Niki

Lmao!!! I blame my kids (driving me nuts) and my age!! Sorry for the pointless post!

<<fixed 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️ >> pls delete this post I had the channel lock on (Symbol by the battery with a key displayed). removed that by holding down the # key @Frederic @Gaurav I have been using my Baofeng UV-5R since starting with the club (6 rides no issues). testing for tomorrow’s drive my unit is stuck on the channel I last used (2). The buttons when pressed make a sound to show they are functioning however none work? The menu button, a/s band, up-down buttons and all numbers do not seem to work. I have removed the battery and given it some time but still not allowing any keys to work. have you experienced this previous and is there a way to hard reset the device. It’s nice having a second radio so if I can get it working that would be great! @Ale Vallecchi I do have a spare radio so am all good for tomorrow so no troubles there. thanks in advance

@Ahab Shamaa you are the most dangerous kind of friend!! This started off as a thread to take a considered choice when spending AED for suspension and now you have my mind drifting to convert the FJ into a weekend car and buy another daily drive!!!!! Your profile needs to come with a warning! I will keep reminding myself I cannot buy another car ... and get my mind back to the feedback and advice from Gaurav

@Gaurav this is incredibly useful and needs to be pinned in the ‘advices’ section. Understandably it’s impossible to get such unbiased and experienced based guidance like this!! I have only skimmed the content and will likely have follow up questions ... which i hope others joining the thread also contribute to! .. knowing a spacer isn’t ‘bad’ I will come back to ask about leveling the FJ as it has the factory lean (lower at the front & slight drop to drivers side) massive thanks for taking the time to write this!! A lot for me to consider

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi! Looking forward to Saturday 🙏🏽

@Ale Vallecchi this will now be my first (only) drive of the weekend as I had to cancel my Friday slot and can only ride on a Saturday this week. Do let me know if I can make this drive. Thank you

@Asif Hussain I am now only able to drive on a Saturday and will miss my chance to drive with you for a first time and the special route planned! I will try and make it to a wait list for Saturday and look forward to a future chance to be led by you and experience Swehein

Hi @Ale Vallecchi pls can I be added to the wait list as a 2nd drive thanks

Well done @Ahab Shamaa your time away will give me the challenge to catch up and then be able to join more drives together!!

abundance of choice is the true first world problem. Preface: I am not planning upgrades NOW, i do however want to understand/educate and research independently so when i do spend on mods, its done with more confidence and without the influence of the garages keen to 'sell'. advice needed: How do you approach choosing a suspension upgrade for your car? at what point does spending more give limited returns (example would the additional spend to have a setup with remote reservoirs bring proportionate benefits) is a budget upgrade a false economy are there suspension brands that work better with certain car brands and if so, are there combination of suspension/car brand to avoid suspension considerations to be avoided (example a lift via a spacer isn't desirable?) is the adjustability of a set of shocks valuable i like the idea of being able to easily adjust for the regular tarmac drives and adjust for our weekend drives? however is it as easy and required? do you actually end up just keeping them at offroad setting and accept a bumpier ride after a while? I have a Toyota FJ Cruiser and have been advised and reading about the following setups - any of our forum members have any real world experiences with below? (i haven't listed the full specs, just the diameters but can share more if it helps. Kings Stage 3 2.5" remote Reservoir .....etc Radflo Stage 4 2.5" remote Reservoir .....etc OME BP51 .....etc Dobinsons 2.5" remote Reservoir .....etc Bilstein B8 6112 Bilstein B8 8112 remote Reservoir .....etc thanks in advance and i want to keep this thread relevant to any brand of car, so please feel free to share experiences with your own vehicle and setup even if not listed above.

For the January 2021 drives, below are the centers available via the SEHA app (search done 3/12/21). (city walk in dubai seems a nice option!)

Wow @Jeepie this felt like 2 drives worth of fun, learning and experiences!!! Thank you and the full convoy for making it so special! Cannot wait to get back out there with you all next week! Happy new year! I will add a few vids to the gallery later ... the drive was so involving that I didn’t get many pics or vids this time out

Happy new year my friend @Ahab Shamaa So nice knowing I am not the only one who has a family that are reluctant to camp (I have demands for AC, proper bathrooms, no bugs, room service!!! 🤣 ) again full disclosure I may have been the same as them only a few months back! cannot wait to see the back of those covid restriction and camp options open up soon.. will keep an eye open for those for sure.

Hi, A new year is about to welcome us all and I wanted to understand the protocols and interest for arranging a short (1night) camping trip. Is there a place on our site to track interest in arranging an overnight camping event? Are others looking for a chance to pair a drive with an overnight camp? full disclosure, I haven’t camped since I was 10yo and none of my family have a desire to camp (yet) so was hoping to find an opportunity to have such a trip done via our community and linked to a nice drive(s)? If theres enough interest I am certain we can make our Marshall’s motivated to make this real.

Shall we remind @DANIEL NOGUEIRA it is not about speed...... it is all about momentum and power/weight! 🥁 (I’ll get my coat !!! )

I kindly request on behalf of all the ‘fewbies’ to be re-routed to enjoy the battle royale to be played out 🇯🇵 Vs 🇺🇸 we will bring refreshment and snacks and a working computer/drone! @Ahab Shamaa Be kind to@DANIEL NOGUEIRA ... it was clear in his eyes last week he was seduced by the elegant, petite and graceful Toyota (sushi) so may be over compensating his love for American muscle (cheeseburger) 😀 have a safe and fun ride and look forward to making it to your levels soon!

@Ahab Shamaa leave it with me... safe travels and speedy return. When you get back all answers will be ready for 🙏🏽

@Mohamed Seidam thank you for sharing! This care for our cars I don’t believe is over the top and people like me, with zero mechanical skills or background, it helps us start building these new skills/competencies. I actually inspect the underside when I wash but will now need to look at the suspension parts you mentioned and learn what to look out for! Will hit up YouTube this evening to see what to spot and again appreciate you sharing your routine! I want a squeak free and cotton like ride forever also @Chaitanya D I cannot wait to become a 1/2 mechanic I will shake hands if I get to even 1/100 as today I am completely hopeless ... Again joining this community is more than just learning to drive Offroad it is helping add these mechanical self taught skills also

@Gaurav thank you for this guidance. @Ahab Shamaa see I wasn’t going crazy trying to make this puzzle fit ... having a service pack complicates all this as it’s a great idea for the regular services but now we condense certain maintenance works (oil etc) we need to now plan how and when to best use the service entitlement vs doing work in an independent. I’ll give the dealership a call in the new year and reply back here their recommendation and even quote for the oil etc. if you (or others) beat me to it ... please do post a reply here. isnt this community powerful! The above info isn’t easy to find via Google (or Bing ). Thank you again all that replied so far to this thread

@Ahab Shamaa I found it tricky getting true independent advice here in UAE as the few garages I visited were licensed to sell certain brands and therefore were biased to those. That’s one of the challenges in our market in that exclusive rights (subsidized stock) limit true independent garages so us giving true reviews can be a massive help! I am like @topgear on stock suspension and it’s been great as I am learning on these so any future upgrade I will really be in a position to appreciate the improvements. OME 51’s had a great and easy manual adjustment so within a minute you could move to softer rebound so Sat-Thursday we would have a really nice ride on the road and then a quick adjustment to firm things up and be ready for the desert. That said (I understand but need to confirm) the shocks cannot be rebuilt ... they have a 3 year warranty which helps but need to read up on >3 years what’s needed. Beauty of others like King/Fox etc is you can get them rebuilt and effectively like new annually/whenever so a bit more research to do for sure! In the new year I will start up that show and tell thread if others haven’t and do a bit of detective work to find out who on our drive had the OME 51s to encourage a quick review for our benefit we need to find something to talk about right... our cars are not breaking down that often so our community looks silent 🤣 ...

@topgear such a great community this and will do my part to make sure our FJC gang/band/group/rabble support each other as those xterra, Jeepers and Pajero group have! at present I am sharing little but getting a lot ... will pass that forward for the next FJC newbie! appreciate you sharing your maintenance schedule and the oil change every 5k! See you in 2021 I hope and I may start up a few more FJC threads as I had a peak into @Ahab Shamaa FJC trunk and the gear has me thinking we should do a FJC show and tell/gear review! I noticed with envy a four tire inflation rig, storage solution and I bet there’s even more in there. Also we had a few FJC on the RAK trip and I noticed my dream suspension setup (OME 51’s) so may find who that was for a true review!

@Ale Vallecchi @Wrangeld @Gaurav echo what all others shared... this was a really special drive! Anyone who didn’t get to join this drive do make sure to prioritise it when it opens up again. @Ahab Shamaa what a pleasure it was to finally meet and you are the soul of the drive! @Gaurav appreciate you trusting me in the #2 role (surprised even me) and it was a forgiving route so am glad the convoy didn’t need to rely on me to redirect @DANIEL NOGUEIRA your Japanese improved a lot and by the end of that drive you were almost fluent .. nice to meet you and we all heard how much you missed the v8 American muscle but you made us Toyota drivers proud this drive! @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ you are ‘father and son’ goals... I showed my boy your matching gear and he loved it! see you on the next ride... happy new year everyone and in the galaxy I have added @Gaurav having a play on virgin dunes, @Ahab Shamaa arriving fashionably late (Arab time some have told me) and a few views from the top of some stunning tricky dunes!