A vehicle that is loaded incorrectly can kill. It doesn’t matter if you are travelling for three weeks or three days, we tend to carry huge amounts of weight in our 4WD. The additional weight can become dangerous if our vehicle isn’t set up correctly or we fail to load the weight correctly.

Whether you’re heading off camping or helping a mate move, a 4WD is generally always carrying something. After all, that’s what it’s designed to do. Getting your load to fit can sometimes be half the challenge of your journey, and knowing where to put everything so your vehicle travels better can also be challenging.

What items do you need to keep handy? What should you put on your roof rack? Am I going to exceed my payload when I fit all my camping gear into my vehicle?

These are all questions we commonly find ourselves asking every time we pack up the 4WD and head bush.
WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION
When we add extra weight to our 4WD, we can so easily change the weight distribution and very easily change the way our vehicle brakes, corners, steers and acts on and off-road. Changing the distribution of weight can adversely affect the way your vehicle handles.

Many people don’t realise how much weight they are actually carrying on their vehicle once they have a few bolt-on accessories and the inside and roof loaded up with touring gear. Even if you have kept your load under the maximum payload for your vehicle, where you place the weight can change your weight distribution and centre of gravity.

Ideally, you want to keep most of the heavy weight as low to the ground as you can, and between the front and rear axles and centred in the middle of your vehicle. Packing all of the heavy items like extra fuel, a fridge, chains and tools to one side of the vehicle will do no favours when your 4WD is cornering or on steep side slopes.

Keep in mind all of the accessories you have fitted to your vehicle. Things like auxiliary fuel tanks, rear bars, winches, drawers, spare tyres, and bullbars should be taken into consideration.

A rear bar fitted with a spare tyre or two is a lot of weight hanging over your rear axles, and any more weight this far back will cause your front suspension to become ‘lighter’ and greatly affect your steering and handling.

If you have no choice but to have your vehicle carrying most of its weight at the back, then you will want to invest in heavy- duty springs at the rear to cope with this additional weight. This is one of the reasons why you should always fit your aftermarket suspension as the last addition you make to your vehicle.
TIE ME DOWN
Because of the conditions and terrains that we tend to take our 4WDs, there is more of a need to fi rmly secure loads than with regular passenger vehicles.

Corrugations and low-range tracks will make short work of an unsecured load or even damage your camping gear or vehicle.

Just like getting your weight distribution right, you also want to position your load so it is in the best position to stay secured.

While a lesson in physics or a truck licence is handy to have, you can improve the way you tie your load down by following a few simple rules. Keep in mind that the bigger the angle between your load and the tie-down point,