22 2 Seconds spacing on the road might not be enough
Keeping a safe distance from other road users is always a good idea, especially when following another vehicle. The old 2 seconds rule (maintain a clear space to the next vehicle of around 2 seconds distance when measured from a roadside fixed object) is OK when conditions are good and your brakes and tyres are in good shape, but when winter rains fall you’ll need to “drive to the conditions” and space yourself out some more, adding perhaps another second or two to the equation. If some twit decides they’ll take your safety space and darts in front of you resist the temptation to ram them. Suppress the rage and wish them well, because inevitably one day their luck will run out.

21 Dodgy wiper blades need to be replaced now!
Everyone changes the batteries on their smoke detectors at home around Easter time and so it should be with your wiper blades on your 4WD. If you’ve noticed the wipers merely smudging the moisture on your windscreen, or there’s fine arcs of water left behind after a blade’s sweep, your rubber needs replacing. Do this annually so you get the best view of the world when it’s wet.

20 How much winter grip have you got?
When the rains start tumbling the roads get slippery when wet, so you need all the help you can get in staying safe. If your tyres are well worn you’ll be in trouble because there’s simply not enough tread depth, nor the all-important sipes (the fine cuts on the tread blocks) to pump the road dry. Officialdom permits us to run a tyre’s tread down to the TWI (Tread Wear Indicator), a 1-2mm ridge of rubber built into the deepest part of the tread voids (find the TWI symbol at regular intervals around the circumference of the tyre to know where to look). For my money that’s too low, it might as well be bald for all the good that little amount of tread will do. Get a new set of tyres (Bridgestone’s 694LT is brilliant on and off-road) and you’ll immediately notice sharper steering, shorter stopping distances and an increased tyre life when you use the right pressures, keep them aligned and rotated on a regular basis (don’t forget too to introduce the spare into the mix).

19 Use your A/C regularly!
Air-conditioning is seen more often than not as purely a comfort aid whilst driving, but it’s a whole lot more, especially in the safety stakes. As we draw closer to winter the combination of variable temperatures and higher humidity means windscreens fog up easily. Add to that a windscreen that hasn’t been cleaned in ages and you’ve got a major safety issue brewing. Get used to using the a/c at the first hint of a windscreen that’s fogging up. Set the vents to demist, dial in some temperature to keep things cosy and with a low fan speed the windscreen should demist in moments.

18 Why you should be driving a vehicle with ABS and VSC.
You’ve probably noticed in the last 5 years an increasing amount of publicity around the technology of stability control. This electronic safety aid has the potential to reduce casualty crashes around the world by a staggering 40%!!! Fitted as a safety suite to modern 4WDs, the basic ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System) is enhanced with ETC (Electronic Traction Control) and VSC (Vehicle Stability Control). The three technologies are worth their weight in gold in preserving lives and I reckon should be of the highest priority when making a new car or 4WD selection.

17 Aggressive steering may get you into a tangle.
If you’ve ever paid attention to the all too frequent skid marks on many of the nation’s highways you will have noticed probably the end of someone’s journey and maybe even their lives. Fatigue induced inattention results in a driver drifting off the bitumen and onto the road’s dirt shoulder, the change in the tyres rhythm awakens the driver in panic and they yank the steering wheel to correct the pathway. That panicked response will invariably start the fishtail to disaster as one steering correction after another sees the vehicle slew across the roadspace and flip. In road safety parlance this incident is referred to as a “trip-over”, and it is possible to prevent. Gentle steering inputs will get the vehicle back on the road with a minimum of discomfort and if you’re lucky enough to have a new vehicle with VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) the car itself has the ability to assist with corrective braking and engine deceleration. You should practice this on a deserted road, deliberately driving off the bitumen at modest speeds to get an idea of what goes on. Better to have some idea than none!

16 Nighttime driving… watch out for Skippy!
I have to admit to a fondness for driving at night. In certain transit corridors around the country a well-rested driver can cover reasonable distances quite safely with reduced traffic congestion, aided by a decent set of driving lights. However there’s plenty of rural and especially Outback roads where I wouldn’t do it because the risk of animal strike is just too high. History is littered with stories of major crashes where drivers have collected all manner of animals at night, hardly surprising when this is the time that they are up and about foraging for food and water. Roadsides often make good watering points for kangaroos immediately after rain. Puddles form on the road surface enticing kangaroos onto the roadspace, and if you and he or she aren’t paying enough attention… The rule of thumb is sundown to sunup, park up for the night when you’re in the bush, it’s a whole lot safer.

15 Have you got your mats?
With the likelihood of autumn rains comes the prospect of mud and goop on your boots and on an unprotected carpeted floor that’ll mean an interior that degrades way sooner than necessary. Rubber floor mats are an inexpensive yet necessary addition to any 4WD to protect the resale value of the vehicle.

14 Don’t be an Easter Bunny!
With the Easter holidays approaching you need to make sure the 4WD is fit for travel. If you’re taking a major journey it pays to have a major service done on the vehicle. For some of you that means taking the vehicle to your franchised dealership and entrusting their technicians to do the work, but there’s a few things to ask them to take a special interest in. Lubrication is huge, making sure that the oil in the engine is the best that money can buy and at the right level (new filter too) and working their way back to the gearbox and transfer case, will avoid the embarrassment of a major failure. The differentials will need a check and all grease points in the chassis/suspension will need a squirt. A new air filter is a good idea especially if you’re running a turbo-diesel. Tyres too need aligning, balancing and if worn more than 50% probably need replacing, especially if you’re going into country notorious for punctures. A few simple things can mean the difference between Easter holiday happiness or gloom.

13 Have you got metal caps???
An often-neglected item on a vehicle is its valve caps, providing valuable protection against grit and grot entering the tyre’s valve core. Any debris lodged in around the plunger can start a leak, which unnoticed can lead to tyre failure. The standard plastic caps you’ll get with your vehicle are of not much value. Once screwed on and off a few times inevitably the threads get crossed and it’s a throwaway. The other commonly seen valve situation is where caps go missing. Again neglect like this is not smart either, inviting problems that can be avoided. Fitting metal caps makes a whole lot of sense, especially since it’s only around a $5 investment. Not only will the cap thread onto the stem positively, you can expect that the rubber seal in the cap’s head will completely seal the valve with no loss of pressure. Off course off-road there’s no chance of any grit getting into the valve core, so that’s another problem solved.

12 Squealing brakes is not a pleasant sound.
Vehicle makers are interested in your safety and they put brakes on cars so they can stop. Disc brakes are better than drums (please take note those of you making 4WD utes – drum brakes on back axles are CRAP) as they are easy to service, have a greater swept area to slow you faster, are less likely to become overheated and more predictable in the wet. Eventually though their performance will suffer when the brake pad material wears to the point where the imbedded “wear indicator” contacts the brake rotor face and squeals. That’s a sure-fire sign that it’s time for new pads, but in heavy-duty applications an inspection of the rotor thickness and/or grooving might reveal that it too needs replacement. If you drive through a lot of mud and slush be prepared to replace your brakes more frequently. Remember, listen for the squeal!

11 Beware the Nullabor Nymph!
Driving long distances can play serious tricks with your head, a loss of concentration, a drift off to the roadside and BAM, you’ve rolled the truck and its precious cargo! Plan your journey in two-hour/two hundred kilometre stages with at least a twenty-minute break at each stop. Some drivers may struggle with even this distance. If you’re yawning your head off and seeing her Nymphness before two hundred kays, take a driver-reviver stop before it’s too late.

10 What goes down must come up!
If you’re following our lead and manipulating your tyre pressures to suit the road conditions, you’ll get to a point where you’ve got to return to the bitumen and you’ll want to increase your speed. Low pressures won’t sustain high speeds and you’ll run the risk of overheating the tyres with the inevitable failure. Buy a quality air compressor. Cheap supermarket compressors will likely be built entirely out of plastic, are slow and will become unreliable. Pay the money and get one with grunt! ARBs air compressors will go the distance. We’ve got decade-old ARB pumps with 10 years on the clock and are still reliable as ever.

09 Hey look at that, my trailer has tyres too!
Trailer tyres are easy to ignore but you shouldn’t! All the previous rules apply to your trailer too. Getting the right Load Index and inflation is critical to trip success. We use Kimberley Kamper trailers here at Adventure 4WD because we reckon they’re the best. Because we care about our client’s holidays when hiring our campers we state quite clearly above the wheel-arches what we reckon a good mix of pressures might be. Start at 32 PSI on the bitumen before lowering to 26 PSI on the dirt, whilst sand and mud is best set at 18 PSI. This’ll cope with the anticipated holiday load we reckon our trailers will be carrying and rarely if ever do we get tyre failures when our clients follow the rules. The right tyres, with the right pressures, are a great starting point!

08 There’s some air in those balloons.
If you can’t afford a new set of tyres after shelling out nearly $70,000 on your GXL Prado, make the best of what you’ve got. Firstly refer to the tyre placard on the driver’s door pillar and pay attention to what it says. The most common cause of tyre failure in the bush is over-inflation. Most new 4WDs are running passenger tyres because 90% of owners don’t go bush. Passenger tyres are built for lounging around town, are soft and flexible and need pressures around the high 20s and early 30s PSI. Go and bang in 40 PSI or more and the balloon principle rears its ugly head. A tightly over-inflated balloon has no resistance to sharp objects and punctures in an instant. A correctly inflated balloon has more resistance and will deflect initially, remaining intact longer. But better again is a balloon deflated 20% from placarded pressures, now with plenty of deflection, offering heaps more longevity in the field. Remember though if there’s 20% less air in your tyres, you’ll need to be travelling 20% slower!!!

07 Keep getting holes in your tyres… the secret’s in the Load Index.
Whilst you’re at it replacing the suspension, do the same with the tyres. If you’ve got any inclination to go bush with your new 4WD I’ll bet its currently running rubber with a lightweight load index. The load index is the bunch of numbers after the tyre size that’s stamped on the sidewall. Here’s an example. Let’s say you’ve just bought a new Prado GXL. It comes with passenger tyres in a 265/65R17 size with a 112 load index and S speed rating. So the wheel diameter is 17”, the tyre width is 265mm and the height of the tyre’s sidewall is 65% of the tyre width. At maximum inflation it’ll carry 1120kgs per tyre and it’s rated for 180kph. That seems OK except for the fact that on a typical Outback track it’ll likely fail. It’s designed for bitumen at high speed, not gravel and rocks at slower speeds. Invest in a set of Bridgestone 694LTs in the same size but in LT (Light Truck) construction and you’ll get a nicer 116 (1250kgs) advantage. Opt for the slightly wider 275/65R17LT and you’ll get a healthy 118 (1320kgs) load index. The closer you can get to the Holy Grail of 120 (1400kgs) or more, the more resilient the tyre will be when you’re bush.

06 Is your tow nice and level or are you dragging your bum?
Last week I bagged standard shocks and hinted that the springs weren’t much better. If you’re into towing you really must pay attention to this week’s message because your life depends on it. A towing attitude where the tow hitch becomes the lowest point between the 4WD and the trailed vehicle is dangerous. A level and flat tow stance will eliminate the potential for the trailer to “submarine” under the 4WD, the mass shift lifting the back wheels creating instability that you don’t need in an emergency braking scenario and a jack-knife is on the cards. Old Man Emu by ARB can fix this in a blink.

05 How to avoid being seasick via 4WD???
Standard suspension is rubbish and shock absorbers are under-valued by most drivers. If you’ve got a 4WD running standard suspension, more than two years of age, with around 30-40,000kms on the clock, I betcha the shocks are rooted! One of the very first things you should replace on your 4WD when you take it off the showroom floor is the suspension (don’t get me started on tyres too). The flimsy shockers fitted to 4WDs standard have always been way below average, under heavy braking they’ll extend your braking distances, around corners you’ll be wondering why there’s so much body-roll and off-road your tummy will feel like it’s just met the sea out of the Perfect Storm, a porpoising effect that gets progressively worse as the undulations continue and the shock gets hotter. Replace them along with the springs and you won’t believe the difference. Those ARB folk have the best suspension options for just about every 4WD.

04 Annual checks on your recovery gear are very, very smart!
Any gear pressed into recovery service needs heaps of TLC (that’s tender loving care). Snatch-straps, winch extension straps, tree protectors are all synthetic ropes with fibres that like to be clean and dry. If you’ve just dragged your snatch strap through the mud and to add insult to injury, driven a wheel over the strap in the process of de-bogging, you need to get it clean and dried out of direct sunlight and make a visual inspection. Any signs of fraying fibres with significant chafing or cuts (more than 5mm deep) probably mean it’s time for the scrap bin. Heaven forbid if you’ve used the strap for towing? Under static load the fibres will stretch and develop a memory for extension. The result, a strap that looks like a piece of Mafaldine pasta, a ribbon with wavy edges! It’ll break next time you use it because there’s no stretch left.

03 Running a Nissan Patrol with auto hubs?
Nissan’s Patrol is a top truck, a legend in the off-road world and whilst others have run down the full-time 4WD path, Patrol is still a part-time jigger. If you have a look at the front hubs on your ST or Ti you’ll see two positions, AUTO and LOCK. Sure you can engage and disengage 4WD on the move with the AUTO position but it’s not positive, especially when it’s time to rejoin the bitumen. Backwards, forwards, bah humbug! Get interested in your truck and get the wheel-brace out and rotate the centre hex nut in the hub with the brace’s socket into the LOCK position. No more ifs, buts or maybes, it’s 100% positive and strong!

02 Got a 4WD with manual freewheeling hubs?
Get into the habit of locking them up. Not too many new 4WDs run the old manual hubs anymore and for good reason. They confuse, confound and serve no real purpose on a modern 4WD, but if you’ve got them, learn to love them! Once a week you should set the bezel into the LOCK position. This creates the union that gets drive to the front wheels once you select 4WD with your transfer lever. What a lot of people don’t know is that it actually does a whole lot of good in the lubrication stakes, spinning over the front axles and differential to ensure a long and trouble-free life. Remember though selecting 4WD with the hubs locked on high-friction surfaces is not good! Make sure you're in 2H or 2WD when on bitumen, concrete or paving, otherwise serious damage may be done to the transmission.

01 Don’t overload a roof rack! Roof racks can make useful accessories for 4WDs.
I reckon they're great photographic platforms and useful for carrying LIGHT stuff, but how many times do you see 4WDs loaded to the gunwales with everything and the kitchen sink? “I’ve got my toolbox, four jerries full of petrol, a couple of gas cylinders, the family tent and a couple of bags of gear, what’s the harm in that?” At a quick guess that little lot topped the scales at around 185kgs, a bit like having two big Aussie blokes or a modest Japanese Sumo strapped to the roof. Apart from the potential of weakening the roof structure (most vehicle makers permit maximum roof loads between 50-100kgs these days) there’s the greater risk of a vehicle rollover caused the pendulum effect of that extra mass sitting in the worst possible place! Don’t do it, learn the art of “Less is More”. By the way who makes the best roof racks? ARB of course!