Bushranger 4WD gear gets serious with SUVs
November 27, 2008 by Anthony Crawford
Obviously common sense comes into play no matter what you’re driving off-road, but for less than $1000, you can be well enough equipped to get your soft-roader out of most bogs.
After witnessing the various recovery methods yesterday at the Kurnell sand dunes I’m surprised at how effective these relatively simple devices really are.
Even before you venture onto the dunes in your home state, you’ll need a decent set of all-terrain tyres, such as the BFGoodridge Long Trail T/A rubber fitted to a Mitsubishi Outlander at the event.
Essentially a road tyre for all kinds of SUVs, including the Honda CRV, Nissan X-Trail, Hyundai Santa Fe, Toyota RAV4 and even the heavyweight Toyota LandCruiser, they are also perfect for traversing sand dunes.
That is, provided you reduce the tyre pressures enough to provide a suitably wide footprint so that the vehicle rolls across the sand rather than the tread biting into it. That’s precisely why a light SUV without “low range” can be effective on the dunes.
That said you should check the conditions before screaming off over the sand as optimal tyre pressures may vary depending on how the surface is packed. This is particularly so in drought conditions, when the sand can be incredibly soft and dangerous, especially for all-wheel-drive vehicles without the aide of low range.
I have had a Bushranger Max Air compressor as shown in photos for 5 years.
Has been great on our beach runs, inflates a tyre quick and was a lot cheaper than some of the competition.
It sure makes the Subaru Forester look like it had to work extra hard when a VT Commodore wagon made it on the beach (in the background of the photo with CEO Evan Black)…
Brent, you’re not too observant are you old mate. The commy wagon along with tents etc are clearly on the flat hard packed ground as opposed to where the Forrester is in the foreground. The Commodore would not make 10 metres in the soft stuff before the Forester driver would need to hook up the snatch strap and pull her out.
Yes but Anthony I’m sure you’d realise it had to get there somehow, and I’m fairly sure a helicopter didn’t drop it down there…
I’ve been there with my best friend and his sky blue combi following his dad. As we tried catching up to dad in the 4WD, we launched over a dune and all his dad saw in the rear view was the underbelly of the 1960 van.
A kodak moment.
Most people would be surprised what a bit of ground clearance can get you. 4WD’s can be overkill.
Where you get to depends on how you drive it. Surprising what happens with lower tyre pressure and lower speeds. I did 60,000km around Australia in a 1986 L300 4wd campervan ( full Suncamper Conversion) with a 2l petrol. The advice on tyres can not be ignored, I did it on BF Goodrich All Terrains and did not get flat. I travelled the Bloomfield Track & Lakefield NP, remote parts of Kakadu, Mereenie Loop, Gibb River Road, Cape Leveque etc.
I took one of the Bushranger Air Jacks but did not use it. When I tested it before I left it worked as expected. Tried to used on my current Troopy and it burst.
Can anyone attest to the capabilities of the Forester on the islands of SE QLD?
Darren,
I can attest to the 2007 Turbo manual ability on SE QLD beaches. I have personally driven ours fully loaded (seats folded packed to the roof and full roof rack) in Kinkuna National Park (Bundaberg) Very Soft sand and steep narrow gravelly beach. Burrum point, soft sand track entrance and about 8km of beach, Rainbow beach and Leisha Track, Noosa Foreshore, Freshwater camp ground, Stradbroke Island Flinders and Main. I am heading to Fraser for a week in September which will be our last trip in it on the beach as my wife will be giving birth soon after and we simply won’t fit the baby in next time!
It actually went more places than a 2004 V6 Hilux, I went up dunes and through soft tracks faster and easier than the Hilux because of its leight wieght and WRX like acceleration.
I have plenty of photos and videos of it tackling beaches with ease. Just rememeber to let the tyres down to 18psi and get a subextreme bash plate.