New to sand

[Wade Pat2]

Hi All,

Quick intro. My wife and I moved to Dubai about 3 years ago. Decided to live without car for awhile and enjoy the city. Now we are looking to enjoy more of the desert with some easy going offorading. I purchased and old 100 series Land Cruiser and have begun refreshing it to last another 20 years. I have always wanted one and they are not as common where we are from in US (Louisiana). I have had 4wd vehicles my whole life but have only done mud and rock crawling type trials. Also really enjoyed working on my own cars but no so easy in Dubai Marina:). Never been in the sand and would love to learn. Really looking for a club that offers some easy going type rides and not so much dune bashing. 

Few old pictures of my modified Jeep rock crawling in US (Oklahoma).

Current Land Cruiser 100 series. Drivetrain and Steering fully replaced or refreshed with Toyota parts. Have Radio, ARB comp, deflator, tow rope, recovery boards, Rear Factory locker, Installing TJM front locker. Will not be adding Lift since I would like to keep it as stock looking as possible. Still need shovel, flag, and check recovery points.

Looking forward to going on a newbie ride soon and seeing if Carnity is a club that fits for us.

 

[Shehab Alawadhi]

Let me be the first to welcome you, hope to see you in a drive soon! Is the land cruiser a V8 or V6 and is it a manual or automatic? just asking out of curiosity.

[Wade Pat2]

15 minutes ago, Shehab Alawadhi said:

Let me be the first to welcome you, hope to see you in a drive soon! Is the land cruiser a V8 or V6 and is it a manual or automatic? just asking out of curiosity.

Thanks for the welcome Shehab. V8 auto

[Shehab Alawadhi]

14 minutes ago, Wadepat2 said:

Thanks for the welcome Shehab. V8 auto

you're welcome! V8 land cruisers are a lot of fun, you're gonna have a great time

[Gaurav]

Welcome @Wadepat2 to Carnity and its off-road club. You will surely have loads of fun here depending on your appetite as you keep growing in ranks and asking for more and more.

Sand offroading is totally different than rock or mountain trails and once you join the absolute newbie (we have one every Friday) drive you will understand that. These drives are designed for people who have never driven in sand before and it start with easy introduction to sand driving and then gradually head towards the dunes with an easy pace and lot of breathing time in between.

For sand offroading diff-lockers are not must tbh, as much as they are critical for rock crawling. Over 90% vehicles in sand don't have rear diff-lock (let alone front) and still self-recover most of the time with help of LO gearing and central diff-lock. If you already have factory rear-difflock then it's a blessing in self-recovery. You really don't need front lockers for sand here, so you can save that money and decide to spend on other mod after your first few drives with stock LC100.

[Wade Pat2]

Thanks for the info Guarav ,definitely looking to learn and join a newbie ride.

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

Welcome @Wadepat2 onboard. You are on the right platform to have fun and enjoyment and great learning with utmost safety. 

[Frederic]

Welcome @Wadepat2 ! See you soon on one of our drives !

[Wrangeld]

Welcome @Wadepat2 looks like you bring a wealth of off roading experience with you and we look forward to welcoming you into the Carnity fold. You'll find that we are all passionate about getting out there in the sand and that it's much more about having fun and the community (perhaps) than being able to drive our vehicles full tilt up Moreeb dune [there are other clubs for that]. 

It's the standard axiom - you get out what you put in. As a club we will support your getting to know the sand safely and gradually. As a member, if you like teamwork, meeting people from lots of different places and seeing how all sorts of different (mainly stock) vehicles perform in the sand it's likely the place for you. 

[Wade Pat2]

7 minutes ago, Wrangeld said:

Welcome @Wadepat2 looks like you bring a wealth of off roading experience with you and we look forward to welcoming you into the Carnity fold. You'll find that we are all passionate about getting out there in the sand and that it's much more about having fun and the community (perhaps) than being able to drive our vehicles full tilt up Moreeb dune [there are other clubs for that]. 

It's the standard axiom - you get out what you put in. As a club we will support your getting to know the sand safely and gradually. As a member, if you like teamwork, meeting people from lots of different places and seeing how all sorts of different (mainly stock) vehicles perform in the sand it's likely the place for you. 

Thanks Wrangeld, this all sounds great and I really like that the group is focused on keeping beginners like myself and stock vehicles as a main focus. Learning off-roading techniques, enjoying the outdoors with like minded people, and using 4x4 for what it is intended is what I am after. Long gone are the days of my extreme off-roading. To much work keeping those things going. 

If I cant drive my car to the meet up , have fun on the drive, and then drive it back home, Im in the wrong place.