First Adventure in the Sand - Story and Lessons Learned

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G213

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This is one of those self-taught lessons that hopefully might help someone in the future. For reference, here are my specs...

2016 Platinum 4x4
Towing Package
20" Custom Ford F150 FX4 Chrome Wheels - Standard suspension (not auto ride)
Michelin LTX M/S2 Tires w/ plenty of tread

I live in LA and yesterday my friends and I decided to go to the beach. We hit Marina Del Ray and I started to look for parking. After 15 minutes of no luck, I drove by a "street" which faces the ocean but is nothing but sand. There's no concrete underneath. I noticed a couple Jeeps had parked here and I thought, why not?

This was loose sand, not packed at all. However, the left side of the "street" was relatively flat and I traversed with ease. (She slugged a bit in the deeper sand, but continued to bite and plowed through) I had a bit of a proud moment when I saw my Expy parked next to some lifted Jeep Wranglers, thinking to myself, "see? I can do that too! This is reason 3930 why I love my truck”. I unpack my cooler and away I go walking less than 100 feet to the ocean.

My friends arrived a bit later and called saying they were also struggling with parking. She drives a 2005 Xterra w/ 4WD, so I suggested that she come and park where I did. To her credit, she tried lol she had never driven on sand before and didn’t know the basics of how to avoid getting stuck. (Basic tip, do not stop until you're out of the deeper sand) Her tires didn't have great tread and she dug herself in pretty deep.

The phone rings and she asks if I can come tow her out, which I’m happy to do because now I get to use my front tow hooks too. (Granted we could have used wood blocks or those fold out tracks designed for just this purpose, but this was more fun. In a pinch, we also could of taken some air out of the tires, but I was able to move without issue)

I walk over, get the tow straps in line, find the most solid part of the sand that I can (truth be told, I used some of the sidewalk at the end of the street) and away we go. First time I get to use 4WD Low for real, all cool stuff.

I manage to pull her out, but not without some SERIOUS sand flying and digging myself down just a little bit. (She had really dug in deep, one side of her frame was bottomed out) But all ends well, we both get to park beachfront, which I think is just awesome.

As you can imagine, I left the beach knowing the truck had sand all over the place…in cracks and crevices which would take some serious patience to clean; notably in my case, in the power fold mirrors and power fold running board mechanisms.

Being a total type A and having a love affinity for my truck, my first stop after the beach was the self service car wash. I whipped out ye old pressure stick and went to town. (Not on full blast mind you, I tried to be as gentle as possible to avoid scratches the best I could) I went over every crack, every crevice, the mirrors, the wheel wells, the engine bay (very carefully)…everything I could think of. Then I went to town on the inside, which thankfully, was minimal. (I was taught that you have to vacuum out sand ASAP, otherwise it digs into the carpet and becomes nightmare to work out) My normal car wash (where I have a membership) was closed by now, so I knew I’d have to tackle the second step tomorrow.

Fair warning, I looked around and couldn’t find anything via google that specifically talked about cleaning sand off these parts. I am also by no means an expert at driving on sand, I just know the basics various folks have taught me. That said, if any of this is a no no, please by all means correct me.

Power Fold Mirrors

These ended up hiding a serious amount of sand. Naturally the first thing I did was try the power fold function. While they did fold and unfold properly, they sounded PISSED…cracking and dragging, clearly from the sand.

For this I got medieval with a handheld electric air duster. I pushed and pulled that mirror back and forth probably a hundred times, each time hitting every little nook I could find with air. Then I slanted the mirror glass down as far as possible and slammed a ton of air in there. This ultimately did work, but believe me, you need to be patient. I plan to follow up with a quick spray of white lithium grease inside the pivot point of the mirror (not behind the glass). I’ve read mixed arguments on this…saying that there’s already a glob of grease in there which should be enough or that there’s no harm in additional lubricant to help the motors do their thing. I won’t go crazy with the stuff; I’ll give an update later.

Power Fold Running Boards

These were interesting. These never stopped working either, but like the mirrors sounded god awful. The owners manual says that if you hear strange noises when these deploy or retract, to use high pressure water to clean out the joints; this was my first step.

After letting everything dry I went back out this morning; the passenger board was fine but with the driver side, you could hear tons of grit in the mechanism, particularly when it deployed. Right as the running board finishes opening I heard this distinctive “crunch” sound which was incredibly annoying. This sounded like a decent amount of sand was getting sandwiched into something as the board deployed, not some one off gritty sound here or there.

I went to town with the air duster and hit every pin, every pinch point I could see…nothing, still the same annoying sound. Finally after climbing under the truck, I look up inside of the frame at the top of the running board motor and see a HUGE pile of sand. (Climb under the truck, look up at the bottom of the frame, you’ll see the top of the running board brace) After going to town with the air duster, sound disappeared completely.

Those were the two highlights. All the other crevices and creases (door jams, power window seals, door handle body panels) I hit extensively with water, then turned around and used my handy dandy air duster.

After 6 or so hours, I’d say it’s 93% done. I know there are a few pockets here and there that hopefully will flush out over time or I’ll stumble upon and clean up. All in all, I think I found one new 1 inch long hairline scratch that I’ll address at some point, but it’s not a huge deal.

I’ve wanted to try driving this truck on sand since I first got her and it really was a cool experience. Truth is if I hadn’t had to pull my friend out, I probably wouldn’t have nearly as big a mess to cleanup as I did here. That said, I don’t think I’ll be driving this truck on sand again; as I really like my power folding stuff and don’t want to ruin them. :) (I’m looking at buying a used 2000ish Expy to do beach stuff with instead…we’ll see)

Hope this helps someone out or at least was fun to read…happy to answer any questions or suggestions.

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Trainmaster

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If you got sand in your mirrors you were really going at it. What's that about? Air down your tires to about 12 pounds and go nice an easy. You crawl out like a tank. If you're blowing sand around, you're not doing the right thing.

You should let the air out of the tires any time you go on the sand. Otherwise you get stuck. If the wheels spin, you've lost it.

The best tools for sand driving is an ARB air compressor and a Hy-Lift jack with wheel straps.

I'm on the beach all the time, miles and miles each time and never get sand anywhere except perhaps the brakes and suspension grease seals.

The only problem I've had comes from living 500 feet from the beach. Sand blows into the window felts on windy days when parked and scratches the side windows when they operate.

You've got a beautiful truck there.
 
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G213

G213

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Oh I was a overzealous with this, no doubt. I absolutely should of air downed the tires but I was a little too excited (also didn't have an air compressor in the back...just bought one today)

I forgot to mention it was also a VERY windy day...20mph wind gusts coming off the surf; was the kind of day you get a nice skin exfoliation by standing in the right direction.

I'm just happy I got it all out; but you are definitely correct. Ah FELTS...that was the word I was looking for, yes, the power window gasket felts.

And thank you! I try. One of my favorite mods was the rim swap. There's a guy here in the valley who takes OEM rims and chromes them; you trade in your existing rims for a discount. I'm a black on chrome guy and still can't believe chrome rims aren't an option anymore. (See swap below) Believe it or not, the truck actually rides better with these, since they are steel and heavier than the OEMs.

OEM Rims (McCarran, facing Las Vegas Blvd)

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F150 FX4 - Aftermarket Chrome (Burbank)

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lbv150

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Driving on dunes and beaches: Number one is to air down the tires like Trainmaster said. Cape Cod national seashore that is a must do requirement. Signs everywhere and will get you a ticket if you don't. Spinning tires in the sand and sand flying all over the place? That means two things...no traction and someone doesn't know how to drive in the sand.
 
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G213

G213

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I was that guy :(....won't be anymore.

But I got it all out...thankfully. Was also an honest excuse to lube stuff up I wouldn't have thought of otherwise, so I'll take that as a semi-pseudo-silver lining

Won't make an a$$ of myself next time....
 
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Thunderbirdsport

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Happens to us all. Years ago, I got a Mountaineer stuck on a sandbar of the local "crick" bank. In about 4 seconds, it was on the frame. Had to call for a ride out of there and to the farm, for a tractor, the big strap, and a couple of shovels. That ************* Mountaineer moved right out with some sand shoveled out from in front of the tires and about 10K of pissed off Case motivation at the far end of the previously mentioned strap.

I could've aired down, I suppose. I also should've stayed off the sandbar.

I was out there once on the quad, some guy had a late 70's Bronco buried about halfway up to door handles in soft dry sand. The landowner wouldn't let him take a dozer down to yank it out. The following weekend, it rained about 6 inches. When the crick went down, the Bronc was gone.

Ouch.
 

Machete

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You know what else is in that sand? Salt. Good luck w the rust that’s coming your way if you keep that truck.
 
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G213

G213

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You know what else is in that sand? Salt. Good luck w the rust that’s coming your way if you keep that truck.

Well at least it never rains here and I keep it extraordinarily clean. She started her life in Baltimore before I got ahold. I know their winters/shoreline aren’t kind on metals.
 

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