Driving over corrugations.

What Tyre pressures are you running?

Let them down..much nicer ride. Pressure depends on whether you have LT's or passenger rated tyres, loaded or unloaded.

Taking it very easy with lower tyre pressures is my choice - I noted last year in the Kimberley that on leaving one of those tourist gorges one morning (with cold tyres), the ride was dramatically softer than coming in the previous evening, with hot (higher pressured) tyres..... was a good lesson for me..... carry a compressor and play with pressures as often as practical.

Hi Axle

Drag a couple of bits of old rail iron over it occasionally. We had an old stock grid which the children used to drag behind the tractor on our shire access road. Knocked the tops off the corrugations better than the shire did with their graders.

Otherwise take it slow and save your vehicle. If it is the last bit you have to travel each day, let the tyres down a bit and leave down until after you've been across on the way back - that way you'd only pumping up once a day.

Motherhen

Axle

I've travelled over corrugated roads for most of my life and haven't found the answer yet. There never the same, some are shallow and others are deep.

As far as the latter is concerned, get use to finding a side track, which is common up north.

Small corrugations can be more comfortable with a bit of speed, but if the buggars are deep and wide apart, you need to slow down big time. Otherwise your asking for trouble.

I don't bother with all this tyre pressure stuff on roads. Just find my way around the conditions and look after the car.

Don't know how much experience you've had, but also be aware of deep Bull Dust holes. Their hard to pick, and not much fun when you hit the little cliff at the other end.


Regards

Kim

Gidday Axle, Only just talking to a telstra bloke yesterday.
He used to service lines etc in country WA and corrugations were always a problem.

I dont know if he was pulling my leg or not, but he said that driving on the opposite side of the road did make a difference.
Now I know the safety police may take issue with this, but unless your blind and dont possess an ounce of common sense it may be worth a try.

I wont be anywhere near any corrugations for some time yet, if you do try this tip can you let us know if there was a difference.

Cheers.....Lionel.

Hey Axle!

Just wear a bra and put up with the corru's....hahahahahahaha


Cheers mate

If it's a lot of trouble to keep pumping up tyres after just a short section of road I have found that 80km / hour and 4WD High works for me. If the tyres are jumping all over the place you will have no axle windup (dunlop 7.50 x16) with a GVM of just over 3t I run 56psi front and 60 psi rear on the hard top and lower 10 psi (after warm up) for most offroad work.

56 and 60 psi ??????? You should tell people what tyres you are running ????

I'm running 245/75 Mickys ( ATZ ) and 36 seems fine ( Terracan )

Axle

Drop tyre pressures to 22-25 psi, depending on your weight, and get going a bit faster so your vehicle is travelling up on top of the corrugations. With our Navara ( loaded up I found a speed of 65-70 k/hr ) it was a shocking ride till I got up to speed.
You may find that you can get along, up to 70-75 km/hr, especially with coils, as the mates found with their full coil 80 series Cruiser.

Cheers MAte
Bucky

I drive anywhere between 400 and 700 km /week on corrugated and fairly rough terrain in the Pilbara every week. 79 Series tray with anywhere between 500kg to a TON. I run tyres (265/75r16) at 40psi and travel at around 90kph in 4WD. If thers are deep vehicle track ruts I go back to 2WD as it will not tow around as much. Corrugations are a wave shape and if possible drive on the opposite side of the road, it is a softer ride. At 90 you skip over the top of the corries, vehiclie vibration is at a minimum and is a safe speed to handle (please note this is my personal opinion). I have been driving to these "specs" for 8 years in the Kimberly and the last 3 years in the Pilbara. As I said this is my own opinion and I am comfortable traveling at 90kph. I am aware gov mining regulations are set at 80kph but I will cross that bridge if it ever finds me.
Hope this helps.

Axle,
45psi - Landrover? Wow!!
If you check your book, you'll find recommended pressures are heaps lower. I've done a few kms over every type of terrain, in several Landies, and had best results sticking to the book. Better traction, better handling, better tyre wear and best comfort.
I'm not a fan of reducing pressure on rough tracks, Landies' recommended pressures are soft enough to allow for a decent balloon anyway. Make sure your wheels are balanced and steering's aligned.
As to corrrrrrru-bloody-gggggations!!! They're never comfortable. All you can do is find the most comfortable, safe speed ..suck it in and smile.
Your Landie won't fall apart, it'll just whinge a lot. But it's Pom, whatdyer expect. (LOL)

Like others have mentioned I found locking the (centre) diff made a big difference to the control of the car at speed over corrugations, even on a full time 4wd like a Disco...

The car was a 1995 Tdi disco, so locking the diff was a simple on the fly operation. Mind you the corrugations did end up snapping the left hand rear hard brake line on the Tanami, (fixed when arrived in Alice) and then the right hand side on the Menindee (spell?) Loop to Uluru. Mind you by the time the right hand side snapped I was a bush mechanic expert it was a 5 minute fix (to isolate the brake, and bleed the lines) and continue driving with three brakes, drove the rest of the way home to Sydney like this.

Would be interested to know if leaf springs ride worse or better than coils over corrugations. I imagine longer wheel base cars (like a troopy) would also be a little more stable at speed on rough roads...