[beejay]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Half of folks in Bangalore have jeeps from him. Why don't you take one of his jeeps itself However, you could not get a better person to take with you for checking out the jeep.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I am sure its JAMMY THATHA's jeep wonlee

OT
I just remembered. Last month while I was in Coimbatore. There was one particular gentleman who was walking around my CJ340. I was watching from a distance. He then found out who it belongs to and we chatted for a while. He told me he was there tbhp too and the stupid side of me got his handle name as Redmm440. For all I can recollect he told me he sold his CJ340 to Samurai, and now something tells me, this is Jammy.

[The Wolf]

Hey guys...I am back to post my first impressions et al!

After driving close to 100kms I decided to get some preliminary checks and all the oils changed. I headed to Swami's garage off the Kmangla 100 feet road. Started from home (Sahakar nagar ) at around 10am and reached the garage, some 25-30kms away, at around 11am via outer ring road which as usual wasnt as free as Id like. Then, as I reached the garage saw some 1940's CJ 640 (as written on the dash badge) getting some work done on the radiator. Spoke to the owner who promptly informs me that it is a govt provided vehicle to maintain road side transformers. The dude was a nepali so got chatting with him about naxals and current napali situation etc for a bit.

Swami assigns a friendly kid called Sunil at task, he quick sneaks under my jeep and starts draining all the oils- engine oil, gbox oil, front and the rear diffs. I had already picked up 6l of Shell Rimula for the engine and castrol gear oil 140 grade. The engine drank almost 6L and the rest drank close to 6 & 1/2. Man, these mechanicals are such thirsty for oil but so harsh in their ishtyle, makes me wonder if there is any corelation at all...hehe!!! BTW, the engine oil was in pretty good state but the rest looked nasty, glad I got em all changed. It feels relatively smoother now but not too much.

After a fill up job and re torquing of drain bolts I requested Swami to have a look at the rest of the things, he checked the air filter, steering joint, power break fluid and the rest and said Im good to go. Im gonna have to go back to him some time this week to get the exhaust back to stock state, this one wont do.

I also got my 4x4 L lever loosened up a bit as it was fairly jammed. Didnt get a chance to test its movement as I was driving on tarmac continuously after I left form the garage till I reached home an hour or so back. I am asked to move the lever with some force the next few times to help it loosen up further.

I drove all the way to HSR layout to another garage where a clpse friend of mine was getting his '01 vtec serviced (now for sale). We decided to gobble some mutton biryani at moghul garden and split. I drove all the way from there back home... with rains and and all woah what a journey

Now the good and the 'live with it' parts of this Jeep as per me;

Goods;
1. Crazy torque, takes off in any gear!!! 3rd gear is good to move from stationary...amazing!!!
2. Object of admiration for the onlookers with subtle smiles and HIs coming my way every so often. Hehe, makes me smile back so many times, hehe.
3. Cops almost ignore you each time when they are set to catch the drunks and the not so drunk... They just pretend oblivious to the jeepers presence I guess as informed by so many already.
4. AWESOME FE, looks like Im getting atleast 14-15kmpl, that is respectable for a 23yr old diesel
5. Great braking, big booster power.

Now the 'Live with it' bit;
1. Vibrations variety of noises- grinding and whining and straining galore...coming from slick, low slung street tuner cars where only the exhaust note is to reckon with this feels like tractor. LOL. But I am told my Jeep is far smoother than so many out there so I guess it just needs getting used to. Second opinions should help though...
2. Heat: engine bay heat sneaking into the driver cabin plus the plastic soft top is an absolutely NO NO in this season. Everything gets HOT...and with no AC or fan- its a furnace in 10mins during noons. Wondering how to help my self here. Firewall looks fine but too much heat entering the cockpit
3. Mild leakages: water trickling in from the the center of the wind shield, soft top etc. I gotta search each of the those lil holes and araldite em. Already got 2 tubes...hehe!
4. Rust spots here and there...gotta get em all touched up soon.
5. Top speed only 80kmph with these bigger tyres, noise gets too violent post 80

So far so good, wil keep you all posted, lot more to come. Planning a private OTR at some friends farm

@Khan Sultan: Yes this is the same Jeep the mech was asking me to transplant a MDI into. I was referring to Shekhar, so sorry I meant "respected Jeepers in Karnataka not India, pardon my typo". BTW, I heard him say that he has a different set of jeepers that he OTRs with these days, though a bit rarely due to time constraint. Just 5-8 Jeeps each time to seriously hostile terrain...

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

@Khan Sultan: Yes this is the same Jeep the mech was asking me to transplant a MDI into. I was referring to Shekhar, so sorry I meant "respected Jeepers in Karnataka not India, pardon my typo". BTW, I heard him say that he has a different set of jeepers that he OTRs with these days, though a bit rarely due to time constraint. Just 5-8 Jeeps each time to seriously hostile terrain...

Where is Shekhar...we all need to fall at his feet...please ask him to join us in one of our OTR's soon!

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Where is Shekhar...we all need to fall at his feet...please ask him to join us in one of our OTR's soon!

You all?? Who all? Didnt know he had so many fans here, LOL!!! Give me the names and I'l inform him

[GTO]

Great looking Jeep, Wolf! Congratulations & welcome to the world of offroading . There's no looking back now, trust me.

I'd highly recommend starting with the basic 4x4 stuff, and reading up on the many offroading tips within the forum. Take your time in learning the ropes.

Drive safe

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by GTO

Great looking Jeep, Wolf! Congratulations & welcome to the world of offroading . There's no looking back now, trust me.

I'd highly recommend starting with the basic 4x4 stuff, and reading up on the many offroading tips within the forum. Take your time in learning the ropes.

Drive safe

Thanks Rush...

You bet, have done loads of reading already but you know learning is a never ending process so it will keep going on... Look forward to same OTRing together sometime in future

[The Wolf]

Just thought I'd update you all of the proceedings...

Me and 5 friends (all OHC VTEC junkies) decided to test the Jeep out by heading to the Nandi hills last Saturday night at around 11pm. It was raining, some times slowing down to just a few drops and then roaring its wazoo out suddenly with crazy thunders/lightnings and the works!!! However, that wasnt enough to deter us =)

So, there we get on to the new airport road at around 11pm on a Saturday night , me on the driver seat with my best friend in the passenger and the rest 4 on the rear 2 person bench plus the wheel arches, lol.

Due to the rains I guess the temp guage stay glued at just around 65deg for a real long time- close to 35kms, infact almost till we started to climb the steep section of Nandi hills. The moment we started climbing the more serious inclines the temp went all the way to 85deg and got stuck again. Well, the climb was mindblowing, except in 4 extremely steep ascents where I had to shift to 2nd gear the Jeep managed to trot in 3rd gear all through out comfortably to our amazement. Friends including me were shocked to see the torque these machines generate. With 6 people on board it is a piece of cake to take off in 2nd gear from stationary position, amazing enough to give me the bragging rights ;p

There were a few trickles in side the cabin but that didnt cause any inconvenience amongst the great things and feelings this machine brought to us with each passing mile. Close to 90kms, we all just spoke about Jeeps...completely unstinted considering we all come from a very back ground!

As I drove I realized a few things;
1. Power got much better after 50-60 kms and infact on the way back I was doing 100kmph on the meter pretty comfortably, with 500+ kgs in the Jeep it felt extremely planted and well behaved. The tyres are bigger as well which Im sure wouldve added to over all stability. I am currently running 24 psi in fronts and 22 in the rears. The tyres are 235/70/R15 B'stone Dueler H/T tube radials. The booster assisted brakes seemed fairly adequate.
2. Oils change plus an ~200kms long drive- result>> slightly smoother engine feel with a mild drop in vibrations. (Will drop some Bardahl in the engine and gbox this weekend, lets see what happens then)
3. As I was just 5 odd kms from my house I felt that the Jeep was pulling a bit to the right when I braked, experts your comments please. Also, I noticed this a bit after getting out of a massive puddle, thats a lead to you folks...

Returned home at around 4.30am, said hi to wifey who woke up for a brief second, and crashed with a big smile on my face. Way to go Wolf, you have indeed made a right decision

[Red Liner]

Water in the brakes - it happens. Try not to go into big puddles of water and if you do, ease off the throttle for a while because your brakes performance would be low. Test the brakes out as you drive and once they dry out, you're all set to unleash 0-60 performance figures.

[Jaggu]

Remember they have drum brakes, so if you are riding around in the rain do an occasional check for pulls. These pulls can be very dangerous at higher speeds so careful and dont overdo it, well its one of the jeep things

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Water in the brakes - it happens. Try not to go into big puddles of water and if you do, ease off the throttle for a while because your brakes performance would be low. Test the brakes out as you drive and once they dry out, you're all set to unleash 0-60 performance figures.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Remember they have drum brakes, so if you are riding around in the rain do an occasional check for pulls. These pulls can be very dangerous at higher speeds so careful and dont overdo it, well its one of the jeep things

Hey, thanks guys... I was guessing it wouldve been the water inbetween the pad and drum phenomenon but now I am sure, and yeah, time to live with one more thingie in the name of 'Jeep thing' I guess, lol!

Jaggu, any Jeeper meets around the corner in Blore? Just wanted to have one of you drive my Jeep and give me updates on hows what. I love to live off second opinions till I get to a stage where I might not require one, atleast for smaller things.

How about a OTR this weekend? Anyone game? Redliner/Jaggu, wana start off a thread and see the participation response?

[The Wolf]

Hey guys, a big problem seems to have got sorted out today! Where I stay (Sahakar Nagar- next to Jakkur) I wasnt able to find a good jeep mech (which is a must I guess) for close to 17 days but today was a different day...

I just felt like doing some rounds around my house to find work shops, luckily within a km on the airport road from my house I spotted a black 540 restoration work, I immdtly went ahead-took a U turn and returned to inquire. Met these 2 guys- Krishna and Rajendhra at a workshop called "Sri Kalika Auto Works", also saying "Dealers in automobile spare parts" for Maruti, Ford, Honda, Mahindra, Chevrolet, Skoda, Fiat, Toyota etc etc.

The Front part of the garage is a small yard with a paint booth and office and the rear is a hugh ground with close to 20 vehicles (mainly trucks and LCVs). Then, I asked the main guy Rajendhra Acharya if they work on Mahindras, he ofcos said yes and showed me a couple of them being worked upon. I was quick to ask him if could help me ready my Jeep for some jungle/farm trips (he wouldnt understand OTRs you see =) He responded with a serious yet confident spark in his eyes with this "I will do whatever you want me to do sir, none of it will break mid way I can assure". I was like- ok, I will drop the car on Monday morning, 1. I want my exhaust re-routed and finished off like in stock vehicle, 2. Change the cross member which is slightly damaged and also not the right model for the Jeep but a jugaad. He said he will return the Jeep on Tue around noon. Also asked him if he would fabricate custom bumper, increase camber etc etc, he was like- "we do everything sir, just let us know what all you want done". Well, I said get the 1. and 2. done, depending on the quality of work I will entrust newer jobs on to you. Also told him that if his service is satisfactory he will be recommended to over 50 Jeepers Saying that I left from there.

After the Pearl Valley OTR last weekend my eyes have opened to a lotta mods...aimed towards making my 540 less breakable, better equipped and ALL terrain ready, lets see how successful I get at that in my next report.

I will be out of Blore tomorrow and will be back only to start the work on getting my NDMS and right rims on monday along with a metal tool box, which I am unable to find anywhere...

Thats all for now. Over and out!

[joshguy]

Wolf

Your jeep seems to be from chennai and the number is same as my swifts

BTW is your "Lieutenant" is two seater or 4 seater?

the soft top looks cool too

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by joshguy

Wolf

Your jeep seems to be from chennai and the number is same as my swifts

Yes it is and it originally belonged to my friend. We took this jeep for a few OTR's back in 2006 in Chennai. Its got a bit of a history

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Yes it is and it originally belonged to my friend. We took this jeep for a few OTR's back in 2006 in Chennai. Its got a bit of a history

It doesnt really matter to me even if the Jeep had broken into 2 halves but I'd like to know what this history is, care to share mate?

@ Joshguy: I am hoping your swift is still with you, who knows someone might have stolen your swift and modified it into an MM 540

The Jeep already has a KA number, its about time I get the bumpers repainted with them! Yes, it has a short horizontal 2 seater bench in the rear with bare metal on wheel arches.

I am glad you liked it, thanks!

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

It doesnt really matter to me even if the Jeep had broken into 2 halves but I'd like to know what this history is, care to share mate?

It had broken into 9 3/4th pieces and its been put together with scotch tape. If you look carefully, you will notice the tape.

Since the scotch tape purchased was woriginal 3M maal, it has held together.

But the 3/4th piece was retained by the 6th owner as a souvenir.

Dude, am just kidding. This jeep has offroaded in Chennai, and the guy who came with me for your first OTR was the guy who sold it to God's friend! So he had a bit of a Deja Vu moment when he saw it.