Do you remember when you were a kid (yes, I know it’s a struggle), your parents constantly asking what you wanted to be when you grew up? I do, and while I had a good idea of what that was by the time I was in high school, I can tell you what I ended up doing was something completely different. While I don’t regret any of my choices, hindsight is a wonderful thing. If I had my time over again, I know what I would do. I would start a 4WD accessory business.
When you buy a 4WD, it will come with the essentials for using the vehicle for day-to-day duties. It won’t necessarily come with the sort of accessories you may need for long-term towing and touring. This is where the 4WD accessory stores come into play, and given the popularity of 4WDs in this country, it’s little wonder there is a proliferation of retailers where you can buy accessories for your tow vehicle.
How do you decide what to buy and what to avoid? This month, I wanted to share with you the 10 accessories we’ve purchased for our Land Cruiser to set it up as a reliable and versatile tow vehicle.
TOW VEHICLE GVM UPGRADE
If you do the maths on how heavy your 4WD is straight out of the factory and how much cargo it can actually carry, you’d likely be horrified by just how little capacity you have available after you add the towball weight of a big caravan.
This is why I strongly recommend a GVM upgrade for your vehicle. Even a small upgrade can reclaim the towball weight you’ve lost hitching up the caravan. Keep in mind that in order to carry any additional load, the new suspension will need heavier springs, and this will compromise the ride to a certain degree. But I guarantee the slightly less plush ride is a small price to pay for a safer towing experience.
BETTER EXHAUST SYSTEM
When 4WD manufacturers design an engine for their vehicles, they strike a compromise between performance, noise levels, fuel economy and durability. They are also set-up for general driving duties, which means the occasional need to tow a heavy caravan.
Long-term towing means the engine works harder and hotter. The standard exhaust in your 4WD has restrictions in it, and these inhibit the hot exhaust gases from being expelled quickly. For a short distance, this is not an issue, but over long distances, over many hours of driving in extreme conditions, this heat starts to cause damage to turbos and other components. A free-flowing exhaust system will ensure these hot gases are expelled faster, preventing excessive heat build-up and promoting engine longevity. You may also get slightly better fuel economy or a small increase in performance as a bonus.
QUALITY ALL TERRAIN TYRES
The standard tyres on your 4WD are also likely to be a compromise, designed for general driving on sealed roads. They will have soft sidewalls to give you a smoother ride. They are fine for tootling around town and the occasional foray down a dirt road, but for long-term touring, load carrying capacity and resistance to damage from Australia’s harsh conditions, a good set of brand-name all-terrain tyres is a must.
In fact, I know from experience that spending a bit more on good tyres will save you thousands over the longer term. We’ve always fitted BF Goodrich tyres to our Land Cruiser, and over six years of touring, including some of the country’s longest and toughest outback tracks, we’ve only ever had one puncture.
SCANGAUGE
Here’s a fun thing to try. Have a look at the dashboard of your 4WD tow vehicle. It will likely have gauges for the basics like speed, engine revs, fuel, water temp and, if you’re lucky, alternator voltage. The rest will be a multitude of warning lights that make a brief appearance when you turn on the ignition or when a fault becomes too serious to ignore and often, when the damage has already been done.
Fitting a ScanGauge or similar device to your tow vehicle allows you to monitor some of the vital data as it changes. These clever devices plug into your vehicle’s OBD2 diagnostics port. You can program them to read vital data like engine coolant temperature, oil pressure, but, most importantly, automatic transmission temperature.
You can set alarms to notify you if a reading starts to get too high. I don’t know how many times I’ve read stories of caravanners overcooking their transmission, resulting in a very expensive repair that fitting a ScanGauge could have easily prevented.
ADDITIONAL FUEL FILTRATION
We are quite fortunate in Australia to have very high fuel quality standards but, even with these in place, filling up your tank with contaminated fuel is a very real possibility. Your engine will be equipped with a basic fuel filter, but it can easily be overwhelmed.
I recall being in a caravan park in Geraldton, WA, and in the space of a few days, three vehicles came in on tow trucks, all suffering from damaged engines as a result of contaminated fuel. Fitting a good quality primary fuel filter with water separator can make a real difference in these situations. If nothing else, they will trap most of the contaminants in your fuel, maximising the life of the OEM filter. When you consider that replacing a modern turbodiesel engine can cost $20,000 or more, fitting a second fuel filter is cheap insurance.
UHF CB RADIO
Communications on the road are vital, and a CB radio in your tow vehicle is a great way to find out what’s happening on the road ahead of you. Truck drivers use them extensively to advise other drivers of adverse road conditions and warn of any traffic incidents. The pilot vehicles for trucks with oversize loads will announce their presence over CB radio. And, of course, you can communicate with other vehicles travelling together.
The single biggest reason you should fit one is they are an essential safety device. If something is wrong with your rig that you cannot see, other drivers can warn you. If you get into trouble and there is no mobile phone reception, a CB radio may be your only means of summoning assistance.
SNORKEL
Even if you have no intention of venturing offroad, fitting a snorkel to your tow vehicle will be of great benefit. For starters, most vehicles source the air intake for the engine in one of the front wheel arches. Here, they are prone to ingesting road dirt, clogging up your air filter. If you travel in hot weather, the air coming into the engine is heated up by the baking road surface. This is terrible for fuel efficiency. A snorkel sources air from high above the ground where it is cooler and denser and, more importantly, cleaner.
DUAL BATTERY SYSTEM
When you start doing a lot of touring in your 4WD, you are inevitably going to want to run a few electrical accessories. A car fridge is one thing. You may also want to include additional interior and exterior lighting, CB radios, and even additional power outlets for recharging your devices.
Some may want to install an inverter for powering small 240V appliances. The last thing you will want to do is run all these from your car’s single starter battery. Imagine if it went flat overnight, stranding you in the middle of nowhere.
A dual battery system is a must these days. They can be quite sophisticated, offering DC-DC and solar charging. No matter which one you choose, it will ensure your starter battery is isolated from all those accessories.
STORAGE SYSTEM
One of the reasons 4WDs make excellent tow vehicles is they are large and offer a huge storage area in the back for carrying all your gear. The problem is, it is just a big open space where things can move around. This can lead to breakages, or worse, projectiles if you’re involved in an accident.
The most annoying thing, by a long shot, is trying to find that one small tool you need for an urgent repair. This is where a storage system of some description is a must for a touring 4WD. This can take many forms. You may just get a couple of stackable storage boxes, or you can go the whole hog and get a custom-made rear drawer system. These are perfect for organising all your gear into logical spaces so you will always find your socket set or your favourite torch. Best of all, your gear will be stored safe and secure.
TYRE PRESSURE MONITOR
The final bit of kit we believe you will need is a tyre pressure monitoring system. These simple devices use pressure sensors mounted either inside the rims of your 4WD, or screwed onto the valve stems. They transmit both the pressure and temperature of each tyre to a monitor that can be mounted on your dashboard.
You can see immediately what pressure and temperature each tyre is at any one time. Many monitors have an alarm function that can alert you to a tyre that drops pressure below a set level or exceeds a certain temperature. In essence, you will know a tyre is likely to destroy itself long before it happens and with enough time to pull over and safely take action.
This is by no means a complete list of the accessories you may need for a touring 4WD and tow vehicle. Some people will say I’ve missed out something they consider important. If you’re one of those people, please feel free to let us know, and we will share it with our readers. Send your suggestions to info@gorv.com.au.
Safe travels.
