When people are heading offroad, they often learn by monkey see- monkey do or even through word of mouth, however without proper training there are a lot of common mistakes that 4WDers make when heading off road!

TWO THUMBS UP!

One of the first mistakes many new 4WDers make is keeping their thumbs inside the steering wheel, whilst heading offroad, whilst it may be comfortable, rough road can provide incredible feedback which even with power steering can throw your steering wheel back and forth through your hands!

Whilst this may not seem too bad, it can jar and even break the bones in your thumbs on extremely undulating surfaces!

When driving your 4WD offroad you should take care to ensure your thumbs are well clear of the cutouts inside your steering wheel, you’ll find you can shuffle your hands faster to handle quick steering inputs, and also make sure that your thumbs are free and clear!

SPEEDING ON THE TRACKS

Watching just about any 4WD advertising you will see people thrashing their brand new 4WD at an extremely high pace on rough tracks, with wheels thrown into the air, water mud and sand spraying out from either side of the vehicle, and big smiles from all occupants.

Whilst attempting these kinds of maneuvers in the real world, the smiles quickly turn to shrieks of terror, white knuckles on the handles located all around the vehicle, along with punishment to the vehicle, resulting in broken mechanical parts, and potential damage to your tyres and underbody of your vehicle, not to mention the dangers associated with not being in control of your 4WD.

Whilst maybe not as impressive, by tackling offroad obstacles with tact, you can stay in control and make sure that your vehicle stays on all 4 tyres.

By tackling challenges offroad in Low range, you will stress your gearbox, drivetrain and your passengers much less, resulting in a more enjoyable time offroad.

If you want to keep a better eye on your speed, you can get your hands on an Adventure Kings Heads Up Display, which will make sure you are tackling the tracks at the appropriate speed and not hitting the tracks too hard!

SAFETY OFF THE ROAD!

When hitting the tracks, many of the uninitiated hesitate to bring their recovery gear with them. Whilst the thought process might be “I’m not going to attempt anything too hard” as with anything, by not bringing your recovery gear, you are giving yourself “the kiss of death” and dooming yourself to being stuck without a way free.

Many recovery kits include everything you need to get free, for instance, the Hercules Complete Recovery Kit includes everything from a Kwiky Tyre Deflator to let your tyres down in control, all the way to a snatch block pulley for rigging up a double line winch pull with your 12,000lb winch such as the Domin8r X Winch.

But most crucially, they include a Winch Dampener which is ESSENTIAL in any high energy 4WD recovery situation from winching to using a snatch strap!

DRIVING AT HIGHWAY PRESSURES!

This is our favorite rooky error, and once you know how it works you’ll never make this mistake again!

One of the biggest secrets to getting your 4WD further offroad is by simply letting some of that high pressure air out!

This works extremely simply, by decreasing the outward pressure on your sidewalls you effectively elongate the contact area of your tyres, easily and effectively turning your 4 rubber doughnuts into caterpillar tracks like those found on tanks or bulldozers decreasing your 4WD’s downwards force and letting you float over the tough stuff!

However it is critical you let these pressures down equally on all 4 corners, this is why we use a purpose made device such as the Kwiky Tyre Deflator. Not only does a purpose made device let your tyres down with accuracy due to the integrated gauge, but by internally removing your valve core you allow impressive amounts of air to drop your pressures not only accurately but quickly too!

Although dropping your 4WD’s pressures down, only a daft person would let their tyres down without having a way to air them back up, this is why you’ll find 4WDers everywhere carry an easy to use high output air compressor whenever they hit the tracks!

As an example, you simply cannot go past a Thumper MKII Air compressor, these are built with high output compact design and affordability in mind, being able to connect directly to your vehicles battery for the maximum output. These compressors are capable of up to 160L/min of high pressure air (nearly 125psi) making them perfect for just about any offroad application!