Trying to figure out why the jeep overheated on the sand. Jeep's been checked - nothing wrong with the fan, transfer case, hoses, radiator, etc. But we were told to lower the pressure on our tires. Now with Nitto on road/off road tires - why would we have to do this? Driving normal is fine, but we were forced to go S-L-O-W in the sand because of all the people. Would the combination of low pressure and slow speed cause this?

 

Because narrow tires get stuck in the sand and work harder to get through it. On/off road tires alike. When you air down you ride on top of the sand. Heavier trucks have less a prob. I've seen ppl go down to 8psi

 

The tires are 33" Nitto with 65 psi. How low are you supposed to go down to without doing any damage (in the sand)?

 

Sand causes a large amount of resistance your jeep has to work harder to travel on sand causing it to run hotter.

 

65psi sounds high In general but next time go down to 30psi and take a look at it. Sad won't do damage worst that will happen is the Bead will come off the tire but once you get the hang of it you'll be good

 

We did lower it to 30, but it was still running hot. Thinking of upgrading the cold air intake.

 

Your first problem is you are running 65psI in your tires. normal driving should be around 32-38 NO MATTER the tire....

Sand is not causing any damage. Running 8-15 PSI on sand is very normal.

lowering to 30 wont do a thing

 

Yeah. it should say on the door jam what suggested tire pressure is for the road which should be 33psi. The tire might say 65psi or something to that effect, but that only means the tire is rated for no more than that, not what should be run in them. I run 33s in the sand on 7" rims at about 10 psi. Never had an issue.

 

WAY to much air pressure for a Cherokee!! If you had those tires on a one ton pickup and were hauling a ton or so in the pickup maybe run 65 lbs.
I run my Cherokee with 24 lbs in my 35s and it does fine on the highway, for trails I run 8-10 lbs and for snow which is sort of like sand I run 4-6 lbs.
The Cherokee only weighs 3500-3600 lbs it doesn't need D or E rated tires running max air pressure.

 

65+PSI Wont hurt anything at all as long as its a "D"or "E" Rated tire, May Wear the Middle out a Bit However He prob gettin better MPGS! LOL But yea Airing down in sand or otherwise will cause more "Rolling Resistance" Which cause motor& everything behind it to work harder! oh & A Cold Air Intake Wont Help! During summer or Just short of year round down here you can run just water as long as you have some type of Additive To stop rust that helps it run cooler!

 

Also Try Running "Water Wetter" I run it in My Yamaha Race Bikes to help keep them cooler cause they known for running hot! GL!

 

Lots of miss information here. There is no reason to run 65 psi in any tire on a Jeep Cherokee. There is no reason to run D or E rated tires on a Jeep Cherokee. Airing down in sand will actually cause less "Rolling Resistance" because the tires will have floatation and not dig into the sand, this will make it easier for your Cherokee to travel in deep sand, which will let the engine work less and run cooler.
Also 50-50 coolant will make the cooling system work better.