Mahindra CJ340 joins Team-BHP family

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Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Samurai, you mentioned that you have 15 inch rims, whereas the stock size is 16 inch. Could the smaller wheel/rim size be a contributing factor to make the gap seem more ?

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Oh Yeah BT, thats a very good observation. Samurai, leave it alone if it aint give you trouble. If you want to go for 7.00 x 16 NDMS at a later date, the height will become ok.

[Samurai]

I spoke to Jammy (MM440) who sold me this Jeep. He admitted raising the body by 2 inches for that extra off-roading clearance. But he also changed the original 6 inch width tyres to 9.25 inch width tyres to compensate the handling. He has extensively off-roaded with these suspension+tyre setup and was very satisfied with it.

[Alfa_Kilo]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I spoke to Jammy (MM440) who sold me this Jeep. He admitted raising the body by 2 inches for that extra off-roading clearance. But he also changed the original 6 inch width tyres to 9.25 inch width tyres to compensate the handling. He has extensively off-roaded with these suspension+tyre setup and was very satisfied with it.

How did he increase the GC? Did he elongate the shackles (the bit of metal strips pivoted between the end of the leaf spring and the chassis)?

[V-16]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Today I had another CJ340 owner visit me....
....As we compared the Jeeps I realised there are some work I need to get done fast.

1) The coolant ove.....

2) He has rust proofed his Jeep in many ways, very important considering the proximity to the beach. There are hardly any unpainted surface on his Jeep. Even his floor was painted with something he called fiber gum.

See my floor, it is rusting.
Attachment 22016

Samu, may i suggest the use of a wonderful and proven anti rust treatment called Wurth. Im not sure about its availability in your place of domicile I use this on all my cars and its like magic.
You get it in spray cans as a DIY thing but its best to get the non aerosol pack and have an experienced person do the job. Recently I came across a Tata car ad where they were offering Wurth treatment for all Tata cars.
If you cannot find it in the place you are located, i could courier a few cans to you from Bombay. I think you will need at the maximum two cans for your jeep which will cover your flooring and under body.
This is what it looks like.

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the anti corrosive paint is much cheaper than wurth.. they cost around 70 bucks for half a litre and a local painter can do it for another 100 bucks.

I recently did it for my 540!

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I do not know if this practise is in vogue now. You can play around with the leaf system to increase GC of vehicles with spring leaf suspension. Here are two things you can do - adding additional springs; hammering them to make them more curved (can be done only once or twice on a particular piece). If simply adding leafs, you can even buy second hand ones - two or three feet long ones from the second hand market. You will pay by the KG, rather than pay through nose for a new one.

The latter requires people some good lung and arm power - to hammer the leafs.

In Cochin, there were (note the past tense) places opposite the JN stadium and on the Palarivattom / Civil LIne road pipe line junction. I think truckers resort to this method even now - to ensure better (laden) vehicle height. (err... too much of my knowledge is based on heavy vehicles).

[Samurai]

I have posted the close up photographs of the rear side leafs in #45, can you guys figure out how it was raised?

Gogi, thanks for the offer man, how much does a can of Wurth cost?

Also, I want to remove that aluminium plates on the borders. But removing it will reveal lot of rivet holes, what then?

[DKG]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I have posted the close up photographs of the rear side leafs in #45, can you guys figure out how it was raised?

Gogi, thanks for the offer man, how much does a can of Wurth cost?

Also, I want to remove that aluminium plates on the borders. But removing it will reveal lot of rivet holes, what then?

The products from Wurth are extensively used in Honda bodyshops. Expensive but quality materials

Permanent solution to the rivet holes is welds, but then you'd have to grind off the roughness and repaint. Easier is to fit in tiny rubber plugs if you don't want to fuss too much

[ex670c]

Hi Samurai,

1) Suspension - Change the shackles and shackle pins to the grease-able type.

2)Remove - The jute mat on the floor soaks water and prevents it from evapourating and causes rust.

3) CJ340 - 15" Rims and 7.00X15 Tyres i.e 29" with 5.38:1 diff-ratio
CJ3B - 16" Rims and 6.00X16 Tyres i.e 28" with 5.38:1 diff-ratio

Regards,

Arka

[Jaggu]

Samu: Rear indeed is high, and have a feeling tyres are also tad too close to the mudguard (circular marks), or this can be muck which got stuck and got scrapped off by tyre. But i still think you need to think on another option for those rims.

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by DKG

Higher GC = better offroadability = highly unstable on turns = easier rollover ability

PS BTW I have seen too many SUV's rolled over to be able to state this. Offroad too higher GC usually adversely affects the vehicle's ability to handle inclines sideways. That's when you tend to roll over

Therefore higher GC = better ground clearance and not necessarily = better offroadability

Nice theorizing,DKG sir.
Sounds good in the head. But, not in practice.
In Samurai's CJ340 case, it is his Off-road vehicle. Not his saloon that he tries improving G-force on a corner everytime.
He's got a GV as his daily drive cum tourer. He's bought the Mahindra purely for one reason :OFF-roading. And usually, we take it slow during transport to and from the off-road spots since the particular vehicle is built to have higher GC and of course, higher tendency to roll over.

A good -offroader can't be on-road. And a good on-road vehicle can't be good off-road.
Choose your poison.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by nitrous

Nice theorizing,DKG sir.

My dear Sir, this is no theory. Raising a body affects the centre of gravity of a vehicle and offroad (forget onroad dynamics) that can mean you roll over on an incline! Why do you think the Humvee is so wide and has a relatively long wheel base? When you go for very high ground clearance you need a larger track and wheelbase. On a SWB Jeep, the wheelbase is fixed and there are limitations on how much you can widen the track. So messing with the body height actually renders the Jeep unstable offroad on inclines.

Am afraid this is no theory, but a harsh fact you will encounter when the Jeep rolls over while tackling an incline sideways.

Don't you fancy doing steep inclines sideways? Its terrifying when the drop is 100 feet. I wouldn't dare mess with the CG on my vehicle.

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by DKG

Don't you fancy doing steep inclines sideways?

We never do obstacles sideways.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by nitrous

We never do obstacles sideways.

I did notice a red Jeep dropped on its side being winched out sideways in some offroad trip here in India. Can't recall where it was.

Do try it the next time you are out. At times you feel the co-passenger is almost sitting above you, its scary, but you love your vehicle when it does this without going into a downward slide, and worse a rollover .

Oh BTW when you need to go up the very tall dunes you do this for considerable stretches as you climb. I think Vikid has posted some shots of his friends doing this.

[Spitfire]

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