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

Hope your frame looks better than that bumper, dang!

 

Yeah, its in much better shape!

 

Sounds like you're getting close. What did you end up doing for your rear suspension? or what are you planning for it? I'm leaning toward 3-link even though that's a tad scary, in talking with @BigMike it sounds like the route to go for my use case.

 

As much as I'd like to link it, it want be anytime soon. I will just party on leafs for the time being. Gonna get chevy or ford leafs. That will be the next step. Plan was to have everything ready to go by now but I have been out of work.

 

Copy that. 63" chevys was something else I'd considered too, I bet you're happy going that route. From my old '83 days, those chevys sure flex good.

 

Would love to see a second thread with all the rear setups that folks are going with to match their RCLTs in the front!

Without that, anyone have any links to share within the thread (or outside) for good rear upgrades for 37s-40s?

 

Pretty sure this would work. I just got this from JDFab. Installing it this weekend.

 

@Airdog nice nice; very shiny . Going linked with that or sticking with leaves? also, do those calipers have e-brakes or whatcha thinking for that? edit. nm. I see the spring perches in the photos. purdy welds on that housing.

 

ford 9"? Or what is your 3rd? It looks like a regular tacoma axle but that 3rd member looks neat.

 

Staying with my SUA for now. No ebrake for now. But I will try either the wilwood electric ebrake or just go with a electric line loc. I’ll figure it out after we get this in.

 

Ford 9. Full float. 70 inches wide. Housing is a speedway engineering Grand National housing with a JDFab custom truss and larger filler inspection port. Axles are a touch bigger than stock

 

My steering issue got resolved. The steering shaft was rubbing on the engine mount gussets. It is unfortunate this wasn't double checked before everything got put back together, but such is life and I am happy my steering works now.

 

I went with SUA and 14" shocks. I did not want any holes in the bed. Ended up getting the full 14" of travel, but I think links would have been easier.

 

Nice. Yeah, I'm with you in that camp, not wanting to put holes in the bed but at the same time, I don't want to limit the capabilities because of it. Must still retain tailgate, must still be able to transport camping / home improvement / mtn bikes in the back.

You must have had to fab up taller hoops / towers for your rear shocks? Did you french them into your frame at all to give your tires extra clearance? You're on ORIs right, so maybe those aren't as big a diameter as coilovers?

 

You can see the shock towers in the pic. They are from archive garage and with the right backspacing plus wheel spacers, they clear the wheels. The front is still wider than the rear. I initially went with their SUA kit thinking it would be easy, and it was, except I was only getting 11 or so inches of travel with the 5" shackles. Getting that extra 4" of travel took a ton of extra work and a 12" shackle. I am running radflos in the rear, the ORIs are up front.

 

Or you could go with the JDfab SUA and with those same 14 inch shocks get upwards of 17-18 inches of realistic travel and it all stays under the bed. Just another choice.
https://jdfabrication.com/collections/05-15-6-lug/products/toyota-tacoma-rear-spring-under-kit

 

Wish I saw that option. It would have been much easier than what I ended up doing. The problem was that the archive garage kit seemed complete and good to go. So after it was all installed we discovered it wasn't getting the full travel.

The only benefit I see is that I am able to run hydro bumps without any issues and the JD kit says not to.

 

The not running hydro bump thing is just their preference. But you can if you want it does not affect how the kit performs. But we all know that hydro bumps and bypass tubes pull bitches at the mall...so there is that.

 

One thing I keep an eye on when trying to make a choice on products is. Do I see that product commonly put up for sale used/second hand. The Archive Garage shock tower and spring hanger are some of those items. Now to be fair. There may be numerous reasons someone has chosen to go a different route. There may also be a lot of them out there and there for you would see more in the used market. Then those same people If visible what have they moved onto.

 

I think their wording sums it up pretty good "We strongly recommend against using hydro bump stops in the rear as they cause the rear of the truck to "buck". "