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I have to agree with Gaurav here. You wrote a lot but said very little. So I really also dont have the foggiest idea what you are trying to say? Like I already mentioned you can drive your Rav4 anywhere you like and Ive seen people do that on a regular basis, so there is nothing wrong there. Yes we all understand how diffs work making all 4x4 AWD. The problem is your quest to have three locking diffs and a transfer case with a low ratio fitted on the rav4 sounds very expensive and impractical. Youll spend a lot of money trying ti jury rig it and it still wont work the way a 4x4 that came built that way would. You'll need to somehow fit a transfer case into a front wheel drive engine. Then set up the linkage to engage it. Then youll need design and machine lockable diffs front and back and then design a engineer a way to lock them. Or you can save your self a ton of headache and money and buy a ready made 4x4 and install aftermarket diff locks front and rear like the ones you get from ARB. At the end of the day its your time and money do as you please with it. Do let us know when you develop a rav 4 solid axels with diff locks front and rear with a low range transfer box.

My tattoo is different. Mine says " I hate mechanics who can't rebuild engines to better than factory standard".

Signal boosters/amplifiers are available. They're very compact and will fit behind the head unit. Also pretty easy to install, probably a 10 minute job depending on how difficult or easy it is to remove the head unit. The antenna wire goes in one side and the other side goes to the head unit. Power is supplied by the electric antenna or amplifier remote output on the head unit. They work to an extent but the signal from the transmitter needs to be good to start with. You can't boost what isn't there. I imagine the radio transmitters in UAE will be transmitting on a pretty low wattage as it's a small country and they don't need huge coverage. If you're too far away from the transmitter and the signal is bad to begin with you will just end up with amplified white noise on top of the signal. It's just one of these things you have to install and see if it works for you.

We all went and got matching tattoos last week

I have owned several cars but some car has better FM reception which hears almost next to CD quality, and others have very poor FM signal with lot of distrurbance. Wondering if there is any device or mod we can install over the antenna or FM receiver to improve the FM signal. Secondly this should also help in bumping the signal strength so that we can hear some crisp music in offroad weak signal area.

I wouldnt put in a second hand GCC engine unless I knew the car it came and the mileage and preferably some service history. Not some unknown junk engine lying in some yard. Jap RHD import engines are just fine as they usually have very low mileage on them, usually around 40-80k kms and for Land Rovers I know the guy and he brings in whole cars and we see what shaoe and mileage the car was before parts are ripped out. Ive also seen 100s of engines ripped apart and rebuilt without any issues. So Ill have to also disagree on that only the factory can put together a motor. My own engine on the P38 has a tick for more than two years now, I know its a tappet and a common problem with the Rover V8. It does no harm so I have no issues leaving it as is. And if the engine does explode I know I can get a jap import replacement at a very cheap price hence no worried at all. I would cost a ton more to fix it too. Having said that. Im from the school of thought once youre in the engineedo as many bits and bobs while you are in there. Not easy to rip open a motor everyday. So in a nutshell nothing wrong with rebuilding an engine just because one person has a bad anecdotal experienxe doest mean its going to be the same for everyone

@treksThat's a long tattoo, having mechanics doing a bad job is definitely more painful than getting that tattoo.

its something the english teacher couldnt but you gave idea about gaurav bhai all cars have its own place it has been hauling me from place A to place B all this time and all those points have been done one time or other during the drives with you gaurav bhai and desert dude i have not gone cucu that i will start from ground up...i have mentioned earlier cheap and portable and effective way to shift power from the free spinning wheel to other wheels...and i am doing my research there and inshallah soon something will pop up....and if you guys have any input in this spectrum i will gladly lend a ear i am not talking about those LSDs even those wont give you 1:1 revolutions on any differentials

Locally, I don't know where to get them but I'd imagine some of the specialist radio and accessory shops may have. Have a look on eBay. There's a big selection for under 10 dollars. http://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?isRefine=true&_nkw=Car radio signal booster&ssPageName=GSTL&_mwBanner=1 I tried one before like in the picture below but this was maybe 15 years ago. I bought a cheap Chinese head unit and the radio was crap so I had to use this. I can't say if it was good or bad, it was so long ago and I can't remember.

Thank god, you started writing with full stops, commas and paragraph now to make my head spin less. Somehow I still fail to understand what was that long post made for to justify "other cars aren't better than RAV4" or "RAV4 stand equally to any 4x4" Either case read below two advices and hope it will help you understand the things better: In end leave all theory, mechanism, or power band aside and put RAV4 to real test with any so-called 4x4 cars: Hill climb without momentum Soft sand crawling - self recovery Drag a dead weight Side sloping Ridge riding

ok now i would like to forward some eye opening information here then rahim bhai exactly how many awds have you seen burning on the roads or anywhere bet i have seen more range rovers nissans and the correct count is 6 till now...and burning cars is usually a mistake of people itself or the place where they take their cars for service. its basically a user error.. now coming to the next point can you show me other then military grade vehicles i don't think other use any protection under the vehicles exactly none actually you only need a plate at most at departure angles and approach angles apart from that its just plain weight hauling... alright next coming to our beloved transmission coolers did you know that every production car other than manual gears come with transmission coolers its a must or else the oil grinded between those clutches at peak heat time and high speed would be slipping it just a matter of size some are just air cooled some are water cooled and in some cases its passes through both... now coming to the point of dependable and or proper 4x4 as gaurav bhai likes to put it then i am afraid not even one vehicle in that drive we have has a proper 4x4 the right meaning of proper 4x4 is regardless of any wheel losing traction all wheels must revolve at the same speed that's where the central locks the transfer case and both front and rear differential locks the shaft with the axles so it doesn't matter that any wheel is up it still in most cases should be rolling at most maybe 1 or 2 cars there might have only a rear differential lock but most of the cars we have in the drives are basically 6 cylinder awds..if you really want to test it then i will get the floor jack and lift the vehicle from one side and lets see how many would be able to move while both side one wheels are up in the air. and in the end rav being used for desert safaris rav has only 2 and half seat in the rear and even the front seats are not that cousy and the safary people are selling an experience and illusion of desert dwelling it would be in their best interest if that experience is sold with luxury in mind there will always be something better then what you have but its not wise to be the one who jumps the boat first... now lets talk about experience what you absorb by seeing is never an experience maybe only a part of it might be but never fully accurate i work at the workshop i get my hands on many cars here both on road and off road from a merc wagon to a suzuki jimmy every car is unique and has its own perks as i get them to know from inside out.it would be lovely if we had this discussion with more facts then stories and i am technically inclined and a practical so my understanding is if something is having the same fault again and again then i am not improving and looking at the wrong place to fix..i hope this helps to separate the facts from the opinions and people here get to learn something new as learning is a phase which never ends...

Yes its always the driver. Ive driven a 88 4cyl pathfinder with a leaking fuel line almost everywhere. But trying to fit a square peg into a round hole really isnt too wise. Cars like Rav4s ans CRVs really wernt made for heavy offloading. Maybe a gravel track here and there, some fun on the beach. Not saying this cant be done as a former member at another club which Gaurav Im sure remembers. Fayette use to take her 4dr auto Rav 4 everywhere too. But dropping some serious coin to turn a RaV4 something its not really isnlt worth it. As suggested put in a little more and get a proper used 4x4. With the current market situation, its a buyers market out there. And no I don't agree Fatima Jasim is the "best offroader" out there. Its just a 2dr body on a LWB prado rolling chasis with horrible visibility all around and a fuel tank the size of a small masafi bottle. A SWB 6cyl Prado will run cricles around it all day lomg And if you really want something tough get a Bu Shanab.

Here you go my friend, full time locked differential for the price of a handful of welding rods. I've had a couple of cars with the rear diff welded. It has its good points and bad points. Good points, you can drift in something with low power. Bad points, it's prone to understeer on corners then sudden oversteer when you're not ready, it's a nightmare to park, your wheel will go eek eek eek when you're reversing into a space and people will stare at you. Good point, you can drift. Im sure you could also engineer a solution with a brake bias valve mounted beside the handbrake to lock either the front or rear wheels with the foot brake. It will let you do huge burnouts too. If you want to get really creative you could use 4 solenoid actuated valves, one for each wheel and put some buttons on the dashboard. There are ways and means, it just depends how much time, effort and money you want to put in.