Look, whether you’re a Jeep fanatic or Land Rover fan, one thing we can all agree on is that space inside our off-road rigs is sometimes at a premium. By the time you load up a bug-out bag, recovery tools, and the all-important snacks, leftover free space is scarcer than water in a desert.

It follows, then, that mounting a couple of your sturdier tools on the exterior of your rig makes more than a lick of sense. New this year from Rhino-Rack is an exterior tool mounting bracket, helping to free up space in your vehicle by allowing attachment of a shovel, spade, or axe directly to crossbars or a roof top tray (wood-chopping axe, that is – not your electric guitar).

There’s also a practical side to the Rhino-Rack Shovel/Spade/Axe Mounting Bracket. By mounting this accessory to the exterior of a vehicle, it keeps hand tools at the ready when you need to dig out of snow, sand, mud, or whatever type of terrain has managed to arrest your forward movement.

Naturally, Rhino-Rack recommends users pair the mounting bracket with R-R’s own line of Vortex crossbars or Pioneer systems. Rhino-Rack’s Pioneer systems are large, flat roof racks which cover the entirety of a vehicle’s roof, maximizing load capability and freeing up much-needed space inside your vehicle.

The brackets can be inverted to position the item above or below the Pioneer tray, and the hinged design allows mounting of a wide variety of handles. Built with steel and finished in high-quality powder-coating, this mounting bracket is built to last and to hold your shovel, spade or axe in place for the rough road ahead.

All you have to do is decide what’s going to occupy all that newfound space inside your off-roader. We recommend a tire inflator or, at the very least, some tasty snacks.