Dezert or bust. 87 Single cab Yota rehab.

DWPhoto · Jan 28, 2019

Hell yea dude. My office is right next to Corbin Bowling Alley on Ventura blvd.

koolaidmanguy · Feb 1, 2019

Got this sweet cage mount EMPI buggy rear view

Also replaced driver side rear wheel bearing, took axle out and just had a local shop press on a new one. should have taken a photo, but no shots of that. old one was toast for sure.

However after install, and a test drive, it still has a clicking noise coming from the rear... but not under accel or decel.

Upon further inspection looks to have sticky driveshaft U joints. ordered moog premiums and a trans output shaft seal. its oil soaked. should have em in a few days.

also, realized steering wheel hub has a jank quick disconnect and is loose. needs to be addressed. hammer on the peg and it pops off. pull out on the peg and it stays. Hex head underneath. i dont trust it.

and most likely ditching stock gauge cluster and making up a simple setup to drop in the boat dash surround, nice and rectangular so should be easy. truck is getting close to being a decent driver.

koolaidmanguy · Feb 1, 2019

short low quality snap chat vids i snagged from my bro of the truck on a local test drive. exhaust may be eligible for the new CA noise ticket. will get better vids soon.

koolaidmanguy · Feb 6, 2019

Bit more progress on the red yota. New trans output shaft seal ( was a bitch to remove ) tortured to death with a slide hammer and hook attachment, and both driveshaft u joints replaced.

Old

U joint was cracked on two of the bearing caps. no bueno.

NEW

Home made seal driver out of a 1.25" pvc cap with a 1" reducer slid inside for an extra lip. perfect diameter for the seal, and worked great.
$1.25 for both pieces at home depot.

koolaidmanguy · Feb 6, 2019

Also, was trying to verify that the truck was in fact an old Desolate motorsports build or shop truck. I know they are Bronco builders and do great work.

Maybe someone just slapped stickers on it and i was mis lead. Kind of strange it would have the company location and phone numbers on the doors if it was. Leaning towards an old employees truck or something. Whittier location. same phone number.

Sent a few emails off to Desolate and no response yet... Oh well. not a big deal but would be cool to get some background history/ photos etc. if available.

Looks like multiple people worked on this truck considering the varying craftsmanship, or maybe they are scared to admit its one of their builds lol.

Photo from Before i removed the decals

Travisfab · Feb 6, 2019

Desolate just started riding the Bronco wave, they were around long before that.

koolaidmanguy · Feb 14, 2019

Both front braided brake lines on the red yota are kinked and instead of paying $100 or so for replacements, decided to do the cheap extended brake line mod for less than half the cost. can always get the nice stuff later.

Stock female/female front line, attached to stock rear male/female line. good to go.

Bit longer than necessary but, should have no problem routing along the backside of the upper control arms with some room for flex at the pivots.

koolaidmanguy · Feb 17, 2019

Been waiting a long time, but truck finally made its first test run in some dirt today.

defiantly figuring out some more tweaks that are needed for drivability

-gearing
-roll bar padding
-working window wipers
-bump steer, thinking the fagtech spindles arent helping, plus large positive scrub radius at tires.
-carburetor doesn't like steep inclines
-air cleaner exposed to water, may get the adapter to run the stock air cleaner
-rear tie downs for spares
-diff making noise

coming along slowly but surely.

A.J. · Feb 17, 2019

Does it have power steering?

koolaidmanguy · Feb 18, 2019

^^ manual steering at the moment, was looking into the parts for power steering swap,

-power steer box for same gen 22r
-pump
-reservoir
-pulley extension at crank
-lines
-probably some other bits

would make a huge difference. if anyone has the parts i may consider picking em up.