If you are looking around thinking how to start your overlanding journey or searching for some cool mods before your next overlanding adventure, this article is exactly for you!!

I’m going to tell you not only cool mods but also essential accessories you are going to need in your journey.

In this guide you will see jeep overlanding mods including E-Autogrilles front bumpers, Smittybilt Atlas XRC tire carriers, Rugged ridge snorkel, Wind booster throttle controllers ,VIAIR 400P portable air compressors, Sunpie LED headlights Energizer power inverters and many more cool accessories and mods for camp sites.

First we’ll look for cool mods for your vehicle. After that I’ll take you through camping accessories.

But keep in mind that you don’t need so much fancy stuff and heavy duty mods for every overlanding journey.

You can start with few essentially needed stuffs and improve with time for more adventures.

Mods for your vehicle

In this guide I’m mainly focusing on overlanding with jeeps. But most of the mods and accessories will work fine with trucks and other SUV vehicles.

Tires

For a normal overlanding journey your stock tires may work fine.

But the most preferable tire set is a mud terrain set or all terrain tire set, because most of the time we have to deal with rough terrains to reach beautiful destinations.

That’s why it’s important to think about your tires before an overlanding journey.

You should have to air down your tires for less than 20psi (normally for about to 15psi) depending on the terrain to get the maximum traction.

For that you should have an all terrain or mud terrain tire set with strong sidewalls.

You can go for any tire A/T or M/T on major brands according to your budget.

Achilles Desert Hawk X-MT tire, Kumho Road Venture M/T KL71 tire, The Cooper Discoverer STT PRO Tires are ride smoother on highways with less noise while giving better traction on trails.  

Air inflators and deflators

As I mentioned above you have to deflate your tires and re-inflate them according to your terrain to get the maximum traction.

For that you should have air deflators and deflators.

These are essential things to keep with you in the jeep all the time if you are doing off roading or overlanding.

Air inflators

Top pick

Smittybilt 2781 – portable air compressor

One of the best air compressors on the market for jeep owners.

Pros

Easy to install due to compact design

Quiet powerful air compressor for low affordable price

Auto thermal protection

Easy to read pressure gauge

Longer duty cycles for longer jobs

Cons

Weight about 20lbs

Best overall

VIAIR 400P portable air compressor

Good air compressor for a low price.

Pros

Can provide high PSI levels

Compact design

Thermal overload protection

Moisture and dust protection

Budget option

Low weight ( 8.5 lbs.)

Cons

Designed to run short tasks. Have to wait about 30 minutes to reload the tank if the task is longer than 15 minutes.

Tire deflators

Top pick

Staun automatic tire deflators

Staun automatic tire deflators can reduce all 4 tire pressures quickly and easily on the trails. This is a Australian manufacturer with good quality.

Pros

Quick and easy to use

High deflation speed.(less than 4min)

High quality

Cons

Slightly higher price tag

Also best

Real 4×4 tire deflators

Easy and affordable tire deflator that can easily be kept in your jeep.

Pros

Automatic operation with precise PSI values in each valve

Includes digital pressure gauge

Affordable option

Cons

Pressure gauge may sometimes be inaccurate.

Lights

Lights are a very essential thing to think about before overlanding journeys. Specially for night camping and also for night drives they will come handy.

LED headlights

First I’ll start with headlamps. If you are ok with your stock or existing head lamps you can go to the next section.

If you are like me and find that your stock headlamps are not enough for good night visibility you can upgrade to a set of LED headlamps.

Below are my suggestions for your jeep wrangler.

Top pick

Sunpie 7 Inch LED Halo Headlights with Turn Signal Amber DRL White+ 4” Halo Fog Lights for Jeep Wrangler

Good LED headlights set that comes with a better fog light set for driving in extreme weather conditions.

Pros

Gives a brighter light than stock

Reasonable price for head and fog light set

Halo turn signals

Cons

You have to do an wiring for turn signals

Also best

JW speaker J2 black jeep headlights

An easy to install light set with dual burn technology which gives you extra lighting when switching on high beams.

When the driver switched on the high beam, the low beam also kept on providing extra lights.

pros

Smart heat technology

Dual buen high beam technology

Increased durability with polycarbonate lens

Cons

Bit pricey 

LED Light bars & Hood lights

LED light bars are a cool accessory if you are doing more night adventures and they are helpful at night camping sites also.

Top pick

YITAMOTOR 52 Inch Jeep Light Bar

Dual row 27,000 lumens white lights with 2 pieces of LED spot lights.

Pros

Combo beam pattern

IP67 waterproof

High intensity LEDs

Durable materials for rough use

Cons

Installing may be a bit hard.

Also best

Rough Country 50 inches Dual CREE LED Light Bar 70950BL

Versatile, durable and easy to install LED light bar that gives an aggressive look to your jeep.

Pros

23.040 lumen for bright light.

Multiple mounting options

IP67 waterproof

Durable aluminium housing

Beautiful design colors

Easy to install

Cons

Wind noise at high speeds. Maybe not a big deal!!

Small hood lights and Side lights

These lights helped me maneuver my jeep in the dark on trails and campsites.

Because head lights and tail lights don’t give visibility to sides of my jeep.

So these cheap accessories save the jeep body from damages at the woods.

My pick

Auxbeam 4″ LED Pods 18W Flood LED Light Bar 1800lm

Roof rack

For over landers, a major problem is running out of storage when packing essentials.

Because of that I wrote another article including all the storage mods you can add to your jeep jk and jl. 

Roof rack is a cool mod you can add to your jeep as a storage solution. If you are planning to add a roof top tent roof rack is a must.

Even if you don’t use a roof top tent you can pack a lot of luggage on the roof rack and save the interior space of your jeep for other essentials.

Best pick

Gobi stealth roof rack

This is a strong rack that can mount through existing mounting points. Gobi can handle up to 300lbs of safe driving load and 800lbs of static load.

Best overall

Rhino rack bars with Vortex backbone system

This is a good rack system which gives a cool look to the jeep while holding a static weight of 746lbs.

This rack system can hold a roof top tent with two persons without a problem.

You can read my jeep roof top tent article for more details about roof racks and roof top tents.

Door Hinge Steps

Thought to add this small but useful mod here after the roof rack.

Because, if you have a roof rack this will be very helpful as a mid step to access things on the roof rack or unfold the roof top tent if you have one.

My pick

Smittybilt Atlas door hinge steps

Non slip step design with black powder coated body. Direct bolt on without drilling. Cam holds up to 350lbs. Built in bottle opener.

Side bars/ Running boards

This mod is useful specially for long wheel base jeeps. With a rock solid side bar we can pivot the jeep on a rock/ log in tight corners in trails.

Next thing is this gives protection to your doors from rocks or obstacles on trails and comes handy as a step to get in and out of the jeep.

My pick.

Red rock round curved side step bars

Easy to install side step set. This will double the protection of your jeep sides on trails.

Heavy duty steel construction with rugged non-slip step pads for easy entry and exit.

Front bumper

Front bumper is also a cool mod that adds aesthetic to your jeep while giving protection to your engine and head lights in a collision.

Apart from those, a good front bumper can improve off-roading capabilities of your jeep.

Unlike stock bumpers, upgraded bumpers can improve the clearance of front wheels when crawling over obstacles.

This is a major advantage. With an improved front bumper you can easily install a winch and extra lights on the bumper.

My pick.

E-Autogrilles Jeep Wrangler JK Rock Crawler Front Bumper

A strong and durable front bumper for off road use. This is made with heavy duty steel tubing.

Built in a winch plate that holds up to12,000lbs. A bit heavy front bumper.

Tire carrier

This may seem like a simple thing but an overlander can get many uses from a good tire carrier.

Apart from your spare tire you can use it as an extra storage space for Your extra water cans, Gas cans, showel, axe , LP gas cans and trash bags.

So you can arrange your overlanding set with the use of tire carrier extra storage space.

My pick

Smittybilt Atlas XRC tire carrier

Bit heavy but strong and durable tire carrier. T

his can accommodate up to 37″ tires. Adjustable. Fits with a rear bumper and gives sturdy and durable mounting.

Create lots of extra storage space.

Snorkel,

Snorkel is an essential mod for off-roaders.

But if you are a serious overlander I suggest you add a snorkel to your jeep because it may save your engine from serious damages like hydrolocking, someday on a trail.

You can read more about hydrolocking and snorkels by clicking on the above links. 

Basically snorkel raises your air intake height and improves your jeep’s water crossing depths to some extent without damaging your engine.

My snorkel pick.

Rugged ridge 17756.21 XHD Low and High mount snorkel

This is a snorkel which can be installed with few modifications.

The cool thing is this can easily switch between high and low snorkel configurations as we need. (Pre-filter low mount and RAM high mount)

Antenna

As an overlander you are going to travel to remote areas.

Most probably you don’t get much signal strength for your radios on those areas.

A normal antenna or small stubby antenna may not give much support in remote areas.

So it’s better to buy a good antenna for your jeep before overlanding.

My pick

AntennaX 13inch Antenna

This is a better low profile antenna (13 inch) you can plug to your jeep.

I found that most users got the same quality reception as the stock one with this while adding a cool look to the jeep.

Rear view mirror screen for front and rear camera

Most of the new vehicles may have these rear cameras.

But if your vehicle doesn’t have one, this is a good investment.

There are many types of reverse cameras compatible with jeeps.

Below I have included a few suggestions for you.

I personally like the rear view mirror screen for cameras.

You can mount two cameras on front and back for more visibility and use it easily with this kind of touch screen mirror.

You can find this kind of touch screen mirror and back up cam set from amazon easily.

Interior Mods and accessories

You don’t need a lot of fancy things inside your jeep for overlanding.

Try to keep only the necessary things especially around the driving area.

Otherwise you may feel uncomfortable driving your jeep due to many distractions.

67 design phone holder & go pro mount

Phone and tab holders are very useful for an overlander in many ways.

Especially when overlanding you have to use a navigation app to find routes. So you should have an easy to use phone or tab holder.

My pick

There are different types of holders out there.

But I found that a 67 design phone holder is one of the best options for jeepers.

This is very sturdy, never falls and never moves.

As an extra cool feature it has a go pro mount which is useful to record the adventures moments of the journey from the front of the jeep.

CB radio

If you are overlanding with a group of jeepers CB radio is a must have in your jeep.

You can easily communicate with fellow jeepers through it.

If you perform winching then also CB radio comes to your help to communicate with your helper.

So if you don’t have one, this is a cool accessory to add.

Top pick

Cobra 75WXST 40-Channel CB Radio

Also better

Uniden 40-Channel CB Radio (PRO505XL)

Interior lights

When doing overlanding you should have a good lighting system to give enough visibility in your jeep.

Because it’s not practical to use a torch or flashlight every time when you need to access the jeep at night when camping.

But you don’t need to spend a lot of money to set up a good lighting system.

You can use LED strips or simple LED lights for this. Below are a few interior lightning suggestions from me.

Rear liftgate LED dome light bar

This is a very useful light set for campers. If the jeep got this light set stock, it will be a nice new feature!!

This light set has a remote controller to change the brightness remotely.

Very useful for jeep camping sites, because we mostly do our work in the rear area of the jeep at camp nights. (Cooking, eating, washing etc.)

You can find and fit LED strips or LED lights into the passenger and driving areas also easily with a quick google search.

Power inverter/ 240v charging console

Good power outlet is a must have for an outdoor journey.

Normally we bring camera equipment, laptops, phones, tabs and many other electronics with us.

To recharge them we can easily fit a power inverter to get 240v AC power out.

Actually this would be an essential mod to add even if you are going for a first time adventure.

Top pick

Energizer Power Inverters

Best for heavy duty uses. Can power up power tools, microwaves also.

Comes with 4 AC outlets (standard north American) and 4 USB ports.

Directly connect with jeep battery Good build quality. Price is a bit high.

Best overall

BESTEK Power Inverter

Better for lighter electronic devices. Not for heavier electronic appliances. Have 2AC outlets and 2USB outlets.

Connects to the cigarette lighter port.

Lot of safety features including overheating protection, short circuit protection, under and over voltage charging protections.

Throttle controller

This is not an essential. But if you are searching for some new mods for your next overlanding, this is for you.

These throttle controllers can improve the response speed of your electronic throttles.

With that you can easily beat hard terrains with your jeep.

My pick

Wind booster throttle controller

Shorten the response speed of electronic throttles and improve throttle sensitivity. 9 modes to select according to the terrain.

Don’t need an external power supply.

Collapsible plastic boxes

This idea is to organize your things inside the jeep nicely.

You can get foldable plastic boxes like below to keep your clothes and personal stuff that you need in your overlanding safe in these boxes.

You can easily stack a few boxes in the jeep without falling or moving around on the tough roads.

When not in use these boxes can easily fold and keep in your garage without blocking a lot of space.

Shuban foldable plastic storage boxes

These boxes can be used to store your clothes and all the stuff safely and stack on by one in the jeep.

You can use zip ties and tie them to keep them sturdy in the jeep.

Fire extinguisher

I don’t want to tell you what the use of a fire extinguisher is. But for an overlanding jeep this is a must.

There are a lot of possible occasions a fire can happen when overlanding in your jeep or in a camping site.

So it’s worth keeping a fire extinguisher inside your jeep to save your valuable properties and lives!!

Flexible solar panels,

Now using solar energy is trending among overlanders and campers, because it’s a free energy source which can convert to usable power easily and cheaply.

There are a lot of cheap and easy to use modules to use solar energy when overlanding.

ALLPOWERS 100W 18V 12V Flexible Solar Charger is my pick for flexible solar panel to use in overlanding adventures.

Cargo area mods.

There are a whole lot of things to write when talking about jeep storage mods.

That’s why I thought to write a full detailed guide on jeep storage mods. You can read it clicking here!! 

Trails

To navigate on trails you can use special apps like GAIA app. But it’s best to have paper maps also with you in case of an emergency.

Satellite tracking and messenger devices are also best to have if you are doing serious overlandings on remote areas.

Then I’m going to show you some cool and essential accessories to take with you in your next overlanding journey!!

I’ll post it as a separate article because this article got somewhat long.   

You can read about what are the essential accessories you have to carry for your overlanding journey by the second part of this guide.

If you find this article helpful share with other off roading pals. You just have to hit a share button below!!