It doesn’t take too much time whilst off road driving, to find an obstacle that won’t back down, and won’t let you past easily. This can be disheartening, and troublesome, but with these 6 top 4WD hacks, you can get your 4WD further off road without spending a squillion on heavy duty, hardcore modifications.

1-Quality recovery kit

When driving off-road, it pays to carry a 4WD recovery kit, even if you aren’t planning on hitting anything too challenging, a recovery kit is almost on par with a first aid kit, and on the tracks you will use it much more than you could imagine.

There are dozens of different styles of recovery kits available on the market, to suit nearly any 4WD in any offroad circumstance, but when push comes to shove, any rated recovery kit is suitable for assisting you in a recovery. We’ve found that one of the best value 4WD recovery kits on the market is the kits available within the Hercules range, offering both an “Essential recovery Kit” and a “Complete Recovery Kit”.

Within the Essential recovery Kit there is a snatch strap, rated recovery shackles, a winch extension strap, a tree trunk protector a rated snatch block, and a winch dampener blanket that doubles as a carrying pouch. For many 4WDers this kit will cover most bases and get you out of trouble.

But by grabbing the Hercules complete recovery Kit, you also get a Kwiky tyre deflator, a folding shovel, a pair of leather gloves and a handy carry bag to keep everything organized.

2-Tyre deflator

There are countless benefits to reducing your tyre pressures when you head off-road. One of the main benefits is the additional traction you get for tackling rocky outcrops and hill climbs. The way this works is by allowing the sidewall area to sag and allowing more of the contact surface to reach the terrain underneath, this protects your tyres from punctures and snags on the tracks, it also allows the tread to conform to the rocky surface.

The added benefit, to increasing your grip is it reduces the PSI exerted on the track surface, allowing your 4WD to simply float over softer surfaces, like sand and greasy mud.

Over the years, there have been many different ways that 4WDers have reduced their air pressures to a suitable off-road level, this has ranged from using the edge of your ignition key to depress the valve core, to complicated electronic devices that digitally control tyre pressures.

The best value and easiest tyre deflator we’ve used is the Adventure Kings Kwiky Tyre Deflator. The Kwiky Tyre deflator works by screwing onto your tyres air valve, then using a captured core removal tool, is able to remove your valve core whilst keeping pressure inside your tyre, until you release the valve and check the falling pressures on the integrated gauge, this handy device allows you to match all 4 tyres to the right pressures, and maintains stable and predictable driving characteristics

3- 48” Offroad jack

When driving off road, soft sand and rock ledges, can pose a serious problem to stock standard 4WD’s, and sometimes it isn’t as easy as just ‘giving it the berries’ and the ability to pick up your 4WD and set it back down could mean the difference between driving out of trouble and being seriously in trouble.

This is why many 4WDers carry an off road recovery jack like the Hercules 48” recovery jack. These have been used for over 100 years on farms, and by the military, as a functional vice, jack, tyre de-seater, in a pinch can even be used as a winch not to mention the terrific lifting power, available at any given moment.

Whilst being extremely practical, anything that has the ability to output stacks of pushing, pulling or crushing force, should be dealt with, using supreme caution!

4- Shovel

A good quality long handled shovel is one of those bits of gear no one should leave home without. A shovel, offers you a toilet, a toilet roll holder, the ability to dig a rain trench around your campsite, move hot coals around your fireplace, and even dig the sand, mud and dirt from underneath your 4WD.

There are many different types of shovel you can buy, and even one of the compact Hercules Recovery Folding Shovel can get you out of trouble in a pinch and pack down into nothing inside your recovery gear bag.

5- Winch

For generations a 4WD couldn’t be taken seriously if it wasn’t fitted with a reliable winch, nowadays a winch is not as out of reach as they have been for generations. By fitting a Domin8r X 12,000lb winch to your 4WD you can easily pull yourself free from trouble.

Coupled with the wireless controller, you can have absolute control from the safe and dry interior of your 4WD.