4WD MODIFICATIONS & ACCESSORIES
Buying the right 4WD is critical and in this Buyers Guide, we highlight the strengths and weaknesses of new and used wagons, utes and heavy duty off-road vehicles. Also in the Buyers Guide are motorhomes and campervans. Many of the vehicles tested have video reports to let you see how they perform on and off road; and some also include tow tests. There are also suggestions for desirable bush modifications.
LATEST ARTICLES
BARS, WINCHES & SIDERAILS
Buying a Winch
Many people see a winch as a means of increasing the off-road ability of a 4WD. It’s an impression that’s easily gained by seeing how off-road competition blokes and gals go about conquering seemingly impossible obstacles, but that’s not how you should look at a recreational vehicle winch.
Front and Rear Bars
You only have to see how serious 4WDs are dressed up for bush work to appreciate that out-of-the-box 4WDs are underdone for Outback travel and off-road driving. The most obvious addition that most people fit is a bull bar.
DIY WORKSHOP
Kimberly-Clark’s replacements for workshop rags
Kimberly-Clark Professional, a leading innovator in dry-wipe cleaning products, suggests replacing rags in automotive workshops with industrial-strength, dry-wipe products, from its brand Wypall.
DIY drop-sides
Most tray bodies come with aluminium drop-sides, but that’s not the look we wanted for our 30-year-old ‘Cruiser 75 Series.
ELECTRICS & LIGHTS
Dual Battery Systems
These days very few people travel without a portable fridge and camp lighting, and that dictates some form of auxiliary battery power, Allan Whiting from Outback Travel Australia reports. The best way to ensure your fridge will run overnight, when the engine isn’t operating, is with a deep-cycle battery. If the fridge is connected to the deep-cycle battery all the time, it will keep the power flowing as long as it has sufficient charge.
Lazer Linear-18 Elite+
We’re all accustomed to LED light bars with varying brightness and beam distances, but the latest development from UK-based Lazer is the Linear-18 Elite+ bar that has four different operating modes.
GENERAL MODS
Gross vehicle mass (GVM) increases
As 4WDs become heavier and the list of ‘essential’ equipment increases, many 4WD owners find that their vehicles are overweight. There is a way around this situation, but it mightn’t be cheap.
Al’s Project 75 Series
Our Outback Travel Australia restoration project, rebuilding and modifying a LandCruiser 75 Series tray-back, is an ongoing exercise. We continue to use it as a test bed for all sorts of gear.
COMMUNICATIONS & NAVIGATION
Travelling with Starlink in a 4WD in Australia: Everything you need to know
Based on extensive outback testing, the Outback...
Lower-cost sat communications device
Human Mobile Devices entered Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communications with the launch of HMD OffGrid hand-held device. This cutting-edge 2025 technology was aimed at the gap between cellular and satellite networks.
POWERTRAIN
Leave your common-rail diesel engine alone
Boys love to play around, don’t they? They buy a perfectly good vehicle and can’t help wanting to ‘tweak’ it.
Upgrading your cooling system fan
Many new 4WDs have electric cooling system fans, but nearly all older-generation 4WDs are fitted with thermal clutch cooling system fans. These are not everlasting items, so will need periodic maintenance or replacement.
STORAGE
Heavy-duty cargo slide
The BOAB Heavy-Duty Cargo Slide provides easy and secure access to large items such as camping fridges, storage boxes, accessories and water tanks. It’s designed to suit the cargo area of most utes and vans, and has a 300kg load rating.
Norweld’s 50th anniversary release
Australia’s leading, premium 4WD aluminium tray and canopy manufacturer, Norweld, has unveiled a groundbreaking new-generation tray design.
SUSPENSION & BRAKES
25 Suspension Modifications
After bar work and roof racks the most common modification made to a 4WD is done underneath – to the suspension. We’ve separated different suspension types and listed the ideal changes needed for each type.
Lifts need new upper control arms
Raising independent-suspension front ends is fraught with difficulty and often results in misaligned wheels and excessive suspension component wear. Replacement upper control arms promise to remedy that situation.
TECH TORQUE
We’re all living with corrugations
We’ve read many theories on why corrugations occur, but Outback Travel Australia’s conclusion is that nobody really knows. Also, corrugations occur on river beds and on coastal shores, on asphalt and concrete roads, on railway lines and in the atmosphere.
Australian range-extending engine for Chinese-made electric vehicles
This Australian Sytech engine was purpose-designed as a ‘range extender’ for some electric vehicles and a turbocharged 1.5-litre version is scheduled to enter production with an electric vehicle maker in China in 2025. The Sytech engine uses a modified ‘Scotch Yoke’ principle.
TRACTION AIDS
LOKKA auto-locking differential
LOKKA is an automatic differential locker that can be fitted to front, rear or both differentials. This auto-locking diff centre has been manufactured in Australia since the 1990s.
Fitting the right after-market LSDs and diff locks
In the accompanying story Differentials Explained we’ve looked at the different differentials that are popular in the 4WD world and now we’ll look at their selection and use.
TYRES & WHEELS
Kumho AT52 A/T tyre test
Kumho Tyre Australia released its award-winning All Terrain tyre range, the Road Venture AT52, to replace the AT51. We’ve been testing a set since early 2023.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring
Outback Travel Australia has been evaluating different types of tyre pressure monitoring systems over the past 16 years and we wouldn’t go bush without one.
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