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How do you figure out if BLD has kicked in?
How did you arrive at this conclusion?

I think 'off-centre' steering was an issue in the very 1st gen. of Thar (pre-facelift model, before 2015). But, I am not aware of the same issue in newer Thars post-2015.

The 2nd gen. Thar is pretty much an ergonomically improved product if compared with the 1st gen ones, yet it retains some flavours of an old-school jeep. It would be no exaggeration if we term it a 'paradigm shift'. The expectations of the owners are certainly going to get a dent as people are considering Thar more as 'a car' than 'a jeep'.

If you are having the same problem that I did initially then I would be able to give you some feedback regarding the suspension.

So Initially I had this problem with the Thar that whenever it went over speed breakers or bumps of potholes, the rear suspension gave a big jerk.

That along with a problem with the front seat which has a considerable amount of movement when seat height is set at the bottom.

So these twin jerks gave my back and my neck a very harrowing time! I was in the same position that I just wanted NOT to drive the Thar at all!

I was looking for suspension when I first saw ARC suspension. Now the owner promised an Innova and tata Safari( the BOF safari). I'm sure it might have provided but I saw some not so favouring reviews of their customer support on the fortum itself and hence backed out.

Than I heard about AVO. Kept in contact with Arka Motorsports who is their Indian partner. I was probably the first one to just jump onto arka after hearing and discussing a lot of technical details about how this suspension works and how is it different from the regular suspension.

And it has lived up to its hype! The suspension is superb! Even in the hardest settings it doesn't give my back the jerk.
I have now kept the suspension at the softest settings as it is my daily office drive and it is simply amazing.

Body roll will be there. Short Wheelbase SUV traits will be there. But it is supremely comfortable and I don't have that Neck or back ache any more at all!

Another thing I do is keep the Seat at nearly Mid height. This is a weird problem with the front seat. I have had the seat replaced by mahindra under warranty but the problem has cropped up again.
The whole seat rocks when it is at the bottom height setting. Any point above say 20% height, it stays rock solid. So I keep it at 40 to 50% height. Also the lumbar support is dialed to the max.

I'm a happy comfortable driver now.

Hope this helps.

You can try a Fortuner or a Hilux front seat. The best drivers seat till date that I have experienced till now.
Else you know what to do.

Quoting myself - I figured BLD did not kick-in until atleast I revv'd more for MLD to kick-in with its typical jerk.

Which leads to my conclusion that BLD either works exactly on the same conditions as that of MLD (~100 RPM difference between the wheels) and augments MLD - maybe by the holding the slipping wheel with the brake too, to save the MLD's clutch. Or BLD doesn't work in the rear axle for my model-year.

Did I get the question right, or am I missing something? Glad to check in (for example) with MASS or Co-Tech in case something is wrong with my Thar and BLD behaves differently.

Thank you @navpreet318 for the details. Reduced the pressure to 30 psi on all wheels. Rides better and the sharp jolt from the rear is much less. The pain I think is not from the suspension but the way the steering is held in the right hand. Trying all sorts of settings. Suspension upgrade defo on my mind but don’t want to get too occupied with this car at this time

Thank you again

I had similar issue with neck pain, I tried different seat positions which did not help. Adjusted my Steering position , one level below the highest position and this worked for me. Try out with different seat or steering position and one of it might work for you.

Going back to basics, BLD is brake locking the wheels, and MLD is mechanically locking the diffs. BLD does not lock two axles together and stop spinning immediately.

There is no way an end user can figure out if BLD is working when wheels are spinning. Hence my question, how did you find out BLD was not working.

Hi
Can you please shed some light on how the Hill Descent control kicks in? Is it only Traction control that activates the brakes from time to time on the steep inclines or does BLD play a role here?

BLD doesn't play a role or for that matter, Traction Control too. HDC is just brakes maintaining/controlling the speed of the vehicle.

But the outcome of BLD should be that the free spinning wheel gets braked on, so that the wheel with traction can move the vehicle, right?

In my case, until MLD intervened the vehicle was still stuck with a rear wheel spinning to glory.

If BLD can get the job done, then why fit MLD at all?

BLD is a traction aid, and there are too many variables at play for a manufacture to implement it. I have my limitations in explaining everything in detail here.

But, I would like point out that, the above example you've stated doesn't necessarily mean there is no BLD in rear. Also, one question you need to answer is that have you seen the front wheels lock like you expect? If not how are you able to come to the conclusion that there is BLD in front?

Since that mediocre rear MLD is already removed from majority of variants and need to be bought separately if one wants it, I would like to know how viable is it to buy a 2WD Thar and fit the lockable differentials at both the axles! Or one still needs to buy the 4X4 variant to retrofit the manually controlled lockable differentials at front along with rear.

Also, are these parts easily available and easy to fit in the Thar?

Good question.. and as a corollary, there are newer Thars that get only BLD at the rear, thanks to the MLD delete :disappointed

Respect :cool:

Front axle - yes, have seen them in action (not my Thar, when I was spotting). Though I'd probably not know if I'm inside the jeep - or will there be any indication, like the brake pedal vibrating when ABS kicks in?

Is there a difference in torque transfer to left vs. right wheels when comparing BLD vs. MLD?

The 2WD doesn't have any power going to the front axle, so the wheels will not spin freely even if one of them lost contact with the surface. And hence no point is having a differential at the front axle of the 2WD.

Or you'll essentially have to convert a 2WD to 4WD, expensive affair.

Lockable diff. mod at the front for the 4x4 variants is definitely possible.