Sunil Mathew

hI @Jeepie, Pls put me on WL - 2nd drive

Thank you @Brette for the wonderful drive. Your initial briefing said that the drive would be slow as the wind was playing spoil sport and there were lot of soft patches. This gave me some solace as it was 2 weeks since my last drive as I skipped drives last week and was already feeling a bit rusty 😀, plus it was my first fewbie second lead. The drive turned out to be a great one with a right mix of everything. I need to apologise to the rest of the convoy, as I had multiple refusals due to my car cutting off power, I had my OBD scanner connected full time during the drive and saw that during short steep climbs , my engine load was reaching 100% which obviously would result in power cut offs. Coolant temperatures were fine and never went above 110 degC. did a google search and it seems there are plenty of reasons why this happens, and not sure where to start 😃..will keep this under observation good driving with you guys @Miguel Codes - thanks for the advices, @Zixuan Huang - Charlie - our paths cross again , @Abdul Rafay-S, @darren thompson, @Paul Zeitoun thanks @Shaaz Sha for sweeping the convoy, the drive report and the encouraging words on my second lead Looking forward and coming back for more!!!

Well done..Lakshmi @Lakshmi Narasimhan...hope to see you as Advisor soon !!

Happy birthday Ale.. 100 drives and a birthday coming together!!! Wish you many more.. @Ale Vallecchi

Hi @Islam Soliman, i am also dropping out due to some personal engagements which came up.. i removed myself from rsvp list (my first drop out since joining the club 😪) hope you get your car sorted soon and we do the Bambi Hunt some time later 🤙

Congrats @Chinthaka Ruwan

Congrats @Chris Wing

Just to add here... I have insurance with AXA, its called Motor Perfect Link to handbook can be found here https://online.axa-gulf.com/cmsfiles/Motor Perfect T&C_UAE_EN.pdf Refer Page 19 of 36 - Off Road Cover h. Off Road Cover If You have a comprehensive Policy, Your Policy is extended to cover loss or damage to the Insured Vehicle whilst being driven off road. PROVIDED THAT: i. YOUR CAR HAS FOUR WHEEL DRIVE CAPABILITY ii. YOU ARE NOT PARTICIPATING IN A COMPETITIVE EVENT OR RACE OF ANY KIND I double checked and triple checked with my broker and they repeatedly said there is no limiting clause. Until , we actually make a claim, i am really not sure what these guys will come up with

are you sure its the sand ? connect the compressor and blow some compressed air thru those gaps probably ? If we remove those allen bolts, will you get better access to blow out the sand?

Hi @Jason Grima, Just directing you to other threads on the forums, in case you did not read already, lot of pointers in these Eventhough Jeep appears to be the brand owned by max people within the club, our Jeep forum is comparatively inactive, wrt Xterra and Pajeros, not sure why ..probably because not many leads/marshals drive jeeps these threads are not exactly a comparison between body lift and suspension lift, but address the question of whether or not to lift, and when to lift etc. to an extent

Congrats @Zed

Congrats @Nihal17

Congrats @PaoloMaraziti, lets have some FB+ videos from you in the forum now..

Hello Zed, i hope you are testing this first on normal roads, probably with some stints of hard acceleration ? As the suction picks up at high revs , it should not collapse, or come off its securing end and roll up in the middle ? just some loud thinking.

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi, for the drive lead with lot of learning opportunities especially w.r.t ridge riding approaches, exit , speed etc. Key takeaways for me as learning : 1. Choose the best approach angle to get on a ridge , this may not be the track taken by the previous car, due to various reasons - weight, wheelbase etc. 2. Once you are close to the crest, never steer up a ridge sharply, when both set of your wheels are on same side of the ridge. Try to ride "square on the ridge" as @Ale Vallecchiputs it, at least for some distance, before exiting. 3. You dont need to be too fast on a ridge - need to be just fast enough to crawl and probably a bit more , for a smooth exit and also to avoid banging the cars belly on broken ridges/ridges with ripples on the crest. These are better said than done, and i need to get this perfect with more practice. Off course, yesterdays ride had its share of bad luck with one of the ridges proving unlucky for @luis mantecon, and we are happy that you are safe , and at the same time wish that you sort out the car to get it back on its legs, and to see you back in the desert with extra enthusiasm!! @Hisham Masaad , Carnity's Mr.Q as @PaoloMaraziti named him 🙂, demonstrated his brilliance yet again with strong support with the recovery, advices for refusals and what not. Seeing Hisham with his fully gadgetized FJ, in the convoy gives a sense of confidence nowadays!! Kudos to all fellow drivers, i bet at least some of us are "shaken" but not stirred 🙂.... lets take this as a learning experience and let the lessons learnt be engraved or etched firmly in our brains to help our future, split second decisions in the desert!! Looking forward and coming back for more!!

Confirmed!

Enjoy your vacation 🙂.. hope you have some good adventurous drives !!! Lot of places to visit in my bucket list and Jordan is one of them 🙂... Will have detailed discussions once you return, ...just being keen on the experiences of fellow wranglerinos !!!

Car issue sorted @Marwan Haddad ?? i remember you mentioning fuel pump issue, and loss of power during our last drive

Hi @Anish S pls add me to WL, 2ND drive

Was a great drive @Anish S, with the support of @jodha singh shekhawat and @Brette, and our 2L @Chris Wing This was my second time in Big Red, and i gained confidence in tackling the area. The last time i drove here was with @Islam Soliman and i had my share of refusals, and also had an element of fear within me , seeing the high dunes and soft sand, I remember Islam, having to re-route through another approach as i could not get over a ridge after multiple attempts. Thankfully, i was able to experiment with the tiptronic this time with more confidence and timing of shifts Hope Charlie @Zixuan Huang - Charlie fixes his car soon and joins us back next week. Another point worth mentioning as a feedback - i was able to witness and observe , challenging self recoveries by @Brette, not once , but 2 times when he was stuck in a soft sand pocket and at a very awkward angle in one instance. It was absolutely a visual treat seeing the techniques - and with the JGC without a proper diff lock, i presume?? I was so intently watching , that i forgot to take a video which would have been a good reference for posterity!!! On one instance, everyone was sure that some shovelling is required and i saw Anish and Jodha already out with their shovels moving towards Brettes car, but before they could reach, he was out Relive link - https://www.relive.cc/view/v1vjDR5eoJ6 not many photos, as hands were on the wheel for most of the time !!

why 2 weeks ? taking a summer break ? lot of convoys will miss you in 2L

Haha...all standard templates and music from iMovie...nothing deliberate

Thanks to @Anish S and @Gaurav Soni for leading and supporting the drive, and our permanent 2L @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil . Not to forget the ever present @Veedooshee and her guidance for the recovery we had. We had a short convoy of 7 cars, and we rode in radio silence for most of the drive, except for the occasional admiration of the scenery around by @Gaurav Soni and some very minor refusals/re-attempts. And then came the game changer towards the end of the drive with a stuck by @Anoop Nair, which took some time with couple of cycles of shovelling and tugging. For me it was an afternoon and evening well spent , away from work midweek 1. I got to use my shovel for the first time 😀👍, and see from close quarters, a how @Carnity leads handle recoveries, 2. We got an unexpected 1.5 hrs of night drive as a bonus 👍👍 3. I was experimenting with the idea of "2500 rpm challenge/concept" put forward by Richard @Wrangeld on one of the coming weekend drives in my own way keeping an eye on the tacho, which was a real eye opener for me. Come to think of it, i realized that all these days i was unnecessarily pushing the car through long side slopes and was unable to sustain/control the car for longer distances. As the route chosen by Anish was a blend of technical and longer sideys , i got to practise this aspect and got a feel of slower and controlled riding as well, instead of just dashing through dune sides and hurtling down uncontrollaby when exiting the side slope. More fine tuning required here, but i expect to get it right with practise. At one point, while getting on the ridge and exiting , i lost my judgement due to the wind blowing on top of the crest making it difficult to see the shape of the crest and see the ridge exit point taken by the cars in front, This caused some fishtailing and slow down , which resulted in a refusal for @Ben84. Reminiscing the chit chat sessions with Ben regarding the Terraflex shocks and lift kits he had installed. @Marwan Haddad was driving in front of me without any issues. 👍👍 Here is a video i created, tinkering with the iMovie in the Iphone, not something great but just a fun activity during some free time i got using some standard trailer templates. Excuse the quality and focus ..planning to install a dashcam later

5 Wranglers and all 4 doors 😀 flanked by the Pajeros !!!

Congrats @Yawa..so now you are even with @WaYan 😄