Sunil Mathew

Please put me on WL ...2nd drive

Congrats @darren thompson!!

Good job @Zixuan Huang - Charlie, Congratulations!!!

14 minutes ago, Frederic said:

3. At low speed, when turning the wheels to park or do low speed manoeuvres te car felt like stopping (like in the sand almost)
 

Never do this while 4H is engaged, the effect you’re describing is called differential lockup and can seriously damage the vehicle. 4H and 4L should only be tested on soft sand, never on tarmac.

Hi Fred, I believe there is no harm in moving back and forth in a straight line on tarmac in 4H or 4L?

because i did it while inspecting the car for buying 🙂

Excerpt from the owners manual for clarity/info

4H Position
This range locks the front and rear driveshafts together,
forcing the front and rear wheels to rotate at the same
speed. This range (4H) provides additional traction for
loose, slippery road surfaces and should not be used on
dry pavement.
The “4WD Indicator Light” (located in the instrument
cluster) will illuminate when the transfer case is shifted
into the 4H position.
N (Neutral) Position
This range disengages the front and rear driveshafts from
the powertrain. It is to be used for flat towing behind
another vehicle. Refer to “Recreational Towing” in “Starting
and Operating” for further information.
4L Position
This range locks the front and rear driveshafts together,
forcing the front and rear wheels to rotate at the same
speed. This range (4L) provides additional traction and
maximum pulling power for loose, slippery road surfaces
only. Do not exceed 25 mph (40 km/h).

As usual, @Anish S does not disappoint and i believe Murquab can be called his hometown now  and he can drive with eyes closed. I have been to many drives in the same area with him and learnt something new everytime, and today i was trying to get the approach angle right (again!!) , to get on ridges at lower speeds, and also experimenting with 2nd gear with AC/without AC etc on side slopes, resulting in some early exits, as i wanted to know how far i can go.

My car had some issues during a previous drive where it cuts off power and engine load reaches 100%, - put some injector cleaner , topped up coolant , and continuously  monitored engine load via OBD during the drive, and  no issues, thankfully.

Lot of ridge riding and criss crossings, to develop confidence in this maneuver, which i enjoyed.

On a lighter note.  this drive needs to be written in red letters, where both our seniors Anish and @Vanessa8580 got stuck , while we ducklings did not   , off course, they were showing us how to get stuck and demonstrating recovery procedures 😉😉....

Jokes apart, it was a great fun drive, thanks to our leads , @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil our permanent SL and @Russ at sweep.

 @Adhir Saxena @Charbel @Fabien Monleau @Chinthaka Ruwan @TT_Dubai @darren thompson @Paul Zeitoun , good to drive with you.

And ..have a great vacation @Vanessa8580

Hello @Enrico Biscaro, I drive a 2015 Sport (JKU - 4 door), bought it used with 54K on the ODO and stock condition , except for the rims  - they were changed to 17 inch from the Rubicon. I paid 79K for it, a little steep, yes, but for the low ODO and the general condition, i thought it was worth.

To answer your points from my experience of 4 months of ownership 🤞

1. Yes, the 4H is a little difficult to engage, as its a manual lever and no electronic gizmos there, but once you get the hang of it, it comes naturally. the 4L is even more difficult - even though the lever moves to position, the actual gears may not engage if you are not moving. The owners manual also recommends engaging 4L while moving at low speed of 5Km/h or something. So , when recovering from a stuck position, basically you are not moving and its a bit tricky to engage. Need to play around with the main transmission as well.

2. 4H does not feel wobbly at all, but if you tried taking a turn on tarmac, you will feel the resistance, as its not to be used where you have 100% traction. Maybe the tyres are worn out unevenly ?

3. not sure whats that. Car stopping  - do you mean the engine stalled? 

4. 👍👍 double thumbs up!!

5. As far as i know, Sahara and Sport do not come with a diff lock. Only the Rubicon has one. 

Hope this helps

19 hours ago, Hisham Masaad said:

without the need to go out for support except few

20 hours ago, Jeepie said:

 and one big dig,

So, thats me up there in those comments 😅 , with 2 longitudinal stucks  - along the length of the car, squatting on the ridge !! one needed shovelling + self recovery,  and the other one , i could self recover. The first one forced the whole convoy out of their cars, and all 7 shovels  around my car probably!!  🙂

 Dunes in Sharjah around the big red are always a bit challenging for me compared to those in Dubai , and this drive was no different. Thanks @Jeepie for the nice and challenging drive, yes , some crossings were a bar higher for me, but its a learning experience, and i got 2 good chances to practice self recovery, although at the expense of the convoy's drive time. @Hisham Masaad, as usual amazing and selfless support , joined by @Ranjan Das with his new Rubi and guidance over the radio.

@Alain Canivet-Abikhalilback in his SL suit 👍, and fyi my "stuck stats" if we can call it that  - 2 transverse crests and 2 longitudinal crests   in 22 drives, not bad eh ?? after all how do you learn to recover yourself , without getting stuck 😉

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie, @darren thompson  @Chris Wing our paths cross again, and thanks for your shovel time!!

Congrats @Ranjan Das

Hi @Vanessa8580,please WL me, 2nd drive

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!!

2 hours ago, Anish S said:

Hello @Sunil Mathew @luis mantecon @Zed ,

You have been added to the drive. Please confirm the same.

Thank you

Confirmed!