[motomaverick]

Yes sir, you look like a pukka truck wala, only thing missing is perhaps a towel around your head

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil to Leh

Now some pics from NJ's camera.
Morning checks on Bolero's and HVK Scorpio before we start from Kargil.


Discovery Bolero already on the ramp for Inspection and HVK is just putting his Scorpio on the ramp.

Something which all long-distance motorists should do - check their cars during their drives. Particularly in a trip to Ladakh. Don't leave this to mechanics. We were lucky to get these ramps, so we were up early that day to check our car underbodies before we left Kargil. I do this every now and then during such drives.

During this underbody check, I found damaged link roads, loose foundation bolts and assured myself that neither the sump of the engine oil nor the gear box/ clutch area were damaged. All wires and pipes were checked. So were the brake hoses and leaf springs. The link rods and stabiliser bars. Checked for leaks. I paid special attention to the wheel discs and brake drums since one side had sunk into mud and I was worried that they may have mud inside and affect braking performance.

By the time I had finished, I had my list ready for critical things to be attended to the moment I reached the M&M ASC at Leh. One of the reasons why I managed to get all my repair work done that day itself in 3 hours flat!

[JeepCaptain]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Yes sir, you look like a pukka truck wala, only thing missing is perhaps a towel around your head

motomaverick ,Thank you bro. Next time I will try with a towel around my head. Thanks for the tip.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Something which all long-distance motorists should do - check their cars during their drives. Particularly in a trip to Ladakh. Don't leave this to mechanics. We were lucky to get these ramps, so we were up early that day to check our car underbodies before we left Kargil. I do this every now and then during such drives.

...............

By the time I had finished, I had my list ready for critical things to be attended to the moment I reached the M&M ASC at Leh. One of the reasons why I managed to get all my repair work done that day itself in 3 hours flat!

Did you find the ASC there good?

I was surprised to find Leh Ling Motors pretty good, the way they washed and serviced my Scorpio, I have not seen anywhere else or heard about. This must be the rarefied mountain air affecting their thinking

--Ramky
======

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Something which all long-distance motorists should do - check their cars during their drives. Particularly in a trip to Ladakh. Don't leave this to mechanics. We were lucky to get these ramps, so we were up early that day to check our car underbodies before we left Kargil. I do this every now and then during such drives.

...............

By the time I had finished, I had my list ready for critical things to be attended to the moment I reached the M&M ASC at Leh. One of the reasons why I managed to get all my repair work done that day itself in 3 hours flat!

Did you find the ASC there good?

I was surprised to find Leh Ling Motors pretty good, the way they washed and serviced my Scorpio, I have not seen anywhere else or heard about. This must be the rarefied mountain air affecting their thinking, they should not exhibit non M&M type behavior

--Ramky
======

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Did you find the ASC there good?

I was surprised to find Leh Ling Motors pretty good, the way they washed and serviced my Scorpio, I have not seen anywhere else or heard about. This must be the rarefied mountain air affecting their thinking

--Ramky
======

Well, I have been there 4 times every Ladakh visit and found them very good - fast, good mechanics, have spare parts, are super-cheap, etc. This time I had them do the wheel degreasing - just to clean up the wheels that may have got damaged due to the quicksand - and they did a good job. However, I believe the others did not have so-good-a-experience the next day.

You must remember that the ASC has the DNA of Maruti-Suzuki and not M&M, which explains why they are much better than the average ASC. I was so impressed that they even had spare parts which my ASC in Bombay, the HQ of M&M, does not have. And their rates were 20% of what I am charged here in BOmbay. Am thinking of going to Ladakh every year just to do major repair works to my Scorpio!

However, do not expect them to have parts of less-popular versions - last year, I remember Pramod Singh bust his Scorpio Auto transmission and the car had to be trucked to Jammu for repairs, since the Leh ASC did not know anything abut this car!

[laluks]

I remember HVK saying Leh is the rejuvenation Spa for cars after a great workout

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Well, I have been there 4 times every Ladakh visit and found them very good - fast, good mechanics, have spare parts, are super-cheap, etc. .....................

You must remember that the ASC has the DNA of Maruti-Suzuki and not M&M, which explains why they are much better than the average ASC. I was so impressed that they even had spare parts which my ASC in Bombay, the HQ of M&M, does not have. And their rates were 20% of what I am charged here in BOmbay. Am thinking of going to Ladakh every year just to do major repair works to my Scorpio!

However, do not expect them to have parts of less-popular versions - last year, I remember Pramod Singh bust his Scorpio Auto transmission and the car had to be trucked to Jammu for repairs, since the Leh ASC did not know anything abut this car!

I think Pramod's experience was unique, even other ASC's including the Chandigarh one was not of much help, the AT Scorpio is a White Elephant, wonder if even the best of ASC's would be able to handle it.

If I compare my experience of A'bad ASC, report form other ASC, the Leh one deserves a Trophy, hope they would not get corrupted by osmosis of M&M culture and Maruti guys would get a raw deal

@ Lalu: Don't know about cars, but I got rejuvenated.

==========

[laluks]

While our travelogue sprints towards a Lakh in viewership, a picture for the spirit of our team - Team-BHP.com.

What a wonderful platform to share, be connected and motivated.



HVK Scorpio sprinting towards Leh

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You must remember that the ASC has the DNA of Maruti-Suzuki and not M&M....

As far as the Swifts are concerned (driven approx 3500kms so far) we did not have any major work to be done apart from the regular nut bolt check/tightening.

Fluid levels were checked, air filters were cleaned and a little it of washing and interior cleaning.

The white swift had a small leak from one of the joints on the exhaust pipe which was fixed easily.

We despeartely needed the bumber towing hook which they did not have.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by laluks

HVK Scorpio sprinting towards Leh

Quite a sprint that was! Despite the brief stop at Nimmu & some gymnastics at Magnetic Hill, we still managed to reach the Leh workshop at 315 pm, a 3 hour lead over the other 3 cars who were also unlucky to be stuck for an hour or so thanks to road repair work!

[KSM-Vtec]

I had been to the same place for servicing my Gypsy (King Carb) during my last trip to Leh.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...rld-gypsy.html

The idea was to just clean/change the air filter, do a basic checkup and tighten the nuts and bolts.

BUT I was advised to go in for a Carb cleanup, usually I do not like touching things that are working fine but I was in Ladakh and these guys should know the carb response in this place better then me so I decided to go for it.

They opened the carb cleaned it and installed it back…and my fear turned into reality. The performance went for a toss, I insisted on a second attempt to clean the needles and jets.

The second attempt again did not help and finally they decided to handover the job to another expert they had in workshop itself.

Finally the carb was alright (not any better than what we started with) but we had another problem.

The guy working on the carb short-circuited on my Hella fog lamp wiring…

So it was not a great experience last time…but do we have a choice??

The only way out is to have all the knowledge, be with the car all the time and get the job done yourself.

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

As far as the Swifts are concerned (driven approx 3500kms so far) we did not have any major work to be done apart from the regular nut bolt check/tightening.

Fluid levels were checked, air filters were cleaned and a little it of washing and interior cleaning.

The white swift had a small leak from one of the joints on the exhaust pipe which was fixed easily.

We despeartely needed the bumber towing hook which they did not have.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by JeepCaptain

Day 14
25th August 2011
Kargil to Leh

JP reloading all the bags.

Loading/ Unloading

This is the BIG challenge in all Ladakh trips.

We went through a lot of preparation on what to carry, who will carry, etc. The checklists were discussed several times before we eliminated some common things that need not be duplicated. The team had tings like - air pumps, oxygen cylinders, fuel cans and believe it or not, commode stands!. Now loading these is not so difficult but the problem is what is needed en route, what can be buried underneath and how best to take and put things back. For example, heavy woollens were removed from their bags once we reached the "cold" areas and put back once we were back in the plains. People like JC even had towels ready so that they could take showers in wayside waterfalls, swims in wayside streams and go dig out stricken Scorpios out of mud holes The tow ropes and tool kits were always ready to be taken out for any need. Water stored in large cans had to be emptied - and smaller bottles refilled - from time to time. Fuel cans had to be kept such that they neither spilled (and in my car, they did!!!) or smelled! We planned to keep the day's essentials - food & dress change for the night - in smaller bags so that we did not have to take out the larger ones all the time. Moreover, we started buying & collecting stuff (e.g. my soil & water collection supplements) from all over which added to the overall stuff in the car.

Every day, we had a time budget of 15 minutes just for loading!! So that we do not slip up on our start schedules.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Loading/ Unloading

This is the BIG challenge in all Ladakh trips.

..................... Fuel cans had to be kept such that they neither spilled (and in my car, they did!!!) or smelled! ..............

Every day, we had a time budget of 15 minutes just for loading!! So that we do not slip up on our start schedules.

How was fuel carried? When it spilled, it must be terrible for the occupants. I wonder if there's a foolproof way to carry it air tight.

We had a big problem, fuel in army 20 ltr metal can spilled out, we even had rubber washers cut out form cycle tubes to keep it air tight. The fumes were getting to us, we had to keep the windows open to let it out, but the cold was coming in. The balancing act proved difficult, we somehow managed to make it with polythene sheets and moved on.

I think even the ones for your last Leh trip which Glen bought form Bangalore were hi tech but ended up leaking!!

--Ramky
=====

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

How was fuel carried? When it spilled, it must be terrible for the occupants. I wonder if there's a foolproof way to carry it air tight.

We had a big problem, fuel in army 20 ltr metal can spilled out, we even had rubber washers cut out form cycle tubes to keep it air tight. The fumes were getting to us, we had to keep the windows open to let it out, but the cold was coming in. The balancing act proved difficult, we somehow managed to make it with polythene sheets and moved on.


--Ramky
=====

No, none of us had any serious problem with fuel storage. I had 2x20 ltrs and I think BolBolero had 50! In my case, I used a double-cap plastic can with a plastic bit in between each cap. It spilled only because the can tilted - and since it was almost full to the brim - some diesel spilled out. But no problem of smell, it must have evaporated, I knew it had happened only when I saw some liquid on the floor.