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WOZnet

Member Since: 18 Nov 2024
Location: Auckland
Posts: 2

Failed dune climb. Gearbox selection when sand driving

When on a trip recently and attempting a steep sand dune climb I had the following issue.
With drive mode set for SAND and in Auto, with a good run up the vehicle climbed well at full throttle but at about two thirds of the way up the auto changed up which caused the vehicle to immediately bog down. After a couple of attempts I tried in manual mode, vehicle would only allow srart in second gear which didn't provide enough momentum at the beginning of the run and third gear, the preferred option on the hill was not selectable from a start.
My question is, has anyone any suggestions on a different approach to this situation?

Vehicle= 2023 P400S 110 running Wrangler MT,s.

29th Oct 2025 9:53am

revd

Member Since: 20 Apr 2024
Location: England
Posts: 308

take out the spark plugs, reverse gear and wind it up the hill on the starting handle

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29th Oct 2025 9:56am

Co1

Member Since: 19 Aug 2018
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 3788

Could you start in GGS in first gear manual, shift to second then move into sand mode and go from there?

29th Oct 2025 6:57pm

Huwcil

Member Since: 08 Oct 2025
Location: Ceredigion, Wales
Posts: 40

Re: Failed dune climb. Gearbox selection when sand driving

WOZnet wrote:
When on a trip recently and attempting a steep sand dune climb I had the following issue.
With drive mode set for SAND and in Auto, with a good run up the vehicle climbed well at full throttle but at about two thirds of the way up the auto changed up which caused the vehicle to immediately bog down. After a couple of attempts I tried in manual mode, vehicle would only allow srart in second gear which didn't provide enough momentum at the beginning of the run and third gear, the preferred option on the hill was not selectable from a start.
My question is, has anyone any suggestions on a different approach to this situation?

Vehicle= 2023 P400S 110 running Wrangler MT,s.

Turn the stability control off. Even when it is switched off, it isn’t quite 100% off but it does stop the engine from limiting power and revs to a great extent. If you have the facility, set a configurable off-road driving mode to pre-lock you centre diff lock and rear if you have a locking rear. There are all kinds of options in there to choose from. You can program up to four extra custom modes and if you quickly choose one, the last used will be the default. You can quickly change that to another mode or edit a mode for the particular conditions encountered.

29th Oct 2025 9:35pm

kenl

Member Since: 11 Jul 2022
Location: bunvegas
Posts: 35

AS mentioned it sounds like stability control had not been turned off?

29th Oct 2025 9:59pm

WOZnet

Member Since: 18 Nov 2024
Location: Auckland
Posts: 2

Thanks Guys,
Correct, stability control not turned off. I'll try that on the next run.

31st Oct 2025 4:23am

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