If you are one of near a quarter of a million, Aussies who have taken the plunge, and recently purchased a brand new 4WD, there are plenty of ads on tele showing these vehicles with standard equipment tackling jobsites, mines, and even mountain peaks. But when you bought the vehicle, unless you have owned a 4WD before, you probably thought it was as simple as just driving your 4WD where you wanted to go.

Unfortunately it isn’t quite that simple, but it also isn’t as hard as it all may seem, one of the first things you need to find out before you take your brand new pride and joy off the hardtop, is how to actually engage 4WD, whilst there are many different drive systems available, most modern 4WD’s engage with the push of a button, whilst many SUV’s claim the same heritage as a 4WD they often don’t allow a second set of lower gearing as with a standard 4WD.

Low range will come in handy later, but a standard AWD is dramatically disadvantaged when you get yourself offroad. When you are first tackling some offroad tracks, it’s a good idea to start mild and work yourself up to more difficult challenges but the first thing, is first, as soon as you get offroad engaging 4WD high range, as well as letting down your tyres to the appropriate levels (you don’t see that on the ads).

With the Adventure Kings Kwiky Tyre Deflator, this awesome device allows you to easily and quickly dump all of the excess pressure out of your tyres this may sound like a bad idea to the uninitiated, but by letting the excess pressure out of your tyres you allow your sidewall to bag out exposing a longer section of your tyres tread area to contact the track surfaces.

In the same way, a tank track allows it to float over a range of soft surfaces, an elongated tread allows your tyre to put less downward pressure on the surface ahead.

With your tyres dropped down and your new 4WD, engaged in 4WD high range you are ready to begin exploring, which is excellent fun, remember to keep your movements stready and predictable to remain in traction on the off road surfaces. This is one of the main ways to keep your new 4WD from coming to grief off road, this strategy is effective but it doesn’t always work, sometimes the track has other ideas.

When you eventually get your 4WD stuck good and proper, it is a good idea to have a Hercules Complete Recovery Kit to offer the most options, for getting your 4WD free from trouble. The reason this kit is essential it is equipped with a snatch strap, a pair of rated recovery shackles, and a recovery dampener to increase the safety factor when getting pulled out of the debacle unscathed.

A snatch strap recovery requires a second vehicle, with both vehicles using slow speed second gear in low range gear ratios, that is the next “L” selection on your 4WD selector, it will usually need to be engaged whilst the vehicle is stationary, and generally provides much more torque allowing your towing vehicle to pull more like a tractor and giving your 4WD a little but more grunt and less wheel spin offroad.

With the stuck vehicle connected via shackle to a rated tow hitch and with a recovery damper over the metal gear, it’s also a good idea to walk the snatch strap out directly in line with the stuck vehicle to the straps full extension, ensuring it has no twists in it,  with the strap neatly laid out, overlap a 1m section at the middle of the strap which will give it enough z to allow the tow vehicle a run up for maximum yank in line with !

With everyone ready, communicate clearly, and give the tow vehicle a gentle rolling start, its best to start softly and work up to a full blown recovery, if it doesn’t work with the first pull get the tow vehicle to carefully reverse and try again with a little more run up. Don’t over do it, if you can’t get the vehicle free after 3 or 4 tries definitely give it a rest and reassess your strategy. Sometimes a little shovel work will help you out!

With these handy tips you’ll be on your way to becoming a 4WD supa-star in no time, there is nothing better than putting the theory into practice and getting hours up for experience on the track!

To see the full range of 4WD accessories head over to www.4WDSupacentre.com.au call our team on 1800 88 39 64 or visit one of our experts in store to see the full range and ask all your burning questions