Firstly, Sharat, welcome to jeeps! Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai I used to be a pure car guy, and I didn't like SUVs much. I used to argue against high CG, bad handling, lumbering girth, and gas-guzzling nature of SUVs. |
Good samurai, that was the past. I can see your addiction to jeeps Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai There I drove the Jeep for the first time in my life. Hmm, technically that is not correct, I have driven Jeep Cherokee Laredo before, but here I am referring to the Indian Jeep, the MM540. |
Trust me, that is one of the better maintained jeeps this side of town, which is also his daily drive! Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai I routinely took out GV for short off-roading forays. I even got custom skid plates made for the GV. While GV performs well in moderate situations without any hitch, the chances of body panel damage increases significantly at higher degree of difficulty. After scraping the body panel, and cracking the fiber rear bumper, I started thinking seriously. |
Good decision! Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai Considering I had caught the off-roading bug pretty seriously, there was no going back. But GV won't take me all the way, I needed a hardcore and cheap grunt I can push anywhere without worrying about body damage. After discussing my dilemma with many team-BHPians like GTO, Arka and Sideways, I finally considered getting an old diesel Mahindra Jeep, say MM540 or CJ series. And GV would remain as my primary bad road family vehicle, the main reason why it was bought. This decision caused quite some buzz in the DBHP section. | Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai But the engine sounds to be in superb shape, soon I have to get the engine rebuilt, just to be on the safer side. |
Why do you have to rebuild an engine in good shape?
BTW, noted that you had an uneventful trip from Bangalore. BTW, you dont need disc brakes in the CJ340 as it is not a modification worthwhile.
The Jeep does not stop and will not stop due to many factors, only one of which is the drum brake!
There are a couple of disc brake modded ones here but the efficiency is not that great! And there are limitations in off roading.
Best is to leave it as it is, get a good set of NDMS tyres [even 6.00X16] is good enough.
Change engine oil regularly, change your diff oils every 5K [it takes months] kms. It is a nice jeep without any modding! 
Congrats once again, but I'd still love to see your GV at Kelambakkam |