All wheel drives on Fraser Island

Kev

Haven't been there for years but I can't see a problem on the main beach side (south). Inland maybe a little harder, as it wont have the ground clearance (maybe). and the north tip will be out of the question.

Cheers
Richard

Tribune / Tribute?
If it is a Tribute,, be aware they only handle about 300mm of water,,, the air intake is very low..

Personallly I'd say it will struggle. Depends a bit on any difficult bits (maybe poyungan/yidney bypasses and dundubara entrance if you're going into the campground). Theoretically if you have a more capable vehicle in the group you could switch the camper trailer to that one for the tough bits.

If it's a light camper and he lets the tyres down I reckon it would bleep it in. My oldies have one of them and it does a great job on sand.

I can't think of anywhere on the eastern beach south of Indian Head where he would struggle. In fact the hardest thing he would have to do would be to get out to the barge over the soft stuff on the mainland, and that's only if he goes right up the dirt road from Rainbow. If he comes out unto the beach further south it would be easier still.

Hi Kev,
All the advice the others have given is great and accurate, no need for me to repeat it here.

I do have a question, has the guy ever had it on the beach or even on sand?

I'd throw a couple of hundred kilo's of ballast in the back of it, a couple of passengers too. Hook up the camper and see how it goes on a beach near home first.

Make sure you've got someone along who can tow it out if it the plan doesn't work out.

One thing I will add is tyre pressure, it'll be critical. The number of knobs I see attempting to drive the southern end and the dunes on Stockton Beach with road pressure in the tyres is astounding.

They're chewing the tracks to pieces, the vehicle is working its backside off and all because they are too lazy to drop some pressure.

Actually I'll have a small scale rant whilst I'm on this subject. I've a theory on why so many modern cars are still catching fire about the place.

I reckon people are working the arse off them on sand or when towing and they boil the auto transmission.

It then vomits out fluid on to red hot exhausts and the rest as they say is history.

Hope that helps,

Geoff

If it's the V6, it has 152 kW.

Keep away from the deep stuff, drop tyre pressures, keep the revs up and it should tow a camper easily.

I dragged a trailer behind a 3L Petrol Patrol (100 kW) years ago quite easily. Just had to keep the revs up so that I was in the "sweet spot".

Jim.

Too many variables to give an answer other than saying that they need proper recovery points front and rear and a shovel and someone with a snatch strap .

We had to push our Rangie hard to get to the barge at Inskip point a month ago and the beach was littered with stuck 4WD's - not the soft off roaders, but the real 4WD's. The sand was so soft.

We were not towing and did not dare stop on the soft sand which is what the stuck 4wd's had done.

We were only sightseeing and did not go on the barge so cannot comment on Fraser.

Stevesub

G'day Kev,

As already mentioned the Inskip Point section can be tough as can Hook Point. Tyre pressure is the key and having another vehicle to pull him along like yourself means that you need good recovery points on the vehicle and a decent strap between you. Not sure if Hook Point is open to traffic these days as there was talk of closing this to vehicles and forcing them up the inland road.

I'd give it a go just use common sense.

Kind regards

G'day mate,

Was at fraser island 3 weeks ago. Saw a couple stock standard subaru foresters on the beach. They seemed to be handling it ok. I probably would kkeep it on the beach and stay away from inland tracks as they have lots of ruts.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Brian.

it all pretty much been said already, but as a regular visitor to fraser i'll just say the short run out to the barge at inskip (worse on return due to no run up off of the barge) will be the hardest part along with the entry area past the gates at dundaburra (it was only a short section but soft when i was there abit over a month ago). low tyre pressures should see him right, but like already said, make sure he has a decent recovery point for the snatch strap to attach to. lowtide will see you easily drive around hook point (yes it's still open) and up the beach in 2wd, i do it towing a caravan in 2wd once we hit the hard sand, so can't see why your mate wouldn't be able to.