After over 68350 miles of international overlanding (110`000km) with the rig showed above, done in the past 9 years it is definitively time for an analytic view. Which mod wouldnt we do again, which mod would we install on a newly buildup? From a Transafrica to journeys in Europe, Iceland, South America I had a lot of different terrain to use those mods listened below.

My list of mods isn`t short:

• Snorkel ( +Higher various types of venting )
• Front bar
• winch
• Ground anchor
• Underride protection
• Differential locks
• Maxtrax sand plate / recovery
• Larger tires (33")
• Mudterrain tire tread (MT)
• only 1x spare tire with rim
• Spare tire carrier at the rear
• Air heater (air vs water heater I explain below)
• Additional fuel tank 180Liter
• Heat exchanger to the engine (hot shower)

Which mod was helpful? Which one was waste of money? Which one was really bad? And why?

I did wrote an Article about: Mods I wouldn`t do again for overlanding or vanlife

Here is the map of the journey till today:



Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Nice write-up and I'm pleased to say I am pretty much 100% with you, other than I never went for most of those mods in the first place

In 250,000 km of overlanding I have never needed a snorkel, winch or diff-locks. I have got stuck a few times (mostly in deep snow in Russian winters when recovery basically requires another vehicle), but in places where ultimately there was a chance to hail a passing motorist for a tow / push. I would rather wait a few hours than carry round a lot of heavy, expensive equipment.

Over the years I have come to be very minimal with my vehicle and packing. My currently used overland vehicle is kept in top condition, strictly using genuine parts, but is basically a stock vehicle. The only visible mod I have done is a suspension lift. This may not be necessary either, but I prefer a slightly raised stance as Toyotas tend to be a bit too low on stock springs in my opinion. When travelling, I really like to drive around in a stock vehicle as it draws less attention.

The only mod I would absolutely recommend to anyone touring in temperate / cold environments is indeed an air heater. I absolutely love my Eberspacher, it makes sleeping in the car so much more comfortable and hygeinic. My last trip was crossing Russia in winter and then - when it was -30 outside and +15 inside - it was absolutely indispensible.

For some reason, people equate overlanding with off-roading, even though they are utterly different things in my experience. I live in Borneo where there is some serious off-roading and many people I know like to do it, but I have to say that slowly hacking into the jungle, driving a car with huge tyres and a huge lift that is horrible to drive on road, risking the car on every trip and damaging the environment is of no interest to me, and seems like the opposite of what overlanding is about. Yet people build these overland vehicles like off-roaders to take on trips where they are driving on routes that are used by others in stock cars / 4x4s.

I remember once meeting some German overlanders in Dogubeyazit in a very nicely prepared LC 78. I asked them if they were heading further east to Iran, India etc. 'No' they said, 'We go back to Europe now. Some of us have to earn money'. Maybe they could have swapped a EUR 100,000 overlander for a EUR 1000 Nissan Micra and enjoyed a decent trip across Asia

Save the weight on mods and spend the money on travelling, I say!

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Hi surfy

Based on your article link I followed that and looked at the BOG OUT system made in AUS.

I had been looking for something light and portable like this system but did not know what to search for.(I know I did not want a traditional winch on the Hilux) and this is a nice simply executed solution.

I watched most of the videos out there and went ahead and purchased this kit,now I look forward to receiving it and I will likely try it in the snow here (deep stuff will be coming soon) and if it works in snow then it should be excellent in mud and sand.

As long as you have somewhere to anchor it to, this should work a treat(i might try this on my wifes Mitsubishi Galant just to be 100% sure)

Thanks for the info. your link did not work, but I simply went to the website at www.bogout.com

Paulo

Hi Paulo

Happy to see that my articles seems to be helpful from time to time!

Please add here some pictures and a short review if you was able to test!

Today I was able to find a german store for the bogout, what avoid the shipping/import from Bogout australia, but this saves not so much.

The bogout iself is pretty short, it can move mounted about 4m before it has to be refitted (what is exactly what we need in most cases. The Line to a possible near anchor is pretty short. Even with a bogout twin set (you can connect them), you should consider too a winch extension rope.

Mostly I was fine during my journeys with 30m Winchline - so we have to add at least a winch extender rope, a tree protector. Everything is lightweigt - but need some space.

I`m travelling solo and often far from civilisation. Even with not searching for an offroad adventure - it can happen too quick to get stuck in sand, snow or mud.

Something like Maxtrax for the cases without an Anchorpoint - seems still useful too together with an Airjack.

This is my plan for a new self recovery kit - for my next generation travelling car:
https://www.4x4tripping.com/2021/12/...-wirklich.html

Makes sence for me for travelling solo, with 2 or more vehicles I would carry a lot less, as long as we avoid real sand desert.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast