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Reminiscing on the Drive The objective of the drive was to take the convoy to some large dunes at the south of the Faqa'a which were going to be fun place to play. The intention was to start at dawn, approx. 6.15-ish and reach there quickly so that we can play in those dunes more than I did last time there. I started to record track at 6:25 and did not move till 6:33. 10 min into the drive when we tried to ride the first dune, @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad slipped off it and entered into a pocket and had his front passenger side tire had a pop-out. It was in a pocket so instead of trying to get it out we fixed the popout at the pocket itself so that he could move out of it. When we fixed the popout we also realized that the tire wasn't holding any pressure and leaking air. After it came out of the bowl, we replaced the tire and without any spare unfortunately it was the end of the drive for the mighty Patrol. At 7:50 the drive started again. You could see so many tall dunes but when you go near them, they are covered with vegetation. Anyways our aim was to reach the big bowls as soon as we could and, in the process, we navigate though some nice large dunes. On the way at about 8:30 we took a quick break and when we started again, we had another pop-out of the remaining Patrol at the same place. Well, we have already become a team expert in fixing popouts already, so it was dealt with in no time. The Sun was rising, temperatures were getting high, and we were nowhere near the dunes that we wanted to be. The tire pressure was increasing and without checking it led to a couple of refusals. When we started to move @Haneef Thayyil found the only pocket he could and promptly entered it. There was no place to do any self-recovery, so we winched him out of there. At this time, we learnt some sad news, but we could not delve into it there, so we kept moving. Finally at 10;10 am we reached where we wanted to come all along. A quick stuck by @Ishak led us to the bowl. But it was getting late, so we restricted the play time in this place and kept moving towards the exit. Finally, we finished the drive at 11 at Solar Park, but not without finding the misplaced convoy once again. Remarks There were a couple of teachable moments during the drive. We do start with a briefing at every drive with these points, but it became evident why those seemingly unimportant items could become critical. One of those points is to keep an adequate distance between one's car and the car in front. If it is too far away, then one could lose track completely. Another aspect is radio communication, where we need to hear and respond adequately. I also want to touch up an important aspect of driving in the desert. One cannot zone out in the desert; it requires uninterrupted and complete focus. It is a conscious decision-making process where you must look at the car in front and try to replicate what it has done which requires you to make A LOT of decisions on how to tackle that patch till you go to the next. It is like solving a puzzle with your vehicle. That's the game if you ask me. End Credits @Cha I must thank you for all the effort you put into this drive. Fixing the popouts, helping with stucks and refusals, you had quite an engaging day. @Ishak Thank you once again for a brilliant second lead and thanks for helping with the pop-outs and tire change. Final Thoughts Some days are more difficult than others and it is a part of life. For anyone who joined the next day, it was one of those better days.

Looks like Gaia is also scared of your data collection task.

Sorry guys have to drop out, moving next week so apparently I don’t have time this week 🙄🙄😂😂

I had a center diff lock issue few weeks back: after self-recovery the center diff lock remained locked and would not unlock, causing heavy steering when driving home. My mechanic was trying to solve the center diff problem by isolation: whether it was mechanical (possible fix: change center diff lock actuator), or was it electrical (possible fix: clean dirty connections). While he was doing that, I was reading the materials from my Land Cruiser Repair Manuals and some other sources. Thought I'd share my "differential enlightenment" here, and try to explain it as non-technical as possible 🙂 FYI, I've arranged it so that everyone knows the context and working background of a diff before using this knowledge to our offroad driving, so read from 1-2-3-4, but if you wanna go straight to how we use diff locks, go ahead to point #4 below: 1. The Minimum 3 Diffs required for most cars Forget if you have 3 buttons with labels: RR/Rear Lock, Center Lock, FF/Front Lock. Forget the IFS vs Solid Axle debate for front drive. Turn your 4WD car upside-down (or easier to look at the underbody diagram in your manual 😁 ), it better have 3 differentials: Rear Diff (Red Sphere), Center Diff hidden in what's known as Transfer Case that also holds the 4LO low-gearing (Purple Sphere) and Front Diff (Blue Sphere). What's that, you don't like this 3D illustration? Let's show a real example with an old Toyota Fake Jeep #whoops I meant FJ 😂 You can see I circled the 3 "pumpkins" casing showing the 3 differentials location 👇 2. Why do we need those spheres/pumpkins/diffs ? The picture below shows 2 tyres on an axle with NO DIFF. Do you think it will turn nicely without slipping? Do we want this kind of horse carriage in our modern 4WD systems? 😅 So there you go, we need Diffs to make smooth turnings without stressing the driveline. In the illustration below, when we turn the Red Curve is longer (travel more distance) than the Blue Curve (travel less distance), so how can they turn at different rates when the engine gives the same power of 1,000 rpm? The answer: the magical mechanical device called a differential 😊 General Motors made this video long long time back, even though it's in Black & White, it explains how the concept of Differential came about (also explained how the Spider Gears work!). The video is optional, only for the technically-inclined and curious ones... 3. Why do we need that Center Diff? So from point #2 above, we know Diffs are used for turning the car, so front & rear diffs make sense, but what does a center diff do? Tilt the car? Refer to sketch drawing below: The car is turning left. Each wheel follows a different curve path: the inside wheels don't need to turn so fast, so in this diagram the front inside wheel needs 50 rpm and the rear inside wheel needs 48 rpm. BUT in order to turn, the front wheels need to turn faster than the rear wheels: thus the outer front wheel needs 54 rpm and the inner outer front wheel needs 50 rpm. Both front wheels are rotating faster than the rear wheels. If you add all the power required, Total Front Drive Power Needed = 54 + 50 = 104 rpm and Total Front Rear Power Needed = 52 + 48 = 100 rpm. WITHOUT CENTER DIFF, the transmission outputs 100 rpm to both Front and Rear drive shafts. So what? Well, that 104 rpm needed to turn wheels is greater than then 100 rpm, so extra stress is created... if continous stress is accumulated, this may lead to the image below, kablooi! So the Center Diff is similar to point #2 above, but instead of allowing inside wheel & outside wheel turn at different rates, the Center Diff allows the front axle and the rear axle to get different power output. Refer to diagram below now: So by having that Sphere/Pumpkin/Diff in the middle, the front drive shaft gets more power to accelerate faster than the rear drive shaft which move slower. Don't believe this paper drawings and theories? Well let's watch how the World Rally Championship uses Center Diffs to make turnings smoother and then lock the Center Diff to distribute power in a straight-line driving: 4. Press that Center Diff Lock! Finally we can use all that theories to use. Refer to below illustration: Red Axle is the rear and Blue Axle is the front. The Front-Right wheel is slipping while the rest of 3 tyres got some traction. Why won't the car move? Here's a little secret: Diffs are great for helping to turn, but the side-effect of a diff is that the output power from transmission will go to the wheel with the least traction. In the diagram above, that means the Front-Left Blue tyre will not turn at all! BUT we still have the 2 Rear Red tyres with traction, don't we? Yes, but from Point #3 we know an open Center Diff allows front & back axles to turn at different rates, so in this case more power is given to the Front Blue Axle because of that spinning wheel that has the least traction... thus the rear tyres spin r.e.a.l.l.y s.l.o.w.l.y , making the driver frustrated and leaving him sweating 😂 Now we hear those famous words from the radio: "Engage 4LO and (Center) Diff Lock" We'll talk about 4LO some other time, but the effect of pressing the Center Diff Lock is now this illustration: No it's not the same image... ok yes, but watch the rotational arrows at the back. You see that Front-Right Blue slipping wheel? That one is stealing all the drive power. BUT because of Center Diff Lock, we now forced the Front & Rear axles to turn at the same rate. So if the Front-Right Blue is stealing 100 rpm slipping, then now the Rear Tyres are also spinning 100 rpm, with probably 50:50, so Rear-Right is 50 rpm and Rear-Left is 50 rpm. Because the Rear Tyres have traction (those brown balls), then the rear tyres move the car forward... or down-right depending on the angle you wanna recover. 5. Press that Rear Diff Lock! So you think Center Diff Lock is enough and no need for a rope tug? Well check the illustration below: Now we have 2 wheels spinning: one in the front (Front-Right Blue) and one in the back (Rear-Left Red). You press Center Diff: nothing is moving. Why? Well the Center Diff allows front & back axles to turn the same, that bit is right... BUT because power is lost to the least wheel with traction, the transmission output will just spin both wheels (Front-Right Blue & Rear-Left Red). Calculatively: Front-Right: 50 rpm spinning Front-Left: Zero rpm not spinning (refer to disadvantage of diff in Point #4) Rear-Right: Zero rpm not spinning (refer to disadvantage of diff in Point #4) Rear-Left: 50 rpm spinning (same speed as Front-Right due to Center Diff locked) Here's what's gonna happen if your 4WD is lucky enought to have a Rear Diff Lock button: It's the same image again? Yessirree but look at the rotational arrows, especially at the rear red axle. So now Rear Differential is locked, splitting 50:50 drive power to the Rear-Right Red tyre and the Rear-Left Red tyre. Now instead of Zero RPM, that Rear-Left tyre will get 25rpm and might just nudge the car forward a bit... slowly but steadily, you might self-recover! Calculatively: Front-Right: 50 rpm spinning Front-Left: Zero rpm not spinning (refer to disadvantage of diff in Point #4) Rear-Right: 25 rpm (due to Rear Diff Lock) Rear-Left: 25 rpm spinning (due to Rear Diff Lock + Center Diff Lock) Yes you have to do Double-Locking: press Center Diff Lock first, then Rear Diff Lock. 6. Press that Front Diff Lock! That situation in Point #5? Well you have a higher chance of self-recovery if your beloved 4WD also has a Front Diff Lock. Refer to illustration below: Calculatively: Front-Right: 25 rpm spinning Front-Left: 25 rpm (due to Front Diff Lock) Rear-Right: 25 rpm (due to Rear Diff Lock) Rear-Left: 25 rpm spinning (due to Rear Diff Lock + Center Diff Lock) You can now do Triple Locking: get out of the car, assess the situation, then press the magic 3 buttons: Center Diff Lock On, Rear Diff Lock On, and Front Diff Lock On. 7. Cars with Triple Locking from Factory If you made it to this point, then you may want to now look for second-hand 4WDs that have triple-locking from the factory 😊 Here are 3 that I know of (please add if you know more): 7.1. Land Cruiser 80 Series: just look at the diff lock indicators on that dashboard. No custom aftermarket buttons to show if your car is triple-locked 😁 7.2 Mercedes Benz G-Wagon. Do you know why I said the order is Center Diff Lock then Rear Diff Lock then last is Front Diff Lock? It's because Mercedes Benz labelled it in that order too! 7.3 Land Cruiser 300: well, this one you have to wait, and there's no second-hand market yet, so this is the most expensive triple-locked currently 😅 Sources: The nice 3D Illustrations are from the Land Cruiser Cool Project.

HI Krishna, It was my first Fewbee Plus drive, and thank you for your incredible support during the drive by giving me confidence. It was ready enjoyable. Looking forward to many more drives like this in the future!

@Looper @Hisham Masaad Thank you very much for your support. I think during the last Mahafiz drive there was no popout, It was the first time with new tyre and had problems with climbs. Hope all goes well this time. Looking forward to joining this drive.

Def, we need it. Next, sky-high lifts. Next, the hardest suspensions. Next, strapping turbo with nitro-methanol injections.

Ridge Riding - My favourite part of offroading! I gave up a Sweihan drive to take part in ridge riding express by @Rizwanm2 and I did not regret my decision one bit. The entire convoy was ready even before the meet up time and I had to delay the start by 5 mins as my air filter was clogged up. Cleaned it to find about 10 Kgs of red sand and the the car started breathing better. The drive started at 6:05 am and we started attacking the small and medium sized dunes of tawi nazwa and @Rizwanm2's lines were simply superb. I guess he made it a point not to leave even one tiny ridge unflattened and we destroyed them all. The pace was really good and we reached pink rock in no time. A couple of climbs and then more ridges which were getting higher and higher. Then, the ridges started curving which increased the skill level. It was too good. Faced a couple of unfortunate popouts and @Deepak Eswar had to exit due to a personal emergency at 9:20 am. We still had 40 mins and raced to big red for 30 mins of adrenaline pumping climbs and ridge riding, 2 xterras and 3 Fjs. It is safe to say that we flattened big red from all angles and sides. It became small red by the time we were done with it. Exited sharp at 10 am and @Chris Wing hosted us with chilled beverages. Thanks buddy. Inflated quickly and went home to have a hearty lunch and a nice siesta with a smile on my face @Rizwanm2 My first time on your drive and it was excellent bro. Your lines were fantastic and I had so much fun without damaging my car @Chris Wing The most qualified SL for this drive and you performed brilliantly bro. Nice driving with you after a long time. @Ahmad Nerat You are killing it with your FJ man. Great driving with no refusals, no stucks. Climbed everything @Deepak Eswar It was an amazing drive from you that too being your first fb+ drive. popouts are a part of the learning curve and will never stop even if you become a marshall. Sad that you had to exit due to a personal emergency. Hope things will get better. @Jona Just the day before, you said we need to go on a drive with the two of us at the end of the convoy and your wish came true within a day. Please make another wish that your friend, Krishna should become a billionaire soon . about the drive, We were just chillin in the back man, I was following your lines in a laid back fashion and as always, impeccable driving from you. I did not even know you had a passenger until we almost finished big red man In the end, It was the perfect ending to the long weekend and I was energized for the work week ahead. Until next weekend guys, Stay calm and the enjoy the weather. ~Krishna

@Rizwanm2thx for leading this drive. It was amazing.. We got the chance to ride most of the ridges in the area. The last 30 minutes around the big red were just WOW👏👏 . @Chris Wing was doing great as SL we were following his steps in confidence. @Jona, @Krishna Rit was amazing to connect with u again.. Finally to my frd @Deepak Eswar u did well regardless of the pop outs u faced. It's just part of our learning curve Thx all see u soon on next drive!! 👌

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie this is why for desert we prefer SuperChargers compared to Turbos, it's powered by the Crank Pulley like Clutch Fan & Timing Belt, so the power increase is instant 😁 Turbos depend on Exhaust, hence the lag 👇