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It's a strange old world. Just when you think it's safe to get back out and do the tings we enjoy the most, a spanner in the works sort of slows you down. Arrving at the staging post for the drive, everyone kept the Covid 19 rules and stayed the car. Everyone arrived on time and we hit the deflaton point with the prospect of a long morning's drive until the sun would make it too hot to handle. @Srikumar led us off with @Jun Zamora in second lead. With a great assortment of fewbies and experienced newbies, the plan was to start slowly and let us all get back ito the groove - after all, it's ben quite some time since a few of us were out in the sand and the sand has changed a lot since the Winter days when there was still a lot of moisture under the top layers. It was great to see (if not be able to properly say hi to) @Jolly Abraham and @Shiju Manuel and of course @Tbone again after such a long break as well as a few others with whom we have not ahd the chance to drive so often. The convoy set off with @Ale Vallecchi as Centre Forward and with @Jeepie at the wheel of the TJ in sweep. Riding at the back of a convoy especially as a passenger allows you to see just how incredibly well the drivers' skills devlop. Experience shows, and with @Kalahari and @luwaimn there's more than enough to expect that there will be very few places where anything will go wrong. @paolo dassi has great control of his little Pajero and seemed totally unphased to be back. At the front, there were a few more challenges. Soft sand, maybe not seeing the lay of the land and we had a few refusals, but nothing serious. Then came the first real stuck of the day. As @Srikumar and @Ale Vallecchi braved the heat to help dig out @Jun Zamora, first his Jeep and then a few of the engines idling by as we waited, started to overheat. It's not uncommon - after all this is a Desert! Holding our Covid positions, and with nothing showing on the gauges we really did not expect the next thing to ba catastophic heating system blowout that deposited 7 litres of coolant into the desert and (unfortunately) onto Ale's foot. All credit to @Jeepie for making sure there were emergency spares in the car [many years of driving classic motorbikes has developed a sense in you that understands stuff will go wrong] so that we could carry out a desert repair that was enough to get us to a mechanic in Al Madam that put the radiator pipe back in place. Many thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for leading us out an sticking with us to make sure we were mobile again. To all the pther drivers on this drive ( @RohanH, @asifk) I am pleased that you could reform the convoy and enjoy the rest of the drive with Sri. From what he says, that went off without incident. Well done guys. There's learnigns from every trip to the desert. This week it's 'expect the unexpected'. There was zero expectation that a pipe might blow from the bottom of the radiator. All it took was one clip failing. The second is don't panic. Your Carnity friends will do everythig they can to get you moving and out of the desert. I personally did not get a chance to drive at all on Friday (which may have had an effect on my state of mind Saturday), but that's OK. I was in the incredibly safe hands (at the wheel) of @Jeepie and got the chance to observe. Frankly, it's a totally under estimated learning tool that we seem to ignore because it's not as exceiting as driving. I recommend to everyone to try sitting as a passenger in a car in the desert. You'll be astonished at how much you can learn from that. As the TJ is up and running again, I am pleased to be able to say ... See you soon in the sand.

Mini Trip Report: Having noticed most of the drives were fully booked at a faster pace than a Metallica concert, we must conclude that the ones who made it in the RSVP list were either very lucky or very eager to join Everyone made it on time, even @Remco Snoek that joined us all the way from Abu Dhabi. It was also a pleasure to see @asifk his girlfriend/wife helping out with deflation. It shows that this hobby can bring people together as a team, and if that happens to be your partner it is even better. We started off at @Rahimdad his vacation home but quickly had a troublesome refusal, as @George Francis his Pathfinder seemed to be only working on 2WD. We tried a few things but had no other option than to pull him back to the flat ground and assist him to the exit. I hope your car is fine by now George. Fast forward 30mins and @Gaurav slowly started to stretch his legs, and slowly started increased the pace. @Rajeevan Vickneswaran had some small refusals in the beginning, and the initial fear of the other side of the dune (as we all had) resulted in some refusals. But after we spoke a minute where i slightly altered my convoy position and re-assured him that on the other side of the dune there is only sand, and he can rely on us for the full 100% knowing that the rest of the convoy already passed by that same place, he suddenly changed into a confident offroader and did not struggle anymore for the rest of the drive. Very well done @Rajeevan Vickneswaran !! I had some fear that my little blue Pajero had to recover the mighty F150 of @Nikhil Saju Paul, but he drove his car though the dunes like going to Emirates Mall. No stress, no Struggle. Very impressive ! @Matti Brockman, being Finnish, has racing pilot DNA in his blood and it shows. After deflating a bit further due to the summer sand, he turned into a Kimi Raikonnen. Perfect control of the car, composed yet dynamic. Brilliant driving ! @Nacho has grown a lot in a few drives. You've blended in and have very good control over your car. Both you and your wife had a constant smile and thats always a good thing @J J was our sweeping man and he did great, thanks buddy ! @Najeeb Mohammed you learn very quick. You've only joined us recently and i see you improving quickly. Well done ! I love that Black Cruiser ! @Anish S you really impressed me last Friday. I know that the big Pajeros are not that easy, and they are a bit heavy to drive, but you did not struggle anywhere. I've seen you crossing dunes at a few places where you had the perfect momentum and hardly had to brake or correct. You are one with your car, and that says a lot about you. Keep up the good work ! @Remco Snoek i know you had some fears that your Fortuner 2.7 would struggle, but this shows again that driving in the desert is more about control and knowing your vehicle, and using momentum in your advantage, which you did. Well done ! I cannot forget to mention my life partner @Vanessa8580, who was driving in second lead and knowing how competitive she is, she wanted to do things perfectly. Getting crested perfectly is also a part of that, and believe me if you go through the Carnity photo gallery you'll find tons of photos of me getting crested perfectly too. I am proud to see how far she has gotten in such a short time and hope on many more adventurous drives in the future ! As usual, @Gaurav gave us a perfectly balanced drive with some challenges, but also enough time to gain confidence and get everyone to drive home with new baggage. On to the next one !

Thanks to the marshals who lead this drive through a beautiful part of the desert. A special thanks to @Gaurav @Xaf @Rahimdad @Mels Wolf who had to do quite a bit of shoveling in extreme heat, to get me out of a sticky situation (apologies if I have missed anybody - given the angle of my car I had limited sight of my surroundings). Maybe next time we will have more time to get to the "play area".

Transfer case shifting from LO to HI without stopping happened today and transfer case got stuck in neutral. Here are the steps needed to bring back Hi/Lo selector back in its place. Mitsubishi issued the TSB back in 2001 for the same. MITSUBISHI MOTORS TECHNICAL INFORMATION TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN SUBJECT: No: TSB-01 -23-002 TRANSFER LEVER STUCK IN 4H DATE: February 2001 On 4-wheel-drive models, shifting from 4L to 4H should only be done with the vehicle stopped and the transmission in Neutral. If the driver forces the transfer lever from 4L to 4H while the vehicle is moving, the lever may become stuck in 4H. If the transfer lever goes from the H-L shift fork to the 2-4WD shift fork while the vehicle is moving, the clutch sleeve is forced to return to the low speed gear when it hits the chamfer of the input gear. As a result, the lever is in 4H, but the gear is engaged in 4L. This bulletin describes how to adjust the transfer shift forks to eliminate this condition. AFFECTED VEHICLES 1997-2001 Montero Sport models equipped with 4-wheel-drive FILE UNDER: Group 23 Automatic Transmission in the Dealer Service Information Binder (2239) This bulletin supercedes TSB- 00-23-004, issued May, 2000, to correct affected vehicles, shift lever bolt identification, and shift fork positioning Corrections are indicated by ‘b." BOOT TRANSFER LEVER TRANSFER SHIFT LEVER TRANSFER LEVER BRACKET TSB-01 -23-002 PROCEDURE Remove the transfer lever shift knob. Remove the center console. Remove the transfer lever bracket (6 bolts). Lift the boot up and remove the shill lever (4 bolts). Disconnect the vent line from the shift boot. Check the location of the H-L shift fork. If it is not in the H position, use a brass punch to push the shift fork toward the front of the vehicle. Check the location of the 2-4WD shift fork. If it is not in 2WD, use a brass punch to push the shift fork toward the front of the vehicle. If necessary, adjust the return spring so it can be set with the 2-4WD shift fork. IMPORTANT: Do not place the return spring in the gap between the H-L shift fork and the 2-4WD shift fork. Remove the old sealant adhesive from the transfer lever and housing contact surfaces. Apply Mitsubishi Silicone Gasket Sealant TSB1 215 (p/n A99OZC1 X02) or equivalent to the transfer lever and housing contact surfaces. Place the end of the transfer lever in the 2-4WD shift fork and reinstall the lever into the housing. Set the return spring. Confirm that the transfer lever can be moved smoothly. Tighten the bolts securing the lever to 15-22 Nm (11-16 ft/lbs). Reinstall the transfer lever boot bracket. Reinstall the center console. Reinstall the transfer lever shift knob. Advise the owner of proper transfer lever operation: Shift from 4L to 4H only with the vehicle stopped and the transmission in Neutral. WARRANTY INFORMATION Transfer Shift Fork Adjustment Nature Code: 99D Cause Code: 990 Labor Operation No. 23111090 Time Allowance: 0.8 hr. Warranty Coverage: 36 months/36000 miles. Special Warranty Information: Includes transfer shift lever removal and reinstallation. Normal warranty procedures apply. Copyright 2001 Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, Inc. All rights reserved.

The difference between a mechanical 4x4 shifting (Gen 2) vs the electronic 4x4 shifting (Gen 3) onwards. The computers don't allow it to engage unless you have to come to a complete halt and are in Neutral. In my XJ which is also a mechanical shift, the 4x4 doesn't allow under normal pressure to go-to 4Lo when the car is in motion or in gear. I think overall it would be a good or safe practice to always shift the 4x4 transfer case while it's stationary, even if it's from 2wd to 4wd

Dear Guys, My sincere thanks to the whole convoy under the leadership of @Srikumar, for helping me out on being stuck. Another lesson and experience learned. In my observation, the moment the HOT OIL message shows out from the dashboard, the engine became weaker and that was probably the reason i got stuck. Thanks for advice of installing a cooling fan at the front of my radiator. Can anyone recommend good shop that can do the job? Thanks everyone it was a very enjoyable drive!

Trip Report - what a bag of mixed feeling starting up for the drive. It’s almost 2 months since my previous drive and being locked down in the house with only time out for grocery shopping or a hospital visit. Either ways there was so much nervous energy and the first block in my path was the Bidayer area being completely dug up. As I reached close to our meeting point the area was all dug up and I had to go back to the bridge and come again to the right spot. My second attempt was successful and it was a pleasure to see everybody reach on time and deflating. as I started to deflate there were a few quick hellos exercised with caution for the respect of rules set for Social distancing. This set my mind to some peace, but it was hot. In normal situations we are more into night drives which are cooler. As we finished deflating the voice of @Gaurav bhai carried instructions for the drive and lots of reassurance. With that we were handed our convoy position for the drive. it was @Desert Dweller first time as sweep, did she manage to impress, read on to find out. As expected the sand was soft, but for many who started driving in the winters when sand was hard had an experience of the softer sands which had baked all day under the sun, @Gaurav bhai tried to lower the level and we would have a great quick run, but as soon as we would encounter a soft medium dune we would eventually get a stuck or a refusal. With every stuck and refusal we were challenged and it came with a lesson for all of us, by now my excitement was in total positive note and I had no doubt observing such a civilised crowd to follow each and every instruction as told. just towards the end of the drive and thankfully close to the fence @Denizzalbayrak car started heating up. The we decision was for me to lead out everybody with @Desert Dweller as my sweep, while @Gaurav and @Xaf would help @Denizzalbayrak with his dilemma. As we rode through the track to the Tawi Nizwa shops we were lucky to see an Oryx. After a few quick clicks we were on our way out. I was again pleasantly surprised to see everybody parked at a safe distance following the rules set to combat the Current situation. As we inflated we saw @Gaurav bhai and @Xaf ride out and join us for inflation. The Chevy Trail blazer was missing and as I later found out was fur to time constraints. As I headed out and back home, I had to break my fast on my way, lucky for me, my wife had packed some goodies for me. All in all a wonderful drive with law abiding citizens and long awaited comeback for me. I would like to thank you all for a warm welcome back, specially the weather. Around 6 pm while inflating a realisation crept in as to how we have to go back home at the cooler time e we hen we should be starting the drive practically. And no I have not forgotten, I was keeping one eye on our @Desert Dweller and she did an awesome job at sweeping. Well done, amazing to see you learn and grow, looking forward to one of our First Lady Marshal in Carnity if she’s not the first girl there. i have posted my pictures in the Gallery so enjoy.

Hi All , Was never much of an author but I’ll do my best! I’m really sorry if the terms or technicalities mentioned below are wrong , this is my small understanding and thought I’ll share it with you rockstars Al qudra though being one of the simplest routes , summer plays a huge factor in terms of maintaining momentum. Having a V8 5.7 liter engine , momentum was never much of a concern during the winter sands. I usually never used to worry much about stopping in soft patches , this time I kept maneuvering into hard ground to brake and stop , to avoid Fredrick having to tug me out. This was indeed a watch and observe drive. Helped me understand a lot of factors to respect when the harsh summer kicks in. I really didn’t trust the weight of my car and aired down to 9 PSI both front and back wheels. I was watching the black FJ brute tackle the dunes in front of me and for a moment I was envious of short wheel bases, The ease of tackling. Long wheel bases like mine at technical spots feel like maneuvering a bus inside Emirates mall ( @Frederic’s words not mine ) I really admire the patience of the marshals ( Fredrick and Gaurav) who had an eagle eye out for all of us and made sure all of us were safe and well recovered. This is remarkable leadership skills and instills confidence in all of us. Honestly I look forward to nothing more nowadays than our Friday drives. Stay safe Nikhil

@Frederic Tks for the hand you and Gaurav gave to pull me back to the road....pathfinder is at the workshop something do with a sensor....most probably will be fixed and ready for the next drive if not shall get my other ride...

Wow this is very helpful, thanks for sharing @Fuad

Great @Emmanuel thanks for sharing. With number of Xterra's increasing in our community this thread is definitely going to help loads.

That’s exactly what I did...

Hi @J J hope you are doing well! You have a new hood i guess..

Thanks Srikumar and all the participants to this morning drive! It has been a challenging yet very enjoyable drive, heat put some additional strain to our cars, but we fully enjoyed it. Disappointing from my side the struggle to climb up pinck rock, while it was quite straightforward last time round... anyway, looking forward to the next drive! Some pictures added to the gallery!

First of all, apologise to everyone for causing drive to end earlier. Secondly, special thanks to @Gaurav and @Xaf for helping me and the Chevy with it's high fever. I've managed to drive the car to the tarmac next day and took it to the workshop. Hopefully it will be diagnosed and repaired after Eid Holiday. Speaking of Eid, Eid Mubarak! Hopefully, I will join you soon.

It was an amazing drive after a long time out of the dessert! Thanks everyone, specially @Gaurav and @Frederic for your guidance and your enthusiasm helping everyone in the group! I keep learning everyday and enjoy it more everytime! Thanks!see u soon!

I absolutely agree. We have a rare taste my friend. Stick it in first gear and hear that baby roar all the way to the top.

I want the car to stay in it’s gear in order not to loose momentum. The danger in the up shifting is that you loose the momentum and need to exit immediately. I’ve been practicing a bit with that car and it’s possible to keep it in first gear if you keep a close eye on the rpm counter and try to keep it below 5500. The plan is indeed to not tinker with the transmission, and definitely not the Omani hack.

Thank you @Frederic

Speedex is a good place to buy several items (kinetic rope, soft shakes, deflators, pressure gauges, shovel and flag). You may find the same at Ace, but perhaps more expensive. For compressor, radio and pneumatic jacks Dragon Mart.

This was the best drive so far, thanks @Gaurav and @Frederic , really enjoyed the drive and looking forward to see such long drives. Indeed required lot of patience and understanding when team members makes mistake and @Gaurav and @Frederic did show lot of maturity and patience. Attached few photos for fun..Hope you will enjoy.

@Gaurav @Frederic Thank you for the assistance in getting out of the stuck & my apologies to the entire convoy on the delay caused due to the 4 Wheel Drive system failure. Hope to drive again in the next trip...

A crude video as well below . Cheers QudraMay2020.mp4

Great drive and we definitely had our share of refusals and stucks:) Kudos to @Gaurav and @Frederic , that is some patience and dedication to help and support the drivers in trouble. I am sure both of you had a good morning work out Other than that, definitely the sand is a lot different due to heat but nevertheless fun to drive . Good job everyone . Added some pics in the gallery . Enjoy

Thank you everybody for the amazing drive...Thank you @Gauravand @Frederic for your valuable guidance and leadership 🙏...

Thank you for leading us yesterday Fred . Great trip, which I felt started on soft and tricky sand conditions and moved to harder sands as we approached Pink Rock. Thanks also for taking me a second lead. I was a good first time and will surely help me understand the role better. So, I provided a bit of shovel time for all (thank you all, maybe a good thing in these days of almost no physical activity?). An unforced error on my part, and a reminder that you cannot let your concentration drift, not even for a second... Thanks again Fred, and great to see everybody. VIDEO-2020-05-16-10-15-35.mp4

TRIP REPORT The Badayer region is generally known for extreme buggy offroading, lots of noise, and dunes which are beautiful but can mess you up pretty badly. For this drive i wanted to let the extreme stuff behind, and just focus on getting back in the sand and enjoy the afternoon with our Carnity family. @Shamil joined us with a friend in a voodoo-blue FJ Cruiser, which gave me back nice memories from having owned the same one in Saudi Arabia, but luckily Shamil his car was a 4WD and not a 2WD like mine With @Martin. as my second lead, we headed off to see what this afternoon would bring us. The first two hours i ventured into an area of Badayer which was slightly more challenging for Newbies due to the loose sand, and some cars needed to be woken up again after having spent time in the garages due to the lockdown. This meant we had some recovery work to do, but that always gives us something to learn, and both @Ale Vallecchi and @Shamil provided excellent support, but also most other members were very pro-active and offered to help, which is of course more difficult now because of Covid restrictions but nevertheless we kept it sane and followed the guidelines. After about 2 hours, i chose to go for a more gentle track which leaded to the back side of Pink Rock and we chose to drive around it as it was getting a bit dark and we wanted to take a break for Iftar prayers. All in all a very pleasant drives with a few challenges where we all had to think as a group to find the best recovery course of action, but as you see we always strive to find the safest option and that brings us all safely back on the tarmac. @Nizam Deen @E.C. TAN @Pancho @luwaimn @Shiju Manuel @Vanessa8580 @Denizzalbayrak @Ale Vallecchi @Shamil @Martin. Thanks to all for joining the drive and i hope to see you all soon again ! https://www.relive.cc/view/vPOpWMQ18Ev