[Technocrat]

Congrats Samurai, Thats a beautiful Jeep you got there

Now waiting for the upgrades to be done & see some off roading action

[simply_sunny001]

Congrats Samurai on this wonderful buy.

Hey those seats look comfortable too.

CJ340 is a very capable and you will love it while off roading.

Hope to see lot of Off Roading reports in near future.

[Rotorhead]

Congrats on a great buy samurai. Hope we will have some good off-roading write-ups from your end pretty soon.

[jacs]

Congrats on your new possession Samuraiji. very detailed and interesting write-up too. I liked the rear view (pic 8) the best, its looking like Old militery jeeps.

[Alfa_Kilo]

Congrats Samurai!
You have the perfect SWB!

Originally Posted by Samurai

The rims are 4.5 inch rims, not happy with it, they pinch the tyres. I need to replace it when I get the chance.

Avoid changing the rims for the sake of your sidewalls. Pinched tyres are not very good for on road handling, but bulging sidewalls on normal width rims can be easily damaged while offroading, as I learned on my MM540.

Also, as this is your first Jeep, be prepared for the death wobble. Sometimes when one hits bumps at certain speeds, the steering resonates leading to loss of steering control. If this happens to you, just keep calm an slow down gently to break the resonance and regain control. Do not wrestle with the steering during the death wobble. This design defect is 'normal' in all jeeps and should not be a cause for concern. The latest Mahindras have a damper mounted between the tierod and the chassis, you may want one for jeep too.

Will you be coming for the July Mumbai-Pune OTR?

Originally Posted by narayan

congrats Samurai..

do the tyres have a positive camber ? most Jeeps seem to have that ..what is the reason ?

The negative camber reduces scrub radius, making the steering lighter and reducing violent feedback during offroading.
Positive camber can noticed on a lot of old vehicles, I mean really old vehicles.
Modern designs achieve the same effect through an inclined king pin.

[Jeep]

Congrats, Samurai for getting that wonderful vehicle. Pleasantly surprised to see a new vehicle, as I have been closely tracking all your experiments with the GV

[Torqy]

Congrats Samurai....the off-road bug has bitten real hard.
The Jeep does look cute.

I guess Kelambakkam will now see this CJB instead of the GV!!!

-- Torqy

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ex670c

2) FFRA - Full-Floating Rear Axle
I would rate this as the most important upgrade for Off-Road going JEEPs

Arka, what is the advantage of full floating rear axle? How is it different from semi-floats?

[R.G]

Congrats !!!
Samurai , you have got an excellent skill of writing. I really enjoyed your travelogue and your writings on GV. A SWB Jeep is my dream.
Hope to see more write ups and snaps of your beauty.

[Sam Kapasi]

Kitna hotttt jeep hai, superb Samu!!

[Alfa_Kilo]

Originally Posted by GTO

Arka, what is the advantage of full floating rear axle? How is it different from semi-floats?

In a semi floater, the halfshaft (i.e. the driveshaft between the diff and the wheel) supports the wheel. It thus bears the rotational (torque), radial (weight, bumps and whatever else you throw at it) and lateral (cornering) loads. This makes the shaft more prone to failure under heavy use (offroading, though please note that almost all light vehicles including pickups have semifloaters, and the type is perfectly OK for on road and commercial use) and abuse. If the shaft breaks, one looses the wheel, which is not nice when you are in the middle of nowhere, alone.

In a full floater, the wheel is held onto the axle by a pair of bearings, a la dead axle. The halfshaft just turns the wheel. Rest of the loads are taken by the wheel bearings. If a haflshaft breaks, the vehicle can still limp home from the drive on the other axle (for a 4x4) as the wheel is still OK. Full floaters are easier to service, as the shaft can be removed without touching the wheel. Typical jeeps have full floaters at the front (a steerable axle cannot be a semi floater) and semis at the rear. Army MM550XDBs have full floaters at the rear also.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by GTO

Arka, what is the advantage of full floating rear axle? How is it different from semi-floats?

In a full-floating axle, the weight of the vehicle is carried on the axle carrier hub : the axle itself has to only handle the torque of the engine, it does not need to take the weight of the vehicle. In a semi-floating axle, the weight of the vehicle acts on the axle shaft also.

As Arka has stated, this is definitely an advantage for heavy off-roading use.

Another point is that in case the axle shaft breaks, the wheel will likely fall off if it is semi-floating system ( in full-floating axle, it will be held by the axle carrier hub ) . This can be more dangerous in off-roading situations.

Protect your Jeep while rock crawling with side rocker panel guards & skid plates from Skid Row Automotive, Body Armor, Rugged Ridge, Olympic 4X4 Products & Warn. - Quadratec

[rjstyles69]

Samurai congratulations on the new acquisition. Does the GV take the rear seat now from all those off-roading videos you shared with us ?

[DKG]

I guess that's one reason why Tata has recently launched the 207 DI with a rigid front axle/member as opposed to the independent setup on my car. The rigid axles (full floaters as you call it) are traditionally more suited for higher loads. I guess the "floating" word comes from the fact the axle simply rides or floats in bearings and does the job of only turning the wheel

The compromise with rigid axles as we all know is poorer ride quality.

Further, in case a vehicle had a fully independent suspension where the hub was not held in place with the drive shaft as part of the suspension setup would that not circumvent the problem of wheels collapsing if the shaft broke? That should be the ultimate off road setup as each wheel gets to track separately. Inherently that should be far more superior to the old rigid "full floater" axles I would think

[vaspro]

Hey i saw this Jeep add on Kijiji website on 21 May. Infact i wanted to enquire about it. But i was too lazy

Awesome Jeep...have loads of fun and post the wonderful pictures as you always do.

Today a Jeepthrills member(a colleague of mine) showed his MM540 in the lunch break. His jeep got 31" Yokohama A/T tyres and nice leather seats. I was stumped by it. Came back from lunch and read your thread...it made my day. Thank you for such a wonderful experience.

I am looking for a MM540 since sometime. Now i will up my pace of search.

Thanks
-Vaspro