Just about everyone with a 4WD has seen the videos, online and even on weekend daytime television of people driving incredible tracks in reasonably unmodified vehicles with little to no troubles, so… how hard could it really be. Newly motivated, you draw some plans to tackle some tracks in the family SUV with family in tow.

What does it really take to get these trouble-free looking tracks in remote areas and is it really something you want to try without being properly prepared?

To break it down, there are a few things you need to know about your vehicle in order to drive it on unpredictable surfaces, firstly, is your SUV a “real” four wheel drive? It may look the part, and it may have the ability to drive all four wheels in certain circumstances, but it is wise to note that not all vehicles with four driven wheels are true “four wheel drives” there are two main categories when it comes to driving offroad, the more common, particularly when looking at family SUV’s is the All Wheel Drive systems, these often operate either ‘automatically’ when the wheel sensors detect a loss of traction, or can be selected inside the vehicle using a dial or button to operate. Typically an all wheel drive is aimed at driving on country lanes with less than optimal traction, without requiring extra gears or additional ground clearance, often the “all wheel drive” marketing is based around rally heritage and gripping icy, dusty or even gravel tracks that are in reasonably good nick, allowing for more control when conditions are marginal.

What makes a real four wheel drive desirable for offroad driving is the addition of taller suspension, allowing your vehicle (even in factory form) to articulate over obstacles like tree roots, ruts and even larger rocks, whilst maintaining contact with the terrain. Additionally a 4WD vehicle will have a dedicated 4WD gearbox, called a transfer case, this gearbox allows you to lock in all of your wheels to incredibly low gearing and allowing full control over your wheel speed, in much the same way a tractor works, by transmitting lots of torque and minimal speed to the wheels you instantly gain much more traction and control over your vehicle particularly when the terrain gets steep, soft and slippery.

Think about walking across a linoleum floor with socks on, if you were to make sharp quick movements and carry a lot of speed, you may fall over, but slow steady movements will mean you can navigate with much more control, and precision without injury.

Now we have a better understanding of just how our 4WD systems work we can start thinking about what we need to head out into the bush confidently enough to get the family car back home in one piece. Whilst we now know that low range will give us more power and grip, it can also allow us to drive out of obstacles a normal car with 2 wheel drive would get bogged on, thanks to years of experience in the bush there are a few tools we can take into the bush to ensure that our 4WD doesn’t get seriously stuck or broken on the tracks.

The first trick for any vehicle heading off road, is to dramatically reduce the air pressure in our tyres, whilst this seems counter intuitive, it serves a handful of purposes, the first being the sagging of the sidewall of your tyres allowing for an enhanced contact patch, this trick was discovered back in the days of ex-army surplus land rovers, and the flood of Toyota LandCruiser 4WD’s into the Australian market following the snowy hydro scheme in the mid 50’s onwards. These vehicles opened up the possibility of exploring further and further into Australia’s vast untouched regions like parts of Far North Queensland and the arid regions found inland of the great dividing range that were previously left un reachable to most people.

The trick with dropping your tyre pressures is to drop them accurately, the old way was with a stick or the back of your key pressing down on the air valve, however this has been surpassed by the ease and speed found when using a device like the Kwiky Tyre Deflator, which captures and removes the internal valve stem of your tyre and releases only as much air pressure as you need, this is critical for keeping your tyres balanced in pressure, and not ‘over deflated’ or running too high. With the right tyre pressures, you’ll find your vehicle handles like a dream offroad and can climb and navigate some incredible sections of track you may never have thought possible.

Even with your tyres set to the perfect pressures, your 4WD can still get stuck offroad, this is where a reliable recovery Kit like the Hercules Complete Recovery Kit definitely steps into its own. Offering the perfect range of recovery accessories to assist with virtually any situation offroad, it is also priced at one of the most economical price points on the Australian market. With a winch extension strap, tree trunk protector, a snatch strap, shackles and a recovery damper there isn’t much in the way of 4WD recoveries one of these kits cannot tackle.

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If your vehicle hasn’t got a winch yet, then you should definitely consider mounting a Domin8r Xtreme 12000lb Winch to your bull bar, with all the latest features including a wireless setup with improved and more efficient internal braking setup for less power consumption, no matter where or when you need to be pulled free!

To find out more about how to get your 4WD out of trouble when you are tackling the tracks head into one of our stores, call us on 1800 88 39 64 or visit our website at www.4WDSupacentre.com.au for the latest updates and prices!