4hi or 4 lo
 

mzdee here this may sound dumb but here goes.... I did read my 2000 Blazer owners manual it & told me to use 4 lo when driving in deep sand, deep mud and deep snow. so I did when I was driving in deep deep sand on the beach, in normal D
my question is to all of you is ; is that correct? I thought if the sand is deep and powdery that I should be in 4 hi???? and even in a 4hi using a lower gear like 1 2 or 3????? please advise:

The biggest thing with sand is to keep yourself moving at a smooth & steady speed. Above all else, try NOT to spin the tires. Spinning the tires will dig you into a hole quick. High range in the transfer case is lower torque multiplication and should be more difficult to spin the tires.

BTW, you might not want to hang your email address out there for everyone (including spam bots) to see.

123D while they may seem like they're "Gears" typically only limit the shift range of your transmission. Correct me if I'm wrong but if you throw the trans into 1st or 2nd, it will lock it in those gears, 3rd gear just won't let it shift into 4th (D) and D gives you your full range of shifting. When you're just crawling around your trans is actually in 1st gear.

4lo is meant for instances where you would need lots of torque. Example? Trying to climb an embankment, or pull someone out of a hole.

Rule of thumb: when you're driving down the road and you need 4wd, only ever use 4hi, deep snow and everything. Offroading is really the only application that you should be using 4LO with.

My 4 wheeling is mostly on the beach to go fishing and I use 4 hi. I hope this helps and have fun.

4 hi or 4 lo
 

I only bought my Chevy Blazer for driving on the beach it has an automatic transmission 4wd
so you advise me to use 4 hi and stay in reg D for driving in deep powder beach sand not 4 lo?

thanks for your advise took email off, I am very new to driving a 4x4 having to learn by trial and error I really welcome all advise.

Yup, thats what I do auto trans in drive and 4hi. This is also the way I take my wifes Envoy out on the beach. Like swartlkk said take it easy and watch where you go and what you are doing and you should be alright. I have found that if it looks really soft and is going to swallow your truck it probably will so stay away from it. As always make sure you have some recovery gear for if you do get stuck so you can dig out or get pulled out. I am sure that there are things that are required to be with you when you drive on the beach in your area just like up here. One last thing don't forget to take pictures of your time out on the sand.