Low Range Use

Hi,

I have a 2000 Frontera which I absolutely love. At this stage the only major area I need to work on is to give it a lift as it suffers from a lack of ground clearance at times.

I live in Brisbane so we regularly go to Cooloola and Fraser and we get to most places we want to, and my wife and I have a great time.

One thing I find myself doing is using low range a fair bit in soft sand and this is mainly to compenstae for the times when our underbelly scrapes the sand. I seem to get stuck in soft sand in high four even with my tyres lowered and some momentum up.

The car is an automatic and the 3.2 litre V6 has plenty of power. Usually I will select drive in low range and tackle the very soft stuff. Once I get to firm sand I go back to high four or high two.

I suppose my question is that when using low in this situation should I select drive or say select third gear instead. Part two of my question is that should I be conscious of speeds I do while in low range as with the car being an automatic it does its own thing with gear selection.

I would be most appreciative of any advice.

Cheers

Brian Beitz