When you are new to 4WDing you could easily be let off the hook for being a bit confused and overwhelmed by the options presented when deciding on what your first modifications, upgrades and improvements to your 4WD to make it an unstoppable weapon on the tracks.

There are so many choices for upgrades that are available to 4WDers on the market – For all types of setups from interior mods, exterior body panel protection and even high performance mechanical upgrades.

We’ve all got limited budgets and what the salesman at your favorite chain of 4WD accessories may not tell you is that you can tackle the hardest tracks, and tour to the most remote destinations with just a handful of modest priced upgrades!

It may come a surprise to some that you don’t need the biggest, baddest 4WD out there with massive tyres and monster suspension to get out there!

In fact, if you’re just starting out a massive lift and huge tyres can actually work to make your journey into 4WDing a bit harder. With huge modifications you can end up causing a vehicle to become unstable and unpredictable in certain situations.

It’s easy to be fooled into thinking the size of your 4WD is critical to getting you further offroad, but before you start making your 4WD into an imposing offroad BEAST!  – You should first think about how to make your 4×4 more capable in many different aspects, especially for camping.

Here’s our guide to five things you can add to your 4×4 that’ll instantly transform it into an offroad camping machine!

1. RECOVERY KIT & TYRE REPAIR KIT

Before you even start to worry about upgrading your 4×4, you should first give consideration to preparing for all types of eventualities, including boggings and breakdowns. A quality recovery kit will include at least a rated snatch strap and a couple of rated bow shackles to allow you to either recover another bogged vehicle or allow another vehicle to recover you if you get bogged. Add in a tyre repair kit so that you have the ability to plug small puncture holes caused by rocks, screws or tree roots. The range of Hercules recovery gear and tyre repair kits from 4WD Supacentre are excellent value and cover everything you need.

The Hercules Complete Recovery Kit includes a massive range of just about everything you could need to get your 4WD out of trouble, including snatch strap, shackles, a snatch block pulley, Kwiky tyre deflator, a winch extension strap and tree trunk protector. With all of these tough recovery accessories there isn’t many things that will be able to hold back your 4WD!

2. QUALITY STEEL ROOF RACK

It doesn’t matter what type of 4×4 you have, you will always get the best out of adding more practical storage solutions! If your 4×4 didn’t come with roof racks fitted from factory, then you should definitely think about fitting a set early on.

When looking at the price of a set of roof racks in the current market, it’s easy to be bowled over with the staggeringly large price tags – this is why 4WD Supacentre have released a full range of heavy duty steel racks without the hefty price tags!

Not only are these racks priced exceptionally well, you’ll end up using it all the time, whether it’s for runs to the hardware store, helping a mate move or especially when you’re going camping. Being able to store large but bulky gear like your swag on your roof rack.

By fitting on of the solid steel roof racks to your 4WD, will mean you don’t have to chock the inside of your 4×4 full of gear, and that’ll make everyone much happier! At 4WD Supacentre, we stock a full range of heavy-duty steel roof racks to suit everything from a single cab Ute to a full-sized wagon, with multiple shapes and styles depending on your usage.

3. AWNING

One of the extra bonuses of fitting a steel roof rack is that it gives you a solid foundation to easily fit an Adventure Kings Awning! If you haven’t used an Adventure Kings Awning you probably don’t realize that this is one bit of camping gear, that you will use extremely often.

With your Adventure Kings Awning fitted to your 4WD you will find yourself looking for excuses for rolling it out at the job site, down at the park when the kids or the dog are running around, and especially at camp. A simple 4WD awning is easy to use and setup and provides such excellent shelter that you’ll wonder how you ever went camping without one.

Not only will an awning improve your 4WDing experience, when you get your hands on an Adventure Kings Awning Fitment kit, you can easily mount your awning with the included mounting brackets which come at no extra charge unlike the extra costs associated with other brands.

4. DUAL BATTERY SYSTEM

When you start getting out and going camping more often, you’ll want to power camping gear like LED camp lights and a portable fridge. If you try and run this type of 12v camping gear off your starter battery, you’ll flatten it in next to no time and not be able to turn your 4×4 over again in the morning.

This is why you need a reliable and quality dual battery system like the Adventure Kings Smart Isolator Dual Battery Kit along with an Adventure Kings AGM deep cycle battery. These two bits of 12v camping gear will allow you to run a car fridge, LED camping lights and other camping gear like one of the Adventure Kings pure sine wave 240v inverter without risking flattening your crank battery.

A reliable 12v dual battery system is one of the best 4WD upgrades you will install, opening up plenty of versatility when setting up camp.

5. GPS Navigation

No matter what 4WD you have it is inevitable that you will eventually venture out of 4G reception range. Even with caches and saved maps, when you are further afield, google maps won’t be much help to you at all!

This is the reason why you need to bring a dedicated GPS like the VMS Touring 700HDX – this unit has to be one of the most powerful GPS navigator systems on the market, fitted with a 7” touch screen and preloaded with over 3000+ detailed topographic maps.

By bringing one of these units with you, navigation is as simple as following the screen – most of the challenge of remote area driving is nearly completely eliminated from the picture!

With these 5 awesome upgrades you will be able to hit the tracks more often, enjoy your campsites and learn more about how to take your 4WD further afield without modifications – So save more and get your 4WD out on the tracks!