Marlin Crawler's upcoming HD LCA Frame Brace Kit

Works fine with TC lowers

 

Hey guys, I've been extremely busy on other projects and haven't had much time to post in a while, but wanted to share that for today only we are running a special on these LCA Frame Brace Kits of $15 off plus an on-going site-wide 10% off discount which results in 20% off from retail. The $15 off offer expires tonight (the 10% off continues until the end of the month). More details posted to Reply #5 here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/final-sales-of-2020.699083/#post-24769511

Regards,
BigMike

 

Just posting this up for people that want to see both tc cam tabs and marlin lca brace kit together. It took hours of grinding to make the openings of the marlin braces wider to accept the tc tabs. I didn't have to grind the openings downward at all.

 

With a break in the rain and a long weekend coming up I was thinking about finally burning in my cam tab gussets this weekend and have 2 quick questions.

What material thickness are people setting their welders up for? I'm curious since the gussets are so much thicker than the frame material. Typically with dissimilar thicknesses I tend to set the machine in the middle and keep more heat in the thicker part so I was thinking maybe setup for 3/16"?

Second, are folks welding the gussets to the tabs themselves? I haven't been able to find a clear answer on that one, seems like some do and some don't. I was thinking to use the "offset position" indicated in the instructions since my tabs are still straight and then laying a bead in the gap shown with the red arrow in the screenshot below. I'd leave the other tab unwelded since it's in contact with the tab supporting it. Any thoughts?

It seems to me like leaving the tabs completely unwelded would fail to actually provide any additional support.

 

I centered mine and burned a bead down the backside of the tabs. No problems, and I have ran it through Moab twice. Alignment is still spot on.

 

centered and backfilled the one I did as well, set for 3/16th

 

thanks guys, I appreciate the help. Game on for this weekend. Good thing I practiced on some 3/16 making hi lift mounts yesterday.

 

What bushings? Lol



I’m just kidding. I took them out when I welded , didn’t want to damage my ballz.


On the front pass side , I had to trim front & back , of the bottom of the marlin tabs (see crappy pic). I had to do this in order to clear the cam bolts. Not sure if the subframe moved or Toyota factory drilled the hole too low cuz subframe was slightly off? What ever , it’s all in there now !

before :

 

Welded mine on Monday. I left the LCAs installed and was able to get plenty of welds on them. Not worried about them going anywhere. With how much heat was going into the tabs I'm glad I left the LCAs in place, they acted as a fixture to keep the tabs straight.

I wrapped the bushings in wet rags and moved around between the mounts. Also used a spray bottle to re-wet the rags between welds. No damage to the bushings.

I had one little snafu where one of my beads on the actual cam tabs wandered off track alittle and got on the cam itself, accidentally welding the cam in place. Luckily it was just alittle tack that I was able to file down, loosen the cam bolt, break the tack weld by turning the cam with a wrench, and then flap disked and filed everything smooth.



Painting I lightly coated the cam tabs in grease as suggested in the marlincrawler instructions. It worked well because I was able to just wipe the paint off them the next day. Way easier than trying to tape off.

 

Looks great!

I'm new to welding and have a Lincoln HD125 flux core welder. Not sure if this has enough to get the job done....

Already have the tabs, just shy about tackling the job myself.

 

I think your alignment cams might be upside down. Probably explains your fit issues. I stole this photo from the Marlincrawler installation documents:

thanks! I bought mine back in august and finally got the nerve up to burn them on. Not familiar with your machine so can’t help you there. I can say welding the 1/4” plates together I wished I had a 220v outlet for my dual voltage welder. It did the job on 110v but alittle extra juice wouldn’t have hurt.

 

The Toyota dealer alignment dude said this is how he was able to achieve the caster we were going for. I assumed this was the case but F it


I like how JD fab sells that new lower a arm subframe which“pushes forward the lower control arms 0-1” giving a bit more caster and potentially keeping it all fixed and not adjustable (so the lower can’t get knocked out of alignment or ovalize the pivot holes). All the alignment should be done via the upper control arms on heim pivots ! My old trucks have all had LT suspensions so seeing this made me sad. Next best thing was for me to weld in the marlin gussets and get full uniball control arms so I can remember fonder times before kid car seats

 

Quick question: there's no point in getting the TC cam tab kit if I were to get these, right?

 

Well that depends. Do you like doing more work?

 

You can run both, but it's gonna take some work and it's not really needed.

 

Thanks, just ordered a set

 

Just got them welded up this past weekend and both of the rear tabs on the rear of the LCA have a 2.3mm gap. I asked Marlin and the response was the tabs were either bent to begin with or heat soaked. With the truck not being abused and taking time to tack and use minimal heat I'm having a hard time seeing it.

Anyone else have a gap between the LCAs and frame after welding these in?
Anyone see any potential drivability or alignment issues down the road?

 

if you welded them with the LCA bolts loose or out, the welding probably pulled them apart.
you'll want to cut the area that caused the pull, bolt a LCA in or equivalent spacer and then reweld.
a gap is bad, you are not going to get correct torque on the bolt plus things will move around which is exactly what you didnt want

 

Agreed and this, weld them on either with the arms on or off with the bolts in. Good luck.

 

Yep, it is all back apart today.

I have the original LCA, I could bolt in there torqued to spec or just use the TC bushing sleeves. Currently leaning towards the TC sleeves to keep it spaced out right.