The problem with this video of course is that it’s done by a real expert... and this doesn’t sell expensive new fancy accessories for sponsors or add to the sense of achievement by buying things. $100k Rigs that look like SEMA builds have more curb appeal... this makes it clear you have to authentically actually do stuff.

In my estimation a shovel would be in the top 3, love your videos and all the experience you offer

Others have mentioned the shovel. Being from the north, all my vehicles have chains, and I have used them both winter and summer to get myself unstuck. Good way to compensate for the all terrain tires. Thanks for another great video.

I tend to disagree in a number of points reg the listed equipment; *1 A Showel. Despite the fact that a MaxTrax can double up as a showel in certain conditions, a dedicated showel has so many more usefull aspects. *2 I have more or less abandoned D-Rings, the ease of use parred with the weight & safetyfactor of a softshakle cannot be underestimated! *3 In my World, a winch & a snatchblock go hand in hand, no need to separate them form the list! *4 I have come to love my kinetic recovery rope (BubbaRope in particular) for its ease of use & the way more gentle load U put on both anchoring points when performing a snatch recovery.... So a Bubbarope is now standard equipment along with a soft shackle in all out vehicles... *5 As for sand ladders, many many European Overlanders prefer the alloy sandladders as one can bridge with them & they are not affected by thermal conditions. That being said, They are terrible in icy arctic conditions!! Tred & MaxTrax superceed them in the Winter. Apart fromallof this, Thanks again for a great video :-), Brgds Pete

I used to hate Mondays. Now they're one of my favorite days of the week! Love this content!

I share your mindset. In 2004 I drove my stock 2001 Jeep TJ straight through the rubicon with open diffs, no winch, and only one minor door ding. Have been in all kinds of situations ever since, and later on I had a winch, and used it one time to pull a tree out of the road so that ordinary cars could pass. The rest of the time the 150 pound winch rode around for free.

"Vehicle Preservation is #1" Absolutely!! Well said I'd like to add,, Good , really good tires..

I’ve recently moved my recovery bag under the drivers seat for the same reason. Makes much more sense there then under my sleeping platform and all my boxes, cooler, etc.... of course my “overlanding” has just been car camping to be real but we covered 1500 miles of back roads a couple weeks ago over a weeks time and you do learn a lot about packing a Jeep on those trips! Thanks for the great content as usual.

My wife and I are loving these videos and are set to take our first Overlanding trip in 2 days! Keep the information flowing we appreciate it!

I have a winch installed on my FJ. I also carry a shovel, snatch block, 4 d rings and 3 extra straps. But, I do enjoy wheeling and dispersed camping so I often break my equipment out and actually use it. In fact, on a recent outing, i came across a stuck land rover and couldn't pull front or back due to corners on the trail. So I broke the snatch block out, wrapped it to a tree, and did a 90 degree winch pull. Got the rover out safely and nothing broke, she was able to drive off

I totally agree with you. To much focus on all kinds of gadgets. I drove many trips in the Icelandic highland in the 70s, 90s and early 2000s and probably drove every major track in IS, often alone ( 1 car) with my spouse and young kids. No mobile phone ( until in the 2000s) or cb, no winch. Just a showel ( which I almost never used), highlift and a long rope. I actually newer got stuck so hard that I needed outside assistance in the summer months, but got stuck in snow ( in winter we where at least 2 cars per trip). One of the hardest tracks at the time ( Gaesavötn ) I drove in a ´86 110 Land rover in the fall of ´98 on worn 31” tires, no diff lockers and probably only 50-60 horses left in the worn turbo diesel (83 horses when new). No problem at all, there you need to cross several rivers, there where no bulldosed tracks, you drive over lava, stony hills, deep sand and pimpstone ( so heavy going I had to use low range) and not least floodplains that flood in the afternoon ( quick sand worried me the most ). The only place where a winch would have been a added safety factor was on the floodplains but as there are no trees there it would also require a large and heavy sand ancor.

Solid advice! Josephine and Frederick’s Congo trip is epic. Great thread!

Great content! Instead of a build in winch l got a Wyeth-Scott hand winch. Very simple and versatile.

On my first long distance Jeep trip in the USA....took a detour on a difficult "high clearance" jeep trail....would have spent the night on a mountain with no chow...no sleeping gear...thick mosquitos...and no comms. Thankfully...I had a winch for the first time. Never go without one now....especially as I build the overland rig.

Winch, maxtrax, tow strap and d-rings. All I carry and all I've used. Havent needed anything else.

When I was a kid (1973-77) we got around DRC in a Peugeot 504. We did get stuck sometimes though. And had two flats with only one spare on one trip.

I fully agree we tend to overspend and never use all the recovery gear we own. Missed the most important one: a shovel. For me this is right on top of the list.

As always a great video. I had a spade, snatch strap and hi lift jack. Spade for digging camp toilets, snatch strap for towing out other people, hi lift for just about everything. Don’t mount the hi lift on the front bumper/ bull bar. It really looks silly if you bend it on a tree.

I think this video does an excellent job covering a very key aspect in Overlanding; one has to weigh the level of challenging terrain against the recovery gear they intend to bring. Overlanding is a very wide activity; from mostly paved adventure with some dirt roads, to trying to cross the highest passes, to finding those well-hidden and very rugged routes that will challenge even the most well-equipped vehicles. Excellent video. Thank you for sharing it!

Great advice . We went Alaska to Panama with only sand tracks and a high-lift jack and snatch strap , on a lot of rough 4x4 tracks . And had great fun doing it . We did it in a buddy’s old series 2 Land Rover . That looked really beat up and rough . And not even with new and proper off road tires . Every one said we would never make it with out a winch . Thanks for sharing your awesome videos and advice . Cheers from Steve Stott in Sutherlin Oregon U.S.A. ...P.S...( better tires next time for sure ) .

I just love how you dispel a whole lot of myth in each of your videos... This is great!

7/13/2020 Minimal is cool. I have been told you need extra bearings and seals, hoses, tire repair kits, U-joints and a Nascar tool box! Air compressor, generator/ welder combination and metal cutting. Now a great 4X4 looks like a 2 tonne heavy equipment remote service vehicle. Charge by the pound then divide by GVW and settle for an extra can of tuna! I like the part about helping others especially the locals. People are usually good to each other if given a chance. My funny flat tire story is I had a good bottle hydraulic jack but the jack was too short for the frame and too tall for the axle. Took hours to find stones and bricks to adjust the heights. Don

You've inspired me. Literally wasn't really thinking about doing a serious overland trip, but now I'll hopefully be heading from Southern California to Nicaragua and beyond when COVID19 allows.

I fully agree, no winch needed for overlanding in Africa. DRC, rather than a wichh, i would recommend teaming up with a second vehicle and carefully choosing the route. Do not trust the maps.

Great bonus tip at the end! That would have really sucked had it been there. I keep the winch controller in the jeep's center console, but straps in the back. (I should keep them reachable)

Instead of a pull pal you can dig a hole and bury your spare tire with a strap attached. Its a lot of work but is really useful if there are no winch points

Great share on Josephine & Frederik's epic Congo trip! And of course your own advice and adventures. Thanks!

First view and first comment! :) Thanks for these excellent informative videos on practical, realistic overlanding prep.

My wife and I don’t like carrying all of the recovery gear people say you need so we invested in lower gears and lockers. It greatly reduced the chances of getting stuck and pretty much eliminated the need for anything else.

Great video. Great information. I'm looking into an older jeep to use for hunting fishing and family as you said I too want standard size tires with an all terrain type tread . Add a medium duty winch tow strap and d rings traxx and finally a boy's size ax and a small shovel. My plans include enough time to enjoy the grandchildren and great grandchildren on a weekly ice cream run .once again great video and have a great day and keep looking for that better tomorrow

I really like your insightful, realistic, and and retrospective comments...

Josephine and Fredrick’s trip has rolled around my mind for about 10 years now. The two standouts that would have made their trip easier were differential lockers and tires that were a little wider and could be aired down. Their most important equipment however was a massive tank of courage and they had that in spades.

If you would like to see the route through the Congo, Dan is talking about, it's on my channel under Kinshasa Lubumbashi! I did it in 2012 and was very glad one in our little convoy did have a winch. Another great video Dan! 👍

I even got rid of my high jack, in all my years I never used it. Now straps I do carry!

You are my hero. Your videos have kept me sane on what I choose for upgrades on my rig. I am able to travel anywhere in my technical ability on 31" tires on a stock Tacoma off-road, no winch. I do carry a come along, but desire to never use it, and a hy-lift jack simply because I grew up having one.

Excellent advice. The one thing I would always recommend is having a portable air compressor. Airing down tires has been my solution to many sticky situations, but you have to air them back up when you get back onto solid surfaced roads for travel at higher speeds.. A decent portable air compressor can be purchased for under $75 and it will fit underneath most seats or stow alongside the spare tire in an inside compartment of a uni-body SUV. It is also good for blowing up rafts, sleeping pads, and beach toys.

Some family friends did Libya to Capetown in the 1960s, through the Congo, in a VW beetle. I suspect it probably was quite easy to get out when it was stuck. I've jumped started one by myself. Mind you it was trashed at the end.

Overlanding is usually visiting places on the whole earth. If you wonder what car/truck/off-road vehicle is needed in some particular places and what recovery gear you need first look at what locals drive. In poor countries there are planty of tourist agencies offering "jeep trips" or "jeep safaris" (where jeep is not a brand, it is an off-roader, usually Land Cruiser:) Search for local websites and watch some videos from spots you are interested in. In most countries I visited in Africa factory spec 4x4 is all you need (t.ex. Madagascar, Ethiopia, Senegal). Of course recovery gear is something like an insurance, but not always necessary. There are more remote places like West Africa in general, but I can fully agree with TRCM. Always try to choose right between things you want to take and common sense.

People needs to understand the difference between over landing and weekend trail activities.

Thank you, sir, for this wonderful reality-check. Vehicle preservation!

Hi, you give very good info . It is a pleasure to follow your channel. Thank you

Sound advice from someone who actually did it.

I was guilty of bringing everything in the beginning, eventually got rid of a lot of stuff! Great feed-safe travels. 🗻🏞️🏜️🛣️🗺️

The very best recovery gear is proper driving training and practice, where help is close by. I was lucky enough to learn off road driving skills from old-school guys in Idaho in the 70s. No fancy winches or snatch straps, just common sense and thousands of miles on back roads and mountain passes, in every type of weather. My wife and I spent a month driving around Masai Mara and Northern Tanzania in a rental 4x4 during an unusually wet season. We did hire a guide with a Landcruiser to drive along with us and to be our wildlife guide. He didn't have a winch and we never needed it. Knowing your skill level and vehicle capability is crucial.

The hits just keep coming...

Very good down to earth advice & perspective. Im surprised there was no mention of a shovel ..... relatively in expensive and can be helpful in snow, sand and mud recovery situations. Plus its uses around camp site. Im really enjoying these videos, great content and delivery, thank you 🙂

Excellent video, thanks 😊 . Only thing I would add is that the land anchor should be one of the modern ones like deadman. The older ones are proven ineffective in many testing videos. 👍

Item 1 and a shovel was our recovery gear for South America. Plus hook up Pont’s fore and aft.Did not need more. We have a winch on our Africa vehicle, plus sand ladders and high lift jack. They just happened to be kit on the truck we bought in SA otherwise would have stayed with South America listed equipment.

There are wheel winches that are a third of the weight and a third of the price and are just as effective at puling yourself out of sticky situations. Its a little bit of extra work to install them

10? years ago, at Overland Expo in Tucson, a movie was shown about a 2wd vw golf purchased for 500 pounds driving across The Sahara. They had no problem, but they had to help a few land cruisers. Being light helped them more than 4wd.

Excellent! Thank you!

Yesss. I was waiting for a video just like this.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I would say if you have winch and shovel you should be okay in 95% of the cases. I put Warn Evo 12 evo on my truck to give me peace of mind. Cheers.

Its so much easier to just stay out of trouble. I do carry those traction boards for some trips. And I always carry a genuine folding Army Shovel. The only time I ever got stuck, I used a long heavy pry bar to help unstick me, but I could have used my vehicle's jack and a few rocks instead of the pry bar.

From a financial point of view, ive had great luck with my smitty bilt 9500XRC winch, ive used it extensively locally even pulling tree stumps that were the size of the jeep and getting the winch scalding hot without issue, for 350$ theyre great value

Instead of a winch you can better buy a small tirfor handwinch with a snatchblock. Cheaper and more versatile. On my Unimog I have a very old 60's PTO winch. And I collected alot of recovery gear already. Also because I like having it to play with. But for my overlanding trips I won't take it all. Just the right amount to help my self and others. I might add a 1.6 Ton tirfor for self recovery.

I stick at items 1 - 3 on your list, plus the unlisted item (reverse gear). Oh yes, since my vehicle is ex-military it comes equipped with a spade and pickaxe. I totally agree with the comment that if you have a winch then you will be encouraged to take risks and get yourself into risky situations. I am as able as the next man to do a difficult recovery but I don't particularly enjoy paddling around in mud and tend to avoid it. Maybe I have missed seeing a few great sights by turning back but I can't remember any.

Sound advice on experience for what the majority of us can do and afford. Thank you.

I enjoy the practical advice. I added a winch to give me peace of mind seeking out remote beaches. 100 hours of overtime seemed worth it. I also bought a Deadman which seems practical. I hope never to find out.

Great new video! I believe you forgot to list the shovel, I would put it at number 2, it's cheap and very useful in recoveries. Also useful as a "bush toilet" tool

Can't afford a winch but do carry a come along which I have used to get myself out. Not as good or as easy as a winch but works. Couple of other items which you may not think of as recovery items are an axe and bow saw, here in the NE many back roads get blocked by fallen trees.

Love your videos! No nonsense and informative from real world experience.

Thanks for another great video! I appreciate your "reasonable" take on these subjects. In North America it feels like if you don't have 35" mud terrain tires and a 15000 lb winch you shouldn't even attempt gravel roads.. In the future I would love if you could do a video (Or just a comment) on vehicle protection/armor including skid plates, rock sliders and bumpers for overlanding. I know your Jeep came with a lot in stock form, and you added a few extra pieces. My truck has only a plastic front bumper, and radiator skid stock. Before I go spending thousands of dollars and hundreds of pounds adding skid plates, sliders, and bumpers I would like your opinion on how important they are, and if you would add them in my position. Thanks again

Excellent! 👍👍

I think you forgot to mention the shovel! Maybe because it's so ubiquitous that it becomes invisible.

Love your gear and build videos

Great approach depending on on road ( maybe really bad roads once in a while ) versus cutting through nasty trails. Depends all on your course just like sailing an ocean your boat needs lots of food and water and one EPIRB etc . I once opened up a country road nest my house when a large tree came down in storm and there would be no highway maintenance guys on a Sat So my trusty Small chain saw did the trick. Although as I was cutting a path for a line of cars to get thru a women in a Land Rover ( of course ) Asks me to hurry up , I told her how about you getting to work clearing debris .... and she could have gone off road around it all but hey the Polo crowd doesn’t even know the capabilities of Land Rovers they only own them as status ...😎

It is very important to distinguish between a D-ring (shackle) and a Bow-shackle. D-rings should not be used for offroad recoveries, only Bow-shackles. The shackle in the video is a Bow-shackle.

I’ll be using two winches, built into the front and rear frame, and the rollers built into the bumpers......I’m planning on having an external hatch for the small recovery gear as well as the winch remote, Max Trax May go on the roof

Thanks for sharing this very useful information to the community. It is exactly as you say. A good tow-rope and some kind of sand boards is absolutely enough for overlanding. A winch is useful to help others out of the mud. But sure, we also prefer to safe the money for a winch and spend it traveling.

As someone who is new to 4x4 and overlanding I'm considering my recovery set I would think for my use standard straps and max trax is all you need I am considering a hi jack but think its not truly necessary however the utility of having the jack for recovery as well as repairs seems worth it.

Deadman body bag would be a good recovery item to have if traveling by yourself. You bury it and hook your winch to it. I keep a DMOS Delta Shovel, Hi lift Jack in the back of my Jeep mounted to the rollbar, as well as a kinetic recovery rope. I just bought a set of GoTreads for sand or mud.

18 winch salespeople disliked this video

You should have 2 (maybe 3) snatch blocks. If your lucky with tree placement, you can actually pull yourself backwards with only a front winch

A month of work to buy a winch? Here in Australia at 4wd super centre I walked in and bought a winch for half a days pay. I used it myself while rock crawling solo, and once to recover someone else and it was the easiest least stress on either vehicle of any recovery I’d done prior.

I don't want to go overlanding per se, but I am thinking about going camping and on road trips when I get a 4runner. I'd be going solo it looks like though. So I am learning everything I can. Thanks for the video.

Agree on these points.

Great advice as usual Dan ! I had a 10k winch in my bumper, then sold it after a yr, cus I never used it. - Another point, if using snatch blocks properly , they UP the power of your Pull, while decreasing the Wear and Draw on the winch and battery . So conceivably , if used Correctly, snatch Blocks could mean, a 7ton winch is all one Really needs ? 🙏❤️🇨🇦🌲

This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

I always find your videos informative! I'm going through the same questions about recovery gear right now and when to say when!

It's interesting perspective. Personally, I will wind up adding All Terrains, recovery points, a receiver mount Warn winch and a little bit of supplementary LED trail light.

I'm so impressed about the experience and quality of information, Dan... After catching up with our videos for the past week cuz I am busy as heck... I clicked on the link for Josephine's and Frederik's Congo trip... needles to say it's been an hour or so and got through 4 pages and realised there's 61 more to go. I can understand how got inspired by this amazing adventurous couple. Great Read!!! So do you sell autographed copies of your Books? do I buy it through your patreon site? Thanks for the great videos.

Excellent advice. This is a very useful series, Please do a vid about spare parts.

Great video, we can all learn from you !!!!!!

One thing I'm surprised I don't see more people recommending is a simple come along as an entry-level alternative to a winch

Tree saver for the snatch block.

I have a winch. Used it around the house a lot, never on the trail

Great info just what I needed to hear , you made my decisions easier . Thanks

What about a quality shovel? I have found a full length shovel and short one for digging under a stuck vehicle can get you out of many situations. Essential equipment in my opinion.

Great video. No mention of a spade/shovel?

Awesome video. Thank you.

I feel you could have made the same points with a slightly different tone. It came across a little negative to me. You make good points but I have used my winch to help others. Ive been to the classes on quintuple winch pulls and while yes you probably won't need that, it's a learning tool and helps with understanding principles and safety. Also you have one of the lightest and most capable rigs (low gearing ft/rr lockers etc) with what a lot of people would say a full complement of recovery gear. My rig is much heavier and not locked so there's that to consider. Thanks for the videos. Also, as an after thought, a friend lost his rig in a river crossing when he came up to deep mud/silt on the opposite side. He had a winch but because he didn't know the principles of multiple line winching, with just a few other bits of gear he could have saved his rig.

Very good information. Liked and Subscribed.

keep that advice coming, great vids!!!!

I got a winch on my FJ40 because it looks cool! 😂

...and a shovel!!! ;0)

I always keep a shovel in my Jeep. Item 1.

The deadpan delivery, ha!

Max Trax now has a version, the Xtreme, with metal spikes instead of the plastic ones. Any experience with them? I would think they could tear up your tires if you are not careful. Great content as usual.

"none of us plan to roll our vehicle".... :D The point of your comment right here is that you should plan for that.