What to do if stuck in the sand

Believe me you are not the only one. if you spend enough time in the sand even the greatest Drivers get stuck. In the late 90s me and some friends rolled up on Robby Gordon buried in his trophy truck in the dunes. As great of a driver he is, he still got stuck with all the suspension and horsepower you can have. If you spend enough time in the dunes it will happen to you.

First part: stay calm and asses the situation

Try and be rational during this time. The absolute worse thing you can do is Just floor and continue digging deeper holes will make the recover process a lot harder. Hopefully you are with a group that can help you as this is the best case. We will also discuss some keys to get out on your own. Here are some key tips to start with

• lower air pressure to increase foot print in sand
• backing up sometimes may be the easy way, not forward
• A lift and stack method may work
• Digging out around tires to lower the steepness of the hole.
• If available use a traction boards or similar

Solo- If you are traveling by your self and become stuck staying calm is the key. Learning to use small controlled movements are the key to getting out. Unfortunately you got in this situation due to lack of grip between the tires and the ground. By trying to overpower and flooring it will result in deeper holes. You can Start with the OL’ Rocking the boat. Backing up slowly while minimizing wheel spin may help get back on top. While backing you may get some movement back once you fell that movement stop and the the wheels digging down it time to let the foot off the Gas and let the vehicle stop. Do Not hit the Brake this will cause the tires to dig in let. Now start go forward following the same principles. You may have to repeat several times to get out. If that does not work try to shovel a little more and reduce tire pressure lower. Many times getting down to 10-15 psi will make a huge difference over 30psi. It may take you time to maneuver out of this situation.

Lift and Stack. If you are able to lift one corner with a jack sometimes you can improve the situation by lifting the tire placing objects under the tire to help improve traction. If in the sand sometimes just getting sand under the tire will help as now the steepness of the hole is not as great. The hard part is finding a firm spot to allow the jack to work. If you are in a group situation with no rope or jack sometimes the group can rock or lift slightly a corner of the vehicle and this will cause some sand to back fill under the tire. To be honest this sucks and is hard but has worked. Traction boards may help in some situations but in the sand most time they just slide out when wheels get on them. If you can wedge them in there so they maintain position then they may provide the additional traction needed to get out of the hole.

Group situation- Again you may need to adjust Air pressure to help flotation. Being with a group is usually best if you have several friends that are able to help push/rock to gain the extra power to get out of the hole. Or you may be high centered on a ridge that will place the dune right in the middle of the vehicle. This usually can be fixed with a little push backwards from friends. If really stuck you may need a tow from another rig. The key here is that depending on how deep or stuck you may just need a little tug to get you back on top. In recent years the use of kinetic ropes have made this process a lot easier/safer on all.

Static tow strap VS kinetic rope

Static strap is the older nylon strap that has no flex in the strap. Typically you will remove slack in the strap before applying power to pull someone out. This is the traditional method here. Simple rules for hooking up is to never hook around the ball of a trailer hitch. This has proven many time to be a bad decision as the ball will separate and become a projectile. The safest is to have a dedicated loop inserted into the hitch or use a soft shackle to connect to a from mounted location. Or as some due is to place the loop in the receiver part and then place the pin thru holding the strap firmly in place. As for the stuck vehicle follow the same logic. Do not attach to loosely bolted front bumpers. With the amount of energy needed to move the vehicle this may cause damage. With a static rope do not take a run with slack in the strap. This will cause damage to both vehicles, see the video below.

A nice Kinetic rope (like this) will stretch a little and allow the Energy from the stretch to aid in the pulling of vehicle like a giant rubber band. Must find suitable anchor points that will withstand large amounts of energy. Some nice soft shackles help with attachment to the vehicles while not scratching or damaging paint. A Kinetic rope will be used a little different as you will make a little run with slack in the rope. The stretch of the rope will add energy to the pull to help pull the stuck vehicle forward freeing them from bring stuck.