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Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:46 pm

thesatelliteguy wrote: Well crap, i guess the baja didnt want to go play in the sand. It toasted a fuel pump while i was playing around today. i opened it up and tried to put it back together correctly but it still dosnt work. There was a little spring (about 12mm round) and a plastic disk (about 13mm round) that where lose in the main chamber (the one you have to take 6 screws off to open). also the inlet valve screw(from the fuel tank) was really lose. im not sure how tight that is supposed to be but i tightened it down a bit. Any way i dont have the money to buy a pump and gas to get up there and drive around. Guess i'll be wheelin around on my feet.

Don't lose hope... M a guy on here named "Redbeard" he s a fuel pump specialist. Also, if you are able to borrow an inline electric fuel pump you can bypass the mechanical one altogether. Don't let a fuel pump keep you from having fun.

Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:03 pm

yeah no joke bro- go pick up a facet or something and throw it inline, you'll be good to go again!... but, if you are on that tight of a budget to where a $40 pump may break your weekend i may say save your pennies a little more before you go out and wheel it up... i'm doing that same thing this weekend and saving it all up for halloween!

Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:48 pm

Thanks guys. I did know some one with a electric pump and i did think about calling him, but it was kind of late and on top of that i couldnt get ahold of borrowing a trailer. So i went with out the bug, but it was fun any way. We stayed out on this dried lake bed. it was huge. we shot a few propane tanks. one shot up into the air and started chasing us. That was kind of scary because it was night and we couldnt really see where the tank was, we could only hear it hissing and could see a white cloud of propane about 20 feet in the air and about 30 feet away from us. i'll try to post some pics later

Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:24 pm

I take it you didn't have flares next to them or you would have been able to see them. Might want to stock an inline electric fuel pump for those just in case times. Glad you had fun anyway.

Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:34 am

Flares, thats a good idea. I think im going to buy an electric pump to day. I hear the only problem with that is that the stock pump's push rod helps to hold the distributor drive gear down. With the pump shaft gone the only thing holding the dizzy drive down is the dizzy clamp and if it looses its grip and the dizzy pops up it will tear up the brass gear on the crank (at least i think i was told it was the gear on the crank). Any one have suggestions to that ?

Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:45 am

thesatelliteguy wrote: Flares, thats a good idea. I think im going to buy an electric pump to day. I hear the only problem with that is that the stock pump's push rod helps to hold the distributor drive gear down. With the pump shaft gone the only thing holding the dizzy drive down is the dizzy clamp and if it looses its grip and the dizzy pops up it will tear up the brass gear on the crank (at least i think i was told it was the gear on the crank). Any one have suggestions to that ?

Don't remove the bad stock fuel pump. Bypass it (Have no lines going into or out of it). Use tubing and block off the in and out tubes so no dust gets inside the motor if the diaphragm ruptures.

Also, be careful. I have only heard people talk about flares, I have never done it myself. If you have a small propane leak then BOOM! It's a bad idea. Don't do it.

Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:35 pm

tundrawolf wrote: Don't lose hope... M a guy on here named "Redbeard" he s a fuel pump specialist.

:lol: Dick! :lol:

BTW, the OP's fuel pump problem sounds like a cheesy replacement valve falling apart. The factory valves rarely, if ever come loose. In fact, they're a bitch to remove when you WANT 'em to come out...

Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:20 pm

Im just going to start a build thread of my own because this is no longer a "how to drive in sand" thread. but i did get an electric fuel pump today

Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:25 pm

Yellowbeard wrote: tundrawolf wrote: Don't lose hope... M a guy on here named "Redbeard" he s a fuel pump specialist.

:lol: Dick! :lol:

BTW, the OP's fuel pump problem sounds like a cheesy replacement valve falling apart. The factory valves rarely, if ever come loose. In fact, they're a bitch to remove when you WANT 'em to come out...

OH MAN I am SO sorry lol. I apologize, I thought I had your nick down pat. :x

Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:04 pm

As for driving on the sand...I have a 64 baja and I will air down to 5 PSI. I run 31x10.5 on the back and when it gets bad I can't even get a reading on the guage I air down so far! I also have to drive about 20 miles to get air again afterwards. If you drive easy and take it slow around corners yu won't lose a bead.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 1:47 pm

I drive a 6 ton bottled water truck (Think Budweiser truck) to pick up food for our church, and have to go through snow, ice, mud, rain, etc. I pick up help from a local ranch, and went down a muddy dirt road. The guy said "We're going to get stuck!" and I said "No, it's about your momentum" as I gassed the beast over muddy ruts and through small lake-puddles. The only problem with momentum is that sometimes it seems like you are going too fast. When we got to asphalt, he looked at me and said with wide eyes "I don't know about you, man!" We didn't get stuck.

And always carry a shovel. A chinese foldup military "Style" shovel is better than nothing. Dig small ramped trenches in front of each wheel and gas the vehicle to get unstuck. I had to dig out said water truck from snowy slush. I got stuck because I slowed down to downshift-had I stayed steady I wouldn't have gotten stuck.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:24 pm

wow this thread has been around for awhile, i'll give my .02. been in the sand quite a bit with all stock tranny and pieced together used 1600 dp engine. no mods. i've usually ran 30x10.5, or 12.5 tires in the rear and prob 28x6 or 8" tires in the front. always ran around 5-15lbs in the rear. and around 20lbs in the front. the idea of airing down the tires is so you have a larger footprint on the sand. if your tire is skinny and/or stiff it will just spin and dig in the sand and then your f-ed. Again always park facing downhill, try to keep the turns wide so it doesn't dig so much and lose momentum, keep your tires rpms up, the more spin the better, the lighter the better( you want to be running on top of the sand, not plowing through it.), try to have a spotter(someone on a quad or something that can go in front of you to help guide your route(some of those dunes are pretty big and coming down you won't know what's on the other side until your fully committed into going down it), never go by yourself(you always want someone else that can tow you out, or home. and someone that can go for help if needed). there are more things but i'm getting tired of typing. haha. i actually took out my 1990 f350 4x4 diesel crew cab last year(well take it out every yr since baja rollover) anyways i was running about 18lbs in all 4 tires(i think they are around 33x12) and got stuck going on a flat to downhill section. buried it almost to the frame. after some digging and letting the air down in all tires to 5lbs, it crawled right out on it's own. granted i did have 4 wheel drive, but this truck weighs the same as 4 vw's.

granted i play at the oregon coastal sand, people have come from all over to play here cause it's actually ocean coast sand, not desert sand. i've also ridden quads in desert sand and it was a lot softer in some spots, so there are differences in different areas. hope i've helped some. better late than never

Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:45 pm

nice bumpz