4WDing is fast becoming one of Australia’s favorite pastimes, with more 4WD’s being sold than any other type of vehicle. This rate of popularity increasing is due to the affordability, safety features like curtain airbags and reversing cameras plus with increased fuel economy rivalling other family cars, the lower running costs are more appealing than ever to young families!

These tips and tricks are all about making sure that when you encounter obstacles off-road you know exactly what to do!

We all know about letting your tyres down for driving on sandy tracks, but what about all of those potentially hazardous creek crossings and washouts you may encounter on the beaches and winding mountain tracks.

We’re going to go over some pro tips on how to make sure you’re 4WD makes it to the other side without any stress or dramas. There are rules of thumb for everything when you head off-road, but it is up to you, the driver to make decisions on the best course of action, and how you are going to proceed whilst you are off the beaten path.

1. Preparation

There are a few things you may need to do before you even consider tackling a creek crossing, depending on the water depth and your vehicle.

Firstly you may need to pull out a can of WD40, CRC, or RP7 to spray all of the electrical connections underneath your bonnet including distributer caps, and injector connectors and plug lead connections. This will prevent your motor cutting out in the middle of the creek and causing you strife, and whilst it is out, give your door seals a quick squirt, this will make them seal a lot better.

No matter what your user manual recommends, your vehicles ‘fording depth’ can be taken with a handful of bull-dust and solid preparations should be made before any water crossing deeper than 30cm. Even with a lift kit and snorkel water can make its way all the way to the top of your engine bay.

If you have been driving for a while, it is a good idea to let your brakes cool down before entering the water to prevent your discs warping when they hit the cool water.

Also if you aren’t running an electric fan or a fan that uses a viscous coupling to stop it spinning you may cause damage to your radiator as the fan blades bite into the water they can start to chop against your radiator core.

There is an easy solution to this, a 2 dollar poly tarp and some occy straps simply cover up the front of your vehicle with the tarp and use the occy straps to fasten the tarp in place, this will stop the water from flowing through your radiator and allow it to wash past your engine bay minimizing the risk of water damage, particularly if you haven’t fitted a snorkel to your vehicle.

Also if you have a Domin8r X winch fitted, a wise move would be to connect your winch controller, unspool all of your rope and coil it up on your bullbar and engage the winch clutch mechanism before you enter the water, this means you are ready for a rescue no matter what happens.

2.Navigation

When getting ready to navigate a crossing, it’s a good idea to walk the creek first, with golden rule being, if you cannot walk it, you shouldn’t drive it, there are 5 main factors to consider;

Depth of the water – You don’t want water coming up over the bonnet, if you are any deeper than waist depth, you may end up getting yourself into trouble and we wouldn’t recommend it, specially if you haven’t got a snorkel fitted, particularly if you find any deep drop offs.

Flow speed – Depending on the depth of the water even a seemingly slow flow can carry a vehicle away due to the large surface area, so extra caution should be taken. Particularly

The driving surface – the surface of a creek can change dramatically so even if you have driven it before it is good practice to walk it again, this will help you identify boulders you may get hung up on, you will also be able to check for unexpected drop offs, and the condition of the creek bed.

Just like with tracks, a sandy bottom may need you to deflate your tyres, using a Kwiky tyre deflator, or a 3 in 1 tyre gauge.

The track width – Depending on your 4WDs width, the crossing width may have more or less underwater surface to support your vehicle, this is another reason why walking the course can help to determine, whether or not you should cross.

The water exit – there is no stopping once you have entered the water. So double checking you have a good place to exit the water is a good idea, you don’t want the exit to be too steep, or get your vehicle in a situation where you cannot climb out the other side, so make sure you have a good exit strategy!

3. Driving tips

Now you are prepped and have a strategy to get across the creek, you should pay attention to these tips for driving through deep water, to make sure you get to the other side!

We recommend driving in second gear, low range. This will allow you to maintain momentum without needing to change gears whilst in the water. If you engage your clutch pedal, you may let water enter between your friction plates and render your 4WD dead in the water. Keeping a steady speed will allow your vehicle to create a bow wave, leaving much of the rear of your vehicle in the trough of the wave, keeping dry, the steady speed will also allow your tyres to maintain traction on the riverbed.

If you have a convoy, don’t all enter the water at the same time, if you aren’t first you can watch for hazards, and if things go wrong you can help recover your mates whilst safe and sound on solid ground, wait for them to get across fully before attempting your crossing!

By all means this is not a conclusive list of everything you need to consider for creek crossings, but will give you a good guide for getting it right the first time. Please use caution, and never drive across flood waters, as the surface can be unpredictable and doing this regularly results in dangerous situations and possible death, particularly with flowing water.