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

Yup, those ones.

 

$6-7k would include shocks and spindle gussets. Thr bare bones kit is ~$4k.

 

The key here is you doing your own fab work and getting a good deal on parts. Most people have to pay retail and trail and error their own fab or pay someone to do it. So all the cost benefits are lost. I do agree SAS is better in most every way, but on road handling with the IFS is stellar.

 

So wait he pulled the CV and didn't put a stub shaft back in the hub? Dumbass newbie move if true.

 

i keep a spare cv that’s a cut shaft right by the knuckle and has the birfield in it for those reasons.

 

That’s what I’m trying to figure out here. The dude seems to wheel pretty hard and often from his pictures and videos on IG so if he really somehow drove off without a stub shaft in place at least there has to be more to the story. I wonder if he didn’t have a spare and didn’t want to take apart one of those expensive RCVs.

 

Yea when I was IFS I had an old CV outer for that reason. I have also seen guys make them out of all thread, fender washers and wing nuts in a pinch.

 

Wait. You mean you need to put something back in there to keep it all together?!?!

 

So the part you would need is a standard tacoma stub or is it an RCLT specific size?

 

I don't think that guy does his own work, just pays others to do it for him. When you do that you have no clue how anything works or what needs to be done in the event of a catastrophic break down to safely get back.

I had the same failure 5 or 6 miles into Dusy-Ershim, the difference was, I and the group I was with knew what we were doing. I stripped out my entire front drive train, got together a couple outer stubs and we got back to the trail entrance and I drove home safely.

 

I think so, but not positive. I saw the video of it breaking, an IG story of the carnage, then this video with no tire and no CV. With how the add tube and stub shaft broke there was no way he could have driven with the cv axle in there. He was on slick rock trail which is pretty far up into the mtns, and doesn't look anything like where the tow truck video is.

 

Yea, Stellarbuilt did the rclt install. Thats rough to break on the Dusy. We were stuck on Thompson Hill for a few hrs behind some broken jeeps. About as remote as it gets for a 4x4 trail. Bumper is looking good btw. I love the tube look and function

 

Buy a cheap aftermarket cv axle (or get a junkyard axle) and separate the shaft from the inner and outer stubs. You can cut the cups down to save space/weight.

 

Pretty sure its the longest rock crawling trail in the US isn't it?.....Yeah its a shitty place to lose 4WD. Myself and a buddy both had dual cases, which helped a lot, he went in front of me in 2LO so I could see where I might have issues and hit the gas a little, only ended up having to winch/strap a handful of times to get back out.

Thanks, I fucked up this bumper I am making so bad, made some bad decisions on how to deal with tweaked/bent frame/chassis and trying to make everything not look obviously out of square.
Hopefully I can get it all ironed out and have it looking decent until I run it into a tree or rock wall.

 

That's what I'm thinking. He was with a few other rigs too. Maybe the bearing just didnt like 40s, but I'm pretty sure Mike is still on his original bearings.

 

I'm still on my original bearings, way more miles and crawling than Mike or AMG.

 

Dual case is next on my list. I drove a 4runner with an atlas 5:1 and it was insane. So much control. Lmk when you're done and I'll help you smash it

 

I ended up having to cut mine when I busted up the ADD housing years ago. Wrapped the diff in zip lock back and zip ties to keep the fluid in, and created my "stub shaft emergency kit" LOL

 

Thank you for the tip. I'll add this to my bag. I replaced my ADD with the FJ AWD intermediate shaft and twin stick'ed a manual FJ case, with the intent of removing anything electronic from the 4wd system. Besides the dash lights, which I wired directly to the position sensors and pulled out the 4wd computer. I am hoping these changes along with the crawl box and wise use of the throttle will spare me from this happening, but always good to be prepared.

I think my currently hold back from being in remote areas is my limited fuel capactiy. I am averaging 10 mpg now. Granted that is with zero freeway miles.

 

I think your post is what inspired me to do the ADD delete. Thank you!