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

Super helpful info. I really appreciate it!

 

If there was a "I Love This" button I'd click it.

 

If anyone's bored, a few wks ago Dirtlifestyle Nate invited me to join him and Shaun from The Story Till Now on Elephant Hill near Moab and we had a great time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V29f2FZlTZo

 

I'll measure that this week. Going to do an ADD delete and check out the steering shaft to see if that is the steering issue. The steering is still heavy after the alignment and we are thinking there may be contact with the steering shaft on the engine mount gussets. I'm hoping this is the issue because the steering is pretty bad now. Did your customer with heavy steering resolve his issues?

 

Thanks. Not yet, we still need to go get the rig which is currently over at Valley Hybrids (a Land Cruiser Co. in NorCal). Here are a couple pics, more here: https://www.instagram.com/franken470/ These look so good with 37s, Toyota should just offer them this way

 

7 3/8" with the limit straps tight and no CV binding.

 

Is there really no way to fit 16” wheels on RCLT HD?

 

Lots of wheel spacers

 

This worked for me.

 

Looks like a Tootsie roll...

 

Coming back from the wilderness to see all these great posts with pro-tips got me all
How to easy remove axel shaft & outer end
How to try an save your fragile RCV boots
How to outboard your front lower link mount
How to fit 16" wheels with RCLT

loving it.

 

LOLLLLL Ohh man this is great, thank you, and on an IFS nonetheless

Good morning TRDProDriver and thank you for the question. I am sorry but our design is not compatible with 16" rims. Our FAQ > Wheel Diameter section states how our steering geometry requires 17+ inch wheels, and to provide more detail this is due to the 2008-2020 Land Cruiser (from which our HD MarRack steering rack is derived from) having a wider steering rack than mid-size truck/SUV racks as well as longer tie rod assemblies. So in order to get the steering geometry back to where it should be, we need wider A-arm frame connection points, which is not practical nor bolt-on as 99% of late-model clients demand, so the only remaining option is to take up the slack with as long of tie rods as possible.

The two ways to accomplish this are either pushing the tie rod-to-knuckle connection further out & beyond the lower ball joint, which we can't do because the brake rotor is in the way, or extend the length of the steering arms, which we did. A longer steering arm, however, is quite risky and is not something a fabricator wants to do because it becomes difficult to maintain strength and accuracy the further away it extends from the knuckle body. But because we use one-piece CNC'd billet lower sections (steering arm-to-axle hub-to-brake rotor is all one-piece), we can do it with zero fear and geometry issues associated with fabricated/boxed steering arms and the inherent inconsistencies from heat-soak...

...and as a result requires a larger diameter wheel in order to fit the longer steering arms. I am sorry about that. I just went out and took pics of both my rig and a customers' to show the clearance. This is about a 1/4" gap between the huge 5/8" TRE bolt (with 15/16" hex head) and wheel.

Mine, using Hutchingson three piece wheels (17" x 8.5", 4.51" back-spacing):



Customers', Raceline RT233 Beadlocks (17" x 9", 4.00" back-spacing):



I also did consider tilting the bolt to get the TRE even closer to the wheel for an even longer tie rod assembly, but this gobbles up available misalignment of the TRE so I decided to keep it vertical. Regardless, either I'd make that upper bolt head close to the wheel or the TRE itself would be close to the wheel. Net result: Need a bigger wheel.

While @Mully's post was hilarious, there is truth to it: If you have a low backspace wheel and run a wheel spacer, you might actually be able to fit 16s. I would definitely be interesting in seeing this!

We do list some silver linings on the FAQ which include far more 17" wheel and tire options, and the ability to fit oversized brake calipers & rotors (which many Tacoma RCLT HD customers do including both of the above) (details from the FAQ: 5th gen 4Runner or Lexus GX460 2010+ brake rotors [23% larger diameter & 28% thicker], 2010-2015 brake calipers [28% larger piston volume]). But beyond this the longer steering also results in a two-way advantage of naturally creating more steering power from the increased leverage of a longer steering arm (less effort by the driver to steer oversized tires), which conversely also reduces the up-stream load acting on all steering components (tie rods, rack, rack mounts) because when a rock or other object hits the tire from the side creating a load on the tire to steer without user input, the longer steering arm requires a greater displacement distance in order to generate the same stress. So the RCLT HD MarRack + knuckle combination, not even taking into consideration how much stronger they themselves are, have geometry that shrugs off big hits and requires less effort to steer larger and/or aired down tires which is a serious win-win advantage for rock crawling which no other Long Travel kit has.

Regards,
BigMike

 

Ummm.... Long story short, it is a combination of both RCLT HD not being installed correctly, having loose hardware, and having an absolutely wasted passenger front wheel bearing. I'll need to PM you details about this later so as to not shame the customer any further (he is a super cool guy, just got in over his head). We will be fixing the many issues on his rig later this month and will report back with how the steering feels once setup correctly.

Regards,
BigMike

edit: grammar

 

Couldn't you move the joint more inboard or would you run into issues on steering distance?

 

Doing this would shorten the tie rod and in doing so, increase bump steer. So "could you" yes, but you probably wouldn't want to.

 

Thanks. Today I learned.

 

Just thought I'd make a post.
I deffinately underestimated the amount of work and how much an injury would slow me down but im about halfway there I think. Had make a couple tools plus weather ect. all played factors as well.
Sector shaft lenthend
Steering rack is in
Cam gusset reinforcements in
Still a bunch to do and doesn't look like much is done but getting there.
Yeah, she needs a face-lift but has always been good to me mechanically.

 

Nice. Get after it! I love seeing DIY here b/c that’s me too. Not that shops don’t do good jobs, just doing it yourself is such a different experience and viewpoint.

what’s next?

 

I made a mistake trying to thread the high pressure line into the rack due to my weakened arm. Need to tap the rack. After that install all the parts, add fluids, bleed brakes and then alignment. Plus whatever else im forgetting. I prefer doing the work myself normally and teaching my self to weld is part of it as well. This has just been a painful experience physically. I will be VERY happy once I get her all together.