Trailer Recovery

Cuffs,
Were all 6 tyres let down? If so, to what pressure?

Depending on the softness of the sand, it can be necessary to drop pressures down as low as 8psi..... of course this is by trial and error.....

If you find that 16psi is still not getting you through, then go down to 12 and then, if need be, down to 8. I've heard of vehicles going as low as 4psi....!!!!

Of course, the lower the pressure, the more careful you need to be about cornering; resulting in rolling a tyre off a rim.

A lot of people make the mistake of not reducing the trailer's pressures.... you MUST do this too or the trailer will want to sink and act as an anchor on the vehicle.

Of course, the best way (not always possible) is to weigh up the risk beforehand and then avoiding that section of sand altogether.

Cheers

Roachie

Maxtrax!! (sitting back waiting for people to start whinging about the cost of them now after they have read this)

i've gotten bogged in the sand towing my caravan off the barge at Fraser Island (my fault as i had pumped my tyres back up to 25 psi), chucked Maxtrax under the rear wheels of my fourby after clearing a tiny bit of sand away from infront of all 4 tyres (i stopped before burying the vehicle), selected lowrange 2nd gear and drove straight out.
if i'd gotten bogged abit further up i would have just chucked the Maxtrax back under and gone again, much easier then unhooking your trailer.

I towed the van ( 1.600 KG )through the sand hills at davenport creek with no problems. the van tyres down to 6psi and the patrol 10psi. Slow and steady and you will not have any problems. Just in case I have a type of curved plate with a ball welded to the top and an eye for a shackle on the front for towing. Have not had to use it so far.
cheers.

Sounds like a normal 4wd adventure. Nothing out of the ordinary and all part of the fun!

Carry on as usual! :-]]

We tow the van up Teewah Beach 18psi all round, no dramas as yet,
just a bit dodgy getting up on to the camp spot through the
soft sand with a bit of a rise.

Cheers
Daza

Not being nasty or anything but an Xtrail would be working very hard in soft sand (which does overload the centre diff and therefore the 4wd system) that asking it to tow a trailer under those conditions would be asking a bit much.
Even fullsize 4wd's will often struggle in such conditions when towing.

Took my daughter and her friend Horse riding near the 1st cutting at Teewah beach, found a 4By and Camper Trailer bogged to the hilt and 2 other vehicles trying to pull it out - down the beach. They by then were also bogged. Hoped not to get involved cause I had a horse float on and was trying to have a day off with the kids. But they were really going no where.
So as you do.....

...I got involved - I was obviously a bit keen to head off with the kids so I told the guy we would do it right the first time we were going straight up the beach (he actually laughed at me noting the 2 vehicles that were just freeing themselves below him) Grinning back, I gave him a shovel and his mate a tyre gauge got them to drop all 6 tyres to 12PSI and clear at least 1m of sand from in front of all the tyres, while I ditched the horse float, dropped the Muddies on the GQ (RB30 ) to 10PSI all round, backed up to him and put some Maxtrax under his rear wheels. As I wanted him to get momentum over the sand ASAP
(In hindsight I may have been better off putting the maxtrax under my (diff locked) front tyres as this would have given all the following tyres traction as they went over them - I'll test that theory one day!!).

Gave him a hand held 2 way so we could do-ordinate and I could instruct him. Both went into 2nd Low range and varied our revs between 1200 and 3500rpm and kept moving , slowing the revs when the vehicles sank a little too deep. But not stopping as long as we were moving. Despite popular opinion, Muddies at very low pressures are perfect for this as long a you don't let any one of them spin TOO much in the same spot.

Didn't get a video of this as everybody was involved in the recovery but we pulled him slowly all the way to the top in one long and very slow go. But I have a picture of the slope and the vehicle in the distance. I would say if the sand was any dryer or softer we would have had more trouble but we got some good momentum from the start as we had about a meter of free run before we hit the soft sand.

When you are running around in places like the Simpson Desert you are going up much steeper and softer sand than this all the time, its just that you know you have to run much lower tyre pressures out there.

Maybe I could have hooked the horses on as well!

Kerry W

Image Could Not Be Found

Those who regularly launch boats from soft beaches arrange their trailer spare so that it can act as a jocky wheel.
That way it is easy to tow the trailer on the end of a long length of rope, or what ever.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

If your gunna do a lot of towing in sand it is worth a bit of work on the trailer to make it easier to recover.

You need two u shaped 8 or 10 mm round bar.

One welded hanging straight down underneath the drawer bar as close as possible to the front. Guides the snatch strap.

Other one welded underneath right at the back (center) of the trailer hanging down to connect the d-shackle for the snatch strap to. Attach to solid cross member.

When stuck, feed the snatch strap through the front guide, under the trailer, above the axle, to the rear attachment point and attach.

Best to remove the jockey wheel.

As soon as the snatch strap takes any load, the front of the trailer is lifted clear of the sand/mud whatever. no need to shift your load or anything.

Trevor

Sometimes you will find that while your car won't "tow" a trailer through the soft stuff it will "push" it through...

I have seen on occasions where a car towing a trailer has been bogged trying to drag the trailer through a soft patch but has been able to slowly reverse it across pushing the trailer.

I can't explain the why etc but it may be worth giving consideration to before disconnecting and emptying your trailer etc.

Thank you all for your use full comments, except ozhumvee, I hate when pple reply with no experience, never driven, I've heard but wish to comment.

Just my opinion