BEACH DRIVING IN A 2008 128KW T5 4motion Crewvan

[coas tfire safety]

Hi all,

After finding limited information about the capabilities of my 2008 128kw 4motions' beach driving capabilities, I took the 'plunge' on Friday 4th march 2016 on Teewah Beach just north of Noosa Heads QLD.

Vehicle specs: 2008 128kw T5 4motion SWB crewvan, R17 235 55 low profile Hankook tyres let down to 20 PSI, rear diff lock & a $6000.00 audio system with Blaupunkt amp & French hand made speakers!

Recovery gear: 10 x sandbags(empty) from Bunnings, 7000kg snatch strap, 7000kg bow shackle & a fold up shovel.

Beach driving conditions: Cuttings on & off the beach extremely soft with deep wheel tracks from 4x4's with large tyres. Soft sand at the back of the beach at high tide. Various sand dunes whilst looking for a camp spot.

Results: The van went everywhere without any problem or hesitation. Diff lock never used. Likewise with the recovery gear! This van is definitely a keeper & we renamed it 'Dream Machine'! Received many looks from 4x4 drivers, especially from the Patrol driver we overtook in soft sand at the back of the beach at high tide on the way to Double Island Point.

Comments: Don't hold back fellow 4motion drivers!

[Transporter]

Welcome to the 4Motion club. Very impressive audio system there.

Yes, the 4Motion is very capable. I've pulled out from mud Toyota Hilux, without any hustles. The by standers couldn't believe it.

[Sunny43.5]

Even the standard T5 128kw model has good recovery without 4 motion , I used to take our son and myself moto Cross riding at Black Duck Valley its real black soil country . One weekend it rained heavily overnight so we decided to go home early , we noticed quite afew others being towed out of the dirt access road and were concerned . Our turn came and a fully loaded van with 4 people 4 bikes one in van and 3 in trailer set off , the first hill we came to had already claimed many other cars utes etc , halfway down the decent I told the boys to hold on in case we started to slip or get bogged . At the bottom of the gully I put my foot down hard to get some speed up the van gave a quick twitch sideways for a moment and suddenly lt slowed down and started to crawl up the slippery hill by itself . I had my foot still buried to the floor but the van just kept going up , there is a checkout house and the guy asked me what I was doing to get up the hill , I replied I had no idea except for the TCS light flashing turns out that the FWD system will alternate the power to each front wheel and at the same time reduce throttle , this makes the van sort of crawl upwards by grabbing ground quickly one wheel at a time worked a treat !!

[Murphenzo]

Welcome!

You'll find my T5 4-motion is a regular up the beach at Teewah and over at Fraser.
I wish I had the diff lock, but honestly, it goes just fine without it. I've only ever got it stuck once and self recovered in about a minute with the maxtraxx. They're an amazingly capable car....and definitely get some funny looks for the usual 4WD crowd!

[coas tfire safety]

Hi Murphenzo,
Good looking van & quite a bit higher than mine! What tyres are you running?
Hopefully we will cross paths sometime. Mine's white & soon to have Coast Fire Safety business advertising on it.

[VWTDI]

What wheels and tires are those?

[Murphenzo]

They're 235/65r17 all terrains on a 17x8" rim. Suspension is the Seikel "Desert" kit which lifts it about 30 mm (a little more in the rear).
All up it sits around 2 and a bit inches higher than stock, which gives it equal or better ground clearance than most stock dual cabs. On the sand I've never found myself "sweeping" the track....there's always someone that's gone through in something lower.

I'll keep an eye out for you up that way. Finger crossed I'll be up there for a surf in the week after easter while I'm back in the country. happy to show you the car if you're interested. I'd also be pretty interested to see how yours goes with the diff lock!

[johannvisser]

We have a rule on a 4x4forum here in South Africa, if you don't post foto's then it never happened! Just saying

[hoddy]

Love that sand!