about it. My vehicle is full of red desert dirt and spinifex stems. It makes me happy. Does sand cause a problem? Are you trying to pretend that its never been off road? After 11 years of living with the evidence of my bush trips there isn't a skerrick of rust to be seen in my current vehicle. If I need to work on a part I Karcher the area first. The only issue for me is when clumps of red dirt accrete unevenly on the inside of wheel rims, causing the wheels to be out of balance.