@sreejith-chengazhassery
Officer Cadet
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Joe, I think the best way to prolong the compressor’s life is what you did. Rig it up with an air cylinder and keep the compressor within the air conditioned environment of the car. 😉
I’m surprised you didn’t mention it ;;)
Hi Denis,
Some people are lucky with compressors from Dragon Mart, but some are not. Please buy a branded compressor from ACE. Even if it’s a compact one – which may take longer to inflate – it’s worth the trouble and investment.
If you can afford it, go for a Bushranger. Fills up fast and – I think – it’s covered by warranty.
BTW, please tell me how the 2.7L engine performs on the drive. I’m considering a Hilux pickup as an offroad toy and your feedback will be valuable.
Cheers,
Sreejith
“No go” in my humble opinion. Landrovers are quite capable vehicles, but not quite suited to the hot climate of Arabian deserts. In addition to that, they require more frequent maintenance interventions, which are more expensive than Japanese cars.
Personally, I’d recommend the following options, assuming you’re looking for an economical used car. These are quite trouble-free cars and need very little modification to start driving in the desert.
1. Mitsubishi Pajero (short wheel base is better, 3.8 litre)
2. Toyota Fortuner (4 litre)
3. Nissan Xterra
4. Toyota FJ Cruiser
5. Toyota Prado (4 litre)If you like visiting a garage once a month or so, check out the following options too.
1. Jeep Wrangler (preferably short wheel base)
2. Jeep Grand Cherokee (the boxy models, not the recent jellybean-shaped ones)
3. Dodge Durango (older models)I love Landrovers myself and I may buy a Defender someday for offroad use and Range Rover for family use, but only after establishing my own garage :-*
Thank you very much Duncan.
Special thanks to Saif, Joe and Humayun for having guided me appropriately at DO drives.
Please confirm Dinner at the Camp registrations,
1. Humayoon + 8 guests + 3 children
2. Ahmad Pervez + 3
3. Matthews
4. Vijay + 1
5. asharafkc
6. Saif Khan
7. Asem Ahmed
8. Razik
9. Saj
10. chughtai
11. Chrisp
12. Sreejith Chengazhassery + 1 adult + 1 child
2 drives with Dubai Offroaders so far. This will be the 3rd drive.
quote anandrajant:Hi friends, Need your expert opinion on above subject. Most of you are aware that I have recently lifted my Landcruiser. Few of DO members suggested to use wheel spacers to have a better stability of car. Another option would be using wider wheels. I need your expert opinion on which one is better, spacers or wider wheel :-\ ?Hi Anand,
I’m pretty new to Desert Driving. But, have used a lifted pre-2008 Landcruiser extensively at Oil & Gas project sites. Although you LC looks very different from the pre-2008 models, the engineering effort that goes into a Toyota is unmatched and it should still be stable after a small lift. And I have seen your vehicle at a previous drive. Personally, I don’t think you’ve lifted it too much to cause discomfort during driving. I didn’t even recognise it as a lifted vehicle.
If you don’t feel excessive body roll or imbalance, I would personally recommend that you don’t need to do any more modifications.
Personally, I would never modify a Japanese/Korean/German vehicle.
My two cents (or should I say my 25 fils? 🙂 )
Regards,
Sreejith
… your 3-year old son asks you if Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen have 4H to go off-road.
… your 8-year old daughter is upset that there’s no “small gear” in the Corolla and that father is partial towards his Patrol.
… your wife sweeps and mops the house only on Saturday morning, as she knows that a load of sand will be dumped on Friday evening.
… you have a separate medium-size trolley suitcase for your recovery tools and they are always packed and ready to go.
… you promise yourself every month that you’ll do only one desert trip in the month and break it every time.
… the staff at ACE, ARB and Ramy start identifying you by your first name.
… you talk about the mountain roads of Musandam when people talk about the dhow cruise and dolphins.
… you try to explain the benefits of crawl control to your colleague who owns a Porsche Cayenne and he rolls his eyes thinking “this guy is crazy”.
… you look down upon bumper skirts/fairings/city bumpers on SUVs. 🙂
Considering I’m quite new to offroading, my list is not as exhaustive as most of the ones here. But these are the things I have.
1. Trolley jack, 2 ton – 1
2. Bottle jack, standard issued by Nissan – 1
3. Wooden base plate for jack – 1
4. Tyre deflators – 2 (1 requiring pin removal, 1 without)
5. Pressure guage – 2 (1 standard Nissan issue, 1 extra)
6. Air compressor – 1
7. Puncture repair kit – 1 (don’t know how to use it yet)
8. Shackles – 2
9. Snatch strap – 1
10. Foldable showel – 1
12. Jumper cable – 1
13. Tyre valve pins – 2
14. Radio – 1
Dear friends,
This was my first dune-bashing experience. Thanks a lot to Sajid for organising this trip (although I didn’t get to meet him). Thanks to Saif and the other marshals for all the guidance and support provided. Looking forward to the next opportunity to offroad with you all again.
Cheers,
Sreejith
