Rahimdad

Most modern cars end up looking similar, so more love for this design. Kindly of love the old school box shaped vehicles.

@Gaurav bhai, i replaced the gear oil and filter original about a month back. @Fuad thank you for your feedback. @desertdude thank you for the information. I will go to a gear specialist this Saturday and get it evaluated. Any idea if in the rebuild only sprag clutch will be replaced or it will be a complete rebuild. Sorry for being so naive.

This started about 3 months back, but the recent experience is what has got me thinking I need the experts advise. My Nissan pathfinder 2001 R50 automatic when started in the morning would give a delay of 3 - 4 seconds after putting it in D to engage into gear. It seemed a bit strange but when I showed to a garage they told me to drive it on and when the gear is completely gone they would replace it with one from the scrap. But when i started it up this Friday morning for our off-road drive and put it to D the gear just would not bite, when put into reverse it was fine, so I tried the 1st gear and it engaged instantly, slowly I shifted to 2nd gear and only on the highway i put it to D. The drive was smooth as if nothing was wrong. This has been happening since and I have to start from the 1st, than 2nd and lastly D and it drives smooth. Upon showing to one of the garage they have told me the rubbers and seals inside the gearbox are gone and so the oil is not holding the pressure. Although the garage knew of people driving with similar issue for about 3 years before changing the gearbox, the person was driving on-road and never tok his car off-road. I am a bit worried as with the season at hand I would not like to loose my car on one of the long drives. Besides I have seen and incident with a bad gearbox that I would not like to repeat again. There are only 2 solutions to this problem as per the garage. The first solution is to buy from scrap which is going to cost about AED 2000/- for the gear and another AED 500/- for their labour, oil, etc. This comes with a 5 day guaranty. The other solution is to rebuild the gear box, which means the gear needs to be opened and all seals and worn out parts replaced, the complete cost of this with labour is coming to AED 1500/- with a claim that the garage does only automatic gearbox and are really good at it, in addition to their claim they are going to give me a warranty of 1 month. I am tempted to rebuild the gear, what do you guys do if you are in my place? Thanking you in advance for all your advise and any alternate solutions.

Congratulations @Jeepie. Amazing sense of adventure and lovely stories about the Enfield. I have to admit that I'm not a bike person, but love the stories you share.

Thanks for sharing @Shamil bhai, surely this will help a lot of people who want to modify their rides.

Make sure you wrap the baby well and carry warm cloths as it get extremely chilly. @tjsingh great to have you onboard, welcome.

Just hope your heart will go on after singing such a song.

I recently saw a news about a painting with nothing but a banana stuck with a duct tape going for more price than a Tesla Cybertruck. Wouldn't want to crash into this piece of art.

Kindly add your photos on the Gallery.

Thank you @Wrangeld for your kind words sir. You inspired me with your write up. This way we all improve in off roading and written English. Long live the Queen.

Thanks @Roshan Abraham for your kind words. @Wrangeld you always leave me falling to the floor laughing and totally impressed with your writing skills as much as I enjoy you driving up the dunes. Trip Report - So it was a chilly morning, I wore my jacket to the meeting point declaring winter has started in UAE. Even Superman feels cold, hahaha. The best part was even though @Shamil's son was not feeling well, he messaged me that he was going to be delayed, but reached in good time along with @Srikumar who also got slightly delayed. Unfortunately @AKR was going to bring his father to the drive, but since he was about 25 minutes delayed beyond the start point he volunteered to stay back and join us next time. This meant we had 6 cars only but 8 drivers as couple of our cars carry a spare driver. On the way to the deflation point we decided to enter Khatim instead of Mahafiz. Once we reached there was a sign that read "Do not approach", with some small print saying "Sharjah Police Headquarters" so taking it as Do not approach Sharjah Police headquarters I was under pressure from the word go to have no incidents on the way as we were not allowed to approach Sharjah Police HQ. After a brief brief and convoy numbering we were off. Within the first 200 meters we had a couple of refusals and a pop-out. I was very pleased to see @Shamil taking the lead to prepare to fix the pop-out, it is great to see on his first attempt he got 99% things correct and needed just a 1% change of jack angle to lift the car and start something that was just not supposed to be sorted on the day. Everybody was patient and we continuously tied different angles and approach to fix the pop-out with @Shamil on the forefront to help out in anyway he could. With one last attempt from @Srikumar and myself it was decided to change the tire. The spare was not that big an issue, however removing the tire meant we needed an allen key to get to the nuts, however with the stock lug wrench would not reach the nuts due to its thickness. At this point I had to look at my overly loaded truck bed to eventually find something that would fit. From here it took almost no time to remove the tire and replace it with the spare. The spare was a bit smaller, but that would not bother us in the desert and worked out well, except it kept leaking air, so after every half an hour it would go from 15 PSI to 12 PSI and we would have to refill it. The drive from this point seemed like a breeze as we quickly reached the top of Fossil Rocks with another team of off-roaders waiting around for some reason. We accessed the area and decided the best way was to go straight down. With a quick brief we had 3 cars take on the wild stuff, while the other 3 decided to go around the Fossil Rocks. After I came down half way to access the ever changing slip face of Fossil Rocks, @Shamil was next to go all the way down to be sure all was clear for @Wrangeld. @Emmanuel, @Roshan Abraham and @Srikumar in the meantime came around the corner to meet us up o our way to Faya. Upon checking with @Jeepie she was like that was not scary at all. Earlier in the day I learned that she was into Enfield bikes and got to meet a group at the meeting point while she was wearing the T-Shirt. Having been in off-road situations on a heavy bike must have hardened her not to feel scared coming down the Fossil Rock slip face the fist time. It was now play time and we started to move to Faya. There were excellent opportunities to play around and we quickly reached Faya with very little delays in form of a couple of refusals, but everyone was absolutely amazing at reaching on top of Faya from the back side. The distant tree giving shade was going to be our resting point to have a quick bite and discussion before we were off for our final session. So as we sat around and feasted on some well deserved breakfast, the thought of the last part occupied our minds. For the first time in Carnity history it took us lesser time to pack up the stuff than it took us for the setup. Before I could even get into my car all were ready with their engines roaring and ready to go. With another inflation for @Roshan Abraham with the help of @Shamil bhai we were off to the base of Faya. Everybody had their turns and enjoyed it a lot, but unfortunately none of us were able to conquer Faya from the front face, I think mainly due to some nasty bumps just where you are supposed to gain momentum. With Friday Prayer time close at hand I decided to quickly head to the Masjid in Mahafiz with a fast paced off-road section close to the road just in case we got held up. As we headed closer to teh Mahafiz area I was tempted by one lovely large dune and decided to go over it instead of around it as I knew the Masjid was about 2 minuted ride from the other side. However as everybody manged well and to a certain point, on the top I found the hard way that it was all large rocks on the other side, which meant I had to self recover by reversing with the utmost precision to make it back with the group. Once down we headed back to the track around the dune and heard the Azaan go off. What a time to end the drive and get the Muslims to prayers in the nick of time. The drive ended with our usual warm hugs with a promise to meet again in the ever challenging dunes. All in all I was very happy to have a bunch a wonderful people around me full of energy, smiles and the will to keep going. Above all it gave me great pleasure to see the growth in @Shamil who is now taking on the role of a reliable help at hand when you need him. until we meet again it farewell and take care.

I agree with most of those, but Trail Blazer and Yaris seems like this guy has a vendetta against them, even I had a Discovery for 5 years and with all the trouble it gave me it got me places and I loved the drive even though it was almost 20 years old. I remember with my Disco i once broke the gear and it still drove me home and next day to the garage, plus the change of entire gear with the one I used till the day i sold it costed me less than a Toyota Corolla gear replacement.

Absolutely love the company, the music, sitting around a bonfire telling stories and jokes with no rush to get anywhere and the most joyous part is being able to see all the fireworks from a distance without getting into traffic jams and running into idiots. Its a bit chilly, so I do recommend to carry a jacket and warm cloths just in case.

@Xaf I like Ken Block, anyone who has pent time in an art and perfected it I am a big fan. Having said that I like these stunts in a controlled environment and not the crazy people out on the roads risking peoples life and limbs. I am also a big fan of Dodge and their Demon, love the way it takes off on the start. the Charger for some reason is my favourite ride. Some day insha Allah. I just can't get myself to do these stunts, just like watching them.

This change is looking great, looks as futuristic as the vehicle its on.

My favourite show and my favourite theme song. Now I'll have this stuck in my head throughout the day.

Not sure what acc stands for but the Hyundai Kona is available at the Hyundai showrooms in UAE. The sole agent is Juma Al Majid. They have showrooms on Sheikh Zayed Road and opposite Mitsubishi showroom in Deira on Itihad Road.

Congratulation @Frederic. You have made a very special place in our hearts from the time you joined our Carnity family. You are very helpful in nature, don't shy away from hard labour and still carry a huge smile and some witty remarks. You and your little blue dune tearing machine have proved that by putting the instructions to good practice you can conquer any dune. With your sweet nature you've put several smiles on each one of our lives. Thank you for being you.

Congratulation @tjsingh. I have loved your attitude from day one. Always smiling and ready to learn and put into practice the art of sand driving. The improvement you have shown with your confidence level and managing some difficult sections with very precise driving, having a big car has been really good so far. Welcome to the next level where you will be trained and groom to take on more difficult terrain and at a slightly faster pace. looking forward to many more drives with you.

Congratulations @adildbx bhai. I am really impressed with your recent drives and how well you have picked up the art of off-roading. Needless to say I love the drive videos you have been posting and enjoy your company on the drives. I have seen at times you are getting carried away, just need a little more patience from you if you would like to succeed to the next level.

Congratulations @Xaf. I have been watching you over the past 2 drives very closely and I am very proud of the way you have grown in confidence and seems like you and your machine have taken a liking to this terrain. Your learning curve has been so amazing that I have seen you improve a manuevre in one drive, same was noticed and pointed out to me by @Jamy B. as well. Welcome to the Intermediate club, the real fun starts now.