Denali on the Beach

ajv00303

I just purchased a '03 Denali and traded in my 3rd Suburban.

I drive on the beach in the summer and have never had a problem with the Suburbans.

The Denali is AWD and doesn't even need to be put into 4WD..........the ground clearance on the front end is also concerning me.

Anyone have any experience with these trucks on the beach?

cranvill

I've just purchased an 03 Denali with AWD Stabilitrak after 20 years of Jeeps and Tahoes with manual 4WD. I'll be useing is shortly on Marthas Vineyard (soft sand) and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm wondering whether it matters if the Stabilitrak is "on" or "off" when driving in soft sand. I've been looking in various forums but haven't seen it mentioned. Anyone out there?

ajv00303

I am very interested to know how you did in the sand..........

cranvill

Vehicle did fine with tire pressure at 20lbs. Sand was medium soft in the section I drove on. May need to go down to 15lbs on real soft stuff but don't anticipate any real problems.

ajv00303

Went to the beach this past Sunday. The Denali performed better than any of the 3 Suburbans I have owned. Aired down to 20lbs.....no problems..........sand was pretty soft in some spots. I was very pleased / impressed.

vabasgetr

I see a couple of posts from last spring and summer about taking an AWD Denali on the beach from ajv00303 and cranvill. I was happy to see that the Denali handled the soft sand OK. Did either of you have to climb dunes to get to the beach? I will be taking our truck to Nag's Head NC this summer. One of the places I would like to fish requires crossing over the sand dunes. I sometimes feel that the AWD/Stabilitrak combination could give me some unexpected results when presented with situations other than slippery/snowy pavement.