Got Stuck In Sand Being A Good Samaritan

[overlord1]

This past weekend I went off roading at one of our local beach access areas. I do this most weekends with my '06 Silverado Z71 as the beach is only 15 minutes from my house. I always air down the tires to about 10 PSI since I have an onboard compressor to air back up before I hit the highway. Anyway as I was preparing to leave the beach I happened upon a poor guy in a Ford Ranger pickup who had lost his 4WD. Only his rear axle was engaged even though he had 4WD selected. The sand was very soft this past weekend due to very little rain the last few weeks. This guy couldn't do anything but spin his rear tires. I decided to be a good samaritan and help this guy out. I carry a 3"x30' recovery strap with me all the time in case I ever get stuck (never happened so far). What I did was to choke one side of the strap through his hitch and the other end I looped around my tow ball. My goal was to tow him about 60-75 yards to the harder packed sand that is right at the shore line. I got about 40 yards with no problem then I mananged to get stuck. I pretty much buried it to the frame. I tried rocking back and forth for about one or two minutes max. Surprisingly I came unstuck almost immediately just by clearing the sand out from in front of the tires. I then proceeded to tow him the other 25 or so yards to the shore line. At this point the guy was able to get going with only 2wd. He even commented that it doesn't look good for him to be towed by a Chevy Anyway this is the first time that I have ever done this with my truck and was wondering what if anything I could damage on my truck by doing this? Is it the transmission that would suffer the most stress or would it be the differentials or transfer case? I checked my transmission fluid and it looks nice and pink with no hint of discoloration or burnt smell. Engine temp never exceeded 210 degrees (pretty much center of gauge). I know our trucks are tough but I get pretty paranoid about causing damage to the truck. Am I worrying about nothing? Thanks.

[superbee]

99% no, you didn't hurt anything. In the future make sure you pull stumps, trucks, houses etc in low range.

[overlord1]

99% no, you didn't hurt anything. In the future make sure you pull stumps, trucks, houses etc in low range.

 

Good point, thanks. I was in 4WD High since I've never needed 4WD Low for anything up to this point. The problem (so I thought) was that when I got stuck I was connected to the other fellow via the recovery strap. There was a lot of tension on that strap and neither of us could move. I should have engaged 4wd Low BEFORE I tried to tow him. Could I have engaged 4WD Low even while completely stationary? I thought you needed to be moving under 5mph???

[pwall]

To engage 4low, you have to be under 5mph, which includes stopped.

If I remember correctly, you also have to be in nuetral.

[dietz4ibanez]

yeah you have to be in nuetral and I think that it will engage no prob while stopped!

[2007GMCSierra]

I would be stopped to engage 4 low - it'll make some funky grinding and clunking sounds otherwise. I would not think you would have done anything at all to the truck - save for the possibility of sand entering through bad gaskets or getting sucked in the intake. Other than that - you couldn't have hurt it in that short a distance. I used to plow snow with a 2500HD for a local landscaping company - parking lots - now THAT is a transmission and engine beating - temp regularly toward the top of both the temp and tranny gauge. His GMs had HD clutch fans installed but it only helped a little. Those trucks would have 6 or 7 years and 100K miles on them, always plowing or towing big landscape trailers, before anything major ever went.

[mini1]

The only damage you did was to any metal on your truck. Don't drive on the salty beach!!!! Salt will eat your truck!!!!

[Schmids5.3l]

Hah this reminds me of the time we took my buddies Ford Explorer Sport trac to Florida for spring break. We were driving around lost/drunk (driver was sober) and decided to turn around in this big sand field, I think it was a dried out storm drain, at around 2 AM. His bald cooper tires got us no were, and 4 of us pushed with no luck. Some guy in a ranger with atleast 6" of lift and some nice big knoby tires stopped by and pulled us out. After he pulled us out he decided to go baja across this field.

 

Anyways, theres a 99% chance your truck is fine.

[overlord1]

The only damage you did was to any metal on your truck. Don't drive on the salty beach!!!! Salt will eat your truck!!!!

 

I spend a good 20-30 minutes after each trip to the beach giving the undercarriage a good hosing down. It is amazing how much sand gets into the front suspension area especially. Probably enough to fill one of those kid's beach buckets. I do realize I'm potentially causing extra stress and possibly wear to the truck by driving it on the beach just about every weekend. However it is just too much fun not to do. I figure a lot of people tow heavy trailers with their trucks on a regular basis which I don't do. Hopefully it all evens out

[mini1]

You need to get an old beater truck or SUV (Jeep or Land Rover) for beach fun. The salt and sand is really going to cause problems over the long haul on your truck. Just imagine salty sand getting into your air intake....not to mention the severe salt damage that will result on the body metal and exhaust system. Please save a good truck and beat on the beater!

[Rolandd]

If you realy put the frame rails on the ground I would be concerned about sand getting into the front wheel bearings and the rear axle. These seals are not designed for the amount of sand that you are exposing them to and will let some in over time. You may also want to install filters on the axle, transfer, and tranny breathers to keep sand from getting sucked in as you cool everything down with the hose. When hosing you probably want to deluge rather than pressure spray around bearing seals to avoid driving sand into the seals. I agree with above: buy a beater truck for sand duty and keep your new one nice.

[Loomis462]

if you do a lot of sand driving like i do, buy one of those lawn sprinklers and set it under your truck for about 5 min when you get back, works wonders.