Build GCRad1's 1992 ADV80 LAND CRUISER

[Wayne]

Loved following your trip, thanks for sharing it.

 

[GCRad1]

[I was so close to finishing this post but work always keeps me busy!
OK, finishing up and man, I have a massive amount of catching up to do!!]

...................................... BB5002015 - Death Valley Tour..............................

Our trip is winding down and you know its the moment when you know this is going to be the last you see everyone for a while. You hate it to end, but it has to. But same time, you are looking forward to your creature comforts of home. You start to ponder the things that need to be fixed or updated. It's a land rush of thoughts and emotions.

Time to air up.

The drive home... Touching tarmac after being in the dirt a few days seems strange.
The trips has ben spectacular in every way with meeting new friends, seeing old ones and seeing awesome landscapes!
To top it off, the ADV80 worked awesome on its first and my first trip through Death Valley.
Confidence is high!

If you would like view all of the bazillion images, here is a link to my Flickr Set:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneywills/albums/72157651195299834

 

[GCRad1]

Moving along, in October 2015 I get a phone call about a pre-run trip to work out a couple of routes for a potential upcoming run. October is a great time for a desert visit as Halloween is what we call the official opening of Desert Season!

We make our way out of SoCal hustle and heading up the Cajon Pass on the 15FWY and exiting Cleghorn Rd as the dirt road goes up and over the mountain and we will bypass all of Bear Valley Road / Victorville all together as we rather spend more time in the dirt than in weekend traffic on Bear Valley Road! Looks like a few others have the same idea, but when we pull off the big group was still sitting there so we scooted on pass!

Cleghorn does offer some sonic views for a relatively simple trail. But if you do want to throw caution to the wind, Cleghorn offers some by-ways that will meet your challenge needs. We are simply passing through and making our way toward the desert.

We make our way to Lucerne Valley and I've never pulled into their market before. This place makes for great food stocking on the edge of the desert! Complete with DELI! Duly noted and we stock up and head out!

We meet up with a couple of friends at their desert "hideout" and we go check out some of their local spots.

Sun is setting and my daughter and I go out for a little night run of our own. She likes to drive as well and we get her behind the wheel and go at her speed with no pressure to keep up with the group.

Back at camp, hide-out, desert retreat, whatever you want to call it, their place is awesome!!!

The next morning the sky is looking a bit temperamental, but somehow not one raindrop falls on us. Its falling all around, just not on us. So guess the rumor is true that it never rains in Lucerne Valley! At least its true for this day...

We pack up:

And head out.

We jump over from the Lucerne Valley side and into Rattlesnake Canyon in the upward direction toward Pioneer Town. I've ran this canyon up and down a few times now, and it never seems to get old or board with it! There is always something new to see within its majestic walls!

Again, its not difficult trail at all, its just purely spectacular place to be!

Coming out at the top reveals a garden of Joshua Trees!

Yea, we are goofing off and photo-opting everywhere, but its my daughters first trip through here with me so its called for!

My daughter is learning the rules of 1/3rds and creative image framing. Not that I always follow the "rules" I just shoot.

 

[GCRad1]

Coming out, we finally get into some rain.

But that never stops anyone in the desert!

We stop into Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace! The honky-tonk, barbecue restaurant and music venue
with the MOST AWESOME BUFFALO BURGERS!!!
www.pappyandharriets.com

If you are ever out in the Yucca Valley area, you should pop up here to Pioneer Town and visit!

Anyone know the story on this sticker?

So, its that time again.

Air Up and Head Out!

Notice the clouds below the mountain line. We are driving down Twentynine Palms Highway (HWY62) toward the 10FWY with Mt San Jacinto in the background.

I haven't given a Falken Wild Peak tire report in a while, but these tires are just simply awesome! As my daughter says, "we be floatin!"
The 34" [315/75R16] Falken Wild Peaks went onto the ADV80 back in September of 2012 at mile:211,817 so 48,668-miles and still going strong!

The ICON Vehicle Dynamics shocks have been absolutely stunning! I'm still running the original "pieced together" prototypes made up of used parts, bits and pieces! ICON OR NOTHING! OK, ICON or simply stock!

The FrontRunner Slimline II roofrack has been absolutely awesome as well. I use it for both work and fun.

Yet, it is still bearing the signs of my first Rattlesnake Canyon trip as I had a axle carrier on the side and it got a little tangled in a tree.

I made sure to show my daughter the very tree that got me! We were traveling in the opposite direction...

But from here you can see how low it is. I should actually snap a shot of how scared up the tree is as Im not the only one scraping it!

 

[GCRad1]

Hello RBAIN82, I think the sPod I have is the standard Toyota Tacoma sPOD Kit. Nothing fancy and straight forward!
http://www.4x4spod.com/product_p/800-000-000.htm

I LOVE MY sPOD!!!

@GCRad1 dude, love the rig.. From a fellow '92 guy.. I might have missed it, but which SPod did you go with? you still happy with it?

 

[rblain82]

Hello RBAIN82, I think the sPod I have is the standard Toyota Tacoma sPOD Kit. Nothing fancy and straight forward!
http://www.4x4spod.com/product_p/800-000-000.htm

I LOVE MY sPOD!!!

Yep. mine should be here Tuesday... pretty stoked about it.

 

[Tpurdin]

What a great read, two evenings is all it took, great info! Great ideas! I have a bone stock 1991 and have been chomping at the bit to get some things done to it. I think after reading through this I just need to sit back and enjoy what I have and do a slow build on it. Good stuff GCRad1!

 

[GCRad1]

THANK YOU TPURDIN!!!! Welcome to the 3FE slow lane of life!
Thank you for reading all my junk and absolutely get out and drive your stock 1991 3FE rig so you are intimate with your rig before you modify. You will know (every penny worth) if the mod's you make are actually worth every penny or not!
Its a Land CRUISER not a Land Speeder - says so right on the tail gate!

What a great read, two evenings is all it took, great info! Great ideas! I have a bone stock 1991 and have been chomping at the bit to get some things done to it. I think after reading through this I just need to sit back and enjoy what I have and do a slow build on it. Good stuff GCRad1!

 

[GCRad1]

Oct 2015 and the Pre-Run trip is done and we get right back to it!

Check 1 - 2 Truck is ready! The ADV80 seems to always be ready!!! I guess daily drivers are like that!
Especially the YOTAMASTERS serviced ones!

Clock starts here:

The desert can be hot still. And our run-n-gun style trips have us on the move! I like to stay hydrated!
Camelback and burned it into me, "HYDRATE OR DIE!" I'be been on the MTB action since 1988 and Camelback fan since the very first one!
I like this version as it has the D-rings and I can mount it off the headrest as such! Works great!

Mission: Yea, we are going to go knock a loop out for the crew's desert season opener!

This mission is that some of us will camp out on the desert floor at Cougar Buttes, within Johnson Valley. Everyone will meet up there and next morning traverse up HWY18 to Cactus Flat OHV Staging Area off the east side of of Big Bear.

My daughter and I just camped in Cougar Buttes and the HWY18 is STEEP and the 3FE is WEAK in regular D-mode. So, we went up at night while the air was cool and went on our own solo-night-explore onto the 3N61 Jacoby Canyon. We would camp out at Cactus Flats area and be ready to go in the morning! These little 5.11 Tactical flashlights are BRIGHT! The read of the ADV80 is lit up with the flashlight for this shot.

And I have these new (in 2015) 80-Series ICON springs in the ADV80 to fully stretch its legs and test!

And the Yotamasters crew installed a new tranny mount as the old one was just dead!
I changed this just on whim. I felt that with all the hard running we were doing in the desert, I just wanted
to start fresh. One day we will do the engine mounts as well.

Next morning the clouds are barely up.
Coffee is going down:

And the crowd is gathering all around.
Today...

is going to be a good day. OUR HAPPY DAY!!!

And the ADV80 is ready to go roller skating Daft Punk style!

Our crew is making way down Smarts Canyon Road in route to the....

long-dirt-way back around to the top of....

you guessed it!

Rattlesnake Canyon!

LUNCH BREAK!

These guys!!! New to the Yotamasters crew, but way-way more influence on us than on them. OK, at least for me! I will just say, they are our desert weekend warrior homestead off-grinders! And that storm brewing in the background... yea, thats real and I'm getting a little
excited! Will we see rain while we are in the canyon?!

Let's get these sorted out first!

The sprinkles are real...

Just not enough to make for water streams that I would like to see through the canyon. But hey,
we are in my favorite place and the mood is different! Good enough for me!

And enough to visually change the look of the landscape by making the rocks slick.

 

[GCRad1]

We make our way out of the bottom of Rattlesnake Canyon and we cut north, staying in the dirt to parallel HWY247 Old Woman Spring Road.

We stop by the old school bus..

And we pay our respects...

Just a hillside in the southern California desert.

ONWARD!

Onto our next little spot just a hop-skip-jump to the other side!
In search of this...

What is it?
A social experiment called "SOCIAL POOL" as part of the HIGH DESERT TEST SITES:

HIGH DESERT TEST SITES - Their Mission:
High Desert Test Sites is a non-profit organization that supports intimate and immersive experiences and exchanges between artists, critical thinkers, and general audiences – challenging all to expand their definition of art to take on new areas of relevancy.

We came, we visited and lots of head scratching... hehehe
Funny thing is that I had previously heard of this place...

Check out this little Google Image Search: "high desert test sites"

Back to our camp destination for the evening.

 

[GCRad1]

After arriving to our camp area:

We still have some light left in the day.
My daughter wants to get her drive on:

With here behind the wheel I get to navigate and shoot photos while on the move.
Do you see that sunset?! Look-Lex-look! hehehe

Teaching the kids the fine are of driving while people in the car are trying to distract you!
She's a champ! You know I love it that she is out here wheeling with us and learning to drive in the dirt before she has her drivers license!
We shoot across the desert floor in attempt to catch the last light of the day and check out another desert feature.

We were just over there on the other side, she drove us over here and feeling accomplished.

How lucky of a dad am I?! Trouble? Yes, I'm 2nd amendment friendly! hehehe She is learning all the
outdoor skills!

The ADV80 in all its glory doing what it does best! Transporting us in our quest for adventure.

The desert is never shy with an abundance of rock formations.
Always something different if you actually look!

We head back to camp for the evening.

This was a great day with friends and especially as a father with my teenage daughter out in the dirt with me by her own choice!

 

[GCRad1]

YOTAMASTERS Crew Desert Trip OCT 2015

THE CROSS ROADS - NEXT DAY is travel home day.
Most of the crew was ready to head home and where going to go up and over via Big Bear. Lexi and myself wanted to get her some more "behind the wheel time" so we opted to stay in the desert and go see some area's I had not gone to or through and with Lexi behind the wheel it would be at our own pace.

So our mission will be to travel from Cougar Buttes - Rodman Mountain - Barstow (Gas station) - Dale Evans area - Stoddard Wells area - West side of Sidewinder Mountain - Woodardville Ranch pass and back onto tarmac on the HWY247-Barstow Road.

This is the steep grade up Rodman Mountain.

We made a lunch stop out of it and hiked around onto the peak.

Only the strong survive out here in the desert! These little critter cacti have to be tuff right from the start!

We spend plenty of time taking in the 360-degree view and watch as the cloud/shadow patterns
move across the landscape. We too move on across the landscape...

Down the mountain and somewhere between Rodman and Barstow closer to the 40FWY we find a pass that allows us to cross over to the other side easily, but the wind is trying to blow us back! Can't tell from this image, but its blowing seriously hard!

We carry on and come across this cattle grate..
and we see a little sandy wash that heads in the general direction toward Barstow:

We get into Barstow, fuel up and get back into the dirt. We make our way through Dale Evans and Stoddard and on down back towards Lucern / Victorville area and when we see more houses, we cut back up into the hills and find this awesome little valley! I think its the Woodardville Ranch valley, but I am not sure. No matter, my daughter and I pull over for a late afternoon dinner. After dinner we continue on up into the valley and are not sure that we will make it over. We have HWY18 to our right and HWY247 over the hill in front of us. This picture is looking out the passenger window toward HWY18. Mental note, I need to get back up in here and explore some more!

Upon reaching the top of valley notch between two steep ranges, I don't really see much of a way out until I walk down into the wash and see
that it has been traveled before, but not anytime recently. It could have been months since the last time someone had came through here. That makes me both excited and very precautions as everything is speculative at this point. I typically don't want to follow tracks in this area as most can lead into serious rock crawling sections, but I walk ahead and navigate as my daughter through. We make our way through and pass under what is the only tree in the wash just out in the middle of "nowhere!"

We are checking the tree out and noticing lots of fluttering going on within the tree and while the photo doesn't show it, there are hundreds of butterflies all attached to the tree leaves. My daughter and I sit for a while and check this out as we know we will most likely never see this again! We knew at this point our trip was now complete and had seen enough for this trip! Plus, she has done all the dirt driving on this day. We have just a bit more to go before we reach tarmac, but we now have it in our site.

TODAY WAS AN AWESOME DAY!!!

This is the route that my daughter drove every stitch of.

This concludes this weekend trek with my daughter and an AWESOME ONE!!! 465-miles round trip
with roughly half of those in the dirt!

 

[Inthefive555]

That's one sweet adventure with irreplaceable memories to boot! Wish I had a group to join up with while I was out in CA. Canr wait to do something like this with my kiddo when she grows up.

For a second, I thought that was Ryhi's blurple T4R coming down the pass.

 

[GCRad1]

Had this idea while reading the history of Thermarest as John Burroughs was an engineer at the Boeing Company aerospace corporation prior to starting Thermarest. While his "Ah-Ha!" moment struck Jim one day while gardening, I wondered if the material we see as a Thermarest pad was also used in insulation of/for aircraft.

That reminded me that I had seen this and actually shot a photo of Thermarest RidgeRest SOlite being used in a vans back windows's block out a window while attending the 2014 OVERLAND EXPO - Prescott, Arizona:

So here goes:

Made me a quick stencil.

Just doing it quick-style and nothing super accurate. Just getting it done. I purchased a couple of pads off E-Bay as some scouts troop was clearing out some old pads.

I used some black photo-tape to hold the Thermarest into place. [No photo now] but I actually came back and used a couple of rods across the window to help hold the Thermarest in place.

Outside look - This should help with thermal temp inside! With the air conditioner fixed (!!!) I'm just looking to keep the cool air inside!

 

[GCRad1]

Thank you for checking out the page. Are you a Subaru rally fan? "555"

That's one sweet adventure with irreplaceable memories to boot! Wish I had a group to join up with while I was out in CA. Canr wait to do something like this with my kiddo when she grows up.

For a second, I thought that was Ryhi's blurple T4R coming down the pass.

 

[B Large]

Great thread, GCRad1! I just finished reading from start to finish. You've done some great work on the ADV80 and some great exploring. Really enjoy your photography, too!

 

[GCRad1]

BLARGE - THANK YOU for reading my docu-drama thread for the ADV80! Heck, I even use it as a reference as to what I have done as I forget what I have done! hehehe

Great thread, GCRad1! I just finished reading from start to finish. You've done some great work on the ADV80 and some great exploring. Really enjoy your photography, too!

 

[GCRad1]

MAIL CALL!

Made my first purchase from Wit's End Land Cruiser Solutions! I purchased the Left Side Fire Extinguisher Mount:
80 Series Fire Extinguisher Mount-Left Side
VERY IMPRESSED WITH JUST THE PACKAGING DETAIL!

I was excited to do something to the rig, so in the middle of the night I popped out and got after it! Has to be simple enough.

Yea, that was simple enough!

You may notice the area between the mount and the seat now provides some compartmentalization.
Wits'End actually makes a cargo liner as well. I wanted to test the whole contraption out first before I put any more dead presidents into it.
Currently I have a pair of gloves, an air freshener (Squash flavor for those of you who know, know) and a skeet that I found in the desert while on a photo shoot. The skeet made for a great turn marker for my driver while shooting/filming an R/C rig for work. But all in all, I guess the big thing you want to know, "does the mount get in my way?" No it does not. My seat is all the way back and my daughter moves the seat all the way forward so that should answer that as well. OK, that is all for this dispatch.

 

[GCRad1]

SORRY FOR THE SIDETRACK DISTRACTION! But, this doesn't happen every day...

I got invited out to wheel some supermoto action and got some actual school lessons from SOCAL Supermoto!
I grew up riding dirt bikes, so this was a BLAST - MEGA-BLAST!!! I actually found the IH8MUD forum
previously through the ADVrider forum as I riding a KTM950ADV / HondaXR400 / ATK605DS BEFORE the ADV80 came into my life.
Sorry for the non-ADV80 distraction, but welcome to my life!
Bicycles, motorcycles, tiny trucks and the ADV80 stacked on top of a whole lot more.
It's all incestious!

 

[GCRad1]

PROJECT: Desert TT Mission

My buddy called and asked if I could come rescue him.
Seems he stuffed his Axial SCORE Trophy Truck into an embankment.
These racer dudes... when talent runs out...


Are you serious?

Have you seen this weather report! But yea, I'm on my way!

Off in search of him I GO! Any excuse... right?!?!

Stop air down as it looks like its going to be a little sandy and I like the smooth "slanky" ride
when the ADV80 is in desert "creep mode" or slow-low speed.

While I am looking for him, the rig is looking especially good with the inclement weather swirling all around.

Falken Wild Peaks are aired down to about 18/16-psi(front/back).

And while there is lots of sand:

There is this very interesting texture and shape rough stuff.

I finally find him. He got tired of waiting on me...

We carry on to explore more in this wild scale terrain!

Amazing natural structure of the landscape!

The desert is simply an amazing place! And very different from my upbringing in the woods of Alabama!

We make our way out of the sand dunes...