34 Beware making your fourbie into a banana
In these last couple of months before summer you might be tempted to do a desert trek. Every 4WD owner should do the Simpson at least once in their life as it’s an amazing experience of over 1,100 parallel sand ridges running north-south against a track running east-west. Between Mt Dare and Birdsville there’s no services and an average trip across will take you 3-5 days depending on how quick you want to be. If you’re running a ute in particular be wary of taking everything and the kitchen sink with you because weight is a penalty you can do without. Plenty of well-reasoned owners have thought about fuel range and installed either bathtubs underneath or crafted clever jerry can holders suspended from the towbar. The further to the rear these are installed the more likely you’ll end up with a chassis that breaks in half, something to avoid when help is a long-time coming. Isuzu DMAX is our choice of 4WD utes with big strong chassis designed to cope with Aussie loads.