Marlin Crawler's New Rock Crawling Long Travel IFS Suspension System (#RCLT)

kinda like running one limit strap in the center. It's still got leafs also on that thing
Where did you find this bit of shear automotive engineering genius it's awesome!

 

Not me ^^


But.. I'm just under 12" of travel.

 

I agree - the dude puts in some serious hours pulling that material together and I hope he only gets more dialed in to the Tacoma community. I’d love to see a series of his shows where he brings others on like he did mike where they can share some of the details of their setup. Even better would be to get a few together, go wheeling and show & tell and talk about differences, tradeoffs etc. he seems genuinely open to ideas and has said he’s not an expert on the details of this truck so it would be awesome to get others on and share their thoughts. Probably not likely but I’d definitely tune in to see his truck crawl with a jd built truck then do some high speed and see if/where the differences shine. I think he’s going to push the truck, find it’s limits and work to resolve those — which hopefully benefits the rest of us.

 

I truly hope @DirtlifestyleNate didn't leave us high and dry. I know this group can be tough at times and it takes some hanging out in here before you can really appreciate the individual personalities that exist. I'd love to hear what his travel numbers are based upon my own sheer curiosity since he has been put down by so many on here, it would be awesome to see some actual data no matter the outcome.

 

He’s probably busy with work. AKA making his videos. Which eats a tone of time. I’ve tried editing gopro stuff before. Sucks at least for me.
Plus didn’t he say he was trying to get out on a snow trip this weekend? Which again is work for him.
I think he’s a good guy. He’s learning the Newer Tacoma stuff.

 

We did some rough flex testing to full bump front and rear. Just measured the tire height before the opposite tire comes off the ground. 15" of travel in the front and 24" of travel in the rear. This rear picture is a bit higher than that 24" measurement, as you can see with the opposite tire lifting. The rear is hitting the bump stops we set with the rear shocks in. Pulled those out to trim the fenders. Cycling with less leaves in the pack is also much easier for testing. I am very happy with the results. Everything is clearanced, so this is all usable travel. I'm excited to see the front and rear flexing together.

 

Man I need these guys’ tape measures. I’d be getting 30” of wheel travel.

 

Roll your truck on its side and I am sure you can get more. But really, what are you implying? If we measure the lift of the tire from the ground to the bottom center of the tire, what would you call that if not tire travel? We are here sharing our experiences and build progress, everyone loves pointing out mistakes, but where is the support and constructive feedback that is vital to a healthy community?

 

I'd get 9 inches.

 

You can measure however you want. Take a look around the section of the forum this thread is posted in.

 

I didn’t know we were allowed to use some frame flex for our travel measurements too!

 

There is no frame flex happening in either measurement. The truck is strapped to a lift.

 

I found someone willing to be helpful and provided specific info on measuring wheel travel including droop to bump at the hub. I'll try that on Monday. There is no frame flex in my current measurement since the truck is bound to the lift using 4 straps, but we didnt measure from droop, just the height from the ground to the bottom of the tire. Since this isnt considered tire travel, what shall we call it? I am curious since my front measurement is very close to what Marlin reports on his RCLT specs of 14.5" of travel. So maybe he is measuring wrong too.

Running 16" shocks with a 12" rear shackle.

 

That makes sense. I just read on pirate 4x4 on how to measure wheel travel, so I will do that on Monday. I suppose it wont be much more than the 16" stroke of the shock plus whatever I'm getting out of the 12" shackles.

 

So nice! How long is your rear shackle?

 

I hope he comes back too. This crowd can be tough though.

 

Of course I passed on it. I had other commitments is what I used as an excuse. Which was true. The real truth is that trail beat the living shit out of me and my rig the last time we ran it. Maybe this year I'll have the balls to tun it again. lol

 

Do you happen to have a link to what you read on pirate 4x4.
I'd like to check it out and measure mine now and then after.

 

Yes. It is a very informative article. Wise to be safe here, you don't want to offend anyone while trying to learn.

https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/t...lavista-pirate4x4x-com.2702748/#post-44988331

Rereading the section above on measuring wheel travel I now understand the difference between Articulated Wheel Travel and Vertical Wheel Travel. Even though in my measurements the frame did not flex, the axle rotated, increasing measured travel. Vertical Wheel Travel is basically the same measurement except that you keep the axle straight for the measurement instead of letting one side rotate or articulate.