My buddy and I are going to do some hill climbing this weekend and I had some questions. The hills we are going to try are pretty long and kind of sandy. I have an Automatic with the 3.0 and I was wondering if I should just leave it in Drive and let the shifting take care of it's self or should I try to shift from 2 to 1 myself. Also what is the "rule of thumb" for automatics and wheeling? Sorry I'm pretty new to off roading.

 

I would downshift to 2 so you spin less. 1st if your truck boggs down.

 

hold it to the floor

 

air down

 

The wider the tire the better on sand. More footprint, less dig. Spinning means your stuck, throttle control is key. All else fails floor it.

 

Take lots of Pics! I wanna see what happens when you hold the throttle down going up hill in sand!

 

I hear you, so maybe just leaving it in Drive and 4hi would be my best option? I feel that by the time the tranny down shifts i will not have any momentum left. Any other suggestions on how to approach this? By the way my buddy has a 2008 Jeep Unlimited with a stick and I he usually uses 2nd gear.

 

How far? Im running 31x10.5x15 on 15x8's

 

4wd huh. I say 4 hi and 1st and control your throttle. Probably air down to about 15 psi.

 

it all depends on the situation, the angle, length how soft it is..

I would almost say get goin and see how it feels, then hit second if you need it. I personally would get some speed up then hit second for the climb, but everyone knows my record. Like I said, if i was there, driving.. and had a few goes at it I could tell ya, but this is the internet so there's only so much we can do for you.

 

Yeah, Broke ****

 

So just slow and steady. I just have seen people attack these hills with speed. I guess like others have said, I just have to try it and see what happens/what works.

 

Speed is what breaks things. You could hit a rut hard or go too fast over the top and catch too much air.

 

not real sure but i have 33's and i aired down to 15 psi when i was on sand dunes i also left it in 4 Hi and in Drive worked just fine

 

air down, i just ran my auto in first and used the skinny pedal while i was climbing sand dunes. but your best be for traction is airing down in sandy/lose conditions bigger foot print more traction.

 

Just go out and try different things. Find what works best there. If you get stuck learn from it. I got stuck on alot of rides with my buddies since they all have 4wd, now i can go through what they can in my 2wd. Just took alot of trail and error. Def. air down to 15-17psi

 

15psi is pretty good if you don't want to break a bead, but you can try going lower. i've run 245/75/16 all the way down to 8psi on mag rims and didn't lose a bead, that was in snow though. on 265/75/16 lowest i went in the sand was 12psi also because i was sliding around and didn't want to over stress the bead seat. and if you lose the bead, well you know how low not to go

 

Any suggestions on airing back up? What do yo guys use, is there anything relatively inexpensive you might suggest.

 

I usually take a my 2 five gallon air tanks full and strap them in the bed.

 

12v air compressor.

 

gas station that is the closest to me

 

How long does it take to air back up all 4 tires, and which would you recommend?

 

a long *** time. it took me about 15min a tire with mine

 

Dang, I was afraid of that.

 

like i said gas stations with free air are your friends