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Trip report - thank you @Mikhail Lukichev after that epic video with an awesome sound track and the exceptional drone footage I don't think I can say anything to top it up, but I'm still going to try. Waking up early in the morning and preparing for the drive and breakfast all pays off when you see so many smiling faces in the morning. As we started our brief I could see the anticipation of the drive from everyone. But my appreciation to all for showing patience, although I really loved the way @Emmanuel handled the brief, he kept everyone engaged and as a force of habit I'd take over once in a while. Or maybe I took over one to many times. But we can't emphasize enough on safety and following some ground rules to understand this sport better. As we deflated, got our convoy numbering and headed in, @Emmanuel. Did not take any chances and took a very scenic but easy route. But as soon as I commented that this was a boring drive he managed to get us a couple of stucks to keep us all involved. At this point we were on the base of Pink Rocks and @Emmanuel found that the straightest path up was the easiest one. But once all were up @Brette and I decided to do it a bit differently. Unfortunately @Emmanuel coolant hose had come off and caused the coolant to splash all over. Once the pipe was fitted back snug in its place we filled it with the only thing we had, water. After playing on the Pink Rocks for sometime we headed out to the 2nd December Cafe to have breakfast. However finding it occupied Emmanuel decided to find some trees for shade from the sun. We drove in the opposite direction for some time to find a wonderful shaded spot with loads of trees. We settled in and started chatting about off roading with some refreshing breakfast and tea. After we were done we packed up and headed back to 2nd December to inflate and head back home. It was a wonderful drive which saw @Mikhail Lukichev in second lead and @Atif bhai in sweep position. Both of them did well and I was overwhelmed by @Atif bhai energy in the sweep position. In the end I would like to thank all and until next time adios Amigos and Amigas.

Thanks for a wonderful drive! A few shots as promised

Trip Report - With the mornings getting more pleasant I was quite eager to reach the meeting point and start the drive in one of my favourite areas, Al Faqa. At 6:00 am I got a call from @AKR mentioning that he had just got up as he missed the alarm. Guess he didn't sacrifice his Thursday night routine after all. So we were down to 3 cars with Shamil in middle and Xavier in sweep duties. After a bit of warming up on some nice dunes we started encountering the famous long range dunes of Al Faqa. Now, when you are ridge riding on long range dunes it's important to know at what point to exit out. @Shamil realised that a bit late and we had our first stuck right down the middle on the top of a tall dune. After a lot of shovelling to clear up the underbelly of the car, @Javier M recovered him in the safest possible manner. Well done Javier. The advantage of a small convoy is the pace that can be maintained and with a good set of capable drivers I was very soon side slopping and ridge riding on every possible dune. Except for a couple of stucks the drive was extremely smooth and I must say that @Shamil did surprise me with his precise car control in some of the places. Also the increase in his confidence could be seen as we drove longer. We totally covered a distance of approx 50 kms in a drive time of about 2.5 hours. Special thanks to @Javier M for supporting the drive. Look forward to more such wonderful drives with you guys. Till then Adios Amigos.

@Emmanuel @Rahimdad and everyone who participated in the drive, thanks a lot!

Wow @Srikumar nice trip report. Great going @Javier M looks like you've taken up the sweep position as your own. Heard good things about your lead too. @Shamil really happy to hear positive things about your improvement and control. Glad you're learning well and putting it into practice.

Haven’t seen any bulls around here. And a bull bar will not protect against a crossing camel 🐪

The Xterra performs brilliant. Even the basic version will take you anywhere. @Emmanuel and @Shamil are perfect examples.

Adding extra weight for no good reason to the front of the car. And if you are going to go off road. You will see your front end bottoming out more often.

Thank youuu Mikhail, awesome video

Amazing drone footage ! 🙏🙏🙏

Brilliant video with the drone footage. Easily the best video of the Carnity Drives so far.

It's better to learn from other people mistakes by analyzing these offroad accidents or mistakes done by thousands of offroaders every year. This will be an educational tool with open discussions regarding mishaps in off-roading based on your own experience and off-road knowledge. Please keep it simple and relevant for learning purposes rather than making any insulting or unwanted remarks. The whole objective is to learn from other offroaders mistake so we can off-road safely. VID-20180502-WA0000.mp4

Is bull bar/ Nudge bar is big no no or go go Need advice

Horse power is “as low as” 260, so don’t worry for that... Suspensions are not the greatest you can find on the market, I agree on that, but if you want to go for very extreme off-road, you can always upgrade them (or just listen to@desertdude and buy a LandCruiser or any 4 tons Toyota 😂 ) As pointed by @Gaurav I think you can find a cheaper deal for a low mileage used Xterra. FJ is also a good option to consider.

Surely you can remove at the time of passing and put it back on later, but that costs money and time. Moreover like @desertdude put it the bull bar is not light and adds weight to the front of the car. Even on road that means your fuel economy will suffer as with any weight added to the car. In this part of the world it's useless and does not add any value or protection in case of a collision. After taking it off and putting it back on a couple of times the alignment of the thing also goes for a toss. I just realized when I got a AED 600 fine for front number plate not showing. Older pictures show that the number plate was visible through the gap.

Awesome video. Drone footage was too good.

But we can remove and get it passed Just want to knw if tht will effect my ride

No no for RTA

Thanks Rahimdad

It's not a matter of over torque it's just Nissan's aluminum head which just bites it...and lately most of the plugs have built in crush washers on then just hand tight then with tool just feel it sinking in that's it no more no less... Lately just getting guys from turning workshop to see who got bigger balls to take the job without opening the head...or else will open it up then.... Say thanks to engineers who have buried the plugs deep Placed Acadia's low side air conditioning nozzle beside the exhaust Placed subi's oil filter in a donut of exhaust Placed Lexus starter deep under the manifold To remove a Porsche radiator have to start from under the car all the way up to the radiator support and headlights out They all's mama a hoe...

The only reply I can give to this is that this is the difference between a parts fitter and a mechanic Any monkey can screw parts on and off but not everyone really understands what the engineers were trying to achieve. Where I’m from, most of the mechanics here would be classified as helpers with a bit of knowledge. It takes a 4 year apprenticeship before you are even allowed to call yourself a mechanic. You have to complete at least a level 5 qualification. If you want to call yourself a technician you have to reach level 7. The biggest problem is the people who go around 5 garages looking for the cheapest job. Quality doesn’t matter. Only price. As long as it’s working again, who cares. Even if it’s going to break down again in a month. These animals make it hard for people like me who do a good job and charge accordingly. I would rather have less work than lower myself to their standards.

Very rare to see mechanic using torque wrench here. This is super rare.

What is it the kids say now? Ooof! Screw extractors can get nasty fast. If you snap one you’re not drilling it out unless you have a milling machine and a 500 dhs titanium drill bit. If it works then everything is cushty. If it doesn’t you’re in a whole new world of shit. Be careful using them. @shadow79 if it gets really bad I have a helicoil kit here you can borrow. I think there are 2 big points to take away here. 1 - Spark plugs don’t need to be murder tight. You don’t need to swing off a 1/2” bar with a pipe on the end. Use a torque wrench. 30 Nm is plenty. It’s such a simple job anyone can do in a parking lot so you should do it yourself 2 - A little bit of copper grease is your friend. A little, not a lot. Back home my mechanic friends used to laugh at me for using copper grease on everything when you might not see the customer again. I always said think about the next guy who might be working on the car. When you get a car in the shop and you see parts with copper grease, it makes you smile. It’s good karma.

I think you are talking about 2001 Pathfinder, which is good 18 years old now. Ford F150 in above video is also 2001 model and Jeep in second video looks TJ (97-06). Still there is no harm in trying than opening an engine head for multiplying hassle, cost and labor.

Gone are the days when the plugs were visible lately it deep in so such things don't work...as you increase in height then the force doesn't reach there like when you increase in width the torque is increased....

Time to buy this extractor @shadow79 In video it looks damn easy and doable with using appropriate "penetrating" oil than opening the head. Another example by using the drill bit to extract the broken spark plug, very intelligent.

So much for that then eh!

@skumar83 and @Gaurav have got one part absolutely right. He was in 2WD and that was the main cause. Another cause could be the soft suspensions, as when the front of the Jeep hit the other side of the dune it was not engaged in 4x4 which put the complete load of the car in front, plus the soft suspension allowed the front bumper to dig into the sand. With the forward inertia the back of the Jeep kept moving which caused the flip. 90% though if he was in 4x4 it would not let the car flip. Winner is @skumar83 and @Gaurav. Next episode to follow soon. Keep watching out this space.

SUPERB observation @skumar83, this is exactly I feel that 75% cause of flip was 2WD and 25% being too fast for crossing the crest, and why he was fast is because of 2WD or else he will get stuck. @Rahimdad please reveal the truth now if we are right or not?

The guy loves 2wheel drive mode. Because of that when he went over the top of the dune his front wheels just got stuck instead of pulling the car forward like in a 4wd mode.