[suman]

Got the 55k service out of the way on Friday. They inspected the front shocks & told me to keep going for another 7.5-10k kms. Apart from that, it was a top up service & they attended to the following -

• Rear tailgate rattle - spare wheel stand was tightened as well as the latch
• AC flap was not closing fully in circulation mode - was fixed
• The upper jets for the windscreen washer were spraying more towards the middle of the windscreen rather than towards the top so they were adjusted.

That was it, car was back in the afternoon, nice & silent inside the cabin.

Then came the incident on Saturday night. Had gone to Sector 29, Leisure Valley & it was quite late at night (around 11.30 or so). Went to Pind Balluchi for a quick bite. Instead of leaving the Beast in the paid parking (both of them were pitch dark), left it on the road, parallely parked to the curb. Dimly lit but quite visible. Came back, grabbed ice-creams, reached home, parked - wife & son got out & then they were both - where the hell is the cladding!! The buggers had whacked the portion above the front wheel arch on the passenger side! I rushed back but obviously it was gone - no traces of it anywhere & all & sundry faking ignorance.

In hindsight, perhaps I should have parked in the paid parking , irrespective of whether it was dark or not. Its just that with ladies, its not a good place to walk through in the dark. Also, we were lucky we had a very quick dinner - if we had hung around longer, they may have tried to take off the entire left side cladding!

Sector 29 has a bad reputation but this was the pits. What an unnecessary waste of money! Anyway, have alerted Autolinks & they're keeping one ready for me - costs around 1300 plus another 525 for painting it! Expensive dinner, LOL!!! (See second picture for a glimpse of the missing cladding)

Originally Posted by jkdas

Can you post some more pix of the Geo's please. And how much do they cost without the special discount?

Here you go, still from the Nokia but not as bad as the last lot -

[benbsb29]

Shocking! However, looks like you already had an idea about the place not being safe enough.

Just a question, to remove the cladding off the doors, wouldnt that require the doors to be opened?

[suman]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Just a question, to remove the cladding off the doors, wouldnt that require the doors to be opened?

Ideally, yes. They would have removed the rear cladding if they had time & then come back to concentrate on the doors I guess.

[Eddy]

Hard luck !!!

And thanks for the heads up, will be extra careful when I park there.

[ashthedivx]

Tyres looks good !!

I may had cursed myself whole night for not spending 20Rs. Do lookout for color matching stuff between cladding and body panel.

[tsk1979]

Its easy to take off the cladding. Mine fell off during OTR due to jerks etc.,
Got it fixed. Cost 117rs for the flimsy plastic locking nuts.
I wonder why don't they screw on the cladding?

[jkdas]

Thats mean! that bad places in Delhi?

Thanks for the pix.

[Highway Star]

Great pictures of the truck resting by the river, sumanji. The truck looks very well maintained for its mileage. Its good to have a Safari old-timer (old in terms of the mileage of the truck ) in the same city.

Good choice on the tyre change. How has the new footwear affected the ride quality & handling of the truck? And what was the reason for not upsizing to 255/65? Is it because of the 6.5 width of the stock alloys?

[adc]

Originally Posted by suman

where the hell is the cladding!! The buggers had whacked the portion above the front wheel arch on the passenger side! I rushed back but obviously it was gone - no traces of it anywhere & all & sundry faking ignorance.

Even cladding gets stolen?? Good tyre pics, Geo A/T seems to be most preferred out here.

[suman]

Originally Posted by Highway Star

Great pictures of the truck resting by the river, sumanji. The truck looks very well maintained for its mileage. Its good to have a Safari old-timer (old in terms of the mileage of the truck ) in the same city.

Thanks! The driver is also an old-timer so no issues

Originally Posted by Highway Star

Good choice on the tyre change. How has the new footwear affected the ride quality & handling of the truck? And what was the reason for not upsizing to 255/65? Is it because of the 6.5 width of the stock alloys?

Well, the stock 'Stones were pretty OK but I do think the grip levels of the Yoko are better & the ride has improved. Noise levels - could be my imagination but there are a couple stretches & surfaces where I think the Yokos are noisier. Rest of the time they are way more silent than the 'Stones

Yes, it was partly because of the 6.5 alloys & also because of the fact that the 255x65s would hit the wheel wells on left or right lock......

Originally Posted by adc

Even cladding gets stolen?? Good tyre pics, Geo A/T seems to be most preferred out here.

Well, maybe someone had a specific requirement - don't know. The front & rear claddings are held together by clips so its a standing invitation for petty thieves I guess

I was also warned by the Workshop that there have been recent incidents of the rear last side window (jump seats) being neatly removed, vehicle being opened up & ICE equipment etc being removed.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by suman

Noise levels - could be my imagination but there are a couple stretches & surfaces where I think the Yokos are noisier. Rest of the time they are way more silent than the 'Stones

The Yokos are certainly noisier. Ive got them on my Prado and they 'roar'. I find the grip levels good onroad but not too happy with them offroad.
Have used BF Goodrich offroad and they are superb. Yet to try Michelin LTX.
The tread on the MRF wanderers too looks more road/highway bias.

[suman]

Its been a while since I updated the thread so here goes.

Keeping in mind the trip to Leh, I decided to prepone the 60k kms service for The Beast. On the way to Autolinks, OWS 360 was poured in - could already feel the change by the time I reach the workshop. It showed 58.5k kms on the odo & apart from the scheduled stuff (Change of Oil, Oil filter, Diesel Filter, Gear Oil & Brake Fluid and all other top-ups & greasing), the following was also undertaken -

• Differential Oil change
• 4x4 Transfer Case Oil Change
• OWS 210 treatment

Front shocks were re-checked & appeared to be good to push for at least another 5k kms. The Sump guard was specifically checked & pronounced OK. Picked up a few extra fuses of all ratings (more of the 5 & 10A variety), a couple of extra bulbs for the tail lamps (I had spare head lamp bulbs already). Picked up a spare Cam-sensor (on returnable basis), just in case it was needed. The Beast was ready to move out of Autolinks & onto the next port of call.

Next on the agenda was Alignment & Balancing at Star Wheels - was well attended to by Deepak Kataria's team & he was also kind enough to give me a complimentary tubeless puncture repair kit - thanks Deepak! A quick hop to the accessories shop next door (Deepak again but Batra) for an air compressor (950) and a spare battery (50) for the keyless entry remote. The old one is still going strong post the trip but I wanted to be on the safe side because low temperatures have been known to drain out many a strong battery!

Last stop was the Amaron dealer next to these shops for a new battery - the old battery was running fine after two & a half years but again, I didn't want to take a chance. Got one of those maintenance free ones with a 2 years (no questions asked free replacement) + 2 years (repairs) warranty and he gave me a decent price for the old one as well.

My good neighbour BCG (GD1418 to the uninitiated) was planning a weekend trip with his Scorpio group to Chawri Bazaar to pick up Tow Ropes & Spanner sets - requested him to pick up a Spanner set for me (the ones with one end open & the other end closed). GD got a very good deal at a shockingly low price - thanks mate! Didn't have to use them but it was just for peace of mind.

I had a Nylon rope from Ebay - decided to go with it rather than again purchase another one. Gingerly attached one end to The Beast & the other end to the Fiesta. The Fiesta pulled The Beast along happily for about 100 meters without any issues. Of course, it would be a different matter when stuck in sand or whatever but - what the heck!

What else?

• Two packets of good old MSeal (not used)
• Two Eveready torches (those small ones with very bright light)
• One Roll of Wide Brown Tape
• One Mobile charger with multiple adapters
• One Digital Tyre pressure gauge
• One Spare Car Freshener.

And, with all that done, on the morning of 30th May with the odometer reading 58,886, we were on our way to Leh! Finally, The Beast was finally going to be let loose on the kind of terrain it had always wanted to roam. It would be our home (Sofa on Wheels) for most of the time in the next couple of weeks & would keep us protected & insulated from all that Mother Nature & BRO would throw at us by way of challenges. Leh, here we come.......

[simply_sunny001]

dada,

did you get a chance to use the air compressor ? If yes then how much time does it take to fill a safari tyre ?

post some pics if possible, as i am in dilemma to buy a Michelin compressor from here which is costing around 45£ or if the one you got serves the purpose well, then will buy that.

thanks

[suman]

Sandeep, didn't need to use it so not sure of filling times. But I did test it out briefly & it seemed to be filling OK. I'm sure the Michelin one will be better but 45 pounds is a hell of a lot

Will post pics over the weekend as it is now at home, up inside one of the cabinets

[simply_sunny001]

Originally Posted by suman

Sandeep, didn't need to use it so not sure of filling times. But I did test it out briefly & it seemed to be filling OK. I'm sure the Michelin one will be better but 45 pounds is a hell of a lot

Will post pics over the weekend as it is now at home, up inside one of the cabinets

Thanks and yes i also think 45 quids is a bit on higher side but a portable compression is a great utility for highway trips and considering the fact that machines at various pumps are not properly calibrated.

will wait for pics.