Beach Sand Driving

[LarryH]

Hi All - I am a new Grenadier owner and even newer member to this post. The fieldmaster will be spending this fall in Nantucket, MA where it will be used for beach access driving. Other SUVs we've used on the island for beach access and driving we only deflate all tires to 15-18 psi and didn't have differential lock options. For the grenadier, are the rear or front differentials or both engaged for beach driving? Do you engage the off-road mode as well? The beach sand in Nantucket can get deep in some areas but also hard packed closer to the shore access. Apologies if these are too elementary for this crowd but the last thread on this was over a year ago and didn't find any relevant answers to my questions. Appreciate any guidance you have here.

 

[anand]

Lock the center diff and air down the tires like normal. If you get into a situation where you're bogged, you can enable the axle lockers, but other aids will often be more beneficial without the drawbacks.

The Grenadier's turning radius increases drastically with each successive differential lock (center, rear, front).

 

[TheDocAUS]

Rok Dr Guide has some suggestion for tyre pressures

Ronny Dahl has an interesting video on tyre pressures here:

View: https://youtu.be/_BSQe-DGnIQ

These links may also help you:

Links for new owners and also various Installation Guides (including those from INEOS & Rhino Rack)

May 4, 2025

Helpful links for new owners

• TheDocAUS
• beginner busbar charger filters fuses guides help how to roof rack torx
• Resources, Maintenance Tutorials, Procedures and guides.

 

[INEOS OG]

I do 18-24 psi for sand (dry to wet) and 22-26 in sand / gravel.

 

[Max]

Welcome to the forum. I have done some fairly intense sand work with my Gren Trialmaster and have found it glides through and over with ease. Pending your tyre brand and style, I go as low as 18psi with my BFG A/T KO2 due to the strong sidewall it is possible and have read here that the bead broke flattening the tyre. Going too low[psi] and Driving hard into a turn and pushing the sidewall hard into the sand would probably do it. I have the Centre diff locked and ESC is disengaged automatically, which is a must in and on sand. Diff locks would only come into play if I was to bog it, then into low range rear diff locked and try reversing out. Happy motoring

 

[bigleonski]

Lock the center diff and air down the tires like normal. If you get into a situation where you're bogged, you can enable the axle lockers, but other aids will often be more beneficial without the drawbacks.

The Grenadier's turning radius increases drastically with each successive differential lock (center, rear, front).

Agree with this.

For straight forward sand driving, you don’t really need the CDL engaged, but it doesn’t hurt, so lock it in when you get to the beach and take it off when you’re finished.

Also consider putting it in Low Range, as the Grenny will use all 8 gears in Low all the way up to 80km/hr. Personally I haven’t done this but it was recommended to me and makes sense.

My big tip for when you encounter really soft sand, is to put it in manual mode and drive it in 2nd, 3rd or 4th depending on how you’re going momentum wise. I found during one particularly difficult section of 500 metres or so where it needed a boot full to get through that in Drive it would hunt through the gears much more than my 200 series diesel LC did. Driving in manual mode made it much easier to control your revs.

 

[Logsplitter]

I’ve got the BFGs on my Grenadier and I found they really overheat at low pressures. 40c outside temperature and 15psi in central Kalahari in Botswana and I had to rest the vehicle under the shade of a tree to allow things to cool down. In hindsight I shouldn’t have been attempting the journey in the heat of the day. The next morning up before dawn and the sand driving was a breeze.

 

[AWo]

Keeping pace is important...just keep pace (beside the other things mentioned already here). Beach sand is different from desert sand.....but is sucks up energy, as well. If possible lock it to a lower gear, that it doesn't switch to a higher gear when unsuitable.

AWo

 

[trobex]

Trialmaster chews up sand no issues at all. Centre lock is all I've needed even in the fluffy stuff. 18-22psi. I use manual shifter mostly when I'm on sand as I prefer to pick my gears to suit and hold momentum.

 

[LarryH]

Thank you SO much for these extremely helpful responses. I'm very grateful.