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It's been one year since I started a new chapter in desert driving hobby; leading drive with @Carnity, and last week it was my 50th when I took over @Islam Soliman's drive. It was also my 238th drive I have actually driven. These are some quick numbers to look into: Most of them as usual have been Fewbie drives but I find my sweet spot at FB+, I have been doing a lot of FB+ to balance overall ratios. -------------- These numbers below mean shared drives. Given means, I posted a drive but someone else also took a part of the convoy, taken means someone else posted a drive I took a part (or as in last week whole) of convoy. -------------- I really cant see in the dark. So no night drives for me. I do not see any drives posted by me in the night. -------------- This list is the locations where I have driven. & following are some stats of those locations: Faqa'a (Includes both Dubai side and Abu Dhabi side) might seem to be my favorite location as most drives are done there. Actually, it is not, as I hate all the bushes. I have been doing this to find the best way of doing it. Now that finally have found the most optimal track, which is to start from Abu Dhabi side to go towards Little Sweihan and then to Solar Park. I might now do some drives on the reverse side. Qudra includes drives that started at Qudra Roundabout towards Lisaili, Bab al Shams and Solar Park. Liwa drive is my drive to Yellow Truck. It grouped in others to keep it up with the forum; the convoy was an Intermediate and I had spilt it for a FB+ convoy with @Kailas.

Dear Desert Drivers, Thank you you joining the drive today. As expected, the desert was still showing the effect of the rains of last week. Starting with the meeting point, still totally flooded. Once everyone reached, we drove on the tarmac a few km and entered a bit further. The sand was generally still very compact, offering a good grip beneficial for the high climbs. The crossings were also generally facilitated, but the edges were sharper than usual, requiring a perfect accuracy for the driving line. A few other traps in the form of steeper pockets than usual, salt crust remaining from evaporated water ponds in the flat areas, water or sludge on the flat sabkhas. All this did not prevent us to enjoy fully the area. We had our share of high climbs, steep descents, ridge riding and crossing and beautiful desert views. The first portion with bigger dunes, more thrills and sensations, the second portion more technical with totally virgin dunes. Very well driven all of you. @Shaun J, @Aser excellent focus and control for your first FB+, @Julien Recan @Deepak Eswar you had one crossing a bit hazardous, but well done for the rest, @Luke K P @msa @Robk @Frans M, excellent control in both portions. Special thanks to @Luke K P as Second Lead, and @Deepak Eswar for the Sweep, both of you very reliable today. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you soon!

Good afternoon all, hope you are excited for this drive/dive. do bring your fishing rods just in case. I hope to see some nice blue lakes 🤞. We will be swinging on looper's constant (Radio Ch 2). We will leave for the dunes at 6:45 sharp (latest) so don't be late; the convoy wont wait. @Marek, @Batuhan Kulac, @george charbel, @Julien Recan, @Mahesh_, @Gautam Banka, @msa, @Imran Asghar, @Dodi Syahdar, @Senthil Kumar, @Gary F, @Stumpy I expect the terrain to be rigid underneath a layer of soft sand; the tops of the dunes will be uneven due to those heavy rains. It will be a long drive as we have to cover a lot of distance, and expect to end the drive near Bab Al Shams.

Good morning all, @Luke K P @Shaun J @Aser @Julien Recan @msa @Robk @Gautam Banka @Frans M @Cristian @Deepak Eswar @Amr A In preparation for tomorrow's drive, please ensure your car is ready and anything loose or unnecessary is removed from the backseat and trunk area. All your offroad gear shall be securely strapped. We will see how is the desert after the rains of last week. There might be water remaining at the starting point. Please assess to avoid getting stuck in the mud. If there is too much water, just wait before crossing, and we will enter from a different place. The convoy order will be We will use Channel 5. Please let me know during the day in case you changed your plan. See you all tomorrow !

@Luke K P @Julien Recan please read my prev article on this if you haven't >> https://carnity.com/forums/topic/16736-diff-lock-simplified-center-rear-front-explained/ The Standard Order is Central Diff Lock > Rear Diff Lock >> and last Front Diff Lock. Am sure there's a very technical reason for this, one involving blowing out diffs, but for shortcut let's just say this is how it's done in Mercedes G-Wagon and Toyota Land Cruiser 80, so let's follow Mercedes & Toyota engineers regarding this order of pressing the buttons Here's my take on your new orange Ford: 1. First check if your Center + Rear Diff Locks are automatically engaged when you switch to 4Lo. My Nissan Y62 Patrol did this, everytime I turned 4Lo, it automatically enganges Rear Diff Lock (thus also Center Diff Lock). My Jeep Grand Cherokee doesn't do this, so if I go 4Lo, it doesn't engage any diff locks. How to test? You can't test on sand. In your parking space, turn on 4Lo then move forward 3 steps so it fully engages 4Lo. Then turn your steering wheel full-left (or full-right) and accelerate. If your tires are slipping or you hear screeching sound, means your rear diff is locked. Remember the purpose of Differential is so that left tyre and right tyre can spin at different speeds (which is needed for turning full-left/full-right mechanism) 2. If #1 doesn't make any sound means you are in 4Lo but in open diffs mode (no center and no rear diffs locked). Great, you can drive in 4Lo at high-speed to get more torque. 3. Why would you ever want to drive with diff locks engaged at high speed ??? Read Point #1 above, the purpose of having differential is to allow left-tyre to spin faster/slower than right-tyre, which is needed for full-turn. Yes in low-traction platform like soft sand and water, the tires still slip but they will not screech and make sound like in your concrete car parking or highway asphalt. But still, do you want to risk it? Example: you're riding on a ridge with soft sand with Center + Rear Diffs locked, then suddenly you have to make 90-degrees left-turn to exit the ridge riding. If the sand is hard (due to rain), now you're turning on a non low-traction platform. The tires will slip to make the turn, but because you're no longer in soft sand, you will be turning like a Rally Driver, with that drifting effect, which is fine on horizontal levelled plain areas (sabkhas), but on a ridge? Only the braves will risk it.... I've asked some "crazy" drivers why they turn-on Center Diff Lock when driving, and these are their reasons: 3.1.They want to drive in a STRAIGHT LINE very fast. Rally drivers do this. You can also try when you're climbing up in a straight line, but not when you're going up then decided to make a loop. 3.2 They want to drift when they're side-sloping, only doable with beadlocks. I've seen this in front of my eyes: so the car looks like fighting gravity, but in fact they are SLIDING horizontally with the nose facing 45-degrees up. Very cool for videos, but even I don't want to try that 😂 PS: we can do a 30-mins "testing session" after an official drive to test the various modes of your mighty Raptor 😁

Hi @Looper and the entire convoy I just want to say that today was brilliant A mix of tech, dunes and speed. A really fun drive it was my birthday so my wife agreed to join me lol which was nice she enjoyed it too Anyway have a great week all and stay safe. I hear the weather could be iffy towards the end of the week

Good morning guys ! What a nice looking convoy ! And with @Zed already baking cookies in preparation for this 100th drive, i am sure we'll be having a good laugh as well @Looper@DanielN@Abhilash Kottakkal@Nizar Shawwa@Batuhan Kulac@Ahmed Farouk@Hani Howeedy@Zed@DP1011 We will be using Channel 4 - 446.081 Mhz for all comms. Please make sure to bring all your off-road gears according to your current level. As the weather is getting a bit hotter, i would like to ask to start arriving approx 15mins prior to the meeting time, this allows us to deflate, set up the flags, do the briefing, and get moving by 07.15 latest so we can enjoy while the weather is still enjoyable. See you soon !

Normal shovel. This is basically our most useful tool in desert driving. In 95% of recovery situations in the desert, a sturdy shovel will get you out. I know in the US winches are used along with tree straps etc to self-recover. Winches aren't very prevalent here as a self-recovery tool since we very rarely have something to strap on to in the desert. Land anchors for sand tend to be large, heavy and impractical and I've only ever seen a handful of people with one There are quite a few people who have winches on their rigs here but they are mostly used to help recover someone else

Thanks everyone for a excellent drive. @JeromeFJgreat leading taking us into some exciting and new (for me) terrain. Really spectacular scenery. The FB+ debutantes @Aserand @Shaun J drove supremely well, and were very handy with the shovels digging my car or from the full body cresting on the ridge! I claimed first stuck of the drive 😎 Both myself and @Robk got to enjoy the full pleasure of long wheel base vehicles in technical dunes with some shovels and ropes. The big bowls were great fun, as were the back and forth crossing of ridges towards the end of the drive. Was great to see big combo of FJs, jeeps, the big patrol, and the retro livery LC71 dominating everything that Jerome put in our parh Here's a couple of captures videos of the convoy... I'll get some more of my camera tonight I hope. Cheers and see you all in the sand again soon. https://photos.app.goo.gl/gTS4rsRDK2pW3i1h7 Side sloping https://photos.app.goo.gl/nRtnjCE9gZAvxry5A Briefing sky time-lapse https://photos.app.goo.gl/6VsNe46o3uZczysdA Team loops https://photos.app.goo.gl/kJqXDdDDf7BrjSQAA Ridge crossing with refusal

@Deepak Eswar and @JeromeFJ's Blue Jeep Bowl

STATS 59.0 km Distance 2h 43m Moving Time 3:46 min/km Pace 3h 42m Total Time 58m 57s Stopped Time 21.6 kph Moving Speed 15.9 kph Avg Speed 400 m Ascent 318 m Descent

Hi All, we will use channel 8 tomorrow. Please find the convoy list. @Guido Ferriani @Giacomo @Martin Schwaiger @TIMMY @nithish468 @Pramod B @ChrisW @Benjamin @J-P L @Nicolò @Emmanuelle Ifrah @khlief @Sviatoslav @Frederic118 @Sameer D. Gaurav Silver Pajero Guido Ferriani 2023 Rubicon - 3.6 L - 4 doors - Red Giacomo 2004 Wrangler TJ Martin Schwaiger Ford Bronco 2022 4 door Rajath white FJC nithish468 2011 Toyota fj cruiser - 2 door - white Pramod B Pajero 3.8 2016 ChrisW 2007 Jeep JK Black Benjamin 2018 Jeep Wrangler Sport JL silver J-P L 2021 Suzuki Jimny 3 Door Grey Nicolò 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited - White Emmanuelle Ifrah Jeep Wrangler 2 Doors khlief Grand cherokee overland V8 2020 , black Sviatoslav 2014 Mitsubishi Pajero - 3.8 LWB Frederic118 Nissan Patrol Safari 2021 - Black Sameer D. 2017 Jeep Wrangler 2 door black

Dear Friends , @Emmanuel, @RiadJL, @Martin M, @Danny G, @Prithvi Raj, @Sunil Mathew, @Jad Moussalli, @Sandeep Nayar, @Faraz94, @Shiju Raju within less than 12 hours we will meet in the sand,. As always emphasized and required that everyone make sure of your car is in a perfect shape and have all your gear as per your rank. Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/KGF6L8VwXMza3tJz7 Meeting time is 07:30 AM Sharp ( late comers will be sent back ) We will use Carnity Radio Channel 7. The convoy order will be as the following :

Congratulations @Sviatoslav for reaching the Fewbie Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. FEWBIE Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 5 Newbie drives are required within last 3 months for Fewbie promotion. What you'll learn Basic dune and sand reading Self-recovery techniques Shoveling at right place Crawling out of difficult situations Blip Blip - Coordinate steering and gas control Basic side sloping and hill climb Basic ridge riding and criss crossing Basic control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving Ability to manage stuck/refusals with radio Learn to control and avoid fishtailing Never fight or challenge gravity Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Presence of mind and attention to detail Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie and Fewbie drives Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

Interested to see if recovery kits vary for the desert troopers... coming from a rock crawler background... we have trees and large boulders that give us an advantage to use our winches during recovery. What does your recovery kit include, and why? What are the most common recovery strategies you have found on the dunes? My Personal Recovery Gear includes: 3 snatch blocks with synthetic shackles light weight aluminum style pulleys 1 steel snatch block 2 aluminum shackles 4 soft shackles 1 long soft shackle 2 tree savers 2 chafe guards 2 line dampeners Kinetic recovery rope Tow straps Fast fid rope (rope splicing tool) Gloves (we use gloves at all times, I have had to recover someone's finger off a trail to the hospital/assist with a Member that accidentally spliced their finger too) Hand-held GMRS radio Well-functioning winch/winch controller/free pull available & synthetic line

Just a regular shovel. it is used to remove sand from under the car. Mine is AOR extendable shovel. I disassemble it into 3 pices and store it in the bag with ropes. I find it nice and tidy. While it is not large but it does work most of the times. Ideally you want to get one with a long handle so that you can reach underneath the car from all directions.

hi @RiadJL each scenario is different, tag me if you're joining next Iftar Bowl drive and will be happy to check your various configuration. But please go through these first before jumping to diff lock: 1. Lower your psi. I had trouble climbing some parts of Lady Dune, but was able to climb after deflating all tires to 10 psi. Of course if you don't have thick sidewalls, safest is to stick to 12 psi (now you have a reason to get taller tires that have "70" or "75" in the middle like 265/70/17) 2. Try in 4Lo but higher gears (e.g. 4Lo + 3rd gear or 4Lo + 4th gear). This will give you lots of torque but also some speed. 3. If you're tires are jumping in the air and the terrain is bumpy, you need firmer shocks (which is perfect for offroad and bumps but too stiff for daily driving). 4. If 1+2+3 above are done but still "no power", you can try Center Diff Lock only 5. If 1+2+3+4 above are done and still "no power", allow me to drive your car. 6. If 1-5 are done and still "no power", let's discuss buying another car

Thanks @Zed. Indeed I have checked that sand mode (4H) does engage rear difflock right away. Can turn it off and keep it off. 4L does not automatically switch it on.. 4L becomes manual on and off. Given your descriptions above.. think maybe the 'sand mode' ( 4H + diff lock ) is aimed at american baja type flat sand desert driving rather than up and over of dunes.... ie lots of drifting on fairly level ground. yeah the cresting whilst turning over it @Julien Recan left me thinking about this all weekend.

Thank you @Gaurav and @Vijay Vaidya, looking forward to it. One of the reasons they close certain terrains or trails is due to the public not being aware of Tread Lightly principles. Happy to pass on knowledge I've learned over the years. We conduct 9 hours of guide work in the mountains to teach Members to grow and develop leadership skills under pressure. I have found it's the best way to grow the offroad community, and keep Members safe. Until then... I'll keep roaming around this forum, just got full access. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Dear Jerome, Thank you for organising such an exhilarating & safe drive on Saturday. While crossing the 'blue Jeep' bowl brought back fond memories of my old blue Jeep Wrangler. I'm also grateful for giving me the opportunity to sweep the convoy. It was an interesting experience. Looking forward to our next drive. Thank you to all the fellow drivers for the support. Thank you for capturing and sharing the exciting moments.

Cool videos man! I'm downloading these Frans.. hope no copyright

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yoPwGEYVgBNZwNt66 Whole crew doing some more sidies with a lot of sand splash at the end

Welcome to your first Fewbie drive @Martin M and @RiadJL. You and the rest of the convoy drove well. Looking back every now and again we were mostly evenly spaced out and moving nicely. Here is a Relive video of our drive. https://www.relive.cc/view/vXOdXPeBAkO It was driving with you again @Simon D @Sunil Mathew and @Cha. See below drive stats

Hello everyone .. quick update for tomorrow .. I have bad news and good news My car was going through suspension service and was supposed to be done on Thursday.. due to multiple factors this got extended and it’s unlikely that they will be able to finish and test it today. The good news is the drive is still on thanks to @Looper who will be taking the lead for this drive. Wish you all a fun and safe drive and looking forward for driving with you soon.

Congrats @Looper heres to 50 more!

someone put @Looper in Fred's hall of fame already. The man deserves it hahaha.

He is a data scientist. Well done @Looper. Keep inspiring all of us with your drives, route, data and beautiful videos.

Interesting… What you are saying is that you were able to hear me but not the guys at the back; while I was able to hear what they are saying. I could often hear and understand their displeasure with my radio 😝. It could be some kind of solar flair interaction with our radios. @Simon D would you like to weigh in?

Congratulations @Frederic118 for reaching the Fewbie Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. FEWBIE Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 5 Newbie drives are required within last 3 months for Fewbie promotion. What you'll learn Basic dune and sand reading Self-recovery techniques Shoveling at right place Crawling out of difficult situations Blip Blip - Coordinate steering and gas control Basic side sloping and hill climb Basic ridge riding and criss crossing Basic control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving Ability to manage stuck/refusals with radio Learn to control and avoid fishtailing Never fight or challenge gravity Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Presence of mind and attention to detail Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie and Fewbie drives Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

Great. This is what I was looking for. Thanks for the insight!

I have following. Bag 1 - 1 kinetic rope, 2 soft shackles and an extendable shovel that I keep in one toolbag. Bag 2. It’s a Amazon Basics tool back pack. In this I have sets of compbination spanner’s, screw drivers, wrench set, adjustable wrench, ratcheting wrench different types of tapes, epoxy etc. a mechanics kit if you will. Bag 3. with air hose, air nozzle blow gun, air pressure gauge. Gloves. Bag 4 This is used for long duration drives, (where I go for overnight camping + drives) this kit is not a camping kit but has ancillary items I would need for emergencies or general purpose use, This kit includes garbage bags, heavy duty zip ties of different sizes, some paper towels, flag suction cup. Portable air pressure kit. Fluids (wd40, coolant, some engine oil), vacuum and some other items. 2.5 ton Jack, Jack Board and water bottle. one flag, 2 rechargeable radios. One torch light. a cool bag with water and energy drinks and some cool drinks. Action camera kit + mounts & dslr

Hello, Moving to Dubai in a couple of months, and with that anticipation, looking to find a new home in the offroad community. I have 8 years of experience and volunteer as a Trail Guide to assist others and build their knowledge. Most of my experience is rock-like terrain, therefore dunes will be a new adrenaline rush. Looking to meet new people and make some friends in the industry, eventually get into racing... Since Dubai will be new to me... any recommendations on where to start?

Yeah, I get the feeling it's the shocks. Looking to upgrade soon.. Will try out 1+2 next time I'm down there Don't think the car's the problem - probably the driver 🤪

Hi @TheGuardianJLU welcome to Carnity and its off-road club, I am sure you will enjoy it here in Dubai, as it offers great outdoor exploration with varied terrain around the country. Desert and sand experience is a lot less intense than rock-crawling but equally exciting and filled with adrenaline and a lot more forgiving than mountains. UAE has more sand and less of mountains now, as most rocky-terrains are either restricted or converted to sedan-friendly drive. We do host overlanding and mountain scenic drives occasionally, where you can enjoy the home-like feel and also we can learn more from your vast experience heading the Nova Jeepers (nicely organized club).

Hi Andrei, Sorry to hear that. I would suggest once you do your research and tap into @Luke K P's experience, book a test drive to get a real feel of the car as this is only thing that will either keep you going in the same direction or look for something else. I personally think that there is no vehicle like it in today's market. it is a Jeep 392 and a Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro, combined in one truck (Coincidentally the only two vehicles In my wishlist). Best of luck!

Thanks @Simon D @Sunil Mathew & @Cha for a great drive. Lots of technical terrain and some side sloping practice while avoiding the abnormal vegetation caused by the recent rain The whole convoy did very well with only a few minor refusals. Great to meet you all Great S/L again @Emanuel See you all again soon

Outch , that must be devastating . hopefully you will get it soon

Hey @Looper. Nice to see you on yet another drive. Fred leading this time so he can muzzle your ferocious lead pace haha. Could you please bring me one of your Looper stickers. I wan-... Need. One.

front diff grinding sound can be caused by half-locked solenoid... so he's onto something. Nonetheless the leak is also something to address (and fast) regardless of the root cause of the problem there...

It looks will be very interesting drive.

Hey mate. Just recently changed from pajero to ranger raptor. It's definately ready to go out of the box. Rated very good on the @Gauravscale of power to weight for desert play. Great clearance. Suspension is unbelievable when off road (and on) My only issues at the moment are trying to find most comfortable driving mode in sand. I find that the baja mode holds the throttle a bit longer than you would expect when you take the foot off (to keep the turbos spooled).... Might just take more getting used to. Rear end can feel a little loose as there is very little weight over the rear wheels. So I've noticed a bit of changes to my driving style. Using Baja suspension mode, 4H, sand mode with full time rear diff lock enaganed, ESC turned off seems to be the sweet spot for me. 'Off-road cruise' set to 2kph with front and rear diff lock engaged will automatically crawl you out of any refusals allowing you to focusing on just getting wheel angles right and turning left right to clear sand. Let the truck handle the blip blip. Spent a weekend just making stucks to play recovery and was greatly impressed. Only upgrades required is a thicker bash plate to cover the engine and trans as the factory one is like 2.5mm aluminium. Price point to power and features I think U get a very compelling package compared to the offerings in other truck brands and the jeeps. let me know if you want more info or anything cheers mate.