Hitting the UAE desert (1 Viewer)

[Desert Nomad]

Started with this

Coming along nicely

When everything goes so smoothly you know it's going to be bad. Stripped part of the thread on the bolt. Going to have to wait until tonorrow to get a new bolt and sort out the thread in the frame

 

[Willy beamin]

i hate to hear that. how you like your ST MAXX'S?

 

[Desert Nomad]

i hate to hear that. how you like your ST MAXX'S?

No complaints so far. A little bit less stability in cornering but expected from a narrower tire, slight humming on road much less than the unevenly worn mastercrafts i had. They've been pretty decent so far in the desert

 

[Willy beamin]

thank you for the feed back. I'm pretty sure these are the tires I'm getting. Just wanted some real world feed back.

 

[Willy beamin]

sorry to jack your thread - would you buy them again or recommend them? as a worthy tire
i have a different size in mind
thanks

 

[Desert Nomad]

sorry to jack your thread - would you buy them again or recommend them? as a worthy tire
i have a different size in mind
thanks

The cooper should be of higher quality than the mastercrafts. Honestly i haven't even put those many miles on them yet i want to rotate them every 5k kms to avoid uneven wear as much as possible. So far they seem like a good tire hopefully in some time can get more in depth. I'm sure you'll be happy with them. My only issue is my 200 is a DD and with lots of highway miles the lugs wear out and the tire doesn't look so chunky.

 

[Desert Nomad]

This spacer had to be ground down to 15mm to get the diff and frame parallel to each other

The center spacer was not used as it wasn't needed for the TJM skidplate

Bash guard on the left hand side that covers the spacer had clearance issues with the diff forgot to take a pic after grinding it down (note is written in the install instructions). I noticed a slight vibration just did 20kms in it will recheck later on. I'm sure the vibration was there from before and it's just my senses are heightened. Also since the 200 slept on the lift i borrowed a BMW 5er for half the day and I'm sure the difference in comfort levels had a role in playing with my head making me worry on every vibration and sound.

 

[BulletHead]

I'm wondering why you needed to do the extra grinding work. Some of the guys who have installed them, haven't had issues.

Did you measure CV angles, before and after? Also, which bolt did you strip? Need a new one? You can probably find the metric bolts there easily.

 

[Desert Nomad]

The 14x80 stud stripped. But just barely on the first 2 threads could've been repaired but went out and got an extra 2. It stripped as with all the leverage and moving around the 18mm spacer was too big to get the bolt tgrough the hole straight. We aligned everything up and all bolted excluding the spacer/bolt and the gap was at 15mm so we shaved off 2-3mm and all went in smoothly. I'm not sure if there's a difference with non kdss cruisers. I completely forget to check the angles as i rushee through this at the start (why the bolt stripped) but I'll get a reading of how they sit now and check with the bedouins 200 and see the difference.

 

[Desert Nomad]

Here are the protection cover spacers as well as the area grinded off it to clear the diff

 

[Desert Nomad]

Took the 200 by the mountains for a change of scenery.

 

[Desert Nomad]

 

[Desert Nomad]

 

[Desert Nomad]

Went through dried "wadis" (these areas flood during the rainy season and form rivers)

 

[Desert Nomad]

This last set wraps up the trip, I have a scrap yard pickup trailer project nearing completion I'll probably get it down here to give it a good shake down. Will post up pictures of the trailer once it's ready (currently in paint and needs wiring up).

 

[SWUtah]

If you make it to Ras Al Khamiah - When you are here in the UAE let me know, and you are welcome to take a tour of our armored car factory where we are usually armoring 60-80 TLC's a month.

Your personal views on the TLC would be insightful based on your armored car factory business. Mine sharing on this thread or starting a new one?

 

[Desert Nomad]

sorry to jack your thread - would you buy them again or recommend them? as a worthy tire
i have a different size in mind
thanks

After this last trip I'm in love with these coopers, Performance and handling was superb.

 

[Willy beamin]

ha - glad to hear that. You have some really nice looking terrain (and photos) there to go and play in.
thanks for the reply - have a great weekend

 

[Desert Nomad]

A sneak peek of the trailer. Tailgate, fuel filler door and rails getting painted today while the trailer's tail + side lights are getting wired up. Pickup tub cost >$200 from the scrap heap

 

[Desert Nomad]

Trailer is finally done once i have a bedliner sprayed in this thing will get a few add ons (battery, fridge, grill etc.)

This is what it was 3 months ago