Questions About Beach Driving

roberttu · October 8, 2007

I Have a "03 K2500 with 40K miles. I recently took it on the beach in NC and all was fine until the light came on that says "Transmission Hot". It has the OEM tow package and (I assume) a trans cooler. The Trans temp guage on the dash was running slighly over 200 degrees F. I was in Drive, and changed several times between 4WD HI and 4WD Auto. I did not have the Trailer/Haul button engaged. I had only driven it for a few miles at less than 15MPH. The outside temp was around 70 degrees F. I stopped immediately and let it cool down, and we made it home w/ no problem. From reading various posts, I now know I had the tire pressure way to high (35-40PSI).

I would really appreciate any advice you guys may have.....

1) Did I damage anything? I have carefully checked the trans fluid and the level is fine with no burned smell. I am inclined to get it changed anyway. Seems like everything is working great.

2) If I were to drive with the Trailer/Haul button engaged, would that reduce the wear on the trans?

3) Should I have been driving in a lower gear or is "Drive" just fine?

4) Is it harder on the Trans to be in AWD or keeping it in 4WD Hi?

Thanks a million!

no bull · October 8, 2007

I Have a "03 K2500 with 40K miles. I recently took it on the beach in NC and all was fine until the light came on that says "Transmission Hot". It has the OEM tow package and (I assume) a trans cooler. The Trans temp guage on the dash was running slighly over 200 degrees F. I was in Drive, and changed several times between 4WD HI and 4WD Auto. I did not have the Trailer/Haul button engaged. I had only driven it for a few miles at less than 15MPH. The outside temp was around 70 degrees F. I stopped immediately and let it cool down, and we made it home w/ no problem. From reading various posts, I now know I had the tire pressure way to high (35-40PSI).

I would really appreciate any advice you guys may have.....

1) Did I damage anything? I have carefully checked the trans fluid and the level is fine with no burned smell. I am inclined to get it changed anyway. Seems like everything is working great.

2) If I were to drive with the Trailer/Haul button engaged, would that reduce the wear on the trans?

3) Should I have been driving in a lower gear or is "Drive" just fine?

4) Is it harder on the Trans to be in AWD or keeping it in 4WD Hi?

Thanks a million!

#1 You must drop tire pressure!!! The flatter the better, up to a point. I have a 2500 Yukon Xl 8.1 liter 285/75-R16 tires.....I never go on a soft beach with more than 15psi in those guys and these are 80psi tires! 4wheel low is the way to go, although there will be those that say no. When your truck is in the sand and the sand is loose, it very much like you trying to pedal a bike up a hill in high gear....you'll likely die before you get to the top!

I always use 4 lo and 14psi and have never even been close to overheating or stuck!

By the way I just got back from a week on the 4x4 beach in Corolla NC

roberttu · October 8, 2007

I Have a "03 K2500 with 40K miles. I recently took it on the beach in NC and all was fine until the light came on that says "Transmission Hot". It has the OEM tow package and (I assume) a trans cooler. The Trans temp guage on the dash was running slighly over 200 degrees F. I was in Drive, and changed several times between 4WD HI and 4WD Auto. I did not have the Trailer/Haul button engaged. I had only driven it for a few miles at less than 15MPH. The outside temp was around 70 degrees F. I stopped immediately and let it cool down, and we made it home w/ no problem. From reading various posts, I now know I had the tire pressure way to high (35-40PSI).

I would really appreciate any advice you guys may have.....

1) Did I damage anything? I have carefully checked the trans fluid and the level is fine with no burned smell. I am inclined to get it changed anyway. Seems like everything is working great.

2) If I were to drive with the Trailer/Haul button engaged, would that reduce the wear on the trans?

3) Should I have been driving in a lower gear or is "Drive" just fine?

4) Is it harder on the Trans to be in AWD or keeping it in 4WD Hi?

Thanks a million!

#1 You must drop tire pressure!!! The flatter the better, up to a point. I have a 2500 Yukon Xl 8.1 liter 285/75-R16 tires.....I never go on a soft beach with more than 15psi in those guys and these are 80psi tires! 4wheel low is the way to go, although there will be those that say no. When your truck is in the sand and the sand is loose, it very much like you trying to pedal a bike up a hill in high gear....you'll likely die before you get to the top!

I always use 4 lo and 14psi and have never even been close to overheating or stuck!

By the way I just got back from a week on the 4x4 beach in Corolla NC

overlord1 · October 8, 2007

Chances are you did no damage in the short distance you drove. People that do not have experience driving in sand don't realize how much power sand robs from your engine. I live in coastal NC and drive on the beach just about every weekend. I air down all four tires to 10 PSI and have never come close to getting stuck. My engine and tranny temps never rise from "normal" either. The truck also does not labor or struggle to make headway like it did when I use to drive with the tires at street pressures (35 psi). BTW, dropping your pressure to 20 or 25 psi does almost nothing, may as well keep them at 35 psi. You need to drop down to 15 psi or less before you will see a HUGE difference in the way your truck drives in sand. Of course you will need some way to air back up when you are ready to hit the pavement. I have a 20LB CO2 tank purpose built that allows me to air up each tire from 10 psi to 35 psi in about 1 minute per tire.

roberttu · October 9, 2007

Chances are you did no damage in the short distance you drove. People that do not have experience driving in sand don't realize how much power sand robs from your engine. I live in coastal NC and drive on the beach just about every weekend. I air down all four tires to 10 PSI and have never come close to getting stuck. My engine and tranny temps never rise from "normal" either. The truck also does not labor or struggle to make headway like it did when I use to drive with the tires at street pressures (35 psi). BTW, dropping your pressure to 20 or 25 psi does almost nothing, may as well keep them at 35 psi. You need to drop down to 15 psi or less before you will see a HUGE difference in the way your truck drives in sand. Of course you will need some way to air back up when you are ready to hit the pavement. I have a 20LB CO2 tank purpose built that allows me to air up each tire from 10 psi to 35 psi in about 1 minute per tire.

roberttu · October 9, 2007

Thanks Ed....appreciate the fast reply. I will take your advice and drop the tire pressure WAY DOWN. Where did you get the CO2 rig?

Best regards

roberttu · October 9, 2007

Bob, Thanks for your response as well......it seems I am getting consistent advice to drop the pressure way down. Clearly that is the way to go....any thoughts out there on the HAUL/TRAILER setting or what gear to drive in?

Thanks again!

DownhomeVA · October 9, 2007

As I said in the message Curt,

I'm the jackass driving 50MPH with my tires at 25psi in 4HI... I had no idea that was "bad" for my truck!

LOVE driving up in corolla - thats the pic in my sig. Drove up to the VA line and threw out a tent and crashed for the weekend...absolute blast.

overlord1 · October 9, 2007

Thanks Ed....appreciate the fast reply. I will take your advice and drop the tire pressure WAY DOWN. Where did you get the CO2 rig?

Best regards

This is where I got my co2 setup: Powertank. It is not cheap but it is the best setup and the fastest way to air back up. It may not make sense to spend $400 on a CO2 rig if you are only going to use it a couple of times a year. In that case I would buy a portable air compressor that you can hook up directly to your battery with alligator clips for less than $100. Avoid the compressors that plug into your cigarette lighter as you will blow fuses left and right. Just be patient because most of the ones I tried out took anywhere from 5-10 minutes PER TIRE to fill up from 10psi to 35psi. Hope this helps.