Solgere OTR with the Bangalore Jeepers on 24th August 2008

[rippergeo]

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

Cutting a tree stump with swiss knife??
Hmm, Rambo would get a complex.

this must have taken a wee bit longer than 2 minutes!

[Irfanulla]

Wow ! nice place for OTR and probably hovercrafting in the river too!

superb! - Jammy next time I will always call you on fridays - let me know if I can accompany for any one of the weekend drives.

RGDS
Irfan

[maddy42]

No updates? Still stuck on the Tree stump or what?

[DKG]

Those trails look inviting!!! Its this kind of exploring that I enjoy most about offroading. Being so close to nature, being with like minded friends lovely way to spend a weekend. Great going guys.

PS I think a small 12v DC chain saw is a must for those stump eventualities

[aquamaverick]

Sorry for the delay guys. Will finish the rest of the posts by tonight. Please bear with me.

[Lukeskywalker]

PS I think a small 12v DC chain saw is a must for those stump eventualities

I've seen JLR safari jeep drivers carry a machete under their seats for such eventualities. At Kgudi, I had the opportunity of seeing it being used to clear a tree fall.

[aquamaverick]

Sorry for the delay guys.

Coming back to the OTR, After scouting for a bit, the guys decided to cut the small tree stump lest it do any harm to the underparts of the vehicles. The plan was to drive between the 2 trees and come out ahead of the fallen tree.
Some more photos of Mukund cutting the tree stump.





Took nearly 10 minutes to cut the tree stump after which Jammy (MM440) took the wheels of the Gypsy.
While negotiating around the trees to bypass the fallen trees, the gypsy sild down a big stone which was hidden by some grass and slid down and got stuck b/w 2 trees with no option of either going forward or backward without damaging the body.









We tried to use the available manpower to push the gypsy away from the tree stumps.





Finally it was time to get the tow cables and tow chain out in order to try to use the tree on the LHS of the Gypsy and use it to shift the Gypsy to the left so as to free the rear end of the Gypsy.

Anand attaching the tow chains and cable to Shahnawaz's gypsy. Finally we decided to use my MM540 to do the honours of the towing.

[DirtyDan]

Tough spot. I see you got the Gypsy out of there. Painting and denting now needed or no?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

Tough spot. I see you got the Gypsy out of there. Painting and denting now needed or no?

That's a different Gypsy, the one and only with diff lockers.

[maddy42]

One small tip i have here.
When you want to push a vehicle like that it is easier to first push the vehicle downwards and when the suspension pushes back to then push the vehicle sidewards. Try it out. We once did it with an ambi in a hotels parking lot in mysore

Trip seems to be getting better

[DirtyDan]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That's a different Gypsy, the one and only with diff lockers.

Yeah, I know Mr. No Doors from other threads. (He drives too fast, as I recall.)

In America "tree huggers" are ecology freaks. You guys I think just like trees. In the pictures I see 2 guys pushing on trees. Didn't anybody tell them to push on the Gypsy?

ANyway, was your recovery effort successful or did you scuff up the ole Gypsy a bit?

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

... In the pictures I see 2 guys pushing on trees. Didn't anybody tell them to push on the Gypsy?

That was also tried. the Gypsy was stuck in way that it could NOT be pushed with available manpower :-(

ANyway, was your recovery effort successful or did you scuff up the ole Gypsy a bit?

No scuffing/dents/paint loss. just minor bruises on the rear wheel arch. All part of a days work

[aquamaverick]

I agree with Shahnawaz. Mukund's (Ragpicker) gypsy was stuck in such a way, if he tried to reverst without turning the steering, he would scrape the body of the gypsy and the roll cage would hit the tree, if he tried to go forward he would still damage the body as the other tree was also wedged near his front right wheel, if he tried to turn the steering th the left and then reverse, the front right wheel would get wedged against the first tree there by preventing it from moving back. So the only available option was to use the tree on the LHS of the gypsy and use the tow chains and cables attached to the MM540 to shift the gypsy to the left. [i think i have done a real poor job explaining this]

Shahnawaz (Khan_Sultan), Jammy (MM440), Ragpicker (Mukund) please explain in a better way.

PS. i have the whole recovery of the Gypsy caught on video which i have been trying to upload using youtube but no success. Right now i am uploading the video on google. Will post the link once processing is complete.

[aquamaverick]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

That was also tried. the Gypsy was stuck in way that it could NOT be pushed with available manpower :-(

That is true. We were short handed and also i must admit i was more keen on taking the video rather than lend them a helping hand. But i did yell out some words of encouragement though.

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by aquamaverick

... Right now i am uploading the video on google. Will post the link once processing is complete.

That's correct explanation karthik.

BTW, when will you post rest of the story, elephant chase, food etc.. If you don;t do it soon, it will be time for the next OTR and you wouldn;t have finished this post man.

Hurry up man.

Cheers,