Dirt Road Driving

[Rusti]

Hi guys.

Im hitting the dirt roads tomorrow for the first time so im looking for any and all dirt road driving advice that you have please.

Ive got an SFA with BFG AT's, OME suspension, RTT and going through Cederberg with it for some camping so its full of camping stuff..

Whats a safe top speed on dirt roads?
Tyre pressure?
etc etc?

Thanks!

[ChrisF]

Hi Duane

switch ON the 4x4 as soon as you leave the tar.

tire pressures, start from your tar pressures, then:

- less 10% for good gravel roads
- less 15 to 20% if BADLY corrugated (the lower the pressure the lower your speed)


loaded and with the RTT she will be more "top heavy", and handle very differently to what you are used to on tar. Take it slow and steady and get a feel for how she handles ...

[Oupa Stig]

I think (?) with the SFA you won't fall into the trap of driving too fast because you don't "feel" the speed as you would in something with an independent suspension.
(a lady friend of mine managed to hop her boyfriend's (now ex...) Pajero over a 9foot game fence without touching it because she did not realise her speed because of the comfort of the vehicle)

See, one less worry, simply because you are fortunate enough to have a SFA.

Enjoy!

[Rusti]

Thanks guys!

Im really looking forward to it.

To be honest im not sure if my current tyre pressure is correct or not for a fully loaded tar trip. Have it on 2.4 now. I read some other posts a few weeks ago regarding tyre pressures but with other models and I cant recall if they were fully loaded or not.

Yesterday we went passed shark bay here in langebaan and the dirt road there was hectic. The sand part and the dongas were cool but there is a stretch of about 150m that is just sharp jagged rocks across the whole road. They are not loose rocks they are part of the mountan that use to have sand over it. I went super slow over that so as not cut my tyres up. Then a Mitsu came up from the opposite direction and raced up the same path. I was surprised to see him treat it like a tar road.

[Mud Dog]

2.4 bar is a bit high, even for tar .... lower it to 1.6 / 1.8 for the gravel. Enjoy!

Don't push the speed issue, especially not on winding sections / bad surface or where vision of the road ahead is obscured.

[Rusti]

Thanks Andy!

[Haboob]

Drive Carefully & enjoy...
You are out in nature, enjoy the views and tranquility, which you cannot do at 140km/h...
Other vehicles can go faster, but you should be able to go anywhere...

[mushroom]

I find locking the hubs and driving in 4H gives a little more stability, you're on holiday dude, no need to speed, anyway in 4H the top speed shouldn't be more than 80 klms/hr anyway

m2cw - enjoy

[Black Sam]

4H and the right tyre presure will do
the rest enjoy your trip.

[Harold]

Spent most of my driving life on dirt roads.
My advise: very different driving to a tar road as road surface is never the same.
As a first timer do NOT drive fast.
As for tyre pressure, I do not agree with the the general sentiment about reducing pressure.
Four wheel drive only when conditions require it, such as wet roads or sand.
Do not brake suddenly especially in a corner; rather use your gears than the brakes.
If you skid drive into your skid and not out.

You can get plenty of advise but ultimately experience is the best teacher.

[Mud Dog]

Respect your opinion and experience Harold, but I still advocate reduced tyre pressure.

My reasoning behind this is firstly as I said, 1.6 / 1.8 bar - this depends on your tyres if they have hard or soft side-walls - the idea being not so much to create a bigger foot as one would do in sand etc., but to allow for more 'cushion' in the tyre. (Dirt road driving is faster than sand and you run the risk of de-beading the tyre in corners if the pressure is too low, but more importantly if the side-wall is bulging you run the risk of side-wall cuts / damage - I think this is what Harold is concerned about - so you don't want to go too low that the tyre bulges). The extra cushion with a slightly lower pressure not only gives a slightly softer ride, it transfers less upward bounce into the suspension, which means longer / more contact of the tyre with the road surface. That means a little more traction, which could make all the difference between staying stable or going into an unplanned drift / skid.

[Stuart Baak]

One lesson I have learnt. Keep 2 hands on the wheel as much as humanly possible... No holding hands or hand on gearknob. And focus always. Don't get complacent as you never know what's ahead if you don't know the road well...

[Johan Kriel]

1.8 bar on gravel for better traction and less rattles.

On the 4H, I never used it on gravel, see no need, but it give you more confidence, do it.

[Harold]

1,8 OK if empty, but with a heavy load definately NO. Remember the question was about a general country road found anywhere in SA.

My tyre pressure with a full load, [close to 1 ton], is 2.2 front and 2,4 back.

[ThysdJ]

Dont get too hung up on pressures as such... deflate the tyres until you feel that they are still supporting the load, and they are also providing enough traction. One man's 0.8 is another man's 1.6.... Try and try again boys..

We drove behind the double storey High-lux on the N7 yesterday... then we turned off at Clanwilliam and they carried on towards Klawer... That Hilux is HIGH..

[Johan Kriel]

Stem, as ek van 1.8 praat is dit hoofsaaklik leeg, en std bande, met gewig moet mens aanpas, en so ook met die grootte/tipe bande.

Eintlik al hoekom ek die bande afblaas is vir die rattles en skud. Toe ek leer bestuur het was daar maar weinig teerpaaie hier rond.

[Rusti]

Hey guys.

We are back! Thank you to everyone that posted comnents. Its clear that everyone has their own driving style and tricks for driving their bakkies regarding tyre pressure etc. All the advice was great and much appreciated.

Thys were you behind me on the N7?

The reason I asked about max speeds on dirt roads was to make sure I didnt get mistakingly confident on dirt and drive too fast so we stuck to speed limits on the R364 & R365. 80km/h was perfect for those roads.. The harder roads we just went as fast as we thought was suitable.

We did about 800km on dirt and it was great.. One lesson I learnt the fun way is that mud puddles look very shallow from far... We were on the way to Midlepos doing 80km/h and when we got right on top of the puddle I knew I couldnt hit on breaks because we would just spin out.. I just gripped that steering wheel and touched the brakes lightly and we hit the puddle hard.. The bakkie slowed down as this wave of mud came over us. We got a fright but when we got through it and the bakkie just kept on going it was great.. It showed us just how good a Hilux really is..

rps20150106_151332.jpg (13.09 KiB) Viewed 4516 times

Cant wait for the next trip! Thanks again guys!

[Mud Dog]

Ja look, those SFA's were built tough! Just one other thing about dirt roads - never use diff-lock for normal driving. You actually want the differential because without it (locked diff) one of the wheels will be forced to loose traction in a curve and the sharper the curve the more aggressive the slippage - that's the last thing you want when negotiating winding gravel roads especially when it's a mountain pass.

Driving in H4 is also not something that I do as a norm, but I do lock the hubs so that I can slip it in on the fly if needs be, and this can be done at speed as long as you're travelling in a straight line. Where I find it to be most useful is when braking - most of the braking power is on the front wheels (all good for asphalt / hard surfaces, not so good for gravel) - and you don't want to skid and loose traction n the wheels that steer the vehicle. With H4 engaged while braking, the brake power of the front is transferred almost equally to the rear wheels, and that's where the benefit is in my opinion, giving more effective and controllable braking.

[4x4BEES]

Some very nice tips here,
will be using soon enough as well

[ThysdJ]

Was me yes. Heres proof.

[Pora]

Just watch out for bikes they love the cedeburg road don't always see them

[Rusti]

Thys how do I check that link? Do I need taptalk?

If its got me in it it must be a good photo...

[Pora]

[swartvark]

Hey.. nou wil ek nog fotos van daai HIGHlux sien.

Dalk moet jy 'n strap of 2 oor daai daktent vasmaak. Eks seker daai seiltjie wat so opblaas gaan vir jou extra petrolgeld kos.

[Pote]

I think the best way is to do some testing when driving gravel roads.

Take what is said and try some to see what works best for you and your driving style.

One thing though. DON'T DRIVE FAST!!!

I did some dirt driving as well this holiday and this lot slowed me to a crawl for about 3km as they did not leave the road.

Dirt.jpg

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[Rusti]

Yip thats me..

Im really surprised the cover took in so much air.. I made double sure the straps were all under the timber base and as tight as can be so im not sure how it got in there. Will definitely add more straps next time.

Im no speeder so we cruised along as much as possible. The only time I was almost forced to drive faster is when the parks roads have those horrible gratings in them that go on forever that makes the whole bakkie rattle in and out as if its going to fall apart. But even then we kept it safe so we drove just fast enough to minimize the rattling.

Heres another photo by the Tankwa park dam.. We were expecting a farm size dam so when we saw this it was incredible.. Im going to do another post about the trip so you guys can check that out if your interested.

[4x4BEES]

Trokkie lyk awesome

[Rusti]

Thanks Kevin! Ive got a long list of things I want to do but they do look great fron the start. I was lucky to get him with the mags and AT's for such a good price.

It drove like a real champion.. It struggled a bit on tar getting to 120km/h with the extra weight but when it got to the dirt roads it was easy to see why Hilux has been SA's number 1 4x4 seller for so long. Cant see myself ever selling him.