Newbie Tools / Recovery Equipment

[JockJKU]

Morning All,

I would like to give a more detailed information about the tools that you will require to gain your first star and become a Newbie. We have no allegiance to any shop etc, so feel free to buy from anywhere etc! (This list is not required if all you want to do is turn up and drive at the Club Member drive, you can just turn up and have fun, but if you want to get the upgrade to Newbie then you need to pass the tools inspection, before you can join Newbie drives).

I have seen many people turn up to the Club Member drives with the tools and recovery equipment as per the list, however, there are many different types / makes etc, and some work better than others!..

Here is a list of recommendations based upon actual experience:

Minimum Recovery Equipment:

• Rated (approved) snatch strap - Buy a "Kinetic" recovery rope, not a strap and look for the amount of "stretch" in the rope. The more stretch you can find, the better as it will make recovery much easier on your car! The Club has a rope which is named the "Viking rope", and having personally used other kinetic ropes, i find this one the best by far. The Viking can be bought individually for 400dhs, or as part of a kit (Bag, rope, shackles, hook and gloves) for 500dhs from @alshamsi_m (send him a PM through the forum).

Tools3.JPG

• TWO Rated Shackles - Straight forward, I believe these are generally 4.25T or 4.75T D-ring type and can be bought from most offroad shops, or hardware stores. There are also things called "soft shakles" on the market, which are also very good.

Tools7.JPG

• Rated Hook - As per the shackle

• Car jack - The Jack that comes with your car is not suitable, a Hi-Lift Jack is not suitable as these are not stable enough on the sand due to their base being too small etc. Please buy a Trolley Jack. For a standard sized 4wd vehicle (Wrangler/FJ/Prado/Fortuner/Pajero etc) then a 2T trolley Jack is sufficient. For a lwb truck, then you should possibly look to buy a 3T trolley Jack. These can be bought in Ace in Festival City, or Dragonmart.

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• Tyre deflator - The is a very important piece of kit, do not over-complicate it by buying electronic ones, auto deflators etc. The one recommended by the majority of the Club is the E-Z Deflator. it has been tried and tested over years, it is accurate and reliable. I would also recommend a 'Push On" gauge, which can be used along side a Pin remover for fast deflation, and also to double check the pressure during the drive, and make minor adjustments as tyres heat up during the drive which changes the pressure.

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• Shovel - Do not buy a tri-fold, or foldable shovel, they are too small, often too easy to break, and you will be digging for a long time. I recommend a telescopic shovel as per the photograph attached below...

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• Spare tyre in good shape - Self explanatory and common sense.

• Front & rear towing points - Again, common sense. These towing points need to be suitable placed, attached to the chassis, and sufficient to attach a shackle to when you are stuck. Stucks can happen at any angle with any corner of the car buried in sand. So, ideally have one towing point on each side, front and back. As a minimum have one on the front and one on the back. For the majority of 4wd vehicles, these can be found in offroad shops.

• Air compressor - This is important - We not only need the compressor to inflate tyres at the end of the drive, but we need them to fix what is called a Pop-out. Pop outs are when the tyre comes off the rim and it is fixed by using compressed air to pop it back onto the rim. Obviously the bigger and stronger the better. We recommend anything 150l/min or above. These can range from ARB onboard at 2000dhs, to a Camel make that can be bought in Dragonmart for 150-200dhs.

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• Base plate for jacking vehicle - A solid piece of wood, that is big enough to fit the whole of the jack on, and thick enough to take the weight of the car and jack. Chopping boards are not suitable! Something solid wood that is 24" long, 18" wide and around 2" thick should do the job.

• Mechanical tools - Recommend as a minimum to have the following:

- Screwdrivers - Star and Flat
- Spanner Set/Socket Set
- Spark Plug tool

Minimum Safety Equipment :

• Fire extinguisher (Dry Powder) - Can be bought in most petrol stations - Needs to be mounted or stored so that it is immediately available in the case of an emergency, it will do no good if it is stored badly and you cannot reach it in time to put a fire out - Fires in cars spread very quickly!!

• Flag pole including flag - For the Club Member drive, a suction cup and small flag found in the ATV shops in dragonmart will suffice. For people who progress it is recommended to fix a proper flag. Mounts for most makes/models of car can be found in offroad shops, along with proper flags.

• Communication device (Walkie-talkie) - Please do not buy a pre-programmed Radio, this is not suitable, we do not use those channels so will be a total waste of money. We require you to have a radio that you can manually type in and set the frequency. Check that you can type in frequencies in the range of 440.000 to 450.000. Walkie Talkies can only be bought in Dragonmart in this area.

Tools1.JPG

Again, just to reiterate, all links or mentions of make/model etc are just examples - you are free to buy whatever you like!

See you in the sand,

Jock

[Saeed FJ]

Good job bro.
One of the most important topic to be knows for all newcomers

[Abdul Rahmanxxx]

Thanks for the great details provided

Would a barrel jack be enough for an upgrade instead of the trolley variant ?

What would I need a hook for ? Aren't shackles enough ?

[JockJKU]

Thanks for the great details provided

Would a barrel jack be enough for an upgrade instead of the trolley variant ?

What would I need a hook for ? Aren't shackles enough ?

Hey @siksek,

You would require a trolley jack, reason being stability and safety on the sand. The trolley jack is tried and tested and because of its fairly large footprint, has proven to be the most stable, and more importantly, safe solution, which is why it is recommended and the only jack that is accepted. A bottle jack has a very small base and is only stable on perfectly flat concrete with wheels chocked, and even then because of height vs footprint, i would not recommend.

In this Club you will be taught how to not only drive your own car in the desert, but also all of the skills required to recover someone else. Although you will have recovery points on your vehicle, when you are out alone and you need to rescue a stranger then they might not, so a hook & shackle combination is required in case a shackle alone can't be used.

Jock

[Abdul Rahmanxxx]

Thanks for the great details provided

Would a barrel jack be enough for an upgrade instead of the trolley variant ?

What would I need a hook for ? Aren't shackles enough ?

Hey @siksek,

You would require a trolley jack, reason being stability and safety on the sand. The trolley jack is tried and tested and because of its fairly large footprint, has proven to be the most stable, and more importantly, safe solution, which is why it is recommended and the only jack that is accepted. A bottle jack has a very small base and is only stable on perfectly flat concrete with wheels chocked, and even then because of height vs footprint, i would not recommend.

In this Club you will be taught how to not only drive your own car in the desert, but also all of the skills required to recover someone else. Although you will have recovery points on your vehicle, when you are out alone and you need to rescue a stranger then they might not, so a hook & shackle combination is required in case a shackle alone can't be used.

Jock

That clears out my confusion ; thanks for the speedy response !

[Kals]

Its Query time!!!!

Several new comers to the club asked me about equipment and compressors & Bushranger came up.

It is always good getting quality equipment if you are planning on indulging the desert for an extended period of time, a good deflator good be the reason behind not popping out a tyre or even shredding it. A wise investment into a quality compressor can save you time and money in the future.

So wanted to see if anyone was using a bushranger compressor here before I recommend anything to future newbies, just to see how the clubs experience with them has been.

[alshamsi_m]

See the first 2 min please

[panos]

Very comprehensive topic! Well done guys!

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone

People around the world have a different understanding for Offroading based on the terrains they have but they all agree that you MUST have tools.

I may not agree on some of the tools in the vedio like the jack but I like his description



Enjoy

[Karimbadr]

Team, I just want to share my experience from last week to highlight how important and life saver to have such equipment

I went with my friends to the desert and I had popout, so one of my friends recommended to use the ballon Jake because it looks easier.. after 5min it got broken because the car was hot and not on a flat surface and not stable at all.

Then I decided to use the tools recommended in this forum and furtuntey I had all the tools, and yes it’s a lot of effort and looks like hard to use but I can realize by experience how it’s more safer and more efficient.

I still remember jock comment about my small/short army shevel and how he insisted to get a bigger one.. by experience I couldn’t digg to get my tyiers fixed without the longe hand one. Also it was much safer to dig while my body not under the car.

So lesson learned and thanks Almost4x4 team for taking safety as serious matter.