Sunil Mathew

Congrats Jaro @Jaro Tuzinsky!! Tough luck..your first IM is going to be technical ??? 😀

1 hour ago, Varun Mehndiratta said:

Good position to test the new tyres. 

Yup!!! 😃 tested at 14 and 13 psi , last weekend and mid week drives, will be testing lower pressures tomorrow 🤞🤞

thanks for the midweek evening drive @M.Seidam, It was great to join one of your drives after an offrading break of more than 2 months, given that this was a first FB+ drive for me on my current car as well

Good to drive with all of you and meet again @Fabien Monleau @Ignacio Quindós  @Mohammad Anwar and @Hisham Masaad

Good job on your first FB+ @Ahmad Nerat, I was driving behind you, and i can say you did really well, handling that LC boat of yours. Little bit of fishtailing here and there will be sorted out soon , as you do more of these level drives. As you indicated during the drive, see if you need a bumper trim/change, as this will come handy when traversing technical areas

Happy Bday @Gaurav, wish you many more!! 

18 hours ago, Varun Mehndiratta said:

day didn’t roll out positive for you

Yes, indeed @Varun Mehndiratta, it didnt. 🙂

A tyre shop gave me couple of temporary replacement tyres (used), in place of 4 of my tyres (Yoko Geos) removed from my previous car, which the shop guys "lost" for some unknown reason. It was a stop gap arrangement until they could locate my tyres. I saw the treads of these tyres before they put them on , but did not get a good look at the beads, as it was stacked one above another , and higher than our eye levels. Yesterday, I directly went to them and had it removed, and found that the beads were damaged/torn at couple of places. Looks like the previous owner was using them on bead locks and took some heavy beating. So thats it -  bad beads;  i was deflated to 12psi, and the beads were not holding on to the rims as it should have, lost air, ended up flat with a semi pop out, which is why we could not fill the air back , They put the tyre back, with that paste thingy, and it held perfectly at 35psi - no leaks.

Now negotiating with the shop for a solution and aiming to sort out before the holiday drives 🤞🤞

Thanks for all the help and patience in sorting this out and installing my spare tyre - @Varun Mehndiratta, @Looper, @Mehmet Volga, @george charbel and sorry to keep you waiting and partially ruining your morning  - @Juan R  @premindra rajaram, @Sebb

Am sure @Looper must have made up for it by taking you through a fantastic drive, making the best of what was remaining of your precious saturday morning !!

5 hours ago, Looper said:

not Black Fortuner.

Updating now 😁🙏

Removing myself @Varun Mehndiratta, i have an opportunity to drive at Sweihan with a group of friends same day and time, ...so looking at the WL, i think i should ease up the competition and  give some respite to @Simon D

Lets see if our convoys cross each other 😀

Hi @Benjamin, i have hurricane shocks with 20 point adjustable, remote reservoirs on my Fortuner, got it fitted in October '22 after i broke the stock ones on a Sweihan drive... so far, i am perfectly happy with what it can do..

i was a bit budget conscious when i wanted to upgrade, and this one fit my bill perfectly after hearing some good reviews from some of my friends...stopping here, lest the post crosses the line and becomes a brand promotion 😀

great drive, as usual @Hisham Masaad, redemption achieved , except for @Ranjan Das 🙂

@Imteeaz ..just recalled that you had an insta mounted...any interesting shots of the fortuner 😉 ? i was driving behind you

@Ishak @Dodi Syahdar

Adding my 2 cents to the discussion, eventhough i was not able to participate in this epic recovery. Had to be home by late evening , as family had planned something assuming my attendance

2 hours ago, Hisham Masaad said:

he winch line should have been hooked to the raptor through the pulley. The snatch block reversed and connected to the wrangler.

if pulling force multiplication was our intention , above was how it should have been rigged, as @Hisham Masaad mentioned

The way it is rigged in the photo, only serves to re-direct the pull, and not mulitply it. The static line is to be connected to the pulled load (wrangler) , and the pulling lines should be maximum parallel to each other for 2x multiplication.  

Any other included angle would only reduce the resultant force on the static line, reaching 1x at 90degree included angle. hope i am not being too technical here.

In such case, when pulling line/winch line moves 1mtr, snatch block moves 0.5 mtr only

Also, snatch block rating should be twice winch pull 

10 hours ago, GauravSoni said:

Please ensure that your mean machines are in top condition

the machine underwent some checks yesterday, and couple of cracked lower arm bushes being replaced now...gearing up to be in top condition!!

10 hours ago, GauravSoni said:

avoid long drive on Saturday morning

i will be halting at a modest Airbnb at Madinat Zayed, Friday evening and will drive down to the meeting point (1hr+ drive). not much of a camping guy  , although i am getting all the camping gear sorted for the overnight desert halt, which will be my first camping experience , praying, i dont miss anything 🙂

11 minutes ago, Srikumar said:

Just noticed that Google maps was acting up (again)

yes, it was taking me to Al Quo street inside Abu Dhabi city, when i tried from PC, but the phone seemed to give the right location. Anyway, now its good in PC and phone, both - at least for me  ..

Thank you @Rizwanm2 @Mehmet Volga, i confirm attendance tomorrow

Congrats @Waqas Parvez!! .. ..looking forward to drive with you in your new role..👍

Congrats @Gerrit Bus, a Gladiator at IM - could be a historical first 😀...looking forward to see you in your new level!!

Congrats bro!! @GauravSoni, another Pajero Marshal!! No mean feat !!🤘👍👍

Congratulations @Ashutosh Garg... see u on IM drives !!

Congrats @Salim Akhtar..c u on IM drives soon!!

Happy birthday Fred @Frederic, hope you have a blast !!

Congrats @ASAD., see you soon 

Congrats @Fabien Monleau!!

Congrats Bro @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler