Vehicle Modifications

The only required modifications you may need to make to your 4 wheel drive vehicle to participate in Club rides is the addition of properly mounted front and rear tow hooks. This means that the hooks should be attached to the frame and not the bumper. On Jeeps the mounting of front hooks is fairly easy and inexpensive as the frame already has mounting holes. Mounting hooks on the rear is more difficult and expensive. Most members substitute a trailer hitch on the rear, which is perfectly acceptable. The reason front and rear tow hooks are required is that there will be occasions where it is necessary for you to be pulled out of or over obstacles, and there will be occasions where you will be required to pull someone else. There must be a secure safe place to attach the tow strap, not only to your vehicle, but the other vehicle as well.

There are of course, many other modifications you can do to make your vehicle safer or more trail ready. The addition of a fire extinguisher, First Aid Kit, Tow Strap, and CB radio are some of the easier and least expensive. Something a lot more expensive would be the addition of a winch.

When it comes to modifying your vehicle for performance off road these become more expensive.

There are 3 things that you can do to improve your vehicles off road performance, improve your off road driving skill, provide for more traction, and provide for more ground clearance. Of the three, driving skill is the most important. You will be pretty amazed what a stock 4-wheel drive vehicle can do, and even more amazed of what it is capable of with a skilled off road driver. Sometimes providing for more traction and/or ground clearance will get an unskilled driver in trouble real quick. Sort of like putting an Indy car in the hands of a novice driver. The car may be capable of going around the track at 200+ mph, but the driver isn’t.

Once you have gained off road driving experience, then you may want to look into improving your vehicle’s traction and/or ground clearance.