Frederic

I thoroughly enjoyed this drive and i am extremely thankful to the crew for giving me the opportunity to take the lead for a little while. As i was still using my GPS with a straight waypoint line "as the crow flies" towards the Big Red, @Gaurav had to give me extra some extra instructions as he had much more detailed routes stored in his MotionX, and has so much experience in this terrain in general. Thanks buddy !! The last 5-6 drives i've been recording the trips in both Gaia and MotionX and that will definitely help me in the future to have more recorded waypoints. The scariest part for me was not really the driving in lead, but because it became very windy, the shifting sand on top of the dune made it almost impossible to see what was on the other side when we were crossing or cutting the ridge. I'll also need to experiment a bit and try to point the offroad lights a bit more pointing upwards. As i was lacking a bit in sleep last couple of days, towards the end of the drive i became a bit more groggy and grumpy and probably that's why i started burning up my clutch. It's strange how sometimes very simple and clear things can become so foggy when you're tired. My apologies for that mishap. @Shamil you are a humble, gentle, and patient Offroader and i can imagine it felt a bit sour that you had to exit, but your positive attitude and accepting that it was better to exit shows what a great team player you are. Glad to see you got it sorted so soon @Srikumar boy did i enjoy that lead of yours, like i mentioned the pace and rhythm was like a John Coltrane record....Smooth... @shadow79 whenever you're around, adventures aren't far away. But i mean that in a very very good way. Keep up the fine work buddy ! @Rahimdad as always our brightest star in the deserts of Arabia..... That Karak Chai hits the right spot every time 😂

Won't make it on this one as my family is flying back into Dubai Thursday. No more bachelor fun 🤣

The guaranteed minimum value that they will give for your car will be ridiculously low, considering that they have to keep a safety margin based on the cars condition, prepping the car for selling through their own second hand branches, and make a buck on it. I have seen a very similar thing in Europe called 1–2-3 contract on brands like Opel and a few others. I took this deal on one of my first cars and after three years they gave me a laughable low price to take over my car, for reasons described above, although the car was in pristine condition. Ended up keeping the car and paying off the remaining balance myself.

Doesn’t your windows fog up more now ?

Just for clarification: This is a tow hitch: and this is a tow hook:

Both have 2 different functionalities. Can you elaborate a bit on why you ask this ? * A tow hook is a point that is used to "tow" your vehicle. It is also being used to recover your vehicle. * A tow hitch allows a car to pull a load, like a trailer, or something else. It also makes for a good and strong recovery point. If you are referring to recovery use only, then in both cases it will rely on how it is installed. a decent tow hitch will be connected to the chassis of the car on more than 1 bolting point, while a tow hook is in most cases just bolted onto one side of the car. Hence for recovery the tow hitch would be stronger and better in load distribution.

I bought a 2008 3.8 LWB for 18kAED in January. Needed a little bit of TLC but is technically perfect now and just done the 200,000kms major maintenance. Only meant as family car and for some camping and mall crawling. I understand your concern about having a toy car for camping and going offroad. But be aware that cars +15y old will need a lot of TLC and money thrown into it. You could be exposed to a 5-6 kAED bill at any given time. A clean decent 4800 Patrol that hasn't seen much desert is gonna cost you, and the locals are hunting these cars down too. However i love these cars and would love to own one, they are gonna cost you more than your existing Pajero i am afraid. My proposal to you would be to use your Pajero to learn the basic offroading skills and see where it takes you. By that time (5-6 months) you will probably understand more what you are really looking for in that weekend/toy car. The 3.8 is a capable offroader.

Like inspector Gadget

Hahahahahahaha you're right buddy it's a Gen1 😂 Joke's on me now

The only steering wheel designed for Jeep that works:

@Gaurav With a radio Engineer on board we can finally have a chat about all our two-way radio concerns ! Welcome to the club @Adel Muradov !

Who comes up with these sorts of things ? Must be a Chinese / Japanese thing. The rooftop tents are pretty expensive but popular in the overlanding community. Also safer if you go camping in areas with dangerous animals around you.

And even good mechanics have it wrong sometimes on diagnosis, and that’s perfectly acceptable if there is transparent communication. I used to repair electronics and when I had a customer that brought me a 50y old amplifier that had some intermittent issues like crackling sounds and unstable volume, I’d go for a capacitor replacement and clean out of all potmeters, although this MIGHT not have been the main culprit but it’s the most likely one and you want to exclude it out of your diagnosis. Same might sometimes occur for a car that gives weird noises and when looking underneath there are 15 things that might be the culprit. We need to start somewhere and hope that the gut feeling and experience weighs through. If you’re happy with your mechanic, then you’ll accept that he’s only human too and that a clear communication and mutual respect goes a long way.

If i would have a workshop here in UAE, i would give probably give no guarantees either on most of the works which involve clunk/tok sounds. I've been reading the Google reviews of many workshops in Dubai and it is sometimes shocking to see the testimonials from both the workshops and the customers with so many misunderstandings between each other. In UAE it goes like this: "Sir, 6 months back you changed my engine oil, but now my AC is not working !!! you clearly did something wrong and i will write bad reviews about you on Google and tell all my friends what a sh*tty shop you are running !! I was in a gas-station workshop with my Pajero a few weeks back just to get my battery checked. As this station is working on a first come first serve basis , the lady at the desk told me that i had to wait for my turn which i did and after 90mins it was my turn which i accepted without issue. They helped me out and did not charge anything and apologized for the longer waiting time. During that time a guy in a Mercedes SL500 drove into the shop and asked for an immediate repair of his tyre because it was losing a bit of air. The lady who runs the place told him in a friendly way that on weekends it tends to get busy and he would need to wait for his turn. The guy started shouting at the lady like a maniac and other customers had to intervene. Have a look at the Google reviews on car workshops where you also see so many unreasonable requests of customers that want to be treated like a king but treat the workshop staff like cr*p. I remember one example of a guy that went to the workshop with his own aftermarket parts that he wanted to get installed on his car but he wanted it immediately and did not allow the workshop to first do the prior inspection and service report documentation. Ok my rant is over, but i am just trying to give a supporting hand to the hard working mechanics who toil in grease in sweat every day and are getting shout at for things which are not their fault. YES there are many many unreliable guys in this business but i try to follow my gut feeling and actively go on the floor and talk to the mechanics and show interest.

Hahahaha no need for a heatgun in that case 😂

Gilette...the best a windshield can get... Probably a heat gun to make the glue loose, and then an old creditcard or cutter blade. That should do the trick.

I would try the shaving method: * Take a Stanley cutter knife and remove the blade, make sure the glue is hot or heated up it should come off easier. Then put on some gloves and by sliding / shaving over the windshield in a 45° angle you should be able to remove the glue. Just imagine you're working in a barber shop

Rubber boot is also meant to keep dust and sand from entering the unit.

Nail polish remover. or just give it a few days it will start peeling off..

Won't this shop be appointed by your insurance company ?

Now Superman is really back ! As I mentioned this was for me one of the best drives I’ve had in the club so far. The terrain was challenging at times, but thanks to the experienced convoy and great lead, we had very little stucks and refusals. The pace and rhythm was good at all times and the atmosphere was as usual unique. Closing off at the lakes with some great Karak Chai, fantastic samosas, and some chit chat, I drove home with a big smile on my face and crashed happily onto my couch. See you soon back in the sandbox !