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-   -   Offroading into the Clouds at Choma Kunda-Coorg (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-excursions/42612-offroading-into-clouds-choma-kunda-coorg-4.html)

Great photos. Nice adventure you guys had there.

@khan_sultan: how did your gypsy come through these two days? any problems?
would a carb 410W/413W come through

NIP- that video was awesome!!!!clap:
I believe its the 1st time I've used the word "awesome" in a written sentence.

Mainly they were saying that the correct usage of the term "Jeep" is to be really applied to only United States Army jeeps that were invented in WWII, and their civilian "Jeep" brand derivitives, and to Mahindra clones built via license with Willys Overland, the Stateside company that made the model called "Jeep". Here, anything large and rugged, a suv, is generically called a jeep such as a Sumo or an Armada in India. This is not really correct, hence a Gypsy is not a jeep. Most members at Jeep Thrills will tell you it is a good vehicle but that it is not really a "jeep" in the strict sense of the term. They were not saying that it is inferior, at least most of them would not say this.

That must have been such a unique experience to drive up along that trail in rain. Fantastic. That really was torrential rain, could see rivulets gushing down along the trail tracks!

Lovely pictures in there Samu san!

Fantastic pictures of the trail. Inspiring for the rest of us! I'm sure your Jeep is proving to be worth every paisa of money that you've invested in it :)

That said, I'm beginning to tire a bit with this temperature going above 80/coolant overflow business. How do jeepers up north (delhi) handle it in summers then? GTO's classic rebuild seems to be free of that problem.

Amazing pics Samurai.

The scenary is simply breathtaking. Man I want to go there :)

My 1.3 MPFI King performed quite well -- no issues. I am sure a carb 410w/413W would come through Choma Kunda. It's not that tough, except for a small bad patch.

Regarding reliabilty of jeeps i have some thing to say-

1. New M&M jeep is fairly reliable and thats why they sell

2. Why old jeeps are unreliable? Thats because they are old:). Normally a jeep before sold to the second owner is driven to the last bolt. It is when it comes to a jeeper for his passion a jeep comes back to life.

3. Would a gypsy be as reliable after 40 years even after considering that owners drive them just half the No. of the kms that a M&M or willys would have done? It would not survive for 60 years for sure, which some willys and Ford jeeps have. Also if a gypsy is brought back to life will it be as reliable as it is now?

Maintenance of a vehicle depends on parts availability and its long history with previous owners. People like jammy are taking immense pain to maintain a petrol jeep which are about 40 years old and the recent jeep being about 25 years old.

Jeeps that are owned and maintained through out like that of GTO that run on original OEM parts are very reliable. I think u get the picture.:)

PS: New Mahindras are no patch on japaneese quality, but for sure they dont leave you high and dry when u need them.

Amazing pics Samurai... This Place is Heaven... Nice Adventure you guys had there...

I am glad you have a good example which stood you thru !

The question was purely because the two jeeps belonging to the restorer were either running on 3 cylinders or had some glitch or the other during the ascend. Even your jeep was overheating doing what jeeps are built to do.

I am not trashing jeeps. I just want to know if it is the age showing up in these machines for want of either newer parts or genuine reliable spares.

I do hope you have a long, passionate and trouble free experience with the JEEP.


Thanks Dan, for that point of view !
The way you put it made it sound just right.


Thank you too Vinod.
I think you both more than answered my questions.

I guess the reliablity of off-roading jeeps would be directly proportional to the money you put into it. Hence, if one could afford it I guess going in for a new Jeep would be the best option.

In which case you would not have issues with cylinders going bust or the engine over heating while putting it thru its paces, right ?!

Samurai: Great pics and excellent presentation !!
I don't know why you should doubt the capabilities of GV; GV is a proper 4x4 and not a fancy SUV like say CRV. I should admit that I have not driven a GV, but can recognize its capabilities.

-GT-, it is not that I doubt the ability of GV. It tends to get damaged and repairs can be very expensive. With the Jeep, anything can be fixed cheaply.

I am commenting on this thread after 9 years because we had recently been offroading into the clouds at Choma Kunda as well :D

Five jeeps from Mysore are at Virajpet on a rainy Sunday. We make our way towards Choma Kunda and catch up with Chethan from V5 offroaders after having to pack some snacks since we could not have a proper lunch as it was already past 12 PM.





With Chethan leading the way in his SPOA MM540, Muthanna's petrol Kaiser, Avinash's petrol MM550, Praveen's diesel Kaiser, Manu's brand new Thar DI and my Thar CRDe followed. After driving through the beautiful winding roads of Coorg, we reach a small stream crossing.



Once we went through that, we reached a slightly larger stream crossing where we all had fun going through.

Praveen's Diesel Kaiser going through


Avinash's Petrol MM550 going through


My Thar CRDe going through the stream


We went through it again while on the way back because it was so much fun with the steep exit now being the entry point. Here is the video of the same. Note that Muthanna's Petrol Kaiser does it in 2WD. But the exit is slushy and he shifts to 4WD then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IVDrwFebU

Waiting for the other jeeps to finish the stream crossing.


We then proceeded towards Kabbe hill and the fog made it look like it was a path to heaven.


The wet muddy trail starts from here and in no time the uphill ascent gets really steep. Manu decides to leave his brand new Thar DI behind and the remaining five jeeps march ahead. We then arrive at this steep incline which has steep mountain faces on either side and the route is full of big ruts and massive potholes filled with rainwater as it was continuously raining.

I think this is the same incline where one of the jeeps in Samurai's post got stuck.


Chethan proceeds to climb the complicated incline which has gotten very slippery due to the rain and gets stuck after one of the potholes was deeper than expected.


Chethan finally manages to climb the incline. The video link of the climb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_lgFlXCKTk

Next, Praveen gives it a shot with his diesel Kaiser by taking a slightly different approach. But he too gets stuck as the ruts and potholes are simply too deep for non-lifted jeeps.


Since the other route parallel to this was too risky since it was too close to the steep mountain face edge, we decided to use the wide rut between these trails as the line to go up. In case the jeep loses traction here climbing the incline and slips back, it would get its wheels stuck in the big rut and not go rolling down the steep mountain face. Since we had 2 winches, we went ahead with the idea and it worked!

After Praveen's diesel Kaiser made it up the incline, my Thar CRDe was next. It climbed without any drama as this line was so much easier.


A perspective as to how steep this incline was mid-way. Notice the person climbing is almost perpendicular to the spirit level if there was one.

After my Thar, Avinash's petrol MM550 comes up.


Then comes up Muthanna's petrol Kaiser.


This steep incline took up a lot of time and we finally proceeded to reach the top. The route got narrow with a steep mountain face on the left side with ruts also on the left side. All the jeeps proceeded up the hill hugging the mountain wall on the right-hand side.


We finally reached the top. But, the visibility on the top was extremely poor due to the fog. It was still raining and was very windy. It got really cold due to the wind chill.


It was group picture time and almost the whole team is present here.


We spent some time there and decided to head back as it was already nearing 5 PM and we all had to head back to Mysore on the same day. On the way down, Avinash's petrol MM550 ran out of petrol and was quickly refilled.



We then reached the steep stretch with a lot of potholes and ruts. Chethan took the line on the other side of the ruts this time and went down the decline skillfully. Avinash was next. But close to the end, Avinash's petrol MM550 got stuck in one of the potholes.


As the recovery was on a decline and not an incline it was done in one stroke.


I came down the decline next and thanks to Chethan's excellent spotting, I was able to manoeuvre through the potholes without getting stuck. Soon, the other two Kaisers followed with no drama and we were off towards Virajpet. We had piping hot coffee on the way to Virajpet, we saw Chethan off and we headed back to Mysore.

Thanks sharc_biker, for sharing these wonderful moments. Brought back lots of memories from the times when offroading was all about simple fun. What you guys did here was just that.