COVID 19 Compliant - Tuesday Afternoon Fewbie Desert Drive - Big Red - Sharjah - 25 May 2021

[Shaaz Sha]

2 hours ago, Anish S said:

 

@Alain Canivet-Abikhalil @Chinthaka Ruwan @Darren Brooke @Shaaz Sha @Thomas Varghese @JeromeFJ @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Russ

Thank you everybody for joining and making this drive awesome, well done, all of you performed really well. We  manage to experience both day and night driving as well as different terrains.

Thank you so much for the comments and lovely photos, i really appreciated that. Those descriptive comments covered most of the drive 👍 , so i do not have to write a drive report😀.

Big thanks to @Tamas Hoffmann & @Shaaz Sha for the support and @Lakshmi Narasimhan & @Alain Canivet-Abikhalilfor being amazing sweep and second lead.

I hope Shaaz's tow point is fixed soon so that we can see you soon. Good to hear that Thomas's wheel is sorted.

Hope to see you all again in the sand, till then take care.

 

 

@Anish S the tow point needs to be Tig welded and still in garage and hope to get by Sunday. 

[Anish S]

14 hours ago, Shaaz Sha said:

@Anish S the tow point needs to be Tig welded and still in garage and hope to get by Sunday. 

Shaaz is the tig welding strong enough for a tow point to use for off-road recovery, i am just curious. Personally I think it is better to get a rated tow point bolted. Because for Xterra, the stock front tow point is like a hook and few times i saw the rope slipping off the hook while recovering.

Actually @Chaitanya D would have a better knowledge on this, he has robust tow points.

[Chaitanya D]

@Shaaz Sha xterra front tow points (stock) are in herently weak and break off with repeated use . To make it worse there is only one! Another minor flaw being they are open D type, where the shackle tends to slip off while being pulled from an angle.

My advise is 

1. Make with 8 to 10mm thick steel - min, with reinforced beams if possible. Closed D or eyelets preferable as you can thread a soft shackle for tugging or a D shackle for towing. Fabricators go crazy when you ask them all this 🤣

2. 3 bolt pattern to make it robust if you are getting it made like the stock ones (stock is a pathetic two bolt pattern).Use Grade 10.9 bolts to fix this which are stronger for a tow point attachment. 

3. If you are getting it welded to the radiator bracket make sure that is also made of thick steel atleast 6 mm thick. Reinforce with beams wherever possible,  again a thought time to make fabricators understand this.

4. Make two, safer as back up if one breaks and helps to tow easily by distributing the pull and hence lesser chances for breaking.  Another advantage of having two at the front is you can anchor the support/safety rope/ climbers harness with carbiner hooks as a protection against breaking tow hooks which fly like bullets that can potentially kill.

[Shaaz Sha]

28 minutes ago, Chaitanya D said:

@Shaaz Sha xterra front tow points (stock) are in herently weak and break off with repeated use . To make it worse there is only one! Another minor flaw being they are open D type, where the shackle tends to slip off while being pulled from an angle.

My advise is 

1. Make with 8 to 10mm thick steel - min, with reinforced beams if possible. Closed D or eyelets preferable as you can thread a soft shackle for tugging or a D shackle for towing. Fabricators go crazy when you ask them all this 🤣

2. 3 bolt pattern to make it robust if you are getting it made like the stock ones (stock is a pathetic two bolt pattern).Use Grade 10.9 bolts to fix this which are stronger for a tow point attachment. 

3. If you are getting it welded to the radiator bracket make sure that is also made of thick steel atleast 6 mm thick. Reinforce with beams wherever possible,  again a thought time to make fabricators understand this.

4. Make two, safer as back up if one breaks and helps to tow easily by distributing the pull and hence lesser chances for breaking.  Another advantage of having two at the front is you can anchor the support/safety rope/ climbers harness with carbiner hooks as a protection against breaking tow hooks which fly like bullets that can potentially kill.

thank you @Chaitanya D, I haven't finalized on how the tow point has to be and will do it only on Saturday. now I have a few plans in my hand which I can explain to the welder..😀👍 . will contact you when ever needs a clarification.

[M.Seidam]

@Shaz Shah I totally agree with @Chaitanya D regarding the X front stock tow recovery point . 
just adding if relevant generally it’s advised to pull using the back and be pulled from the front whenever deemed possible .

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

@Alain Canivet-Abikhalil can you please share ur video recordings on my whatsapp 0559323959