[svsantosh]

Wow. Good to know you got OE. So finally you can... Then I can give you the.... Then you will post more new pics of the....

[trammway]

I know guys, how much it pains to wait . Just that the TC and Tranny fixing work in progress.

I will be right back shortly with rest of the Overdrive episode

[trammway]

Finally my explorer out with the new transfercase body and that concludes

1. Completely rebuilt Peugeot XDP4.99 2112CC 62BHP engine with the following brand new items in it:

a. Pistons
b. Piston rings, Pins and clips
c. Connect rod bearing
d. Main bearing
e. oil pump
f. Value guide
g. values
h. cam shaft
i. Head gasket (imported)
j. liners
k. oil sump

2. Complete gearbox overhaul with all the 6 bearings changed, synchronizer replaced and with brand new transfercase body

3. Blaupunkt MP3 player with multicolor detachable facia also gone into the dash board

4. Overdrive fixed and installation completed, the final part of the installation pics will be posted soon in this forum. Details of running experience will also follows...



Now for the future....

The explorer is getting 19spline dana44 spec LSD, watch out for further details

Explorer is also getting the Safari snorkel installed

Lastly explorer will wear a A/C unit and a set of NDMS 700x16 with 16" Jeep rims as offroad shoes

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by trammway

Finally my explorer out with the new transfercase body and that concludes

1. Completely rebuilt Peugeot XDP4.99 2112CC 62BHP engine with the following brand new items in it:

Congrats Siva on successfully completing the heart surgery.

Originally Posted by trammway

4. Overdrive fixed and installation completed, the final part of the installation pics will be posted soon in this forum. Details of running experience will also follows...

Pics and test drive report please.

Originally Posted by trammway

Now for the future....
The explorer is getting 19spline dana44 spec LSD, watch out for further details
Explorer is also getting the Safari snorkel installed

Siva, Leave something for other poor souls like us to try out on our Jeeps

Originally Posted by trammway

Lastly explorer will wear a A/C unit and a set of NDMS 700x16 with 16" Jeep rims as offroad shoes

My Suggestion.. keep NDMS only for OTR. It may not be good for your daily city drive.

A/C !! in your softtop Classic? Not recommended and not approved.!!

[V-16]

Originally Posted by trammway

Finally my explorer out with the new transfercase body and that concludes

4. Overdrive fixed and installation completed, the final part of the installation pics will be posted soon in this forum. Details of running experience will also follows...



Now for the future....


Lastly explorer will wear a A/C unit and a set of NDMS 700x16 with 16" Jeep rims as offroad shoes

Whoopie!! cant wait for you to put a test report re the overdrive.

Where do you get these elusive NDMS 7:00-16 shoes? which company?

[trammway]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Congrats Siva on successfully completing the heart surgery.

Pics and test drive report please.

Siva, Leave something for other poor souls like us to try out on our Jeeps

My Suggestion.. keep NDMS only for OTR. It may not be good for your daily city drive.

A/C !! in your softtop Classic? Not recommended and not approved.!!

Thanks Shibu, Without you I don't have OD in my Explorer. Thanks for all the help.


Test drive and Pics will be posted very soon, Since the Jeep is on Run on period, I have to be in constantly OD disengaged mode, nothing to worry about OD but the difference in Gear ratios are making me to worry as I shift the column too often. Needs to get used of it.

Thats right NDMS is only for OTR, I will keep my wire wheel for daily drive.

He he he he... already many of the Classic owners successful in installing the A/C in Classic. I will follow their foot path

Originally Posted by V-16

Whoopie!! cant wait for you to put a test report re the overdrive.

Where do you get these elusive NDMS 7:00-16 shoes? which company?

I will V-16, I got the NDMS from a friend of mine which is used for only sub 2000kms and looking good. It is MRF made one.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by trammway

...I got the NDMS from a friend of mine which is used for only sub 2000kms and looking good. It is MRF made one.

Whoa. MRF 7"s. If you go and show these tyres to MRF themselves they will say - its chinese. We never make/made these. It is as elusive as they get!!! Lucky you...

[V-16]

Whoaaa?? Did you say Chinese? since NDMS for me = OTR, hence Chinese is making me revert back to 600X16 NDMS.

[trammway]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Whoa. MRF 7"s. If you go and show these tyres to MRF themselves they will say - its chinese. We never make/made these. It is as elusive as they get!!! Lucky you...

Originally Posted by V-16

Whoaaa?? Did you say Chinese? since NDMS for me = OTR, hence Chinese is making me revert back to 600X16 NDMS.

V-16, Santhosh was only saying that 7.00x16 is so rare that the fellas in MRF may call their product as Chinese as they don't see it often.

[trammway]

Here is much awaited TD drive report after the OD fixed, I’m not going to break the report into pieces this time just to make the readers to get complete information at one go(but the pictures after installation and modification of parts are withhold for next post, come back again after reading this report). Moderators please do not separate this report my Mahindra Classic Jeeping Experience as the entire thing goes with my Classic and I dedicate this report to my Explorer

However please note that the experience shown in here may change as I recently rebuilt the XDP4.99 engine on my Classic and still on run on time, I could successfully complete only 300kms after rebuilt hence, I requires another 2000kms approximately to come to final part of the OD experience.

Purchasing of the OD

I have already given every piece of information that one should know to purchase the OD, yes this unit was purchased from Herm Tilford of California in USA fondly referred as the Over drive guy. Please check the previous posts for pricing information.

It was about 1 year and more time dream to get to reality.

Installation

The installation was straight fit if only certain parts are customized to various models of Mahindra Jeeps. The issue in the installation mainly arisen when I have to fabricate couple of parts as the ones sent by Herm is not fitting properly. I also found during the installation that the Mahindras have introduced couple of minor changes in their product line unless the Willys that used the tranny and transfer case without any modifications. (The same is the reason for USA based customers enjoyed accessories that were made available for their toys).

The items that undergone changes during installation:

1. Spacer
I’m sure you all have aware from my previous post on this story, hence request the members to refer the old posts for the spacer issue.

2. 5 bolts that hold the OD housing with PTO port
What is wrong with the bolts? I had to replace the bolts simply the thread pattern provided by Herm is not the same as we using in our T18 transfer cases. I have changed them with the ones made by TVS in India and readily available.


3. OD to gear linkage
Thought minor change but took some time to fix, the routing of this linkage is not straight fit into classic and we had to do some bend work on it.

4. OD gear lever
Seating of the OD gear lever required some filing work to accommodate along with the single lever TC setup of KMT90 transmission. We had to slightly bend the gear lever to freely move around with in the cabin along with main gear lever and transfer case lever

5. Gear lever mounting bracket
Finally the gear lever mounting bracket that came with the unit pack is not that can be fitted into KMT90 transmission housing top portion. This is the bracket actually holds the linkage and gear lever on it position. We had to welt extra piece of metal sheet to connect the lever and linkage at required position.


6. Body alteration
This part of the installation was already referred in Herm’s instructions sheet and we had to cut open a small part of the body tub to accommodate the OD lever in to the cabin.

Apart from the above changes on the unit, we had little tough time in fixing the specially made square clip that olds the planetary gear, in the US there are special tools available to fix the same. However it is not stopped us as my mechanic skill fully fixed the same.

Operational Instructions

The operations of OD are very simple and straight forward, and it had 3 modes build with it.

• OD Engage mode
• OD Neutral mode
• OD Disengaged mode

With the tile of each mode you can understand what it means, however the OD neutral mode not only makes the OD neutral the entire vehicle comes to neutral. So including this now I have 3 neutral positions in the Jeep (1. Neutral in main gear, 2. Neutral in the transfer case, 3 Neutral in the OD)

The neutral position in OD made available to accommodate any PTO equipment along with the Overdrive. See the post by Santhosh which explains how to add PTO device along with the OD.

Driving Experience

I know this is where many of you are waiting me to input my opinion. The OD for sure reduces lots of Engine RPM. Well this is been said many times in the forum and other internet articles. I have also published a detailed table about the OD gear ratios in the past then what is that I need to say now ? Well I will not state anything on the mathematical angle but personal experience as driver inside the Jeep’s driver seat.

Comfort in City

Nah, don’t expect me to give you all green positive marks now but my assumption may change in this perspective after my Engine run-on period completed.

Driving in the city means, driving with lots of co-drivers in the road from different vehicles hence lots of chaos and many more gear shifts. When driving without OD, my 3rd gear can pull me almost in any slow moment but now no way. I need to change the gears very often to accommodate various speeds of the traffic. Finally the option stays to drive the jeep in city traffic without OD engaged.

Comfort in Highway

Ofcourse this is where the OD proved it a right choice, you believe me there is a huge change. I’m staying 22kms away from my work and some of the stretches I travel are deserted (my work starts from early morning 6:00am) and long roads. What else is the better place to test my highway comfort? After creating little momentum on the long stretches if you pull the gear to 4th on OD mode, man you can see with not much of pedal pressed the jeep easily touches 85+kmph. That’s awesome and I will post larger figures after the run-on, I’m still scare to go beyond the numbers you know the engine rebuilt had happen recently.

Overall experience

Initially it is kind of complete discomfort as you need to get used the newly introduced ratios under the same main gear lever, but once you get a glimpse of it there you go! The Over Drive rocks.

As the gear ratios changed, I have major loss of power felt in the 2nd gear onwards. Ofcourse the 1st gear also lost some power but that doesn’t affect me taking the jeep from stalled position. I could see the reverse gears torque also reduced a lot; this is a great think to notice as with this kind of lean gears I don’t be able to do any crawling work.

Engine noise

Engine noise due to RPM is arrested a bit, but when you are in idle point and leave the clutch the Jeeps trade mark kala kala kala kala kala transmission sound over takes everything else, but the less noise pleasure is felt in smooth long drive.

Conclusion

If you ask me if the 55K investment plus additional fabrication and expenses and the labor charges (approximated the total to 60K) that incurred fixing the OD is worth the effort? Hmm that lies with the person who uses it and I’m on neutral state and not much to state here.

I’m going to drive my Jeep to Coimbatore, Tiruvannamalai, Trichy and Bangalore in the near future and if any of the Jeeper who is interested in procuring the OD from Herm are welcome to test drive my jeep yourself to understand the way it works before you take your call.

Happy Jeeping Guys!

[vinod_nookala]

Originally Posted by trammway

Here is much awaited TD drive report after the OD fixed, .....

If you ask me if the 55K investment plus additional fabrication and expenses and the labor charges (approximated the total to 60K) that incurred fixing the OD is worth the effort? Hmm that lies with the person who uses it and I’m on neutral state and not much to state here.

...................any of the Jeeper who is interested in procuring the OD from Herm are welcome to test drive my jeep yourself to understand the way it works before you take your call.

Happy Jeeping Guys!

Hey Siva,
I like your honest and fair enough report.
Takes a lot to say this after spending so much time and money and effort!

I feel OD is worth with more powerful and refined engines. With puny 12 kgm and 62 bhp not so refined motor its better to be lower geared IMO. You will see OD as an advantage on long distance which a SWB is very less likely to do. (Yours is an exception)

[trammway]

Originally Posted by vinod_nookala

Hey Siva,
I like your honest and fair enough report.
Takes a lot to say this after spending so much time and money and effort!

I feel OD is worth with more powerful and refined engines. With puny 12 kgm and 62 bhp not so refined motor its better to be lower geared IMO. You will see OD as an advantage on long distance which a SWB is very less likely to do. (Yours is an exception)

Thanks Vinod, After all I understand the reports are meant to be acting as a decision making tool and to the maximum extent I want my report not to mis-lead anyone from Jeeping arena.

[svsantosh]

Siva Anna - Congrats on the much awaited report/mod.

Yes, there are 2 schools of thought here. Why spend 60~K and get this feeling, why not just go down to 4.88 and call it quits. (from a 5.38 POV). But again, I belong to the 60K school. I would like to retain the 5.38 + have OD for regular use.

When are you planning the road trip? Please keep me posted. I will try to join you

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Siva,

One question comes to mind for now:

Can the OD be engaged on the fly? That is, if my jeep is already running in 4th gear without OD engaged, can i engage it while running? Or even though the car is in motion, can i shift the gear to neutral, and then engage OD or does one need to be at a stand still to engage OD? Is clutching required to engage OD?

[trammway]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Siva Anna - Congrats on the much awaited report/mod.

Yes, there are 2 schools of thought here. Why spend 60~K and get this feeling, why not just go down to 4.88 and call it quits. (from a 5.38 POV). But again, I belong to the 60K school. I would like to retain the 5.38 + have OD for regular use.

When are you planning the road trip? Please keep me posted. I will try to join you

He he he you are smelling my thoughts, I was exactly thinking of getting 5.38 ratio in my Classic from its current 4.88 and use the OD to compensate the Classic's original speed on the road. How is that ?

When I first started this installation, I had a Peugeot XD3P 76BHP engine on my explorer and the additional power compensated the 5.38 ratio of CJ340. But after going back to Peugeot XDP 4.99 with 62BHP, I'm now planning the CJ340 way of differential ratio.

I will sure let you know about the trip, next 16 days I'm going to be in lonnnng vacation to East of India, I will plan to trip in May 2010.

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Siva,

One question comes to mind for now:

Can the OD be engaged on the fly? That is, if my jeep is already running in 4th gear without OD engaged, can i engage it while running? Or even though the car is in motion, can i shift the gear to neutral, and then engage OD or does one need to be at a stand still to engage OD? Is clutching required to engage OD?

Doc,
I should have mentioned this very important point on my report. Thanks for heads up.

Yes, I did shift the OD lever on the fly couple of time and it is like piece of cake and no efforts. Make sure that the clutch is pressed as we do with the regular gear shift.

There is no need to stop and go to neutral to engage / disengage OD, and it all happens on the drive.