Sand ladder

I too have been looking at Sand Ladders myself. There application is made for expedition type environments were there are a lot of unknowns about the route and being very removed from civilized areas. I think they are kind of an insurance policy myself, you will probably won’t need them most of the time, but when you do, they will pay for themselves at that moment. Mark is right about the bridging ladders, they are more beefy and reinforced structurally for taking the weight of a vehicle. These tend to weigh in a lot more with the exception to some heavy plastic ones that I found on the web.



Terra-Trax.com - Purchase

The only thing I don’t like about them, is the lack of design of “flat” areas that would provided “floatation: in the soft sand and muddy areas, they would tend to sink and you would loose attended purpose of self recovery because of their waffle design.

I looked at these also and like the design better than the waffer myself:


https://www.maxtrax.com.au/index.php?page=products&listing=3

Then you have the standard ones like you see Mark (mir207) is using:



OKoffroad.com 4x4 Recovery - Sand Ladders

So with all that being said there are many options out there with diferent designs, I think some are better than others IMHO, but thats just my 2 cents.

blackseabk said:

Thank you for everyones input.When I saw Mir207;s truck the first time those sand ladders gave me an idea. I ordered the ARB roof rack mounting kit and thinking of running three crossbars and put them on top like a roof rack and killing two birds with one stone that way.I will update with pics when I am done with the project.

Click to expand...

You have a really good idea there! I'm starting to rethink my roof rack options and incorporate these!

I just read an article on the Terra Trax ladders ($195 + Ship) and it seems they are simply pieces of fiberglass gratting that you can purchase on E-bay for $12 a square foot ($96 + Ship).

2" FIBERGLASS MOLDED GRATING, VINYLESTER RESIN - (eBay item 120200251791 end time Dec-28-07 19:51:54 PST)


Here is an informative article on this grating:

Bridging Ladder Buying Tips - IH8MUD.com Forum

Thanks for the idea!

Sand ladders (sand mats in the UK) aren't a bad idea, but bridging ladders are a better one. I know that we take pride in rolling our rigs over water falls (yeah, me too) but using bridging ladders to augment our lack of clearance makes more sense.

In my experience, an FJC with 12.5" wide tires in 4WD and IFS does VERY WELL in deep sand. I am not talking Sahara Desert Dunes, but the normal drifting dunes pose no problem. If I was doing a lot of desert driving alone (1 rig) I might throw sand ladders on to be safe. With 2 well equipped FJC's with winches/tow straps, I think that the need drops significantly.

Bridging is a separate issue and for heavy duty trailing, they're never a bad idea. I don't think every rig on the trip needs a set - but one set among several rigs is a good choice IMO. And if you're going to do that, the expensive aluminum ladders are the way to go.

I decided on bridging ladders instead of sand ladders because bridging ladders can work as sand ladders but sand ladders will quickly bend when used as bridging ladders. The 2 options I found were either fiberglass resin or steel.

If you are looking for the 2" fiberglass resin grating, then ebay has a guy. They are about half price of the terratrax product but are the same exact dimensions and weight. I presume that since the weights and dimensions were the exactly the same, then so were the strengths - possible long leap of faith. I found out about them from a poster on Ih8mud. If you order from this guy, make sure you get the closed ends all around:
2" FIBERGLASS MOLDED GRATING, VINYLESTER RESIN - (eBay item 120200251791 end time Dec-28-07 19:51:54 PST)

I went the cheapest route I could find which turned out to be $60. I purchased some WWII surplus Marsden Mats which are the extremely similar to the steel mats sold here:
OKoffroad.com 4x4 Recovery - Sand Ladders

They were basically used as pre-formed "instant" airplane runways. I figured that if huge military planes can safely land on them, then our 2 1/2 ton vehicles cant hurt them. Read about them here:
Marsden Matting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They are also called PSP or perforated steel plate and I found out about them from a post on a jeep forum.

They come in either 5' or 10' lengths. I purchased one 10' and had it cut down to two 52" lengths (5' would not fit in the back with seats down)and then had the side hooks cut off to try and save some of the interior plastics (no roof rack on mine). They have most of their surplus painted finish with a light surface rust in areas and weigh close to 30# each but they were cheap (so am I). I haven't had a use for them for anything as of yet but they're nice to have as insurance. I purchased them and had them plasma cut down from these guys in Mojave, California: