The Safety Devices Expedition roof rack provides greater load-carrying ability than the smaller Defender 90 stock rack does.
Next, I replaced the factory open front and rear differentials on my Defender with traction differentials. My reasons were both greater traction and greater strength. My front differential is now a Truetrac limited-slip, and my rear is a Detroit Locker. The traction differentials feature solid carriers that are much stronger than the Land Rover open differentials, which feature only two side gears and an open carrier.
Lockers can enable you to drive your vehicle even if just a single wheel has traction. This puts a tremendous strain on your halfshafts and often results in breakage if you fit lockers but keep the factory halfshafts. My halfshafts are from Great Basin Rovers and are constructed of 300M alloy. They are very strong and I have yet to see a broken one. They feature the same external dimensions as the factory halfshafts and do not require vehicle modification or butchery to install. Accordingly, I have retained my factory halfshafts as trail spares. My trailmates and I can also share our spares, and we have done so several times on past trips.
Two large Troy Smith toolboxes reside in the cab of this 90.
My Defender is fitted with multiple auxiliary lights. Many consider auxiliary lighting to be a poseur mod, and quite often it is. However, auxiliary lights make driving at night much safer and less fatiguing. When fitting auxiliary lights to your vehicle, be sure to include a work lamp on the rear of your vehicle. The rear work lamp is useful as a very bright reverse light when backing up at night. The rear work lamp also greatly facilitates camp tasks such as setting up a tent or cooking a meal after dark.
Trail vehicles often have to cross streams, and a snorkel will prevent the engine from sucking in water and hydrolocking. Furthermore, off-road vehicles often trail in convoys and suck in large amounts of dust. A snorkel does make a tremendous difference in how clean the engine stays on dusty roads.
Some will contend that a snorkel is a joke on a gasoline engine, but I cannot agree. Even if a gas engine shorts underwater, that's still better than hydrolocking the engine from ingesting water. A stalled vehicle in the water can still be recovered, dried, and restarted. A hydrolocked engine presents much greater problems.
The snorkel and Borla exhaust system are my only engine modifications. I leave the engine stock so that I can service and repair it while using my workshop manual as a guide. A stock engine also lets me drive into any Land Rover dealership in North America and know that the techs there will be able to work on my vehicle.
As you can see, I consider a proper trail truck neither fancy nor flashy but solid and reliable. When building a proper trail truck, choose your vehicle modifications accordingly. All of my vehicle's mods were chosen to enhance capability, reliability, and utility rather than for flash. Make your truck as reliable and trailworthy as you can, and you will enjoy many years of adventure on the trail.
An Icom IC-706MkIIg all-mode transceiver has been installed to enable keeping in touch with friends on the trail and for emergency purposes. |  | 
The Dusy-Ershim Trail near Fresno, California, is this vehicle's favorite playground. The Dusy Trail is difficult without being impossible and offers numerous scenic vistas. This trail is often referred to as the "gentleman's Rubicon." |
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