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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3824
Registered: 2-9-2004
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Stuck in the sand
As long as I’ve got the scanner out (actually, just delaying my yard work) …
Got stuck in the sand in the El Cardon area northeast of El Rosario (so what else is new)
Had a visitor while digging out (he wasn’t much help)
The aftermath. What a morning.
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sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1494
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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What happened to the snake??
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
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Mood: thriving in Baja
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easier to carry a spark plug wrench, remove the plugs (get rid of compression) put it in low gear and use the starter motor to pull you out of the
sand 
Bob Durrell
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
easier to carry a spark plug wrench, remove the plugs (get rid of compression) put it in low gear and use the starter motor to pull you out of the
sand |
Sounds like a lot of strain on that starter, but whatever works.
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
easier to carry a spark plug wrench, remove the plugs (get rid of compression) put it in low gear and use the starter motor to pull you out of the
sand |
Never heard of that before.... and have difficulty figuring out why that would make a difference from using engine power??
Nice looking rattler btw.
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
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"What happened to the snake"
I was working on the other side, so I ignored it. I'd check now and then, and it didn't seem bothered by my activity. I let it alone. I'd have to
take a break every 20 minutes or so because the temp was at least 100. One time, after a break, I noticed it was gone. When I first saw it, I was
approaching the car and a movement caught my eye - it was bobbing and weaving - may have been ready to strike.
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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In both pictures it's coiled like ready to strike.
Pays to stay out of range.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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To get unstuck, just let air out of the tires.
If you spun your tires while stuck... (which only makes it worse) then clear away built up sand to allow the car to roll away from that point without
a 'block' of sand in front of the tires.
Have a good tire gauge and electric air pump to refill once you are unstuck.
Lowering to 15 or even 10 psi to get unstuck (all 4 tires, even if 2WD) will work.
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motoged
Elite Nomad
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Location: Kamloops, BC
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Rattlers can strike a distance of 30-50% of their body length...stay 3 feet or more away and you tend to be out of the strike zone.
Me??? I am afraid of snakes and get the heebeejeebees around them.. Killed a rattler once for the skin (ate some of it for the experience....did NOT
taste like chicken, but a similar texture).
| Quote: | Originally posted by vandenberg
In both pictures it's coiled like ready to strike.
Pays to stay out of range. |
Don't believe everything you think....
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
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Mood: thriving in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by vandenberg
Never heard of that before.... and have difficulty figuring out why that would make a difference from using engine power??
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Slow tire rotationin combination with low tire pressure if necessary) is best way to pull out of sand when stuck. If the gear ratio of first gear in
the tranny is 4:1 and the gear ratio of the rearend is also 4:1 then the overall gear ratio is 4 x 4 = 16 and with the engine is idleing at 500 RPM
then the tires are trying to spin at about 31 RPM (500/16).
Because the armature within the starter motor turns at around 12,000 RPM but armature to output gear ratio is about ratio of 5:1 (5 turns of the
armature to 1 turn of the output gear and because the typical reduction gear ratio of the starter drive to the flywheel is close to 16:1;(sixteen
turns of the starter drive to one rotation of the flywheel) the overall gear reduction is 5 x 16 = 80:1 (eighty turns of the armature to one
rotation of the flywhee)l. Therefore the starter motor turns the engine crankshaft at 150 RPM (12,000 /80). Using the same tranny and differential
gear ratio =16 the tires are ony trying to spin about 9 RPM (150/16).
[Edited on 12-3-2010 by durrelllrobert]
Bob Durrell
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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D-robert----------yes, that works, but David K's advice is a lot simpler, and is almost guaranteed to work, if you have not buried the tires in the
sand.
Since my job in the desert required me to drive all over the boonies, and I was stuck numerous times in the sand, the "low tire pressure" trick has
ALWAYS worked for me. I am not saying that you cannot get so stuck that it will always work, but if you follow David's advice, keep your tires
straight, and do not bury your drive-tires, you will get out with low pressure almost always unless trying to climb a sand dune, or something
similar.
That is a BIG rattler!!!! 
Barry
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
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Location: on the bayou
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Yea, that's a real healthy looking rattler.
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ELINVESTIG8R
Select Nomad
Posts: 15882
Registered: 11-20-2007
Location: Southern California
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I'd like to hug it and kiss it and love it...
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mulegemichael
Super Nomad
Posts: 2310
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Location: sequim,wa. and mulege
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....and EVERYTIME i've eaten rattlers, it's tasted like chicken...you must have gotten a bad on robert.
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
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Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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The picture might be deceptive, but how the heck did you get stuck THERE.
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3824
Registered: 2-9-2004
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"...how the heck did you get stuck THERE?"
As this road progresses to Mesa el Cardonal (not El Cardon as I stated before), you need to cross a river bed that is solid river rock, then climb out
of that into deep sand with turns, until you finally get to the mesa which is packed dirt. I had walked it and was pretty certain I wouldn't be able
to get through that sand. So I decided to camp right off the road before the rock river bed, backed into this spot to get off the road and
immediately my back wheels sank into some very loose sand. I later realized this was sand that had overflowed the banks of the river at one time, and
hadn't had time to compress. This was during the first El Rosario Festival, which I missed entirely, but hiked for miles all over the mesa.
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CortezBlue
Super Nomad
Posts: 2213
Registered: 11-14-2006
Location: Fenix/San Phelipe
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Holly crap
Living in the desert in AZ, I see rattlers quite often, but that was impressive. If I was there it would have been in the freezer awaiting my friend
to process the skin to add to my collection
And yes, it is now illegal to kill rattlers in AZ. It seems after the diamond backs became a mlb team many were killing the snakes and making
baseballs with diamond back skins.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CortezBlue
Holly crap
Living in the desert in AZ, I see rattlers quite often, but that was impressive. If I was there it would have been in the freezer awaiting my friend
to process the skin to add to my collection
And yes, it is now illegal to kill rattlers in AZ. It seems after the diamond backs became a mlb team many were killing the snakes and making
baseballs with diamond back skins. |
So a rattler can kill you... but you can't kill it??? So much for a government 'for the people'!
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racheldarlin
Junior Nomad
Posts: 69
Registered: 9-30-2010
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All offroad Nomads checkout "sandmats.com." I do not leave the road without them. (Usually used for the people who do not deflate."
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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In this photo taken last summer... I had my tires at street pressure (32 psi + heat buildup to maybe 37 psi) and drove across the deep dry sand and
onto the sloping beach as it was low tide, wet sand is easier to drive than is dry sand.
Now the new Tacoma has TRAC or Traction Control (limited slip) and I actually drove easily without deflating last New Years in 4WD with TRAC... First
time I could do that... Previous Tacomas were open differentials and no TRAC... and I had to deflate.
This past summer, with the heat plus a heavier load in the truck the truck started digging in and sliding towards the water! I even tried the A-TRAC
(a low range traction enhancement that simulates the affect of front and rear lockers) but it was just wanting to dig in and in sand you want to FLOAT
on top!
I stopped, dropped the air to 15 psi, and drove on with ease... I circled back to take this photo of the what a world of difference lowering the air
pressure makes in the sand...
I was looking at this some more and realized it showed something else pretty special. Normal 4WD would have one tire (mostly) in front and one in the
rear spinning in the sand once forward motion came to a near stop.
In the photo, you can see where all 4 tires (before deflating) were digging in equally, which is what you get with front and rear lockers... Toyota
calls this system A-TRAC (Active Traction Control). Ken was asking about it earlier. In sand like this, deflating is even better than lockers or
A-TRAC.
[Edited on 12-6-2010 by David K]
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