Today I went to the beach with a friend to test out my 4 wheel drive. This is my first 4X4 truck and I was excited to give it a run. My truck is a 2010 Screw FX4 with 4600 miles on it.

Needless to say I got stuck in the soft sand trying to pull my buddy out. He has a 2005 FX4. After about 2 hours and a few beers into it finally a guy with a lifted F350 came to save the day. It was a bit embarrasing but like my buddy said, at least it was a Ford that pulled us out.

Other than getting stuck due to my lack of off road experience, I was pleased with how the truck handled. However I am a little confused on what the benefit is with the e-locker. I engaged it a couple times and it seemed like I was digging into a bigger hole. As soon as I would disengage it I would pull right out with no problems. I think I would rather have the limited slip over the e-locker. What do you all think??

Here are a couple videos of us getting pulled out. I have the black truck and my buddy has the red truck. The first video is not that great of quality but oh well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LtdGKHXFds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAzLWBSWzPw

 

should have aired down the tires to get a bigger foot print!

 

Was going to but we didn't have an air compressor and the nearest gas station was quite a ways away. It was a learning experience to say the least.

 

Now you know you got to explain how you ended up stuck, make up an excuse on tires or failed 4x4 switch or something. The locker is better than the ls off road, it gives you the most traction to the REAR wheels when YOU select it. On sand you need to keep the rpms up and momentum is your friend. To get started you need to control the amount of throttle to avoid digging in. And airing down will help you float on top of the soft sand so you don't dig down making ruts and digging holes.

I've posted these before on here but here's a few pics of us out on the outer banks.



Here I buried the rear in 2wd and climbed out easily in 4x4.


Here's my budys cheby who tried the same thing, had to pull him out.


And this bronco I pulled out, he had an ls.

 

[QUOTE=ruffn-it;4573878]Now you know you got to explain how you ended up stuck, make up an excuse on tires or failed 4x4 switch or something. The locker is better than the ls off road, it gives you the most traction to the REAR wheels when YOU select it. On sand you need to keep the rpms up and momentum is your friend. To get started you need to control the amount of throttle to avoid digging in. And airing down will help you float on top of the soft sand so you don't dig down making ruts and digging holes.

Thanks for the advice. Honestly I have no excuse for getting stuck. I was trying to pull my friend out and lost momentum. The truck did what it was supposed to do and I messed up. I think if I aired down that would have deffinetely helped. You have a nice truck by the way. I like those wheels! I am sure the lift and bigger tires help when trying to pull people out.

 

looks like a fun time. check out the south section were having a meet at bryan beach june 11th if you want to come.

i sank my 07 down to the diff, put it in 4low and came right now. chevy i was with couldn't even budge getting out doing the same thing. but it don't help if you sink down both diff's lol.

 

Your right, ground clearance helps. But it mainly comes down to traction and use of the throttle, knowing when to gun it and when to ease on it. Sounds like your buddy was stuck good and when you were trying to pull him out his truck didn't budge much and you kept tugging and dug in. Hard to tell from video but was that a recovery strap that stretches? If so they help you "******" them out. From my experience on sand if you start digging in when pulling someone out, stop, reposition, and try it again as to not get stuck yourself.

Also my mud terrains don't help me on the sand because it causes them to dig, a good AT tire would be the best. Stuck or not its still a lot of fun.

 

I guess I will get better with more experience lol! The strap was an old fire hose. That F350 pulled us out no problem.

 

And that's the fun part

 

O and those fire hoses are nice and strong, and I do believe they stretch a little.

 

It does stretch. It's good that it does because you get that rubber band affect when pulling. The key is to have a truck that is heavier than the one that's stuck. I had a hard time trying to pull out the other F150 but the f350 did it no problem.

 

It does help to have some experience under your belt with 4x4s. I've driven them all my life since a kid with my Dad's 4x4. He started out with a little Courier with a Jeep front end differential conversion. That had the little 2.6 liter engine and did pretty damn well!

Then I got myself a Ranger 4x4 4.0 in '93 the I kept until last year. Drove that thing everywhere from back roads in Joshua Tree National Park to the Sierras and thru the worst MN blizzards.

Then I got my 2010 FX4. Man, could I tell a difference in the first big snow fall compared to my Ranger. The extra weight really helps it cut through and not toss around anywhere near as much as the Ranger did. However, I tried driving it through some fresh spring mud on a farm field road and almost got stuck. These crappy stock Wrangler tires were the culprit. They just clogged up and drove like grease on an ice rink. I had to switch the elocker on and back out carefully in the same mud grooves I made to get in so deep.

With some good tires, I'm assuming that road would have been cake. Elocker is invaluable on that type of surface.

 

Good point! These stock tires belong on a Cadilac Escalade or something. They are good on the road because they are quiet and maintain decent gas mileage. Not so good in the off road environment. It's funny that the window sticker says all terrain tires. I guess somebody has to show the Ford factory what all terrain tires are.

 

Those tires don't help much either lol. But it looks like y'all had a great time

 

Also make sure your tires are straight if you find it digging in/slowing down. And if you're dug down, not moving, it helps to crank the wheel back and forth and alternating forward/reverse.

Locker should've made a difference.