Four-by-four driving by Tom Sheppard
Four-by-four driving by Tom Sheppard
Exploring Overland is the North American distributor for the sixth edition of Tom Sheppard's authoritative Four-by-four Driving. This edition was extensively updated in April 2020 and contains technical details of the new Land Rover Defender, and includes two sections by Jonathan Hanson, on winching and use of the Hi-Lift jack. See full description below.
AUTHOR: Tom Sheppard
ISBN 978-0-9575385-1-1
9" X 7" X1" / 252 PAGES
Books distributed to locations only in the Americas (US, Canada, Mexico, and Central / South America).
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For shipping to the UK, Europe and elsewhere (excluding the Americas), order direct from DESERT WINDS PUBLISHING.
Unlike the 30 different wristwatches you can buy that all promise they are “Used by Special Forces,” Tom Sheppard’s Four-by-four Driving actually is used as a training manual by special forces in the U.S. and Great Britain.
Why? Because Four-by-four Driving doesn’t simply tell you how to drive off road—it tells you how a 4x4 driveline functions, and why it reacts the way it does to different situations and substrates. And not just one generic drivetrain; Sheppard delves into the technology and operation of virtually every variation of all-wheel-drive vehicle on the market. If you drive a Tacoma you’ll learn exactly how your Tacoma works—but you’ll also learn how your friend’s Discovery or Wrangler or G-Wagen works. Or for that matter his Suzuki Jimny or Skoda Karoq or Bentley Bentayga. Read this book and you could probably be air-dropped anywhere on the planet and know how to operate the local 4x4 vehicles.
Only after this primer does the book start in on basic driving techniques, including the most basic of all when you might be on an expedition 200 miles from help: mechanical sympathy. This light touch helped Tom successfully complete at least a dozen major solo Sahara treks, some completely off tracks.
The book then offers the authoritative information you will by now expect on driving in sand, mud, snow, and rocks, on side slopes, ascents, and descents, and through water. Following this is a section on recovery, both solo and assisted. (Full disclosure: Jonathan wrote the sections on winching and Hi-Lift/ARB jack use.)
Finished? Nope: Now comes the section on advanced driving. If you ever find yourself needing to drive a 60-year-old Bedford truck with a non-synchro gearbox, you’ll learn how here. Or, want to show off by shifting your FJ40 or Series III Land Rover from low to high range while on the move? Tom will tell you.
This is all followed by informative sections covering expedition basics, loading and lashing, tires and tire pressures, oil types, fuels, weight distribution—you’ve got the picture by now.
Four Wheeler called Four-by-four Driving, “One of the most comprehensive books on off-pavement driving ever produced.”
The Evening Standard said, simply, “Probably the best 4x4 book of all time.”
It is a must for anyone who takes seriously the craft of backcountry travel.
For excerpts and additional review, please visit: http://www.desertwinds.co.uk/four_by_four_driving.html
