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Marlin Crawler Turns 20! Get $20 Off or Free Shipping On All Weekend Orders!

Discussion in 'Marlin Crawler' started by BigMike, Apr 25, 2014.

  1. Apr 25, 2014 at 1:09 PM
    #1
    BigMike

    BigMike [OP] Applied common sense Vendor

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    Marlin Crawler Turns 20! Get $20 Off or Free Shipping On All Weekend Orders!

    This April marks our 20th year of changing the Toyota world! To kick-start our celebration of our 20th year anniversary, we are offering $20 off shipping on any $40+ online order! Additionally, if the shipping quote for your order is less than $20, then we'll ship it for free! There are no codes to enter, simply add products to your cart and the shipping discount will apply automatically with the shipping rate quote.

    Click here to visit our homepage and get started!

    Two easy steps:

    1. Toss $40 worth of products or more into your online shopping cart
    2. Automatically receive $20 off shipping during checkout!
      • Any $40+ order that has a rate quote under $20 will ship for free!

    Offer applies to online orders shipped via standard ground service to the lower 48-states and expires at 11:59pm PST Sunday night.





    A Brief Marlin Crawler History by yours truly

    When Marlin purchased and began wheel'n his little red Toyota pickup in September of 1983, he recalls being teased for driving a "Jap-Tin-Can" as it had a weaker frame than a Land Cruiser and in a sea of many 6- and 8-cylinder short wheelbase rigs it's 20R engine was grossly underpowered and it couldn't make sharp corners on the trail to save its own life.

    Marlin has always been a pioneer with this same red Toyota pickup, developing one of the earliest known 20R-22R hybrid engines, coming up with many improvements to the stock steering system, creating his own on-board welder before companies such as Mobi-Weld or Premier Power Welder came around, and even created the world's first Heavy Duty Birfield joint almost a decade before the Longfield was even dreamt of.

    Marlin has always had a desire in life for what he passionately refers to as, "Putting Toyota's Back On The Map!" Since April of 1994, when Marlin created the first Marlin Crawler, there is no denying the impact this set like a wildfire to the Toyota off-road world.

    Today we find Toyota trucks dominating the Rock Crawling world which Marlin himself founded. Final drive ratios in excess of 100:1 were extremely rare before the Marlin Crawler, and on most platforms it was even impossible. Today, known by the term Marlin created called a "Crawl Ratio", these same inferior Toyota trucks can easily be transformed to have a final drive ratio in excess of 200:1 by fitting just one Marlin Crawler product. In fact in 1996 when Marlin developed his 4.70:1 ratio, his truck had a Crawl Ratio of 2,158:1, or 59 times lower than stock. If you have not witnessed first-hand what his truck can do on the trail then you are truly missing out on the potential of the Marlin Crawler.

    It's difficult to imagine another single product that has done so much to advance the Toyota off-road world. The days of bad gearing burning up clutches and Marlin carrying spares literally replacing clutches on multiple vehicles on the same trail are long behind us. This is why we are so passionate about what we do. This is why we are so passionate about the man whose tireless efforts started it all and built the Toyota off-road world we all enjoy today. This is why we love Marlin and his incredible Marlin Crawler products!

    Happy Twentieth Year Anniversary Marlin Crawler! There is no doubt in my mind that Marlin has succeeded in gaining World-wide recognition for Toyota trucks. I for one would not be as excited as I still am today, now in my 31st year of four wheeling, if it wasn't for the many Marlin Crawler parts in my own rig. -BigMike

    --

    Follow our Vintage Facebook Photo Album to read many cool stories about Marlin's involvement and development of the Toyota Rock Crawling world! Album link, updated often: The Marlin Crawler is remarkable with a winch as it is the first product in the world
    to enable your vehicle to precisely match the line speed of your winch. Surprise Canyon, 1997


    And most of all, HAPPY CRAWLING!!

    Regards,
    BigMike
     
  2. Apr 28, 2014 at 7:25 AM
    #2
    BamaToy1997

    BamaToy1997 Wheel Bearing Master

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    Great deal. I wish I had seen it earlier and I might have picked up one or two things. Don't exactly agree with all of the story there though. lol.
     
  3. Apr 28, 2014 at 12:37 PM
    #3
    BigMike

    BigMike [OP] Applied common sense Vendor

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    Thank you to everyone for all the support over the weekend! We are cranking out a ton of orders so you can get our parts fast!

    Here's to another twenty! :cheers:

    Hello BamaToy1997, thanks for the comment. I'm curious, what do you not agree with? After re-reading what I wrote I should have changed...

    "Final drive ratios in excess of 100:1 were extremely rare before the Marlin Crawler"

    ...to

    "Final drive ratios in excess of 80:1 were extremely rare before the Marlin Crawler"

    ...as even 80:1 was very rare before the Marlin Crawler was born, which is why there was no such thing as "Rock Crawling" back then. After all where did the term "Crawling" even came from? Marlin Crawler. We talk all the time about how Marlin should have trademarked that now house-hold phrase that he created.

    Regards,
    BigMike
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2014
  4. Apr 28, 2014 at 7:10 PM
    #4
    BamaToy1997

    BamaToy1997 Wheel Bearing Master

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    Unless it is meant to be different than I am reading the quote "Today we find Toyota trucks dominating the Rock Crawling world which Marlin himself founded." Toyota has been crawling rocks since before Marlin. I do not agree that he "founded" Toyota rock crawling. Also the comment of "Today, known by the term Marlin created called a "Crawl Ratio",..." I have heard and used the term "crawl ratio" since the 80s. Yeah, probably being a bit picky there. Just sayin my thoughts on the matter.
     
  5. Apr 29, 2014 at 11:32 AM
    #5
    BigMike

    BigMike [OP] Applied common sense Vendor

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    Thank you for the explanation :) Yes, definitely a difference in the term 'crawling'. My wheeling experience goes back to 1983, and before 1994, there was no 'crawling', only "bouncing around spinning tires shooting out rocks hitting trees burning clutches and using brakes to go downhill."

    It's a fact that there couldn't have ever been any crawling going on, especially with Toyota trucks, as the maximum final drive ratio with 5.71:1 R&P would have only been 51:1 for the Hilux/Minitruck or 46:1 for Land Cruisers. Keep in mind that when the 5.71 ratio was imported from South America in the early to mid 80s, they were ridiculously expensive and almost no one used them. But even still, 50:1 is only about a 35% reduction over stock gearing. It is very clear that this cannot be crawling nor even walking. This is "Rock Jogging" instead of "Rock Sprinting."

    I am very interested in the fact that you have used the term 'Crawl Ratio' before 1994. Six years ago we asked if anyone had heard of the term 'Rock Crawling' before 1994 (link), and after 1.5 years of searching we found it mentioned in a 1991 Salt Lake Tribune article. Rock Crawling then was absolutely not what Rock Crawling is since the Marlin Crawler, and it was certainly not a term so common that today tires are named after it. For the pure reason of how the Marlin Crawler changed the off-road world -- where even a major automobile manufacture like Chrysler recognizes what Marlin has done and offers a stock t/case ratio much lower than what was available before the Marlin Crawler -- it is my honest opinion that Marlin founded Rock Crawling.

    Regarding 'Crawl Ratio', in my opinion I find it absurd that anyone would refer to a sub-80:1 final drive ratio as a Crawl Ratio (note two paragraphs above I wrote "final drive ratio" rather than "crawl ratio"). This opinion is based on being spoiled first-hand with off-road life before and after the Marlin Crawler.

    Please consider this example of a customer driving my truck which demonstrates what Rock Crawling is with a Marlin Crawler. Short of using some modified agriculture or military vehicle, this was simply not possible before the Marlin Crawler:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LoQTme51tA

    I hope I have not come across as being arrogant. This is real history and I am honored to be a small part of it. Marlin is an extremely humble and selfless person and everyone here absorbs his personality. Working non-stop to build this industry for 20-years is just too great of an accomplishment to keep hidden under a rock! :turtleride:

    Regards,
    BigMike
     
  6. Apr 29, 2014 at 2:23 PM
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    BamaToy1997

    BamaToy1997 Wheel Bearing Master

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    You are not at all coming out arrogant! All is good. Just was working on information. I guess the term "rock crawling" is subjective in a sense. We didn't go "right foot heavy" in our Trucks, banging and bashing and slinging rocks. We used the amount of throttle that was needed to get us moving. While we were not at 100:1 ratios, we still considered it "crawling" since we were not those who just gunned it and went for broke. Thus we called it "Rock Crawling". Since I entered the wheeling world in the early 90s I had always heard it called "crawl ratio" in the transfer case, and "gear ratio" in the differentials. That is how we would keep them separate when we explained things. "What's your crawl ratio?" when asking about t-case gears and "What's your gear ratio?" when asking about differentials.
     
  7. Apr 29, 2014 at 2:33 PM
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    tcBob

    tcBob Gringo Bandito Moderator

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    good discussion actually :thumbsup:

    I learned a few things
     
  8. Apr 29, 2014 at 2:37 PM
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    Large

    Large Red

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    Very informative Mike, with references like a boss.
     
  9. Apr 29, 2014 at 2:39 PM
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    Dark Knight

    Dark Knight Well-Known Member

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    A few bolts are different.
    Walk off home run bigmike./

    The marlin crawler was/is a game changer.
     
  10. Apr 30, 2014 at 8:48 AM
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    BigMike

    BigMike [OP] Applied common sense Vendor

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    Thanks for all the replies guys :)

    Very interesting! The fledgling substitute-teacher (me) has become the student! :D Over here 'Final Drive Ratio' and 'Crawl Ratio' are interchangeable terms, we'd just never use it unless you had at least one 4.70:1 or one dual case adapter. :cheers:

    Regards,
    BigMike
     
  11. Apr 30, 2014 at 9:42 PM
    #11
    BamaToy1997

    BamaToy1997 Wheel Bearing Master

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    Yeah. Every area and group have some of their own terms for stuff. I can see though how those two terms could be interchangeable if that is what you grew up with. For example there was a discussion a while back about the difference between a steering spindle hub, and a steering knuckle. To me, there was never a difference, to others there was.
     
  12. Jun 4, 2014 at 9:27 AM
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    wee

    wee Well-Known Member

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    BigMike

    Any chance this free shipping deal will show back up sometime....? I need a good clutch but I ain't in a big hurry....The old one is holding up pretty well.

    Brian
     

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