One of the greatest things about going to an off-road race is being able to go to the pit area. You’ll get to see how the teams do their maintenance, plan their strategy, and work as a team. If you look closely you’ll also see how they prepare for the worst case scenario. For long distance races you’ll see the racers carry some basic tools and parts with them on course such as spare tires, jacks and lug wrenches.
Those items are always carefully secured because if they aren’t, when it comes time to use them they could be damaged from bouncing around or they could have bounced all the way out of the truck. The worse case scenario though is that a crash or rollover could cause those items to launch towards the vehicle occupants and cause even more damage than the incident itself. Just imagine a 5 lb lug nut wrench being thrown at the back of your head at 50 mph; that just won’t end well.
Most of us are not going to be bombing down a powerline road at 80 mph though. Rather, its more likely that your rig will have a tool bag or cooler behind the seats and a GPSr and cell phone around the dash board. It takes just one loose item rolling under the brake pedal to set off a chain reaction that could lead to any number of bad scenarios.
The most simple solution is to use the factory tie downs that are most likely already installed in your vehicle. But be sure to consider how much weight those tie downs can handle. For instance, the tie downs in my XJ are not nearly as strong as the tie downs in my suburban or the FJ Cruiser that my family used to take out on the trails. I wouldn’t trust those tie downs in my XJ to hold much weight so I don’t put heavy loads on them.
If you don’t think that your tie downs are going to get the job done, you can easily find a wide variety of cargo management systems that are very effective, race-proven and customizable to meet your needs. Here are a few systems that may work for you or at least get the DIY portion of your brain working.
Tie down systems
Slide-n-lock
The Slide-n-lock system is the ultimate way to secure any type of payload. This versatile tie-down system is incredibly simple and effective. With self-locating holes placed every 5 inches, you can position the tie points where you need them in seconds. Simply pulling the spring-loaded locking pin allows you to slide the tie point smoothly and easily to the specific locating hole you want. The rugged strength of Slide-N-Lock assures you of a tie-down system capable of securing extremely heavy loads. Slide-N-Lock installs in minutes using 1/4″ diameter bolts spread approximately every 10 inches in pre-drilled holes.
Cargo barriers
So the things to remember are:
· Secure your equipment to mitigate secondary injuries in the event of a roll over or crash
· Secure items to prevent distractions or obstructions while driving
· Consider your load requirements vs. your ability to safely secure that load
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