[simply_sunny001]

Originally Posted by bigman

and tell them of the situation and that Onkar Kanwar (MD) told you to contact them .

and they might not even charge him for the tyres and rather bill them to Head-Office

[bigman]

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

and they might not even charge him for the tyres and rather bill them to Head-Office

That would be brilliant, fazalaliadil could then phone them up every other week till he had enough Apollo Bullets for every MM550 on t-bhp.

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Harjeev,
Your Jeep is looking handsome.
What year of manafacture is printed on the tyre?
5 X 4600 = 23000 + Transport to Hyd = ?
Possible?
Regards,

I think that its possible. A couple of month's back I gave the telephone number of the tyre dealer to another TeamBHPian for the same tyres. The tyres were delivered in, I think, 3-4 weeks. I am not sure about the price.
Do let me know if you are interested. The name of the guy is Karan Chawla of Chawla Tyres in Karol Bagh. I can PM you the telephone number if you are interested.

Originally Posted by Ashley Nair

Dear harjeev, that tyres look real macho! As to your heating problem, I think it's simply because that yur engine is not yet run in. the proper temperature level for diesel engines in normal conditions is 80 degree. but in stop and go traffic conditions, the cooling gets insufficient as there is no external cooling of the radiator by the rush of air through the grill slats. Since the Jeep is maintaining 80 degree on high ways, I think you have nothing to worry about.What about a winch?

Thanks Ashley. I went in for these tyres as I wanted the real army look and these tyres are really good for sand. Further as the PCD of the 550 and the CJ3B is the same I will be occasionally swapping these tyres onto my 3B. This will give it an additional 3-4" height and 2 " ground clearance. Plus the appeal of a macho monster jeep

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Harjeev,

Tires look great. Hope they are of stronger compound than the Sand grips which tend to wear out faster on-road.

Hi Tini
Yaar I dont know what compound these tyres are made of, but I have spoken to the tyre shops and one guy explained me a very valid point. I will try to explain it here

• He says lets us assume that the belief in the markets that these sandgrip pattern last for only 20k kms
• If this is true and an average vehicle in the Army till they are disposed off runs for 80-100k kms.
• This would imply that one vehicle will be using 5 sets of tyres for its life time. Which means that a vehicle which costs roughly about Rs.500k will consume tyres worth Rs.125k approx in their entire lifetime. This sounds a little unbelievable when other good and better substitutes are available.
• But even if 1% the above is true and the tyres last only for 20-25k kms, this gives me a ownership period of about 4-5 years. (considering that I will be driving for 400-500kms in a month). Which I am ok with.

So I think that Sandgrips look good and as the name implies are really good for sand and for mud and slush I have NDMS in my 3B.
So this way I can have the cake and eat it too!!!

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

congrats Harjeev

tyres look really cool and i am hoping they are good in off-roading too considering their tyre pattern.

Cheers

Thanks Sunny Yes they are off roading tyres. Maybe you should join us for one of our OTR sessions, as you too are from Gurgaon, if I am not mistaken

[bigman]

Originally Posted by harjeev

• He says lets us assume that the belief in the markets that these sandgrip pattern last for only 20k kms
• If this is true and an average vehicle in the Army till they are disposed off runs for 80-100k kms.
• This would imply that one vehicle will be using 5 sets of tyres for its life time.

Good point, wonder where Susan is ? He could confirm what the life of an average set of army tyres is.

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by bigman

There must be a couple of Apollo dealers in Hyderabad ? If you have given any advance get it back and go to one of the other dealers. 3 months is bit of a long time to wait and there is no rubber shortage in the world.

The other thing you could try is phoning the local Apollo office in Hyderabad (040-24762133, 24751675, 24751676, 24751674 ) and tell them of the situation and that Onkar Kanwar (MD) told you to contact them . A few white lies can go a long way in helping you get what you want.

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

and they might not even charge him for the tyres and rather bill them to Head-Office

Originally Posted by harjeev

I think that its possible. A couple of month's back I gave the telephone number of the tyre dealer to another TeamBHPian for the same tyres. The tyres were delivered in, I think, 3-4 weeks. I am not sure about the price.
Do let me know if you are interested. The name of the guy is Karan Chawla of Chawla Tyres in Karol Bagh. I can PM you the telephone number if you are interested.


Hi Tini
Yaar I dont know what compound these tyres are made of, but I have spoken to the tyre shops and one guy explained me a very valid point. I will try to explain it here

• He says lets us assume that the belief in the markets that these sandgrip pattern last for only 20k kms

But even if 1% the above is true and the tyres last only for 20-25k kms,

Harjeev, Bigman and Simply-Sunny,
Thanks a lot we seem to be heading in the right direction atleast with Mr. Onkar Kanwar's name in the deal. Bigman this is what I call "being resourceful" getting Hyderabad Apollo numbers for me, thanks I am going to do just what you have proposed.
Harjeev, please post me Chawla tyres, phone numbers if Bigman's and equally important....Simply_sunny's plan does not work.
I have used both Sandgrips and Apollo's, Apollo's dont baloon up and are not as solid and majestic looking as the Sandgrips. In my case the new Sandgrips that I had bought in 06 were manafactured in the year 00, and the Apollo's manafactured in 07 were bought in 08 .
Reason 1. for the Sandgrips lost half their lug depth within 10 thousand kms (white 540) could be that the rubber was hard due to long shelf life before I bought them, reason 2. They are not designed for road and are meant only offroad.
Apollo, on them I did about thousand kms before handing it to the owner, my cousin (orange 540) they did not wearout like the Sandgrips, I cant forget how fast the Sandgrips were wearing out.
My conclusion: The lug pattern in both Sandgrip and Apollo are similar and not much different, both are designed for offroad more than onroad, so I feel it is not the lug pattern or design on the sandgrip which could be the reason for them wearing out at the speed of light.
My final conclusion for Sandgrips wearout: Their manafacture year 00 to the fitted on the jeep year 06 or The rubber compound. My Reason ratio 50:50.

Last year in Hyderabad I saw one civilian jeep fitted with a brand new set of Sandgrips, it was stationary, I felt the rubber which felt very soft compared to my Sandgrips, year of manafacture on them was 07.

But I love and miss the look of the new Sandgrips!!!

Regards,

[harjeev]

I took the 550 to its 1st OTR on 31st May, 09.
The weather couldn't have been any better. It was raining the entire night and I was hoping that the OTR won’t be canceled.
SMS'ed the MODS early morning and received the confirmation that the OTR was on!!!
I was out of my house at 5 and at the OTR venue at 5.30. The drive was great and the engine temperature was below 60 for the entire drive to Gurgaon. By 6am everybody was in and we were off.

THE OTR
The sky was overcast and remained so till almost at the end of the OTR. Everyone couldn’t help thanking the weather gods.
The performance of the MM550 was great. The vehicle din't heat up. I wouldn't be sure whether it was because of the good weather or what. But hey I am not complaining ;-)
Did quite a lot of obstacles and it din't let me down anytime. The tyres also preformed great, but again din’t do a lot of sand and the terrain we guys did was rock, vegetation, thorny shrubs and the likes. The sandy terrain was miniscule. So will have to reserve my verdict but on the above terrain the performance of the tyres were great.

While on the way back too it had become quite sunny but the temperature stayed at 80 degrees, but rose to 90 at the toll plaza where we had start & stop traffic and the stop time was about 15 minutes. So I guess that this is OK.
Another thing I have observed is that When I drive around 60-65 km/hr the temperature is around 80 degrees, but if I drive in the range of 70-80 km/hr the temperature reaches 85 degrees. Is this normal?
Pictures of the OTR

Myself and Shashank

Me and Randeep

Regrouping before the accent
Me and Ankit




The lineup before the accent





Me, Randeep and Naveen


Shashank tyring to get a better view

Group Picture after the OTR



Some random shots of my MM550




Randeep at the wheel negotiating an obstacle



Yours Truly ;-))



MODS on the 550

• I still haven’t fixed the number plates and due to the rain on the 31 the front printout on paper had worn out quite a lot. I am still in a dilemma whether to get it painted or get those reflective types, the ones that we get in cars etc. Also I am not able to decide the placement of the number plates. Any advise suggestions!!!
• I removed the blackout lamps from the fenders and in it place mounted reverse light. In my opinion the blackouts were of no major use, and I find these better. The new lights have been wired with the parking lights and look cool.
• Got the reverse light wiring done. The reverse light now works automatically when the reverse gear in engaged. Might get a bigger lamp in its place.
• Also I am thinking of removing the rear bench seats. No problem or issues though. I wanted to do this as the 550 has a very large blind spot and thought if the sides are rolled up and the seats not there, It might look better and blind spot hindrance will be solved. Also as nobody ever sits in the back, I can sell these and put a front facing bench seat if required.
• Bought the D Hooks and given them for painting
• I haven’t added any foglamps on the front bumper. What I was thinking was if I add one or two pair of the same reverse lights either on top of the windshield or on the bumper, will it look good. I plan to wire it with the blackout switch. The Fogs will cost me anywhere between couple of thousand bucks and these reverse lights will cost couple of hundred bucks. So even if I don’t like it later on I can always loose these and add the fogs later.
• Changed the inside cabin light to a high wattage bulb.

That’s it for now

[bigman]

Originally Posted by harjeev

• I haven’t added any foglamps on the front bumper. What I was thinking was if I add one or two pair of the same reverse lights either on top of the windshield or on the bumper, will it look good.

That’s it for now

The throw of light from reverse lights is a bit different to that of foglamps (a chap who deals with vehicle lighting told me this). So you might not get the same beam pattern as you might get with pucca fog lights. Also the lens for reverse lights are designed for low wattage bulbs so something giving off more heat (eg 60/65w) might melt the lens.

As for mounting, if going for the roofline you might as well go for 4 lights (looks a bit better like on the legend). I think legally you are not have to have any lights higher than the standard driving light but Mahindra did fit them to the roofline on the legend.

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by bigman

The throw of light from reverse lights is a bit different to that of foglamps (a chap who deals with vehicle lighting told me this). So you might not get the same beam pattern as you might get with pucca fog lights. Also the lens for reverse lights are designed for low wattage bulbs so something giving off more heat (eg 60/65w) might melt the lens.

As for mounting, if going for the roofline you might as well go for 4 lights (looks a bit better like on the legend). I think legally you are not have to have any lights higher than the standard driving light but Mahindra did fit them to the roofline on the legend.

I agree they (fogs and reverse lamps) are different but I just liked the idea and use them only for looks. The throw of the lights is of no use and whenever I require proper lightings I will go for Hellas only maybe 2000 series or 3000 series depending on the costs and how much my pocket permits.


TeamBHP Stickers
Where to paste them????

I am not able to decide the positioning of the the Team Bhp stickers on my 550. As I have not fixed the registration plate too as yet, please advise on both.
All suggestions are welcome.

[harjeev]

Sent my driver yesterday to Mayapuri to resolve small small issues.
I have to rush now will do a writeup later

[NIP]

Your jeep looks very purposeful and I really enjoyed the pics Thanks for sharing. IMHO, your jeep will look superb if the front windshield 'frame' was full black. Currently, the jeep is too green. Even the rims I think would look better in black. Just cosmetic...I know...but I think will enhance the look a lot. Just my 2p. Just tried PSing that...hope you dont mind:

[harjeev]

The Rangers's 1st outstation excursion


Hey guys
I have actually decided to name the MM550 as The Ranger. I always wanted to name the vehicle but couldn't decide an appropriate name. Now I am thinking a good name for my CJ3B


So when I updated this thread last I had done some updated on the Ranger and had given notes as watermarks in the photographs!!! What I couldn't write is that I also changed the Clutch Wire and bought a set of Radiator hoses, fanbelts, tubes etc as preparations for the corbett trip. Also I put a cap on the radiator which I dint do earlier as I was told that this should be left open untill I run the Ranger for 1k kms!!!
So these were the normal updates!!!

I took the Ranger for the Corbett trip and it preformed remarkably well!!! During the entire trip the vehicle din't overheat, no major issues, and everything was perfect!!!

My conclusions after the trip were

• The clucth again became very hard
• The vehicle was squeking from all nook, corners, joints imaginable.
• I had to get the body bush changed as when I went to mayapuri before my trip the denter who was tightening the seats, doors etc told my driver that they were wornout and needed to be changed. I apparently got them changed at the 1st workshop (read greater nodia), but maybe it couldn't be done on time or whatever!!!
• The power steering fulid leaked on the way back and fluid container was completely empty!!! Strangely I din't feel the steering becoming heavy at all but we stopped at Kashipur and bought 1/2 a liter of fluid and filled it up. The culprit was loose bolts. I think that must have loosened by the contant usage at OTR's!!!

Apart for this there were no issues whatsoever. i did alot of river crossings, boulders, etc and was pretty satisfied with the vehicle!!!

On the return trip we were travelling with Shashanks vehile occupied by Shashank himself, Randeep and Sudhir (Randeep's friend) started at 11AM from the resort and left Ramnagar at 12 after buying souviniers, Diesel etc etc were at Delhi at 8PM.
Now this looks like a long time but took 4 breaks of approx 15-20 minutes and stopped for lunch for about a hour and 15 minutes!!!

Now the issues that I am facing is as follows

1. Firstly the battery has completely drained out!!! I mean completely drained out!!! I cant find a reason!!!
2. The clutch is very hard and Ii showed it to a mechanic in Ramnagar as he said that the issue is not with the clutch wire but something else!!! I am not able to understand this too.

So now I want a find out a good mechanic as my driver went to mayapuri and the guy there says that "this is how jeeps clutch's are, change the cable again!!!!"

I again dont want to spend the money and still not find a permanent solution to this problem!!! What I've learnt is that these (mayapuri mechanic) are good for small small issues but now I would like to go to a decent guy who even if he charges me a little more money, but not take me for a ride.
i actually don't mind going to an authorised service station provided the guys doing the work there understand jeeps.

HELP NEEDED GUYS


Here are some of the pics from the corbett trip to keep you all company

[bigman]

I again dont want to spend the money and still not find a permanent solution to this problem!!! What I've learnt is that these (mayapuri mechanic) are good for small small issues but now I would like to go to a decent guy who even if he charges me a little more money, but not take me for a ride.
i actually don't mind going to an authorised service station provided the guys doing the work there understand jeeps.

What about the guy who fixed your SWB? Does he not work on diesels? Where do the other guys in NIOC get their work done? One of them must have found a half decent workshop by now.

Finding a A.S.S with someone who understands the MM550 is going to be hard (even though it has the Bolero XD3P engine). The places do not even carry any stock of general things and strangely do not know about the parts centres that Mahindra setup in strategic areas to help with spares. Some have never heard of the MM550. Maybe there was some truth in the stories that the workshop guys kept feeding my dad about the bushes, they said new ones were worse than the old ones and do not last long before they begin making noises. I am going to get some old Range Rover Classic bushes as apparently they are similar in size to the MM550 bush and thats what the Mahindra Jeep fanatics use in the UK to replace their original body mount bush. I have a set of 550 bush so will compare them. If they are similar then I will pick you up a set as well.

Didn't Kabeer change the clutch on his 550 for something softer? Here is the thread where he mentions his supersoft clutch http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1133605-post13.html

[vishwaschettri]

Try classic motors at noida. Mr. Nirankar there is a genuine person and will help you out. Romi and shyam's all jeeps are prepared and maintained there, so is mine. A bit expensive though as it is an authorised service station of mahindra it comes highly recommended both by romi and now by me as well.

cheers
vishwas

[harjeev]

Hey guys
This is going to be a long post so please bear with me!!!


The vehicle along with the driver was sent to mayapuri with specific instructions of Do not let the mechanic touch the vehicle. I had decided not to show it to Mayapuri even if that meant I do not get to drive the vehicle anymore.
I was actually fedup of being tossed around

• All the mountings were changed, nuts bolts, seats etc etc were tightened. The vehicle was parked there the entire day and when they tried to start the vehicle afterwards and it didn't crank. They push started it and the driver brought it home and parked it. I was out of station and came to know of the battery drain only on my return back to Delhi. Anyways the vehicle was quite smooth to drive and the music aka sounds from all nooks and corners disappeared.
• Anyways I charged the battery at my office and with the help of Mandeep took the vehicle to an electrician near Dhaula Kuan. The electrician checked up the vehicle completely. He concluded that the alternator was working fine and was charging the battery, the battery was also ok as it was just 3 months old and that couldn't be the issue. So he came to the conclusion that the battery might have leaked as in mayapuri they might have left some headlight on or something else we can never be sure.

I got the starter serviced from that guy and paid 1100 bucks (including parts (bush and couple of other parts 700) and 400 labor)

So the hunt was on for a good workshop and whomsoever I asked had many suggestions but I really din't know where to turn to.

Quote from my previous post 2nd August 2009

Originally Posted by harjeev

I again dont want to spend the money and still not find a permanent solution to this problem!!! What I've learnt is that these (mayapuri mechanic) are good for small small issues but now I would like to go to a decent guy who even if he charges me a little more money, but not take me for a ride.
I actually don't mind going to an authorised service station provided the guys doing the work there understand jeeps.

While I was with Mandeep at the electrician's shop (I think it was on Tuesday the 4th of August) naturally I asked him to what to do and he advised me to go to Mahindra First Choice's outlet in North Delhi. Its owned by as the name says its all by M&M and comes under Mr. Sudhir Kashyap who is the Dy GM- North. I had met Mr.Sudhir Kashyap (SK) at an OTR once in the past & I called them the very next day had an appointment fixed for Sunday.


Observations @ M&M's Automart

Jobs for which i went to the workshop

• Oil/ oil filter, air filter change,
• Clutch hard excessively and a weird noise when in momentum the clutch is pressed.
• Power steering too hard

Issues observed by the workshop

• Engine mounting driver's side broken in two :-(
• Excessive play in the rod that connects the steering rod to the power steering pump. The mechanic was able to pull up the steering almost 1.5-2 inches :-(
• Clutch bearing issues (thats the reason for the clutch so hard)
• The 2 rear reflectors missing
• The fuel pump is leaking diesel and this was supposed to have been overhauled at Lucas by the workshop in Greater Noida where I got the work done earlier or pardon me for saying S%$#%ED. Now I will come to know whether it was actually done at Lucas or I was again duped. He SK told me that he would run the serial number in the system and check. If it was done @ lucas it would be free otherwise I will have to redo it again.
• They will add a lamp in the engine bay
• The steering has so much play and SK told me that the joint/ cross holding them together are almost worn out and as per them could have anytime given way.
• The suspension rod or the jumping rod is missing. I do not know whether this favor to me was done by the mayapuri guys or by the GNoida workshop.

Work to be done and cost estimate explained to me

• 8k approx parts and 3k labor
• Clutch overhaul & Engine & gearbox mountings change
• Full Service
• Power steering overhaul
• Brakes check
• Change the side view mirrors to original

Estimate cost for the parts

• 3800 for the clutch setup & Clutch cable, bearings etc
• 2100 (700 each for engine(2) gearbox(1) mountings)
• 1500 engine oil, oil filter, diesel filter etc
• Rest misc

I have decided to leave the vehicle in the workshop for the work to be done and they estimate that it would take about 3 day tops 4 days for the job to be completed.



Some general observations when I was at the workshop

• I really liked the attitude of the staff and and that of Mr.SK. He SK was very warm and courteous and showed me around the complete workshop
• Took the estimate of the complete repainting of a vehicle(Jeep) with 2k paint and complete under body antirust, clear coat with denting, painting, metal patchwork, etc etc 28-30k. Quite acceptable and affordable too. Plus the paint done in a paint booth is always much better and long lasting than the one done in the open. They also use only genuine stuff from Asian Paints and this paint I believe is about 1800 bucks a liter and amongst the best.
• Liked what SK told me that "M&M fixes the labor rates and the cost of the parts are also fixed in the system, so even if some employee wants to charge extra he cant do it, as everything is governed by the system and ultimately they have to work in competition with other multi-brand workshops". Now this is how things should work and I have always like people who are straight forward and truthful rather than beat around the bush.
• At the workshop they were using something for denting maybe spot welding or tick welding I am not sure what its called, but they were not using the traditional first heat with a blow torch and then hammer approach.
• Parts or things are constantly getting worn out and need replacement like the body mountings, steering play, etc etc. This is especially true for our OTR vehicles and it is not possible to discover what needs to be done by someone like me who is not really of a technical bent of mind. People like me need good workshops rather than to go to unauthorised people or places like Mayapuri or Greater Noida and get robbed and fleeced to the last penny we have in our pockets and still not get the work done.
• Infact last week when i had the body mounts changed from Mayapuri the vehicle was there the entire day and just look at the expertise and attitude of the guys they were changing the mounts. They din't even bother to check whether the engine mounts are ok. Are they really that dumb Or maybe on the contrary they are so smart that they must have noticed and not do anything about it so that the vehicle comes to them again in future and they charge the labor charges all over again.
• I am not saying that the workshop guys will discover everything in the 1st instant and nothing will escape their eyes. But I am just impressed with this fact that they atleast were specifically looking at places to see whatever's not right with the vehicle and do what needs to be done.
• I had also told them to remove the power steering and put in a new sterring box but SK advised me to leave the power steering as it is and assured me that they will make sure that the power steering works like feather touch.

Now compare the 3k labor of the workshop with the 4k estimate the mayapuri guy gave me for just the clutch work. I have now started believing that they(mayapuri guys) have different charges for guys like us (Tbhp & NIOC guy) than what they normally charge. They have started to simply rip us off. Quality of work is pathetic, and genuineness of the parts used is best if left to anyone's guess.

Also learnt something amazing while I was chatting with guys as the workshop. A I asked them what would be the approx cost of a complete mechanical overhaul (parts and labor included) of a MM550 pickup up from the junk market. I learn that it should cost somewhere around 1.50Lacs just excluding the seats, hood & tyres which I think is not bad at all. even if the cost accelerates by 10-15% still I think that its a very good option. Atleast the work will be done under the supervision of competent people, proper tools will be used and if I would have got it done this way I would have had the mental satisfaction that genuine parts have been used. If I knew this initially i would opted for something like this any day rather than to go to unauthorised workshops and uncompetent people and waste 5 month of my life. Plus they(automart) give a 6 month warranty on the job done.


Now I understand what Darbar Bheram & GTO means when they say that there's only one way and this is the only right way.

When I had the clutch issue in corbett I was weary of again have to go to Mayapuri and show it to them as I had the feeling in my mind that whatever I spend there will be a big waste.
I am very happy that I finally stepped out of Mayapuri and took the right step as I had always believed that quality always has a price and though Mayapuri sounds cheap its actually the people there who are cheap.
And with regards to the cost part it looks cheap as money is given in small installments but towards the end we end up spending much more in cost and time and still don't get the satisfaction.
Here at the authorised workshop atleast I am getting a bill for all the stuff gone into my vehicle and have told them to do whatever they need to do and I am not showing the vehicle again to Mayapuri, atleast for mechanical.

I am glad I came to the correct workshop at last. "better late then never"

[Parm]

Since my school days, i was facinated by the JEEPS standing in Mayapuri and all the work carried on by the workshops.

but i had been told in those days that these jeeps and the workmanship carries no warranty and as soon as you buy a jeep and drive off, the warranty expires!!

its just a quick fix jobs these workshops do in mayapuri and nothing else!

well in those days it was just SWB jeeps and 540/550s had not arrived yet!

so basically Mayapuri is best for buying worst of the junk and nothing else!

dont even go back after buying your junk from there!