6 speed + beach= frustration

Does anybody that drives in sand drive stick?
I've driven stick for 20 years, and driven on beaches for at least 10... But I never drove stick on a sandy beach until I took the renegade on today and I definitely had trouble. Once I got going I just stayed in 1st and had no issues, but getting started was really tough. I was definitely burning up the clutch, it stunk.
So does anybody have any tips for smooth sailing on sand?

 

I've driven a number of manuals on beaches over the years (Toyota and Datsun pickups mostly) and it was not uncommon to smell the clutch although it wasn't all the time. In very soft, deep sand it was more common. The only suggestion I can give is to air down the tires which you probably already do. I normally would run about 20lb psi, sometimes a little lower if really soft stuff. Did you try starting in 2nd gear, that worked for me sometimes.

I can say that I never had a clutch problem though. I let the clutch cool down while I put air back in the tires after getting off the beach. I only remember 1 time where the clutch felt mushy on the way home but the next day it was fine. The only manual I never smelled the clutch was my Toyota FJ40 no matter what I did to it.

Could the turbo be part of the problem, too much for the sand? What 4x4 mode were you in? We can't drive the beaches until after Labor Day.

My Latitude is an auto and I just tried it on the beach last fall, didn't really get to try it much as I had a busted up knee which kept me off the beaches.

 

Were you at Sore Thumb? I have seen videos of it and it looks like a lot of real soft sand in places.

 

Hey thanks for the tips. Unfortunately i tried them all already. I was aired down to 15 psi, because, yes, this was at Sore Thumb, and i've driven it every summer weekend for years so I know how soft the sand is, but still had no luck getting going from a stop. Many people were getting stuck because it was exceptionally soft and also extra busy this year since Gilgo is closed. There was offload traffic jams everywhere lol. but in years past, i never got stuck in my Fj cruiser, so in the back of my mind I started thinking I had made a mistake for trading it in for the renegade... Actually my 5 year old son was in the back seat repeatedly saying "I told you not to get rid of the fj dad, I told you not to," haha so yeah i was pretty pissed.
I tried sand mode and auto mode, 4x4 lock, i had the traction control off, but nothing was helping.
I was hoping there was just something I missed or some secret trick to it, but i guess not..

 

Boy, I am not at all happy reading this...the sole reason I got the Ren was to use it on the beach!! The sand where I ride (Assateague Island, MD), is typically soft year round. I'm waiting for my new tires this week, (BFG TA KO2s), and am expecting to head out on the sand on July 4th weekend. I will have to be extra vigilant about getting stuck, thanks for the info.

 

Yeah, a lot of traffic will definitely make the beach difficult. Are there any other beaches you could try? What tires, size?

 

I tried out my auto Latitude on the beach a little last year and it was good although I can honestly say I didn't try any real soft stuff. Had a bad knee so getting stuck was something that needed to be avoided. What size tire is the BFG? You should be alright aired down, plus the TH has a low range which the other models don't. Mike's problem is getting going with the manual clutch.

 

Gotcha, going with 225 65 17, don't want to get into the lift realm yet. Really siked about getting out, passed my old Xterra on to the daughter, so this was my update/downsize vehicle.

 

Have fun, take some pictures, videos would be better.

 

will do!!

 

How did the TH do on the beach?

 

Long story, but mostly a work weekend with lots of rain/thunderstorms...never did get to the beach, but got the new water heater installed so I don't have to do it for the 2 weeks I'll be there on actual vaca!! Got this nice poser shot beneath the new LED light I installed on the house tho...


More to follow next trip out, the most I can say is 24+mpg on the trip down and back!!

 

Im going to moab in two weeks ill let u know how those ko2s do out there in sand. And other things

 

Hopefully the ko2s and the trailhawk will be aright

 

Get a good air compressor to f8ll them back up after, I've gone through some soft stuff and been fine. I tried to get lazy because it was just sand and it wasn't going well...

 

Any updates to this thread recently? We are debating a Renegade purchase, and a 6MT one to boot, and one of the main use cases will end up being, "drive down the beach to load/unload kayaks." Had a JKU previously and never had any issues, but was certainly hesitant in attempting similar things in something without 4wD lock (like an AWD Outback - not risking that).

 

be aggressive. dont do 4wd low. thats my advice from moabs soft silty shit

 

I took my 2015 Jeep Renegade Sport 4x4 on the Silver Lake Sand Dunes and it performed like a champ. I do have 235/70/16 tires, but other than that it is stock. The key is to air the tires down to about 16-18 PSI and keep your momentum going. The 16" wheels probably provide some slight advantage over the 17" in this case.

I do have the 1.4 turbo automatic. I suspect the manual and turbo are a benefit in the sand over the 2.4 manual, but probably marginal; Being able to keep the RPMs up locked in second gear made climbing the [amazingly steep] dunes a breeze. I probably spent 75% of the time in second and 20% in third.

Also, you definitely need the 4x4 system to be in "Sand" mode. The Auto setting will burn your brakes out trying to prevent wheel spin and you will struggle. I also turned off the stability control to allow for more wheel spin. I saw a few Wrangler limiteds and full-size pickups get stuck on hills we were able to climb. The lighter weight is a big advantage in the sand.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJhIHIMWzTHOEVsb0VvN1dDVkk

 

Revitalizing this old thread...FINALLY got a chance to hit the beach with one daughter away at school and the other at girl scouts for the weekend. Got a little dicey in the soft stuff and probably would have been no problem aired down, but I'm lazy, lol. She drove great and was lots of fun on all the dips and hills. Very pleased with her performance on the sand!! Took a little to get going initially, as soon as it shifted to the next gear after you start rolling it seemed to perform better. ONE WORD OF CAUTION: When you park and shut it off for a couple of hours, it is no longer in 4WD when you restart it. With the auto-shift 4WD I'm sure it would go into 4 automatically and wouldn't be a problem, (actually didn't test that hypothesis), but you need to reselect 4wd sand-mode, it seems to default to 2wd on restart. Heck, the 8' board even fits on top without the nose hitting the open rear hatch!!