Geared-Up – 4 4WD Upgrades True Off-Road Enthusiasts Will Love

in Automobiles

If you love off-roading, you’ve probably faced a few situations where your stock set up just didn’t cut it. Maybe you’ve gotten bogged or lost in what seems like an endless sea of trees and darkness. If you’ve been particularly unlucky, you may have even flooded your engine while maneuvering through water that didn’t seem half as deep ten seconds ago.

Don’t get us wrong, our faithful 4WDs have served us well, even straight off the showroom floor, but if you want to go that bit further off the beaten track, these upgrades should definitely be on your radar.

Light Up Your Life

Headlights are one of the most important parts of any vehicle. The problem is, the standard headlights that your car leaves the factory with are created to provide adequate light to safely stay on a dark road without blinding oncoming traffic. When you’re out in the middle of nowhere, however, your high beams might not be good enough.

LED Light Bars provide the perfect solution to this problem. Because they’re a separate system, you don’t have to worry about dazzling that little hatchback coming the opposite way down the freeway, but you’ll still have plenty of extra wattage up your sleeve when the situation calls for it. Plus you can get inventive about where you place them, which can be useful when you’re trying to gut and prepare a fish at your campsite or find out where the family dog ran off to.

Under the Sea

Repeat after me: My car is not a duck, it cannot swim, and I shouldn’t drive it through that puddle. Not without installing a snorkel anyway. Look, you’re going to take a dip at some point, we get it, but your engine might not. Installing a snorkel isn’t a foolproof plan, and it can’t guarantee that you’ll never flood your engine, but it can greatly reduce the risk.

By raising your air intake, you lower the chances of water getting into your engine. This makes river crossings easier and less stressful. Tests have shown that snorkels can help improve overall performance and fuel efficiency, so they’re a great upgrade to install even if your 4WD doesn’t moonlight as a boat.

Blow It Off

This one is only for those of you running turbo-diesel setups, so feel free to skip ahead if it doesn’t apply to you. Upgrading your blow off valve won’t necessarily provide any specific benefits for off-roading, but it will give your engine that extra bit of protection. This means it’ll be less likely to fail on you at a critical moment, like when you’re doing your best to un-bog yourself or a mate for instance. Plus, a better-protected turbo is a more efficient turbo which means better torque – wins all around!

Drag Me Out

A winch is another sound investment for anyone who loves the off-road lifestyle. Generally mounted to a compatible bull bar (essential for all off-road vehicles), winches are great for un-bogging any cars that may have got their ambitions mixed up with their capabilities.

That’s not all they’re good for though. If you’re somewhere you’re allowed to collect firewood from, your winch can be used to drag around any pieces you don’t want to carry back to your campsite and it will make bringing the canoes back up the boat ramp (or riverbank) a breeze.

If you want to be the owner of the little 4WD that could, these upgrades will serve you well. We hope you enjoy your travels!


Image Credits: Trent Szmolnik

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