Hitting the Silver Lk. sandunes here in Michigan this weekend for the first time and was wondering if anyone had any tips other than lowering the air pressure in my tires?

 

if you start digging in... DONT STOP

Do you have onboard air?

How about a shovel, and a few scraps of carpet?

Recovery gear is always a good idea.

I keep a few scraos of carpet, a shovel, 3 tow straps, a come-along, 12V air pump, and a highlift jack in my truck box.

 

All I can say is dont let off the gas and dont stop. Ive never been in actuall sand dunes, but playing around in the pits with my old 2dr Explorer I learned fast to never stop, and having all the recovery gear you can get helps.

 

I wouldn't advise sand driving with a rear-drive pickup. Even a 4x4 isn't a good idea, since the weight is very unbalanced. If you have an auto, you might as well forget it. They're your worst enemy in sand since 90% of the time your wheels are spinning, so it tosses the speed sensor off, and makes the trans shift all over the place.

Lower the tires to almost flat, maybe 5 psi. They should really be sagging down. Dropping to 30 from 35 won't make a bit of difference.

Stopping, even going downhill, is not a good idea.

If you feel the wheels start to spin, don't instantly let off the gas, but whatever you do don't speed up. Keep the speed constant and you should be fine. It goes against your gut feeling since you'll keep slowing down, but rarely ever will you stop completely. Maybe a crawl, but you're still moving.

Dune buggies have rear engines, rear drive, and huge rear tires for a reason. You want as much surface area with as much weight as possible distributed over it. I guarantee any dune buggy actually made for dune riding will be a standard also(somewhat because most are made out of Beetle parts, mine was).

Big sheets of old carpet(if you don't have any, go to a carpet warehouse and buy the cheapest remnant you can find). Getting a big land anchor/winch might be smart also if you plan to do this more than once.

 

And DON'T make sharp turns with low (5-8#) air pressure. I've done my share of the dunes with a 4X4 Bronco and didn't have any problems.
Take ALL the above advise wisely and use some common cents and you should have a blast.
You'll need a long (6'-ish) whip antenna (CB) on the front as well, with a flag, so you can be seen as well, as you seeing another vehicle coming over a dune at you, I believe it's required.
I would have second thoughts with a 2WD (truck) though.