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

When there's fitment issues from what I've seen is he takes care of them and then works with those that did have issues to correct his kits so they don't have issues on future batches and stops production until it's corrected. The rest is an apples to oranges comparison. I could say man 600 is expensive when I can buy all the tube and plate and make all my own stuff for a lot cheaper than that. A more fair comparison would be the kit that's under the rear of my XJ to 4wu. After seeing a 4wu and having the XJ both kits are similarly priced and the 4wu kit is a lot better thought out and quality is a bit nicer. Time is also a valuable commodity to many people and spending all the time and energy into researching suspension, geometry, set up for generic stuff, etc. may not be worth it to them so buying a kit that a lot of that is already done and minimal install time compared to a completely generic kit is better suited for them.

 

Oh I get that time is money but 4WU’s fitment issues cost time too. I don’t totally blame him, or Marlin for having fitment issues. There are a million variables in a build at a certain level and things will have to be modified to work depending on the application. What I have an issue with is them marketing a product that doesn’t exist as pain free as advertised and charging a huge premium compared to other vendors that are more transparent in the work required.

JD is on here being fully transparent about the work required with their stuff and Marlin is hiding behind a bunch of marketing fluff. 4WU isn’t much different in my eyes, he got called out on some BS marketing here and deleted posts instead of backing things up when @malburg114 pointed out that he was blatantly pitching lies with his kit’s capabilities.

 

$600 ain't that much for materials these days

 

Local guy to me has had nothing but issues with his 4wu kit. Kit claims 6 inches of uptravel and all this other stuff on a stock frame. Go look at my build and see what I did to get the same thing he’s claiming. Now this poor guy local to me is in over his head and debating whether settles for 2 inches of uptravel on 15k custom axles and 5k In brackets from 4wu or chop if all up and make it work (which he has admitted he doesn’t have the skills or knowledge to do).

he nought the kit and diamond axles. Waited a year and half for it all thinking it’s cut off the ifs. Weld this stuff on and to have fun which it is far from. Granite Brian does answer his questions but sometimes it takes over a week for a response. Time is money and that’s not a way to treat a customer in my eyes.

I did all my own work and made my own brackets so I understand what it takes and companies are constantly hiding facts about what it actually takes to achieve a lot of these builds. I’ve asked questions and tried to buy from these companies and ultimately got turned off by poor customer service and shady answers and just asking for my credit card info.

 

Fitment issues always cost time which sucks. I haven't seen 4wu advertise anything close to what marlin does, if you don't actually read beyond the headlines it can be misleading though, which I'll go back to that person shouldn't be buying it. Go look at the XJ stuff for linking the rear they all say it's bolt on, and to be fair there is still a lot left on the table when it comes to geometry and set up. Only bolting you're doing is the front crossmember and links. The rest is all welded, fitted, set up, measured, etc. I don't have 1st hand experience with 4wu and the times buying or putting together their stuff just that I've seen there be issues he's publicly said so and made posts (IG) and such to correct it. There could be more idk. Just stating what I've seen. I didn't see 4WUs posts on here so I can't comment to that just recently what I've seen.

As far as Marlin hiding behind marketing fluff 100% agree I've been on that train since a yr before first production pre-order peeps when I got an email eluding to paying up front for a kit that still isn't even available (3.5" kit). The rack was another, god awful CS, etc. Everytime I see people but those LCA gussets I cringe and wish someone else made them because it just keeps him in business that much longer.

I do have a lot more respect for JD than pretty much all other manufacturers for any of this kind of stuff for what you're saying. It's why I have idk over 10k worth of their stuff ready to go on the truck. You don't see very many manufacturers doing what they do these days and as actively as they do it. I went with them over several other choices because of this factor. Even if I don't agree with some of what Harry and crew does or their thoughts on certain things it hasn't steered me away because of that transparency.

 

I hope the owner of that hotmetalfab truck doesn't plan on crawling with it, those lower link mounts are going to be boat anchors. Pretty obvious none of the people involved in that truck actually have experience crawling LWB IFS vehicles.

 

I’ll be selling a dual triangulated four link kit as soon as mine rolls. It will involve links to 14 other manufacturer’s websites to make purchases. Instructions will include low res screenshots of jeeps, buggies, incoherent forum rants from pirate, hashtags, Instagram handles, spreadsheets that don’t have the kits specs already filled in, dead end phone numbers and a mailing address in Central Asia.

$14k, 60” of wheel travel, 300lbs lighter than the competition, utilizes stock suspension and can accommodate any RTT. Lead time 1-154 weeks depending on how many likes and follows you have on social. Contact me once to make payment and never hear from me again.

 

I was sitting here thinking "dang, that's a cool name" for a sec

 

I was reading thinking this was a joke until I realized you'd still deliver faster than Marlin....

 

Thought i'd answer a question for him addressing those massive bump stops....

 

I like this guy, and this truck he built. But some of the stuff he says is nonsense.

 

Uh oh...fan boy might be getting upset that the his Idol isnt the one answering his question...

 

I mean, I have 12" of rear travel with just a Archive relocate and Radflo's. Still spring over and using rubber durobumps. Didnt have to get all crazy with a oddball 3/4 link like Nate did.

 

That’s because you’re not doing it for the ‘gram

 

True, I have this on my truck. Even though I do have a 'gram.

 

Hey folks!
I'm Nate from dirtlifestyle. Here are some shots of the truck out on the rocky hills of Johnson Valley. I was trying to force max wheel travel in this picture but it's alot easier on a RTI ramp. The rear still has about an inch more uptravel before it hits the end of the very soft timbren bump stops. The front has about a 1/4" or so. No rubbing anywhere, lots of wheel travel everywhere and this truck has a GREAT ride. As you can see the bump stop is set to limit the travel through the fenders and the bed. Sorry to highjack what should be a thread about rclt but I'm here to answer any questions you might have about the truck in general. After reading some of the comments here I think there is some confusion about what I do and how the truck is built. Fire away!
And if you are uncomfortable asking something in front of the trolls, email me at nate@thedirtlifestyle.com My intent is to help folks build stuff themselves as you will see on my channel.

 

Watched your new video earlier - can’t believe you didn’t need to chop the cab w/ 38’s! Loved the detail you’ve documented for the build

 

I'm confused as to why go through all that work and end up with less than stock up travel.....most of which is occupied by foam and rubber bump stops.

 

Breakfast tacos thanks! Dude I wish I had the moment on camera when I discovered I didn't have to mod the cab mount lol. I was so pumped!