Dune Driving!

brians09 · September 7, 2016

Went to Coos Bay sand dunes in Oregon. Fun week for the truck! Towed a 24' toy hauler with 2 quads from San Francisco then did a little off roading through the dunes. Let the tires down to about 16 psi and didn't get stuck at all. The only thing is now I want the diesel for towing, those mountain passes were not fun..

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Debra in Cali · September 7, 2016

Love the Oregon Coast. Sounds like you are having a great time with all the toys. I am in the same situation. Need a 2500 to pull the next step trailer. I am going on another test drive tomorrow and see what kind of deal they can give me for the new one and for my current one.

SkiDooNick700 · September 7, 2016

Went to Coos Bay sand dunes in Oregon. Fun week for the truck! Towed a 24' toy hauler with 2 quads from San Francisco then did a little off roading through the dunes. Let the tires down to about 16 psi and didn't get stuck at all. The only thing is now I want the diesel for towing, those mountain passes were not fun..

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Beautiful pictures! Coos Bay is a great place, I was there 6 or 7 years ago, we stayed at the KOA Campgrounds. I don't recall seeing any vehicles driving around, just ORVs, is that new or have they always been allowed?

Also, just curious, looks like you have Utility ATVs. What kind of tires do they have and how do they do in the Dunes? We have a Dune area similar to Coos Bay but smaller here in MI called Silver Lake, been a few times but never took our ATVs yet (Rincon 650, Sportsman 570EFI) as we are unsure how they would do with just stock tires.

Also, the mountain passes were not fun... what exactly wasn't fun about them? Lack of power, lack of braking, lack of stability?

crushNchowda · September 7, 2016

Beautiful pictures! Coos Bay is a great place, I was there 6 or 7 years ago, we stayed at the KOA Campgrounds. I don't recall seeing any vehicles driving around, just ORVs, is that new or have they always been allowed?

Also, just curious, looks like you have Utility ATVs. What kind of tires do they have and how do they do in the Dunes? We have a Dune area similar to Coos Bay but smaller here in MI called Silver Lake, been a few times but never took our ATVs yet (Rincon 650, Sportsman 570EFI) as we are unsure how they would do with just stock tires.

Also, the mountain passes were not fun... what exactly wasn't fun about them? Lack of power, lack of braking, lack of stability?

hahaha dude if your polaris can't handle some sand I'd drop that pig off @ the dealer for dead lol!

Seriously, I have an old beat-up '01 Xplorer 400 2 stroke & take it on beach & sand pits near my house (not exactly "dunes" but deep sand w/ hills nonetheless) & it has ZERO issues. Only time I ever got that thing stuck was in a mud hole that went up 2 my thighs & found out after the fact I had a bad left front bearing & was running on "3WD"

The newer 4 strokes? Guy you could take 'em out on the moon & they'd crush it. Just drop PSI to like 3-4 in rear 4-5 in front.

brians09 · September 7, 2016

hahaha dude if your polaris can't handle some sand I'd drop that pig off @ the dealer for dead lol!

Seriously, I have an old beat-up '01 Xplorer 400 2 stroke & take it on beach & sand pits near my house (not exactly "dunes" but deep sand w/ hills nonetheless) & it has ZERO issues. Only time I ever got that thing stuck was in a mud hole that went up 2 my thighs & found out after the fact I had a bad left front bearing & was running on "3WD"

The newer 4 strokes? Guy you could take 'em out on the moon & they'd crush it. Just drop PSI to like 3-4 in rear 4-5 in front.

Sorry, I was talking about two different things there..

I have a sportsman 570 EPS, it was awesome at the dunes, stock tires. Didn't need to use 4WD unless there was a long steep hill. Never got stuck once. It drives everywhere! And the stock suspension was like a Cadillac on the dunes. All I did was let the air down to 4psi in the tires.

Second item was the mountain passes and the truck towing the toy hauler, specifically the sisykou and grants pass. Braking and stability were great, but lacked the power!. It would drop speed from 60 down to 40. I could've floored it and gone faster but no point in killing the truck. It held at about 40 mph at around 3400rpm.. Horrible gas mileage understandably, but definitely had to watch the engine and tranny temps.

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brians09 · September 7, 2016

Beautiful pictures! Coos Bay is a great place, I was there 6 or 7 years ago, we stayed at the KOA Campgrounds. I don't recall seeing any vehicles driving around, just ORVs, is that new or have they always been allowed?

Also, just curious, looks like you have Utility ATVs. What kind of tires do they have and how do they do in the Dunes? We have a Dune area similar to Coos Bay but smaller here in MI called Silver Lake, been a few times but never took our ATVs yet (Rincon 650, Sportsman 570EFI) as we are unsure how they would do with just stock tires.

Also, the mountain passes were not fun... what exactly wasn't fun about them? Lack of power, lack of braking, lack of stability?

We stayed at spinreel campground. They've always been allowed, but you have to have a flag on the back and buy a $10 Oregon off road pass. I definitely got some looks from people when they saw me driving around in a new truck!

See post above for the other items.

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burntorngelonghorn · September 8, 2016

How do you watch your tranny temp? My Duramax had a trans temp gauge, but I decided to downsize and miss that I can't easily monitor the temp on the dash.

dab5577 · September 8, 2016

Tranny temp shows up on mine in place of battery gauge when you put it in tow/haul. Denali cluster is different than ones that aren't digital.

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brians09 · September 8, 2016

How do you watch your tranny temp? My Duramax had a trans temp gauge, but I decided to downsize and miss that I can't easily monitor the temp on the dash.

It should be one of the options when you scroll through the screen on the gauges. You may need to turn it on in the settings first. PM me if you need help finding it. Here's a picture

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truckguy82 · September 8, 2016

How do you watch your tranny temp? My Duramax had a trans temp gauge, but I decided to downsize and miss that I can't easily monitor the temp on the dash.

Yeah I drove around for months wondering this and just figured it out the other day.

In the settings screen you can chose what you want to display in your info pages. Tranny temp is one of the ones that needs to be added. They also have a timer, engine hours, and a few other things.

burntorngelonghorn · September 8, 2016

Thanks for the help! It's one of those things you don't realize or think about until it's gone...

crushNchowda · September 8, 2016

Sorry, I was talking about two different things there..

I have a sportsman 570 EPS, it was awesome at the dunes, stock tires. Didn't need to use 4WD unless there was a long steep hill. Never got stuck once. It drives everywhere! And the stock suspension was like a Cadillac on the dunes. All I did was let the air down to 4psi in the tires.

Second item was the mountain passes and the truck towing the toy hauler, specifically the sisykou and grants pass. Braking and stability were great, but lacked the power!. It would drop speed from 60 down to 40. I could've floored it and gone faster but no point in killing the truck. It held at about 40 mph at around 3400rpm.. Horrible gas mileage understandably, but definitely had to watch the engine and tranny temps.

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Oh lol my bad that makes more sense, I was like wtf?!