Jefy

1 minute ago, Gaurav said:

Thanks @Xaf for good point of consideration.

Were you in dunes and/or in a pocket or on a flat surface with bit of sand?

Technical part between Al Qudra and Solar Park, in a small pocket.

Yes, I could have shovelled myself out, but my friend said, just try this. Not too much gas, controlled self recovery (with the Maxtrax). He said, I am not going to sweat if it is not necessary. 
 

Congratulations Mels! 

I had a look at different models and tried them from a friend and I liked them.

First, there is a big quality difference between the one from Ace and the real Maxtrax. If you want something that works and still usable after 1 time usage, you should go for the Maxtrax. It is more rigid, it can handle the load.

The reason why you don't see them in a club environment in my opinion:

- Expensive
- You are with a group, always somebody to help you with a rope or whatever.

The Matrax is ideal for overlanding, or solo off-roading. I came once in a nasty situation where I digged myself in with my rear wheels. After shovelling for 10 minutes and trying to get out, my friend offered his Maxtrax. What a blessing I can tell you. 

Don't be biased because you don't see them in a club environment.

@Javier,

I would like to commit, but I realize I have a have a standby.

Will notify short notice.

Xaf

6 hours ago, Jorge Stepniak Felippe said:

Hi Xaf,

My model is different from the video you shared so I am not sure the type of difflock I have. When I am in the desert I turn off the DSC (dynamic stability control) to gain more traction. I got crested last time and needed a fellow member help to pull me out  

Which engine do you have?

1 hour ago, Najeeb Mohammed said:

I have never used it, but yes it does have a rear difflock but not sure how to engage etc. i shall try next drive. 

This is your homework for your next drive;
- Read page 187 till 190 please

- 196 till 199 is also interesting.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM35A88U/pdf/OM35A88U.pdf#page187

1 hour ago, Jorge Stepniak Felippe said:

I have a Land Rover LR4 2015 model

Hi Jorge,

I went quickly in the specs of your car, they come with different trims.

As I understand, they come standard with a central difflock, that is only engaging if you go out of the normal highway mode. See below link.

Then there is a trim that comes with a rear difflock. 
 

does yours come with a rear difflock?

4 hours ago, Najeeb Mohammed said:

Mine is FJ extreme 2020 model

Do you have difflocks? I think you have a rear difflock. The switch is at your rear mirror.

Have you ever engaged it? 

Trying to catch up with you, hope to see you on one of the drives again.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Vanessa!

Congratulations!

Congratulations Mr Ajman!

Congratulations!

Congratulations !

@Lucky sAm @Jorge Stepniak Felippe @Najeeb Mohammed

Can you please tell me which model, year and trim your car is? I need to learn more about cars and the available options.

Do you have a rear difflock?

Thanks.

I want to sign up! 🤪

20 hours ago, RohanH said:

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. It is really helpful and it is always good to learn from your experience. 

May be I was trying to convince myself that I can use the same car but now it is very clear to have other vehicle for off roading in sand. 

I will look for budget, some bargain deals and off course current ongoing scenario's. Till then have to use the existing one.

 

Probably your intuition is telling you something. Follow your intuition, you will not regret it.

Quick summary from yesterdays drive. 

Everybody was on time (thank you for that), except myself. Yes I showed up at 16:00, but with the preparation I need, I should come earlier. My apologies for that.

It rained a few days before, that made the area forgiving. You've seen territory on the second half of the drive that normally during this time of the year is reserved for fewbie+ levels.

Saw many smiles and I hope you all enjoyed it. 

As a general feedback:
- Javier has mentioned it on the radio as well. Keep a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, but don't make the distance too long. This is to avoid splitting of the convoy.
- Radio communication, be prepared to answer the radio. It does not have to be in a split second, but in a reasonable time. Don't talk on the radio during a manoeuvre, but cruising on the sand, you should be able to handle it.

Thanks for the drive, till the next time!

Xaf
 

Yes, second car for off-roading is preferable, especially when your work/ family depends on it. Like others mentioned before, for 12k you will not be ready due to maintenance/ upgrades whatever.

I would do the other way around. Keep the Pajero for off-roading and buy a second car for daily/ family use. Nice Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla. 

congrats Matti!

Matti in Dutch slang means friend

LED lights, much more complicated as we think.

2D till 8D nowadays, watt, amperes, Lumens, colours (white/ amber), Driving, Flood, Spots, Curved/ Straight.

Brands, The higher end brands> €€€€, you pay for reliability, newest technology and compatibility. In a Baja race, the last thing you want, is that a light stops working. This what you pay for. 

Curved LED bars are in general more expensive than straight bars. (more expensive to fabricate).

Colour, amber gives better visibility in fog and dust, this is why you see most of the Can-ams on Thursday and Friday evening in Badayer with amber lights.

Lenses, Diffuse, spots, driving/ combo, all different lenses to spread the light to your needs. A light of a certain amount of lumens can be bright for short distance, but won't work for long distances et vice versa.

Bars vs Spots, this is a preference, but with a few spots, you have the advantage of adjusting them to your needs, you can play with different lenses. For example the inner ones for long distance and the outer ones for short distance (cornering). A perfect setup would be a bar in combination with spots.

So now comes my opinion. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of your auxiliary lights? 

- Is it for night drives in a group, or are you going to race a Baja, or maybe overlanding by yourself in the future? What I try to say with this, if your light stops working in a group, it will not be a big deal, you will get out of the desert safe. You could ask yourself if it is necessary to spend 4000 AED for a LED bar.
- Where can you mount your LED bar, do you want to integrate them in the grill, on the roof, hood, or maybe few spots in/ on the bumper.
- Look at other cars and ask other members where they got their LED lights and what they paid for it. Don't buy blind without any knowledge a bar. 
- There are bars with different lenses on the outside. If you don't want to go with a setup of a combination of spots and bars then this might be the bar for you. 

Welcome to the science of light.

8 hours ago, Tbone said:

Hi @Xaf it's good that you brought this up. Hope I'm not the inspiration for you to start this topic 😜. I had tried the above AOR suction cup and the Dragon Mart magnetic base ideas without any success (not to mention a loss of the magnetic base along with the flagpole at the end of a ride). Finally I heard about Marshal Motors garage through @Shamil that can custom make a mount according to the vehicle. Now my AOR flagpole fits there perfectly. It just costed me 100AED and one hour of my time. 

@Tero Vallas

I am sure when you visit this garage they will have a solution for you, just bring the lower part of the flag with you, so they know which thread size they have to make the adapter.

7 minutes ago, Tero Vallas said:

I am driving Prado (2020) without roof rails. Any good ideas to fix the flag to Prado ?

There are multiple ways, beautiful solutions and not so, like Desertdude said. 

I am not familiar with the Prado, but you might have an option to mount a flag mount at one of your rear lights when you open your tailgate.

@Kalahari, which setup do you have for your flag? So far as I remember yours never fell off.

15 minutes ago, Denizzalbayrak said:

I bought the same 2 piece flag pole from AOR. However I custom made this piece to a metal workshop free of charge. 24mm of widht was wide enough to slide in to roof rail. So I can directly fix the flag pole to this piece... I've tested it for almost 5 drives now. It is working quite well. 

Sorry I don't have a photo of final product right now but if someone needs it just let me know.   

Note: Ignore "Welded" note between nut and steel plate. I've decided that, it's not necessary.

 

Nice job, which metal work shop?