Gear you need for Basic off-road driving

Recovery Gear

No matter how capable your vehicle or how good a four-wheel driver you think you are, if you drive off-road then one day you’re going to get stuck, and when you do you’re going to need the right equipment to get unstuck.

Regular four-wheel drivers should always carry a recovery kit in their vehicles, which at the bare minimum should include rated shackles, a snatch strap, a long-handle shovel and a pair of gloves. Of course, a snatch strap isn’t going to be of much help if you’re travelling solo, in which case you’ll also need a winch, winch extension strap, tree trunk protector, winch cable damper and snatch block.

Shovel

It’s the long-handle shovel that’s often the most useful tool when you get stuck. Simply moving the sand/dirt/mud around your vehicle and its tyres can often be enough to gain purchase so you can drive out of your predicament. This can also be achieved using a shorter foldout shovel, but a long-handle shovel makes lighter work of the task, and also allows you to more easily access under the vehicle. It should also be noted that a pointy or round-mouth shovel will more easily shift packed earth than a square mouth shovel. Handle type (wooden or fibreglass) comes down to personal preference, but whatever you do don’t skimp on a shovel, as a cheapy is likely to fail at the most inopportune moment.

Snatch Strap

If you can’t dig your way out of trouble, and you are travelling with other vehicles, a snatch recovery is often the most straightforward way out of a pickle. There are a lot of forces involved in a snatch recovery, which is why it’s critical that you use rated shackles and a good quality, undamaged snatch strap. There are plenty of snatch straps on the market of varying designs and quality.

Most traditional snatch straps are made from woven nylon that is designed to stretch by 20 per cent or more under load. They have different breaking strengths, which should be between around three times the vehicle’s GVM (gross vehicle mass); in other words, for a vehicle with a laden weight of 2700kg you’ll need a strap with at least an 8000kg rating. A heavier strap will be required when recovering a vehicle with a trailer.

The strap will feature reinforced loops at each end that are designed to accept rated shackles that attach to each vehicle. Even high quality snatch straps should be considered consumable items; they need to be replaced if they exhibit signs of damage (nicks, cuts or fraying) and if they have been used 20 or so times. When a strap fails it does so in a spectacular fashion, so people should stand well clear during any snatch recovery operation; the use of a winch cable damper thrown over the strap can help dissipate energy release.

Shackles and recovery points

The importance of a rated shackle cannot be understated. If a shackle fails during a snatch recovery, it can fly through the air at lethal velocity; there have been many reported deaths from people being struck by shackles.

The recovery points on your vehicle also need to be rated to handle the extreme loads generated in a snatch recovery. Don’t confuse the shipping cargo points on the underside of your vehicle with rated recovery points; if you’re unsure of their intended function, check the vehicle’s owner’s manual. If no recovery points are fitted, there are many rated recovery points on the market to suit most four-wheel drives. And never, ever use a tow ball as an attachment point when conducting a vehicle recovery operation; again, the tow ball is not designed to handle the loads generated and if it fails it can kill.

Recovery tracks

Recovery tracks have been around since the days of the horse and cart, but their popularity with recreational four-wheel drivers really blossomed with the development and launch of the Aussie MAXTRAX in 2005.

Manufactured from a tough yet lightweight nylon material, MAXTRAX tracks are designed to be placed under your vehicle’s tyres so you can drive over them and out of your predicament, whether you’re stuck in the sand, snow or mud. They have protruding teeth on the underside that dig into the ground and they provide a clean surface on the topside for your vehicle to drive over. They can also be used to shovel away debris from around your tyres and vehicle, they have several carry handles for easy digging and manoeuvring, and they can be stacked for convenient storage.

There are now several other brands of recovery tracks on the market, including the almost lookalike tracks from TRED. If you’re travelling solo, a pair of recovery tracks is almost mandatory equipment, and even if you’re travelling with other vehicles they are an invaluable addition to your recovery kit.

Winches

Vehicle-mounted electric winches have dropped in price significantly over the years and as a result the humble hand winch has almost become redundant. But this labour-intensive mechanical device can still be a handy addition to your recovery gear arsenal, especially when a vehicle-mounted winch is not an option.

Sure, a hand winch is hard work, and at close to $400 is not a cheap bit of kit, but because it’s portable it allows more recovery options than a vehicle-mounted winch. You’ll want to combine your hand winch with at least one snatch block, which will halve the effort involved in its operation but also slow down the recovery operation. But you should never rush things when you’re conducting a recovery procedure, unless the vehicle looks like it’s about to slide off a cliff or succumb to a rising tide.

Most vehicle-mounted winches are of the electric variety, although there are a few hydraulic units on the market. Most winches suited to recreational four-wheel driving have a capacity between 8000lb and 12,000lb; the heavier the vehicle the higher the capacity required. Features to consider when looking for the right winch include the power output of the electric motor, the gearing (the bigger the number the slower the line pull, but the more pulling power), the ability of the brake to hold your vehicle on a steep hill, the remote type (wire, wireless or both), how the winch and its controller fit on your vehicle’s winch mount/bull bar, and whether you want to run steel cable or synthetic rope. Steel cable is more robust and less prone to damage from rocks and sharp edges, but synthetic rope is much lighter and easier to handle.

Electric winches are traditionally mounted to the front of a vehicle, usually in a winch-compatible bull bar, but there are portable cradles on the market that allow the winch to be removed when not in use. Most of these are designed to fit into a square hitch receiver, usually located at the rear of the vehicle. The potential advantage here is that you can pull a vehicle out the same way it entered its predicament, which is sometimes the best recovery situation. With a hitch receiver (and power cable) at both ends of the vehicle, a portable winch cradle can be used to pull the vehicle in either direction. The other advantage of this set-up is you can leave your winch at home when you’re not going to need it.

No matter what winch option you choose, you’ll need additional hardware including gloves, shackles, a winch extension strap, a winch cable damper and a pair of protective gloves.

Any vehicle recovery operation can be a dangerous procedure, particularly for those with minimal experience, so make sure you buy quality recovery gear and you know how to use it… safely. There are plenty of accredited four-wheel drive courses around the country that teach safe vehicle recovery techniques, either run by private operators or through four-wheel drive clubs. Make sure you do a course.

Air stuff

Regularly adjusting the air pressure in your vehicle’s tyres to suit the terrain you’re driving on has several benefits, including improving ride quality, maximising tyre life, aiding traction and preventing track damage.

To check air pressures you’ll need a quality air pressure gauge, which is a handy piece of gear that you can always carry in your vehicle. Look for something with a large face that’s easy to read, whether analogue or digital.

You can deflate your tyres using the old stick-in-the-valve method, but this can be time consuming and inaccurate. For fast deflation you can’t go past something like an E-Z Deflator, which removes the valve entirely and incorporates an air pressure gauge for accuracy.

Once you’ve dropped your air pressures, you’re going to need a way of reinflating the tyres once you’re back on the blacktop. Whether you opt for an air compressor in a portable carry case or a vehicle-mounted unit, make sure you buy a good quality unit with adequate capacity. An underpowered, cheap air compressor will take too long to inflate your tyres and if it doesn’t have thermal overload protection it could cut out and leave you deflated.

You should also throw a tyre repair kit into your off-road kit. A basic tyre repair kit will include all you need for tubeless tyre repairs without having to remove the tyre from the wheel, including a steel insertion needle, a reamer tool, self-vulcanising repair cords, pliers/cutter and lubricant. Some kits will have additional items such as valve cores, a tyre valve tool, spare valve caps and replacement valve stems. If your vehicle runs inner tubes (pretty rare these days), or if your tyre requires a patch from the inside, you’ll also need vulcanising patches and tyre levers. And make sure your jack and other tyre-changing tools are all in the vehicle and in good working order.

Vehicle Upgrades

While some modern four-wheel drives are quite capable off the road, straight off the showroom floor, there are a few basic modifications that can improve their performance in the rough stuff considerably.

A set of Light Truck (LT) tyres with an all-terrain or mud-terrain tread pattern will not only offer more grip and better load carrying capacity than the Passenger (P) rated tyres your vehicle came with as standard equipment, but also much better off-road puncture resistance.

An aftermarket suspension system will also improve load-carrying capability, especially on vehicles fitted with heavy accessories such as a bull bar, winch, canopy and drawer systems, plus all the gear you’re likely to take with you on an off-road adventure. Many kits will also provide up to 50mm of additional ground clearance, which will come in handy in rough terrain.

From here there are any number of vehicle modifications you can make to improve your vehicle’s off-road capability, from traction aids to snorkels, but always opt for the best quality you can afford; while off-road driving can be a fantastic adventure, when stuff goes wrong you’ll be glad you bought the best equipment to get you out of strife.