Finally got to drive the Raptor on the beach

[smurfslayer]

I finally got some quality time on sand in the Raptor, in OBX. No surprises, she did perfectly.



It was a great time, ended up with about a bucket of sand in the bed, bought a decent viair portable compressor to replace the woefully underpowered slime compressor. it’s rated for 33” tires, and went from 24psi to 36 in about 7 minutes, give or take. Not excellent, but acceptable. Honestly, I had a harder time airing down.

 

[SoxFan]

Good times, we will be there end of June, glad things worked out well!

 

[500mag]

I seriously doubt you would need to air down at all with a Raptor and KO2s. I don't air down at all with the Raptor, and I run on Carolina Beach about twice a year. Only time I did is in a '14 Fx4 with 20 inch OEM tires, which suck in sand.

 

[GCATX]

If you want to haul ass, you gotta air down, simply for comfort. I doubt getting stuck would be an issue either way.

I took my 14 y.o. and his buddy down the Padre National Seashore and let them take turns cruising at 50-70 MPH. If you're just cruising from the condo over to the umbrella area, yeah, street pressure is fine.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Regardless of what PSI you run, just make sure you are not this guy: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwsfptZBWAJ/

 

[GCATX]

Regardless of what PSI you run, just make sure you are not this guy: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwsfptZBWAJ/

Looks like a case of Jewish lightning, but in the ocean.

 

[Jonny V]

Regardless of what PSI you run, just make sure you are not this guy: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwsfptZBWAJ/

OOHH that sucks. He could have at least borrowed a Gen 2 for that crappy stunt! Oh well, it'll just run up the value on my Gen 1 even higher...

 

[smurfslayer]

Regardless of what PSI you run, just make sure you are not this guy: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwsfptZBWAJ/

Message received and understood.

If you want to haul ass, you gotta air down, simply for comfort. I doubt getting stuck would be an issue either way.

I took my 14 y.o. and his buddy down the Padre National Seashore and let them take turns cruising at 50-70 MPH. If you're just cruising from the condo over to the umbrella area, yeah, street pressure is fine.

I wanted to get some time at street pressures to compare but didn’t get the chance and I did not want to be “that guy”. In fact, I did see a local drive right on out without airing down, and he seemed to do just fine. He didn’t appear to be running low pressure, but that’s tough to judge from afar...

 

[Badgertits]

If you're going to make a habit out of that I'd HIGHLY recommend doing a thorough treatment/application of Amsoil HDMP on your entire undercarriage/springs/axles/diff etc. if you haven't already.

The salt air/water/sand will oxidize/eat metal @ a pretty quick rate left untreated.

I used to vacation down there yearly until my mom bought a beach house on the cape, have run my GM trucks on the beach quite a bit - on those I treated yearly w/ Daubert chemical co. NOx rust frame coating (same GM uses from factory) - but I live in MA so salt in the winter is already a concern. I do recall seeing some REALLY chewed up trucks/jeeps playing on the beach down there as a result of the salt water, also - I personally have seen 3 vehicles over 7 years going down there get stuck & caught in high tide falling victim to the the ocean like that clip, & rescued a couple in a jeep liberty the last year I was there, if I didn't see them & have a tow recovery strap in my truck they would've lost their vehicle tide coming in too fast wouldn't have had time to even go back 10-15 mins to get a strap!!

On my '15 GMC Sierra 6.2 I ran 33" Nitto Terra Grapplers & I would air them down to like 25 psi (normally I ran 42), on the Raptor probably would air down as well, but w/ the width of the stock setup I agree its not as critical, but it isn't going to hurt either.

 

[Mark J]

Glad to hear it and good info on the air down. I'm planning a camping/fishing trip late October/November to surf fish Hatteras and Okrakoke. Excited to get my truck in some sand.