Lack of torque, it happens a lot sand in an MK's worst nightmare, the FDII's fair a bit better with the lower gearing. About the only thing you can do is air your tires down and maintain momentum. A sandy hill climb is going to be tough.

This is Bacon_Riot in wet/damp sand. he wasn't going anywhere.

I had a feeling it was torque related so we pulled the 4x4 fuse, and he was able to spin the front tires but he was still stuck.

 

I dont know about sand being mks nightmare. I had mine on beach and it rocks. With that said I was aired down to about 20psi and turned esc full off not just partially. I also have a 5spd. No hills though. I do climb steep mountain gravel road in 1st going 5mph and it pulls well enough. Did u turn esp fully off??? Locked in 4wd?

 

Gravel and hill is different that hills in the sand...........if you get in deep sand (deeper than 4" or so) you will have issues, aired down or not, while I have not observed a 5 speed in the sand yet, there is a lifted 5 speed around here that I hope to wheel out in the sand with for some comparison.

 

Was this with ESP full off and 4x4 engaged?

 

Is there a half off/full off on traction control? I was 4wd locked and button off.

 

Hold the button while travelling less than 5mph until you here a ding and it says ESP off on the instrument cluster. Also you have to air down. There is a sand pit I like to play in and at street pressure I have to get ridiculous amounts of speed to get up, I aired down to 15PSI and could climb up it with barely any momentum starting out. Low PSI is the key. If you're bombing around really fast keep it in the upper teen lower 20s if you're going slow and in really fine sand you can go as low as 8-10psi(depending how well your bead grips the rim) Just take slow wide turns and keep your momentum up when possible.

 

I had this same issue with my FD1, I have brand new cooper AT3 tires and couldn't do anything in a small riverbed of sand. Torque must be the issue as I'm running a 245/70 tire of steel wheels, not the lightest of combinations. I love the way my patriot looks, however it is a disappointment that the motor won't support the 4x4 system.

 

I've never experienced any real problems with the patriot climbing over rocks, driving through Riverbeds, or being out on the trail. I've only experienced this problem recently while trying to get up steep sand dunes. So I have learned how to turn the ESP all the way off, thanks for the tip. Now I guess I have to try it in the sand to see if it will restore my torque and get me some RPMs and speed over sand.

 

torque is defenitly lacking in our little jeeps.. i feel like this was the model replacement for the xj and now even the liberty. but the off road capability is almost non existant in some areas....

 

i dunno, as i said, i climb crazy steep hills in mountains and it goes well. that is with gravel and rock. And it is a 5spd with slightly lower gearing than the cvt non-trail rated or the auto 6spd. if you are in sand on a hill or otherwise and the tires are not spinning and you are going no where that means you must have the electronic gizmos still on.

on sand, you must disable them if you want easy peasy. as i said before and others have as well, air down- this is the single most important thing to do for ANY 4x4. I have seen "real" 4x4's stuck up to the frame and come to find out they have 35psi in all 4 tires... geez. i run at 20psi usually and have zero issues. zero.

the next thing to do is disable ANY gizmo that prevents wheels from slipping. on sand, all the wheels are going to spin/slip and all systems then try to stop the spin which means applying brakes to the spinning wheel and what happens is the system no matter who makes it can't keep up if it's bad enough. this eventually causes the vehicle to just not respond and "get stuck".

i had a 2001 hyunda santa fe, 4wd, no way to lock anything and it did ok at hatteras but i made sure i aired down and kept momentum going. i could hear it back then (had it new) trying to keep up and making weird noises that were kinda scary.

in our patriots, disable the esp thing by pushing and holding the esp button until the esp off comes on in the dash. lock the 4wd by pulling up on the t-handle. after that if you aired down, you have the best possible config for sand in our rides. i get looks all the time of disbelief from wrangler drivers- prolly thinking "how in the heck is that thing going so good out here??"

now climbing a steep hill in 4x4 in sand is hard on any vehicle. my beast of an xterra, 2007 4x4, had a time at hatteras coming off the frisco ramp. it's a long rise from the ocean there and it took me 3 runs to make it. mind you, there were many others having big troubles and some way worse than me. NOBODY made it up the first time. I only made it up because i went back to the starting line right by the high tide line and gunned it all the way up without letting off the gas so i used all 281 ft/lbs for that exit. that was great fun by the way and the thing was making tons of noise and sand was flying...



our patriots are amazingly fun and amazingly capable vehicles for mild off-road. is it a rock climber? no way. deep mud thrower? no. but i personally don't climb rocks. i don't play in mud of any kind as it's a car body killer. and most people who own wranglers don't either.

i am constantly amazed that i have a "real" 4x4- don't tell me it's not real when i am going past your stuck f150 on the beach or on the snow covered road- that is a 4cylinder that gets on average about 26mpgs, that is inexpensive new- i got the 5spd sport 4x4 with manual windows and locks and love that config- and that has awesome classic "jeep" looks.

if anything is a true "willys" in the spirit of the original, its one of these in base trim like mine with a 5spd. not one that has sunroofs and electric this and electric that and a cvt or even auto.


-proud of my jeep.......JEEP!

 

I would like to see videos of the crazy steep climbs =) not saying you are wrong. I just want to see some videos.

 

Sand is a patriots worst enemy, I can say this first hand. Considering I don't have 4x4 and I have sport tires, I got the jeep buried in sand during the week. I can say that mine at least (6spd auto) didn't like it at all and spun both tires til I was high centered in a pit, mind you this was at night and I thought I was driving into the harder packed sand. I will say that the jeep tried to grip my spare tire cover (only thing I had, and it burnt the carpet and some plastic. So as an fyi when you're stuck in sand, don't use that spare tire cover/cargo area

 

Air down and/or maxtraxx or waffle boards.

 

Sand + Hills = Patriots enemy.

Tried before and failed.

 

Its all gearing and torque, not saying people don't make it through sand easily but I would like to see a video of a patriot in deep sand that isn't totally stuck. As for adding hills to the equation, a hill with reduced traction or a loose surface will leave most patriots stuck.

 

ft fisher state park NC at the ramp (it's about 1/2 mile long maybe 3/4 mile) is pretty much the deepest sand i have seen around here and i have been to cape lookout, cape hatteras and carolina beach nc. People get stuck on that ramp all the time. not just mall crawlers but "real" 4x4's and "real" jeeps like grand cherokees. never saw a wrangler stuck tho. think deep soft sand on a long curve..... my patriot, which was stock then made it with zero issues. all i have now are better tires so next time it should be even easier. now i had momentum for most of the trip which i always try to keep going on all my 4x4's but then i had to come to a complete stop because an older grand cherokee was buried coming out to the ocean and i didn't see him till i saw him behind the dune and his fellow jeepster trying to get him unstuck. i was worried at first as i let off clutch and hit gas but it pulled right ahead with zero issues whatsoever. I do have a video of me going out on that ramp from 2013. i will dig it up and post. The video is running kinda fast as the camera i used is stupid. so at the end when i wave it looks like an old time silent film..

lol

but i was in 1st/2nd gear the whole way going about 10 mph or so, aired down to 20 psi, locked in 4x4 and esp totally off.... no issues.