Mud driving is one of those parts of 4WDing that when you first start, can give you an anxious time, not being sure of exactly what to expect, but after a day in the mud you are sure to have smiles all around.

There are a few important things to consider when tackling mud for the first time, that aren’t always obvious to beginners, but this advice could potentially save you a pretty penny in broken 4WD parts, so buckle up were about to have a lot of fun, in the mud!

TIP #1 Slippery

Mud is slippery, and offers a lot of fun when tackling it, on the tracks, it’s a lot like drifting on a skidpan and if your vehicle is fitted with it, you’ll have your traction control light blinking like mad!

Most modern 4WDs will be fitted with mechanisms like traction control and limited slip differentials, that make sure you always have power going to both sides of the vehicle!

Even with all of these modern bells and whistles, the best way to get additional traction offroad, is to drop your tyre pressures, with most modern 4WD treads offering extreme grip and additional ‘float’ when their pressures are dropped by 10-15 psi, by using a Kwiky Tyre Deflator you can drop your pressures quickly, easily and in control, ensuring you have unparalleled grip offroad!

TIP #2 Keep your thumb on the pulse

When hitting mud puddles, mud tends to be like liquid sand, if there is somewhere it can get, it will, by taking your 4WD through the mud you should take some early precautions, such as ensuring all of your under bonnet electrical connections are properly sealed, Vaseline is perfect to add to electrical connections rubber gaskets to help seals and keep water out.

By carrying a water dispersal spray like WD40 you can help to flush the water out and dry any circuits or electrical contacts preventing any error codes.

With this in mind, it isn’t just your electricals that can short out or lose connection, your wheel bearings can have the grease flushed out of them, so make sure your seals are all in good condition.

And finally your radiator, when driving through the mud can have the small spaces between the cooling fins plugged by mud, this can dramatically reduce the efficiency and cause overheating issues down the line.

By fitting a EDS Engine Data Scan tool, you can keep an eye on your engines temperature, clearly read any engine diagnostics from damaged electrical connections, and gives you the ability to easily clear any fault codes that your car might throw even after you have fixed the issue, meaning you can get your 4WD out of “limp” mode,  and back to civilization ready for another day on the tracks.

TIP #3 Be Prepared for any recovery!

Mud may be slippery but it has a lot of suction on the bottom of your 4WD, and for this reason a simple snatch strap recovery may not be quite enough to get your 4WD free if you don’t make it to the otherside!

By installing a reliable 12v Winch like the Domin8r X 12,000lb winch, you have instant access to nearly 5.5tons of pulling force. On its own though a winch is next to useless, all winches should be accompanied by a recovery kit with all the right bits and pieces for getting your 4WD free.

This is why Adventure Kings developed the Hercules Complete Recovery Kit, a comprehensive kit that includes just about everything you need to get your 4WD free from trouble!

However even using a double line pull you may not have enough yank to get your 4WD free from ther suction of the mud, in this circumstance, packing an Offroad Jack and jacking base you can literally lift your 4WD free from the mud and break some of the suck pulling your 4WD down. Once you have it free, your winch should have no problems freeing you from trouble!

It pays to be prepared!

TIP #4 Mods & Techniques

When driving through mud there are endless people that ‘reckon’ you should fit over sized mud terrain tyres, and a massive amount of lift, whilst these things can help in certain circumstances, you will find that a modest 2” lift kit like the RAW 4×4 kit and some modern all terrain tyres are plenty enough for most circumstances and will not affect your 4WDs road manners or roadworthiness (check your local authority for more information).

Just remember deep tread patterns are for mud clearing and the mud wont clear itself, when you enter the mud keep the throttle on, and your tyres will keep cleaning themselves of the layer of mud being picked up along the way, making sure you maintain drive, and steering!

If you absolutely must make any modifications to your vehicle a snorkel is the ideal place to start. Giving an elevated location for breathing air, will prevent dramas on the tracks and they look cool too!