Winter is famous for it’s rain, cold weather and if you are the proud owner of a capable 4WD it’s an exciting time to go and play in the mud. To be prepared with whatever may come on the rainy muddy, slippery tracks you must make some critical decision’s and choices to make sure you don’t get too stuck and make it out to tell the tale another day.

These are a few tips and tricks to help you get more out of a winter 4WDing trip!
 

Choose the right shoes

Different terrain demands, different types of tyre tread, when you are expecting to hit greasy mud it is a good idea to equip your vehicle with, mud terrain tyres or heavy duty all-terrain tyres.

It’s not all about, the tread of the tyres, letting your tyres down to the right air pressures works the same on mud as it does on sand. By using an Adventure Kings ‘Kwiky’ Tyre deflator.

Know your limitations

With the increase in vehicles claiming to be 4WD or confusing their owners into thinking they are capable off-road with flashy television ads. It’s important to know the true limitations of your vehicle. If you have a low range gearbox selection, you will find it much easier to navigate through soft mud.

It is also important to read through your vehicles owner’s manual to find out exactly how deep your vehicle is rated by the manufacturer to go. This can be called a “fording” or “wading” depth and will determine how low your air intake is.

When you are armed with the parameters of your vehicle, you will be able to confidently hit harder sections of track!

Recovery gear

There are stacks of different methods for recovering your 4WD, but with the suction and hold that greasy mud can have on a 4WD you need to consider all of the reasonable alternatives to the good old fashioned Snatch strap recovery, which may not be able to help you out and could cause damage to your vehicle.

Fitting a Domin8r X 12,000lb Winch to your vehicle offers tons of controlled and stable pull, coupled with a reliable recovery kit like the Hercules Complete Recovery Kit, which has winch extension strap, tree trunk protector and Snatch Block which doubles the effective pulling power and slows the speed of the winch.

You can also utilize a set of MAXTRAX MKII to enhance the footprint and grip of your tyres on the greasy mud, they work like snowshoes by increasing the surface area underneath your tyres and bites into the slippery surfaces with a gnarled and toothed gripped surface.

If in doubt walk it out

The golden rule to off-road driving is to gauge the depth, firmness and stability of a surface before you drive it, get out of the cab and walk the track, if you can’t walk it you shouldn’t drive it.

If you aren’t too sure but have next to no option but to face the track head on, you should prepare your recovery gear by unspooling your winch rope and coil it up on your bulbar ready to run out to the nearest recovery point.

PROTIP: DON’T FORGET TO ENGAGE YOUR WINCH CLUTCH TO MAKE SURE WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO SWIMMING!

Take it slow and you will not break anything… maybe

Even armed with recovery gear and armed with knowledge about the limitations of your vehicle, it’s tempting to truly believe your 4WD is powerful enough to plow through any situation ahead.

This can end up breaking components on your vehicle and getting you stuck more often than you need to be, the best bit of advice we can give is take it steady without losing your momentum, but if you get stuck, don’t keep accelerating it’ll only make it worse.

Sometimes the best solution is to back it out and try again!

Bring water dispersant and use it liberally

Driving through the slop, the pea soup, and the greasy gunk, can cause issues with the electrical systems on your vehicle. This is all due to poor waterproof seals, and potential failures in preventing water ingress, and on older diesel motors with mechanical injection systems once started would never cease, but with modern common rail units and petrol motors there are injectors distributers and any number of electronic sensors that tell your vehicle which part is doing what.

To ensure that you don’t encounter these issues you need to bring a few cans of water dispersant spray, there are several manufacturers that produce excellent products that work wonders at making sure water doesn’t short out all of the electrical connections under the bonnet.