In August '90 when we showed up in Saudi Arabia we only had experience in America high deserts--rocky terrain and firm ground. In the Arabian desert the sand is deep like a beach. We had 5-tons (65,000# GVW 6x6s) pulling big guns. Everyone got stuck. I aired my tires down to 10psi--which is the point where the drivers touch each other on a bi-directional combat tire. These trucks we got from the MPS ships--our own trucks back in Hawaii had the big super-singles. Anyway, I never ever blew my tires back up and I never had trouble in sand. All the other sections would blow their tires back up. I thought they were insane. I wore out 10 tires, but I never again got stuck.
Those tires are meant for that though. They have no tread pad like a radial has. They go limp like water balloons. But the point is, you need lots of surface area. And you need to be smart.
One thing I would do--I was either the first or last gun in a convoy. When I was last I would try to stay on top of the ruts instead of letting my wheels drag into them. That meant a contant side to side steer to keep from getting bogged in a rut. The other thing was we had Cummins 14-liter engines without turbos--240hp though they were called NH-250s. Anyway, we had 5-speeds and the only low range was in the transfercase. Which wasn't meant to be shifted on the fly. That's a problem. We did raids at night where we would slip in and sit and wait for an Iraqi missle battery to move up to shoot. When they were setting up we would blast them and then haul ass out of there. Acceleration without a low range sux. So after we were hooked back up and loaded I would take off in low range, then I would put it in neutral and slam down on the shifter lever to pop it into high range--then shove it in 3rd and be on my way. I always dusted the rest of the platoon out of there. It's just amazing the power it takes to get through sand and if you only have high range you are lucky if you can get enough speed to shift into 2nd.
Another technique which you won't encounter, if you are pulling a trailer and get hung up--you back up to jack-knife the trailer. Then you can get a running start without the load and when the trailer jerks straight, you're on your way.
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anyone have any tips on wheeling in sand?
