Setting Up Your 4x4 For Offroading, Part 1 Options

[Spudly]

Thought id do a write up on setting your 4x4 up for offroading and doing some trip's.

When I talk about offroading, I like to do trips, from simple touring along marked dirt roads, to fire trails (some of where 4x4 is not even required) right through to rock crawling and the serious stuff...

In Part 1 we will start with the basics, why you need them, and how to get the most from them.

Firstly, there are a few differant classes of 4wd's, and what I class as a 4wd (this point always starts a few pub arguments)

A 4WD should have:
Solid Axle's or at least a Solid Rear (Wheel Travel and load carrying)
A seperate Chassis from the Body (strength)
LOW RANGE 4x4 is a MUST!!
A Reasonable amount of Ground Clearance

Anything that does not have these I will describe as an All Wheel Drive (Subaru's, CRV's Etc)

Once you have selected the 4wd that suits you the best the time comes to modify it, and beleive me you can get seriosly carried away!
I beleive that there are some essentials and some would be nice's. So here we go with some mods and why they are important.

BULL BAR These are nessacary as we all know Australia's outback is full of all sorts of critters and having some up front protection for your car, radiator and engine components. It also provides a mounting point for some of our other additions later. I would reccomend a good steel Bullbar in most cases, such as that made By ARB.

Spotlights If Any of the critters we have the bullbar to protect us from are out there, Its best we see them as early as possable. Driving lights have come a long way recently. One of the new additions is the range of HID (High intensity Discharge) Lights which have an extremly high output for less power (similar to the Xenon lights seen in some expensive european cars)

UHF Radio The main reason for having a UHF is for car to car contact if there is more than 1 on the trip. However in some cases it may be your only option to call for help in an emergency if your mobile is out of range. Mount a good arial to your bullbar and buy a decent UHF such as ICOM, GME or uniden.

Tyres If your heading off the beaten track it can be wise to upgrade your tyres. Some H/T tyres are not suitable for travelling on alot of dirt. I would reccomend a A/T or a M/T tyre with a square edge as these are less prone to staking by rocks or sticks. (BFG, Mickey Thompson are two of my Fav's)

Dual Batteries If your spending some time in the bush, Dual batteries provide you with extra power for running fridges, accessories, Cd Players etc while your not running, and still ensuring you have power to start in the morning. Also a topic of argument is how to set them up, and from my experiance the best and simplest method os to run a Deep Cycle as your second battery, Have all accessories (lights, radios, Outlets etc etc etc) connected to this battery. That way when you leave the lights of the radio on with the fridge and you flatten the deep cycle, your main battery is diconnected from the system, so when you turn the key to start, the main battery has all the power to crank the engine.. The systems can be bought complete or as a solinoid that you do yourself. I beleive "red arc" make a great simple system. It works on a solinoid that when 13.4 volts is reached in the main battery the solinod will open and start charging your second battery.. Once the main battery drop below 13.4 volts the solonoid disconnects, saving you main battry for starting. The only Thing that I would connect to your main battery with the starter motor is a winch if you run one, as it is only used when the motor is running and requires as much power as possable. This is also a good time to run some accessory outlets around the car. I Have a Cigarette and a Hella Type output mounted inside the cab and on both side of the tray giving me access to power in all places for fridge's air compressors lights etc.. In a wagon i would have them in the front and on each side in the rear.

Diff Breather All cars have diff breathers as standard, however they are mounted down on the diffs where they will suck in water the first time you go into some water. Some Hose (forget its name but like a clear fuel hose) can extend the breather hight into the bonnet or rear of the car. Also extend your g'box and transfer case breathers.

Always Carry a First aid kit, Fire extinguisher and supply of fresh water

I Think as a start this will do. If you have any questions please ask, Or if you think I have missed anything then Please add it to the list for disscusion.

Next time We will go into more mods, Such as Suspension Upgrades and gear for getting into the rough stuff.

This post has been edited by Rum Dust N Ruckus: Nov 18 2007, 07:25 PM

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Only bad thing about using alloy

It's nearly as shiny as Fed's Hed

[Fed]

Look what I found for you Jumpy.
http://www.watermagnet.com/index.html
Condensation my arse!
How often have you emptied your water separator bees?

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Ewe're a wally Fed
But ewe allready knew that

Gave Bull Bar making a bit of a twirl turned out ok considering i made it up from off cuts
Goes in the spray booth 2mollo

[Fed]

But what about the air bags I hope you didn't bridge the crumple zone? HaHaHa! Just kidding mate.
Looking good for an arb clone careful they don't sue you, I hope you're going to paint it a colour other than black.

Well Bees......

How often have you emptied your water separator bees?

[kkw]

Good effort. If you are getting bored and want to do some alloy work, why not remove the glass deck off my boat and replace the gunwhales and foredeck
This is the last thing you see of my bullbar, if you are a koala, platypus or small furry animal.

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[Jumpus GooDarus]

Good effort. If you are getting bored and want to do some alloy work, why not remove the glass deck off my boat and replace the gunwhales and foredeck

Rather go ketch me some blekfishy's

Back tray comes off 2mollo going with a jumpus version alloy tray

[kkw]

Me too. Monday is looking good. Wanna come along.