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Words by Ramsay Beacham You’ve been scrimping and saving for months to supply yourself some of the mandatory recovery items that should adorn the back of every 4WD. So, the last thing you want to do is go out and blow your wad on overpriced, underperforming products. After receiving a fairly tidy tax cheque this year, I decided that it was high time I bought some of my own accessories. However, there’s no point having all the gear without the money for a tank of diesel to go and test it. So, it had to be good value too. Lo and behold, next thing I knew the latest SuperCheap Auto catalogue made its way into my letterbox. “Must be a sign,” I told my better half. I really wanted to set myself up with gear that I would actually need and use on a regular basis, not just to add another rattle to the already clattery old wagon.
Most of the 4WDing I do is in a group and rarely in an entirely remote location, so the main recovery gear could safely be rounded down to a snatch strap and a couple of shackles. The Tow2Go strap range, which is exclusive to SuperCheap Auto stores, is excellent value for money. In fact, the 8000kg Tow2Go snatchy took out top honours in the 4WD Monthly snatch-strap testing. It normally sells for around $70. You can also get Tow2Go branded tree-trunk protectors and winch-extension straps from SuperCheap Auto. Rated bow shackles can be bought individually, or you can save yourself even more money by buying a ready-made recovery kit. The Ridge Ryder kits consist of an 8000kg rated snatch strap, two 300kg rated bow shackles, an air-pressure gauge, a pair of gloves, a fold-out tarp and a folding shovel. They will normally set you back around $120. If you’re planning on going anywhere near the sand, it’s a good idea to have a heavy-duty compressor and a good-quality pressure gauge handy. Some people choose to let their tyres down ‘by eye’ when they hit the sand, and then drive to the nearest servo to air up when they’re done. This is far from ideal for a couple of reasons.
By deflating your tyres accurately and evenly, your vehicle will be at its most stable and capable in soft sand. Also, if you decide to drive at speed for any distance on low pressures, you run the risk of overheating the tyre sidewalls. This can cause them to deteriorate on the inside, potentially causing a blow out. If you have a good compressor and tyre gauge, you’re more likely to use them for deflating/inflating on surfaces other than sand too. This can be quite beneficial to both comfort and forward progress. Another handy item to have on board is a tyre-repair kit. Patches can be sold for tubed tyres, or for the majority of 4WDers, a tubeless-tyre plug kit is easier to use than you think. It can get you out of some dire situations. Here are two of the most important pieces of safety kit to carry in all 4WDs bound for the bush – an appropriate fire-extinguisher and a first-aid kit. Hopefully, you will never have to use these accessories in anger, but they could potentially be the difference between life and death. The fire-extinguisher should be mounted somewhere near at hand where it can be removed at a moment’s notice. It’ll burn with the rest of the 4WD if it’s buried in a storage box under the rest of your gear.
Now that you have all the gear for a day in the sticks, you will need somewhere to put it all. A lockable steel box is the best solution. SuperCheap Auto stocks a range of boxes of different sizes and materials to suit most needs. The best thing about a steel box is that you can bolt it into a wagon or onto a ute and lock it up. This way your hard-earned accessories won’t be tempted to go walkabout when you’re not watching. After spending up big on the major items, I was nearing my limit financially, and could only get a couple more things – for this month anyway. My windscreen wipers were looking a little shabby. With the recent rains, I noticed they were scraping the windscreen as opposed to wiping it. You wouldn’t normally read about it, but windscreen wipers are a lot like condoms. They come in a range of colours and they’re usually longer than they need to be. The main difference is that you can cut wiper blades down to suit the length of your blade... For the most part, a standard fuel tank is more than adequate. If the majority of your 4WDing is spent at weekends on short treks, it’s hard to justify the purchase of a long-range fuel tank. SuperCheap Auto has a range of fuel cans, which are ideal for the occasional trip maker. Jerry-can holders are also available, and this makes it easy to mount your extra fuel storage safely on the outside of your vehicle.
There are so many more accessories to be had at SuperCheap Auto, from hand winches and snatch blocks to cup holders (there, I said it) and mini cooling fans. You would be surprised just how many items are stocked at SuperCheap Auto these days, and at the quality of some of the gear too. Remember, cheap doesn’t have to be nasty. Costings
Total: $662.82 |
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