Setting up a truck for trail use. Highway driving of course, but specifically for off road use. Not rock climbing or "wheeling", but general off road and over landing.

What equipment do you consider as must haves for being off the pavement? For safety, recovery, repair, etc.

I've got a fair bit to say on this, most of it learned the hard way or due to a situation that was difficult to get out of. Here are a few things to start with.
1 - some 2x4s or something to support your jack on a soft dirt road
2 - a good tool kit with sockets and wrenches that fit your vehicle SAE/Metric (not just for overlanding)
3 - a shovel
4 - jumper cables (not just for overlanding)
5 - a winch
6 - soft shackles
7 - tree saver straps or recovery straps
For the recovery gear, make sure it's rated high enough to support your vehicle - working loads and breaking strength are two different things
8 - an old Army BDU or ACU jacket or something you can wear when you need to roll around the ground
9 - first aid kit - that is readily accessible
10 - fire extinguisher - that is readily accessible
11 - air compressor for airing up your tires
12 - heavy work gloves
13 - extra food
14 - extra water (1 gallon per person per day that you might be stranded) and don't forget that the people you encounter on the trail might be out of water too. At Big Bend in December in my Jeep, I came across two mountain bikers that were miles from nowhere and out of water - they were very appreciative of the water.
15 - GMRS Radio
16 - Paper Maps of the area you're going to, shockingly, GPS doesn't always work and also, it's really difficult to gather a group of people around a screen to plan the route. And satellite navigation is pretty useless for terrain association. Especially when roads either do exist or don't exist on the Nav.

Not something you can buy but:

• Patience
• Training / Education
• A Good Attitude
• Being Open to Learning and realizing that you don't know everything and maybe what you think you know might not be right in this scenario.

The difference between Training and Education is like this:
Education - I know that First Aid is important and I have a First Aid kit that is well equipped.
Training - I've opened my First Aid kit and really used it or at least simulated use in various scenarios.

Likewise, I have a fire extinguisher but I haven't checked it in about 3 years. I assume it's OK but I should find out.

I'm sure I'll think of a few more but that should get you started.

Adding, either a lithium jumper battery, or it integrated with the air pump. A HiJack especially if you lifted the truck. Doubles as a manual winch. Survival Bivouac you can get for $10-20 at Army/Navy takes up as much space as a coke can. I'll carry a saw/hatchet when I'm going truly off road.

Good lists! Thank you. Gives me a great starting point for shopping gear. Have about 8 months to prep for 1st trip.

I do need to add an ax / hatchet / tree saw to my equipment list. Haven't had much call for them in the Southwestern USA.

I'm planning to do the Jeep Badge of Honor trail in Florida ahead of our football game in Gainesville this fall. Watching some of those videos, it looks like it is very common to encounter downed trees and some of them might need significant chopping - like maybe a 5th Stack Log from Bonfire.

One thing I left off the list is handheld GMRS radios and extra batteries.

Also, from my Big Bend trip in December - how to talk on the radio.
I was out there with large group that had a lot of females who didn't do short pointed radio transmissions for a purpose, they treated it more like a social chat conference call.

And something you can do for free - Give yourself a unique Call Sign for your GMRS radio.
I saw a few people who named their vehicle and that was their call sign. Wild Child, or whatever.
I'm sure our Aggie YouTuber "Lite Brite" probably uses that or "Step Child" (name of her Jeep) for her call sign.

You don't want to be on the radio calling for George or Steve or Bubba or whatever.

Back to the gear, I have some Recovery Boards that I picked up from somebody who discarded them during my Thanksgiving 2021 off-road fiasco in the California High Desert. I should probably carry them more frequently but I should really get a place to mount them. Maybe off the spare tire.

I wondered what the take was on recovery boards. Must have?

As for a spare…full size best?

Tire plug kit, good (pow-r-pull) comealong, zip ties, baling wire, duct tape

Spare drive belts, spare tie rods, racket straps, bungees. Small tarp. Spare hub bolts and a couple of spare lug nuts. A few spare common metric bolts and nuts in common sizes and threading, as stuff vibrates loose. A head lamp. Things are hard to see in the shadows under the vehicle in daylight, and things can break at night.
A great big channel lock pliers. So useful for so many things.
Super glue. A couple of shackles.
A couple feet of hose sizes common for your engine, a few hose clamps if your vehicle is older.
Make sure you have a solid tool kid with the drivers and ractchet snd extenions you need, pliers, wrenches.
12v test light, or cheap multimeter, and basic electrical repair kit.

I carry 1 full size spare and tire plug kit. Haven't needed more yet.
I've done some minor repairs in the field, but if you prepare, breakdowns are unlikely. The most problems I have had were things getting loose or falling off from all the vibrations. Stop and check now and then when you take a break.

This is a great tool to leave in your vehicle, there are 3 lengths, get the biggest one you can store without having to strap it to your roof rack like a dork
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel-92SF-Special-Hardwood/dp/B084PTSCTV?th=1&psc=1

I got this Australian 5-way shovel.
It comes in a nice little black bag but... I put it in the back of my Jeep and forgot I had it.

TikkaShooter said:

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I wondered what the take was on recovery boards. Must have?

As for a spare…full size best?

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I've got full size spares on all my vehicles:
2020 Wrangler JLUR
2001 Grand Cherokee (RHD)
1999 Ford Expedition

The Jeeps have matching rims too.
I do a 5 tire rotation on the Wrangler since the spare tire mounts on the back.

I have 8 matched steel rims for my Nissan. 4 with AT tires and 4 with mud tires. I rotate our sets depending on what type of travel or driving I am doing and to mitigate wear. The set I am not using becomes a spare (or spares) and goes on the tire carrier (plus roof rack if needed). It's a lot of cost up front but very flexible arrangement and I ultimately get the longevity of both sets provided I swap and drive them often enough before they get too old.

My brother does something similar where he's got his everyday commuter wheels/tires and then his off-road set.

It's pretty easy to find take offs from the folks who buy a new rig and then need to put 37s on it immediately.

When I was in Los Angeles back in 2020/2021, there were people advertising all the time for brand new factory Rubicon wheels and tires for $1,000 or less. I just didn't have enough garage space to store another set of wheels and tires for the 5 years it was going to take me to wear out the first set.

I've found that the older I get the more a battery powered impact wrench becomes a must have. Put with a good wobble extension set and you can get so much done so much faster.

Extra bonus is to weld a lug nut to your scissor jack and you can lift your car with that same impact lickety split!

I also like a couple pieces of 1" plywood 6" x 20-24" , work better than just 2x4's.

TikkaShooter said:

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I wondered what the take was on recovery boards. Must have?

As for a spare…full size best?

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For solo recovery, invaluable. Spare, yes, full size.

I'd add iodine tablets or a personal water sanitizer. At least then if needed you don't give yourself dysentery.

Then a 2nd Jeep to carry everything you need for the first.

I've ridden in jetpilot86's Rubicon and his rig is setup pretty well but another thing I forgot to mention is mounting brackets and stuff for all the crap that you need to have within reach.

Phone holder, GoPro holder, GMRS handset holder, etc.

We got a bunch of that stuff from Bullet Point Mounting Solutions.
https://www.bulletpointmountingsolutions.com/

Also, I have a small Mag Lite that I keep within arm's reach of the driver's seat. I mostly use this for shining at morons driving around with no headlights or tail lights. But, it's a useful thing to have when you're out in the dark.

Another obvious one is charging cables.

Thought of a couple more today

• A knife - I carry a Swiss Army "Swiss Tool" but I've also got a Gerber and a Leatherman in my other vehicles. Something like this (except mine is from when I was an Army 2LT in 1994 and it doesn't have the scissors) https://www.victorinox.com/en-US/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/Swiss-Tools/Swiss-Tool-MX/p/3.0327.MN

• Blankets or something to keep warm - I carry a US Army "Poncho Liner" and a gimme LA Dodgers fleece blanket we got at a Dodgers v Astros game at Dodger Stadium back around 2006 or so
• A camp chair - I've got a nice one I picked up at REI but you should get whatever suits you

One note on all the "overlanding" gear is that since you're carrying it in your car, you don't have to worry about the weight, so you don't need to get the super expensive 7 oz titanium backpacking version when the 2 lb discount version will serve the same function.

With respect to recovery gear in your vehicle, I learned a lesson yesterday when my daughter's car died and I had to go rescue her.

We were kind of stressed out already (standard parents worried about our daughter making a 1,300 mile drive in 2 days) and the call came through to my wife, not me. About all I got was, daughter's car died on the Bolivar Ferry and we have to go push it off the Ferry and then we can work on it to figure out why it won't run.

Imperfect information. Turns out the real problem was that the electronic parking brake wouldn't release. Later we figured out the battery was toast.

I didn't have my JLUR at home with all my recovery stuff but I did have 2 of my other vehicles, my 2001 Australian Jeep Grand Cherokee and my 1999 Ford Expedition.

Thinking we just had to get to the Ferry, we jumped in the 1999 Ford Expedition because it was parked closer.
Once we got down there, we figured out that we might need a tow strap and a tool kit.

Well, turns out, the tow strap and the tool kit were in the Grand Cherokee and all I had in the Expedition was some wood blocks (left over from the time when I had to use the jack on a dirt road in rural El Paso County, Colorado).

It turned out that on the Bolivar Ferry, they wouldn't let you work on your vehicle, all you could really do was get a tow truck to come tow your car off the ferry.

TLDR; summary - Don't rush out the door without knowing what you have in your vehicle and where it is.

In this case, it didn't actually matter due to the tow truck situation but, if I had been able to use tools or a tow strap, I should have taken my Grand Cherokee.