Yes, I agree.
I call what I use a shovel, but it's folding, and can also be used as a hoe.

 

Air down before you hit the sand. I have pulled out many a vehicle stuck within 10 yards of the asphalt. One guy was digging and spinning. A park ranger pulled up and was just watching. I asked the ranger if he was going to help and he replied I'm not allowed to. All I can do is call a wrecker. I asked the ranger if I could help the stucky and he sure. With my rear wheels on the asphalt I attached my strap and pulled the pick up out. The guy offered me a $20 and I replied "pay it forward".

Meet people on the beach and get phone numbers of those who can help. I spend a lot of time on the beach, often alone. Many things can happen from stuck, to mechanical break down to the dreaded click no start. I make it point to stop and try to help any stucky I come across. Good Karma.

 

Don't drive in standing water on sand, flat sand shiny with a film of water. Water saturated sand won't support the weight and you could get stuck and sink in minutes. Once a vehicle is submerged in saltwater it is totaled.

 

sometimes the hoes are pretty much unwilling to do anything but sit in the jeep while you try to get unstuck, if you are lucky you can get them to push.

 

Lol, ant that the truth

 

Make sure to check for the required items. In MD they publish a list of things. I only drove mine with stock tires a few times on the beach, but once aired down I was fine. Getting out of the ruts that were there from other vehicles was quite the experience. Need just enough speed to get out of them, then you figure out whether or not people in your vehicle are paying attention and how well you strapped your stuff down. Gets a bit bumpy. Tons of fun though, don't drive too fast in 4lo out there. I would test out 4hi first, only use lo if necessary. After a tire upgrade (to the rubicon bfgs) I never aired down or thought about 4lo.

 

air down to about 10psi and put it in 4lo, you will be able to drive it anywhere you want if you do that. I used to go to the beach a lot in a full size jimmy and always did just like I just said and while all the others were stuck following in the ruts of the other tracks I could just turn the wheel and go right out of the ruts. Every time I found someone stuck on the beach they had full air pressure in their tires. One day just by driving sensibly I went out on purpose trying to get stuck by not airing down and didn't get stuck until I came to a very hard stop and then hit the gas hard, it just went down without moving forward. So I got out and aired down to my usual 10psi and used my hand to just swipe away one handful of sand from in front of each tire and drove away.....

If you don't use 4lo you will toast tour tranny...

 

Few more tips: use common sense, stay out of trouble spots, and don't forget the sunscreen

 

 

Lots of good info here. I am surrounded by fresh water, so all this nonsense of not going in the water and spraying stuff off if you do is foreign to me lol.

With stock tires i would limit tires pressures to around 15. Any less and you risk blowing a bead. And you dont need big wide tires. While it does greatly help, stock tires do just fine when aired down.

I highly recommend 4low. Gearing is your friend on the sand. Sand requires either a lot of power or low gearing. The only one a stock jk has is low gearing lol.