ChrisW

The artefacts have been recovered. We can close the file on this anomaly. For now.

The biggest variable in getting stuck is probably me! The most common cause of my stucks is basically being too ambitious in the moment. Once you have a feel for your car and some time on the sand, you often have a gut feeling for whether a manoeuvre is going to work or not - and this is usually quick judgement based on a combination of speed/momentum, slope and condition of the ground, and the direction you’re going to steer in. The times I get stuck are usually when I ignore that gut feeling and press on. The other major factor is fatigue and alertness. If I find myself getting complacent while driving (letting myself get distracted with some menu on the car dashboard or basically not giving all of my attention to the driving), that’s a great signal to drink some water, sit up straight in the seat and turn the focus back on. Most of my “incidents” in the desert have been attributable to this. Very, very rarely my car will surprise me and be the cause of getting stuck. The Jeep JL can in some unusual circumstances disengage 4H and fall back to 2H but not tell you. Whilst confusing it’s obvious when this has happened - the car fishtails readily and at low speed will usually just dig in at the back and halt you in your tracks.

I was sure we’d driven through here before, but no record on my Garmin…it’s like a half remembered dream now.

Really good fun - and I can’t say much more than that! Safe, considerate and fun driving from everyone. A proper Carnity drive.

Got some good footage of the side-slope practice too…

It turned out quite nicely @Rajiv Sam!

…is it who can do the best Sean Connery impression on the radio?

Morning @Ale Vallecchi - just wanted to confirm that this is the meeting point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/82PXCJd1v8omJxru5?g_st=ipc

Congrats @Mike M. - looks like that lighting modification you had in mind (beacon going straight up) could be useful after all! 😂

Great news @Imran Asghar, congrats - looking forward to you sharing your enthusiasm with Carnity drivers new and old!

Great news @Mark B - look forward to seeing the Gladiator leading the way!

@Steve Farmer Just noticed your picture in the gallery…those cameras are a right of passage! I have a very similar photo of my old Jeep…

So it’s been about six months since installing the ARB brushless compressor and I thought I’d follow up with a longer-term review. Basic summary is…great performance but it is fussier than the old-school ARB twin compressor! Pros: Great performance - it is roughly 50% faster than the brushed twin compressor, and in combination with the ARB pressure control I always have very accurately inflated tyres. Simpler wiring and install - the wiring loom is a bit simpler than the previous install, and the quick release mount makes it easier if you need to pop the compressor out to get access, clean etc. No more randomly popped fuses! The electrical setup and fusing seems a bit more reliable. Longer-Term Lessons: It’s a lot more temperature sensitive! I have the compressor mounted in the rear cubby which isn’t very well ventilated. The brushed compressor would soldier on regardless, but the brushless has throttled itself back a few times due to the heat (it beeps a certain number of times to communicate error messages). I’ve since added some venting and remote air intakes (so it draws in cooler air from inside the cabin), and all is well. The flip side to this is that it’s also smart enough to protect itself - which should pay off in time. The increased cost vs quicker inflation is still in my view marginal. It was an interesting project but if you already have a brushed compressor I wouldn’t prioritise this modification. So all in all…great performance, good install and smarter operation…but it will need some careful thought on installation location given our hot weather conditions.

Thanks to @Luke K P and @Davie Smooth_Operator for putting your heads together and working out a drive for us all today! A nice prompt start in the cool air this morning got us away well, with the convoy soon warming up to a good flow. A nice mix of terrains, with some longer open dunes to stretch our driving and engine revs on, and then some tighter more technical patches. Some great skills on show today - good convoy discipline, helpful radio work and everyone managed to self recover without any dramas. I think we also exited at just the right moment - good call, Luke…and thank you for the karak!

Thanks again @GauravSoni, I enjoyed the session - both as a skills refresh on driving technical dunes at a consistent pace, and I got to learn and practice some further recovery techniques. Thanks for taking the time to talk me through a few of them. Good work from the convoy. We had an interesting mix of issues…soft sand, some good and proper sticks and a few technical issues. Everyone kept cool, followed directions and up a good team spirit.

Congrats @Krinesh - it’s been a pleasure driving with you and seeing you learn how to pilot that Raptor round the desert. I hope you enjoy the next level and the new variety of driving styles and terrains you’ll get to try out.

Great work @Diego, hope you enjoy the continuing journey of gaining experience and having fun!

Hey @Frederic - looking forward to this one! Just wanted to double double check the meet point - which side of the fence line are we deflating?

I think the items that @Zed mentions above are worth prioritising to check first. They’re much more likely sources of a burning smell.

It’s not something I’ve experienced - I’m running 35” BFG K02’s on beadlocks. I usually run 8 PSI, although the K02’s have stiff sidewalls. If you’ve got a burning smell there must be some sustained friction occurring somewhere. The only places that come to mind are if there’s some sort of tyre rotation on the rim (which would indicate the beadlock rim is not tight enough), or if there’s tyres are flexing enough to contact the car somewhere (eg rubbing against a liner). One way to test if it’s due to the tyre being overdeflated and the sidewalls flexing too much would be to do a drive with slightly more pressure and see if that changes anything. Maybe the sidewalls of that particular tyre are not suited to running at a low pressure. The other easy thing to check is the torque of the beadlock bolts. Those do need checking periodically (I usually do it every six weeks or so). It doesn’t need much torque, maybe 20 lbf, but they do loosen slowly over time.

Great work @Sam Selim, very well deserved - and recognises both your ability to apply the techniques you have learned and your willingness to proactively help out on our drives. Well done, looking forward to doing the higher level drives with you.