Rahimdad

Time to change your DP @Kalahari, Prado out and X in.

Congrats @Kalahari, pics please and more details, which model, how much driven and when can we expect to see you in the rough and tough X. Welcome to the Club X.

Great video, really enjoyed and stayed glued all the way. Thanks for sharing @Xaf

@Lorenzo Candelpergher not only are you a licensed drone pilot but also a wonderful videographer, really enjoyed the video which seemed more beautiful the the actual day itself. Even the edits are so nicely done that I cannot make out where the video cuts off and looks so seamless. I will request @Frederic to start the photo, video drone club to have experts like you give us all hints and tips to grow and better ourselves in this art which seems to beautiful when put together like this.

@Vanessa8580 so proud of you. I've been talking about off-roading to my wife for past 12 years now and she just wants me off her back. At times she gives me a cold shoulder. I am really impressed. Love your energy. I was just speaking to @Frederic the other day how both of you have so much energy and got married and still in love. He tells me your energy tires the kids out but not the love between you. Now it is clear to see you bring the same energy to tire us all out. Congratulation beautiful one.

Well done @Michael sammy. Agree with every word @Wrangeld has mentioned. Congratulations bro.

Congratulations @Foxtrot Oscar. Definitely a big improvement from the Montero days. Good to see so many ladies just as avid as the gents here. This is definitely turning out to be a good mix. Girls are just as impressive making progress towards the Marshal status. I've missed out on the action. Need to catch up with you @Foxtrot Oscar.

Congratulations @Shiju Manuel. Well done.

Congratulations @Lorenzo Candelpergher. I told you no surprises. You're are geared up and ready for the next level. I appreciated your first drive with us to the Pink Rocks area which we completed in record time. Just wanted to make sure you are just as capable in another terrain with different challenges. Well done bro.

Congratulations @siddharth maheshwari. Well done.

You are way better than me @Lorenzo Candelpergher, i have been in UAE since 1975 and have a driving license since 1994 but just started off-roading in 2008. Does this mean I am a bigger fool than you. There is a time and place for everything, your enthusiasm is well received and with great enthusiasm comes great power, and with great power comes great responsibility.

@Srikumar i had this problem with my Pathy. I took the key to the key maker in Sharjah and he opened to key to find out that the small chip connected to the metal part of the key had disconnected, after some super glue the key was back together and working fine now for the past year. Even if the battery is in good condition, if the key has been dropped the chip might disconnect from the metal part of the key which you insert in the key hole. Check with a key maker,or minutes, they should be able to sort out this problem.

Parts are available for both TJs and JKs, as Fuad said a 2004 or 2005 model in Pathfinder will be amazing. I would not recommend something where the engine has already changed. Sure its only done a 100k Kms after the change, but can you verify how much it had done before the change, it is not a brand new engine. Plus you do not know what type of job was carried out during replacing the engine. I would not buy someone elses headache and I will not be in a hurry. Dr @Chaitanya D was lucky to get a 2008 model X-Terra with less than 200k on the clock for a very good price. Keep your eyes open and don't feel like there is nothing around, surely something better will come along at a price which will be more acceptable to you. Check for something above your budget and try to bargain, UAE is a bargain market, don't be scared to try out the vehicle and if you like it offer a slightly lower price you can afford. That way you will have some space for bargaining up to the price you want to pay. If you really like the vehicle than don't be afraid to go a little over your budget as long as it satisfies you. Don't be afraid to walk away if you feel it is not worth it, you will be sure to find more. Tragedy in my life is whenever I have made the best deal possible and buy a car at what i think is a fair value, I see an ad placed for something similar at a lower price. All i can do is kick myself for having such bad luck. I bought my LR Disco 1998 model for AED 7500/- only after 2 days I saw one going for AED 6k pointed out by @desertdude, the Red one with the steel bumpers. I bought my Pathy for 10k and found one advertised within the same week for 8K. Although the difference is not much, but it is just my luck to get the short end of the stick.

@Wrangeld cannot thank you enough for your enthusiasm, efforts, support, intelligence which you bring to Carnity. Such a positive influence and very calculated and mature thinking along with the freedom with which you present your opinions. We highly appreciate your advise and points to improve and will definitely be trying to implement them on the coming drives. Moreover I would like to thank you for keeping with the Covid19 safety rules set by Carnity, but everytime I am inclined to hug you all again. We are waiting in anticipation for the day when it will be safe to give a hug again. I saw a plastic curtain with hand space from both sides used by some Canadians to give their loved ones the hug they deserve. Can anybody arrange for these, I would really like to use them on drives. I promise to be the old grandmother.

Thank you @Denizzalbayrak and @Salarios, we have had this in our works for some time now. With the Covid19 outbreak we have had some time to reflect on these ideas and we are definitely working on some of these projects now. Hopefully 2020 will be the bright side for us with a lot of plans to improve and use the existing channels to further give opportunity for great participating members like yourself help us to achieve these goals we have set for ourselves.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher thank you for bringing this to our notice. Our seniors have been very watchful and I am proud of the fact that they have recommended you for a promotion already and I totally agree with them. With your declaration of the number of drives you have done and your skill sets which prove that you are ready for the next level, you will hear the good news shortly. Once again thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience, we will not be able to surprise you any more.

Trip Report I know it is too late as @Wrangeld has already put his thoughts for this drive in words and that is a hard act to beat. I was excited just to be able to attend the drive after all the tough times I have had recently, and I was even more excited to maybe reach a bit early and have a little fun, but the Sharjah Police for some reason even after the curfew time had blocked the one road I was trying to use. They delayed me along with the few other cars trying to use the road, only after a little over 20 minutes did the cop car move and allow us through without a word exchanged, so really don't know what it was all about. This meant I was about 10 minutes late instead of my early arrival as anticipated. Kindly accept my sincere and humble apologies for delaying everybodies fun in this hot weather. Guilty as charged. As we were about to start it was brought to my attention that @andy_macdxb did not have a radio which put me in a difficult to send him back after having made it to the drive for safety reasons, however a quick help from @Mikhail Lukichev with his spare radio meant I was saved from this task. However keeping the Covid19 safety in mind I would appreciate it if everyone carries their own equipment, and in case of radios please take help if required to buy and set them before the drive to avoid any further delays. It is not advisable to share any equipment, food or drinks in these trying times, although this goes against everything we have been standing for in the club pre-Covid times. Once this Covid19 threat is eliminated we will be falling back to our nature of giving and sharing, but each one of us carries the responsibility to follow the Covid19 restrictions to their best. So thanks to @Srikumar for putting me in lead, I had @asifk as my second lead who did really well and the distance he maintained was perfect as he was not too close at any time and not far behind to loose me either. Behind him was @Janarthan who manged the whole drive with ease except for the last part, more dirt on that later in my report. @andy_macdxb was next followed by @Shiju Manuel and @Srikumar who was my centre forward. Than came @Jose Martin. @Szymon Stankiewicz, @Lorenzo Candelpergher, @Mikhail Lukichev, @sertac, @Nacho and swept by our very own @Jeepie. Since it has been over 2 months when I last lead a drive I started with some simple easy tracks to get used to the ups and downs of this terrain. Luckily this is one of my favourite terrains and once in I can lead a newbie, fewbie and at time an intermediate drive also. Just love this place, maybe not as much as Sweihan or Liwa or any tracks laced on the Al Ain highway, but you get the point. As I picked up the pace through the second part everyone kept up and since it was getting too quite I turned to our first play area. I was surprised to see everyone do so well, my pick of the day on the play area would be @asifk who managed to do it twice, as per my understanding it was his first time to do a sidey, he manged it nicely, not to high, not too low and well controlled at all times, he never seemed to be hassled by the maneuver. My second pick of the day goes to @Szymon Stankiewicz as with his Mitsubishi Montero sport he manged it so well, 10 extra points for him driving his Montero sport like that. Moving on we managed to reach to the power lines, from here things got interesting. We had a refusal and a pop-out which was well managed by @Srikumar and @Wrangeld. later we had some refusal in the same area so I made an alternate path, Everybody made it through and soon we had reached and crossed the power lines. As mentioned by @Wrangeld the dunes became more challenging all the way to the base of Fossil Rocks, but once everybody had crossed the difficult section everybody reached the top of Fossil Rocks to enjoy the serene atmosphere on top, With a quick brief we were descending the Fossil Rocks one by one with @Wrangeld to keep the traffic moving at the right pace. To my surprise I saw 3 beautiful ladies hiking down Fossil Rock on foot in what was already a hot day, as I reached the bottom I sparked a conversation with them and discovered they were air hostesses from Emirates Airline. As I appreciated them for the hike down in the heat, they were surprised how our cars could come down that way. One of them was interested in joining and buying vehicle suitable for light off-roading, camping and some beach trips. She has taken my number and I am waiting for her to call or Whatsapp me in order to suggest her to join Carnity. My only concern was with @andy_macdxb coming down as it seemed too fast and uncontrolled at times, I would highly recommend you to please understand your vehicle better. When i checked you were in 4 HLLC instead of 4 LLLC. Heading out after everyone had made it safely to the bottom there was a blaring on the radio to continue by playing on the left for 10 minutes. Against my better judgement the true off-roader took over and checking with @Srikumar I accepted the proposal. After a few tries the inevitable happened. This is the time to dig on dirt which I had spoken out earlier in my intro. @Janarthan in the H3 made it almost half way and took a sharp U-turn hitting the bump in the dune at the bottom, this resulted in a bent facial and a pop-out. Since it was in deep soft sand and in a slight slanting position we had to back him up slowly to a flat ground. As @Wrangeld mentioned it had popped out from both the exterior and the interior rim so our first part in trying was unsuccessful. Soon @Srikumar did what Gaurav bhai would have done, he removed the stem from the tire valve, kicked the tire till it was really soft and cleaned the rim from both the front and the back. He connected the most powerful air compressor and within 2 minutes it had popped in from the front first and within seconds the rear part also came on. Since we were going to drive on a track we left it inflated at 25 psi. This was the most comfortable part which lead us to the closest road, this prompted us to remove the flags before touching the road. As we hit the road we slowly drove to the Adnoc pump and started inflating to head back home. It was time to say good bye with a lot of gratitude to all for adding to this exciting trip and everyone is looking for their next adventure off-road. Such positive energy from all levels gives us extreme strength to carry on. Until next time I bid you farewell.

@paolo dassi you have hit the nail on the head. Well done. There is no alternate to option, it does not matter how many class room style courses we put you through or how much we write about the does and don'ts of the trade, but experience is what will make you a better driver while off-roading. You will have your share of refusals and stucks, it is what you take from each one. Over time you will understand yourself, your driving habits and how your car reacts in each situation better and start enjoying this sport completely. Remember like every human being, every vehicle has its own different ways to react, when the driver and the car start gelling well, that is when like @Frederic would put it is everything will start following a rhythm. I am happy that your spirit is in the right direction to learn and help, our situation will not last, but as long as your spirits are high and you have the right intentions, you will grow very quickly in this sport.

The PM option is only for the higher ranked members, you can always upgrade your membership to the higher level on the next renewal if you require that option. Seems like you are not aware of the options available on Carnity. Very naughty.

Congrats on your new X Dr @Chaitanya D.

It's the Pajero pre 2000 thing. You'll never get it.

After losing several flags and suction cups from Dragon Mart I finally decided to make better arrangement. I have finally done something cheap and works week after week for as less as AED 50. I have simply found a flag pole with a screw end which resembles the ones found in Dragon Mart, so pretty light. Than I found a Makhrata or a turning workshop in Sharjah Industrial Area. I made them bend aluminium plate of 6 inch thickness with a cut at one end to fit the space which connects my boot door on top, the hinge. Then I made them weld a nut to the bend side so that I could fix the screw from the flag in the nut. Spray painted it for protection and Walla, within 30 minutes done cheaply and works remarkable well.

Plan not to be discussed on a public forum. Only vehicle which will do the trick.