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

Late April, 2019: RCLT HD Prototype V2.0 is installed! (continued)

MOAR RCLT HD PORN!!!



(please ignore the upside down TRE bolt: At the time I was still figuring out limit strap geometry and could only reattach steering after the wheel was installed)





COME AWN IFS!!!! LET'S DO THIS!

 

A NEW MARLIN CRAWLER IFS PRODUCT IS BORN

Now would be a good place to ask if anyone noticed my sweet Heavy Duty Cam Tab Gussets and Heavy Duty LCA Flange Braces??? Better look again!

Marlin Crawler has built another FIRST for strengthening the Toyota IFS system for greatly improved performance with Rock Crawling, Desert Racing, Mud bogging, Snow wheeling, or just soild peace of mind for the daily driver!!

I present to everyone the all-new Marlin Crawler Heavy Duty LCA Frame Brace Kit!

This kit goes far beyond simply gusseting the Cam Tabs and is so advanced that it is already patent-pending!

The retail for this kit will be $129, and we'll have a limited time introductory price for only $99

We are already gathering interest online and preparing for the first production run that will be ready to ship on or before June 7.

Please click to view this new product online, and please use the "Notify when in stock" button to be notified once available:
→ Heavy Duty LCA Frame Brace Kit | Marlin Crawler, Inc. ←

We will create a product announcement thread which will include full details of this AMAZING kit, that in my opinion blows the doors off anything I've seen before



Initial applications include:
2003+ 4Runner
2003-2009 Lexus GX470
2005+ 2WD or 4WD Tacoma
2006+ FJ Cruiser

Many more applications will be coming soon!

No drilling 24-spot welds and chiseling off 8 camber plates. It can even be installed WITHOUT removing your control arms or altering your alignment

And if you already have upgraded 1/4" cam tabs, no problem, just lightly massage about 1/8" of material off and directly install to your rig.





Update June 13, 2019: Added a Basic Overview video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIL_oAkv4oE

 

40" tires? CHECK

FIRST EVER PATENT-PENDING ROCK CRAWLING IFS SYSTEM? CHECK

MARLIN CRAWLER TACOBOX T/CASE SYSTEM? CHECK!!!!



V2.0 is my first Prototype that we needed to ensure proper alignment, so this was my first stab at it.

To provide a good range for driver preference, I've designed RCLT HD to have 3-degrees caster @ 0-degrees camber when all four eccentrics are rotated up in the neutral/center position. The tech, however, was only able to get 2-degrees caster @ 0-degrees camber with the cams pegged. A few more mouse clicks and I'll have it improved for V3.0

I am however done with this alignment shop I've been using (Discount Tire Center, North-east Fresno). Because I've "modified" my front suspension they have revoked my 3-year unlimited alignment deal. Sucks, but such is life, and now I'm on the look-out for a reputable alignment shop in the Central California area so please let me know if you know of one, thanks!

 

May 1, 2019: First Road Trip on RCLT HD!

The very next morning with less than 10 miles on RCLT HD Prototype V2.0 I loaded up and headed south for a 500 mile round-trip journey to the Los Angeles area!

And HOLY CRAP guys this front end rides LIGHT YEARS BETTER than the one-off prototype LT setup I've been running all these trails with. Unbelievably better!!

It rides WAY smoother, corners WAY better, comes out of corners WAY better, drives PERFECTLY STRAIGHT at 75 MPH on the highway, and is simply everything I could ever ask for thus far.

I've been intentionally driving up and off curbs all over the place and am completely amazed at how the front end sucks up bumps, NOTHING like my old LT setup.

I can NOT WAIT to get this baby out on a trail!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RCLT HD. Amazing.

And I thought the rear leaf spring setup was a pile of crap before??? The front suspension is SO GOOD that now the rear suspension is SIMPLY UNBEARABLE!!!!!!! What can I do to improve the crappy rear suspension??


Coffee break, south end of Bakersfield, CA



Filling up in "what am I doing here" Tujunga, CA



Eat your heat out automatic owners!! Ha! And this INCLUDES going up and over the Grape Vine! (~ 4,000 ft climb & descent)

 

I then addressed timeline for pricing and availability in response to @ovrlndkull as follows:

===========QUOTE (Reply #885 from my build thread)=============

I know and I'd like to chat about this real quick.

We still have a LOT of work to do... Thus far everything RCLT related has been a two man show: Myself designing/producing/installing/marketing, and my lead fabricator Rocky doing the welding.

So far we have only made 1 x each prototype, which is very slow to produce and extremely expensive.

The good news moving forward is that I now have confidence for the next prototype (V3.0) to be considered a RC (Release Candidate, sorry I'm also a programmer ) which means we'll be producing a few of them. Sorry, they have long been scheduled for specific vehicles with tight and confidential (NDA) criteria.

I am mentioning this now because I am confident that V3.0 will be the last prototype after which I will *finally* pass the reigns of RCLT HD over to CruzrDave, who is my lead production and operations manager. He will then have the uphill task of establishing vendors, creating production schedules, creating part numbers, getting raw materials in, organizing warehouse space, figuring out packaging & shipping, educating our sales and installation teams, and so on.
Somewhere in there he will figure out costs and finally a retail price. I'll then move to working on the installation guide, pictures, video marketing, and getting all the information up on our Store website.

This is all shorthand for WE HAVE A SH*T TON OF WORK TO DO and RCLT HD will have one of the highest SKU counts for a single product we've ever done as a company. So this isn't something where we just blow our nose and suddenly we have RCLT HD listed on our website with same day shipping ready to go.

I am still hopeful for a Summer release, but, the Standard RCLT kit obviously is behind schedule. Of course it was never our intent to release info and get all this hype started without actually having a product ready to sell (not many companies spend hours of time posting to forums about progress of expensive prototypes with ROI no where in sight) but we were motivated by specific factors to get progress of RCLT out as soon as we could.

It's a lot of moving pieces
======================END QUOTE========================

...and that's where we are today as of early May, 2019!

Current Progress on hopefully the last prototype:
I've been working late nights trying to get V3.0 CAD files submitted today for the next and hopefully final round of prototyping, but I probably won't get it finished until early next week. We've had a lot of other things going on at work and I just returned this past Monday after spending the previous 9 days out of town working on another project.

I will keep the thread updated and will check in to respond to questions. Thank you everyone for your patience and we know RCLT is gonna be a game changer for Rock Crawling + IFS!!

Regards,
BigMike

 

Excellent reading, and thanks for the updates!

 

Exciting news!! My truck is prepped and ready for this kit. Hopefully be the first 2nd gen with 41" tires on IFS

 

This product shouldn't be ready until I have secured a job...maybe until the 4th paycheck.

 

The real question is: where can we pre-order all this?

Overall, the progressive R&D updates AND real-world data testing itself is really great marketing for the serious buyers (potentially me). Can't wait to get my hands on these once they're released!

 

I need to see this thing in Action @BigMike! Show us some glorious dirt fun footage! (V2 or V3)

 

Any guesses on travel numbers? That ground clearance is awesome

 

Nice work BigMike! I'll swing by the shop and check it out. Time to get that rig out on the trails!

For alignments, I've had good luck with Mac's Tire Pros on Clovis Ave. Low price, knowledgeable techs, and the owner is a genuine, down-to-earth guy.

 

This revolutionary! I'm really looking forward to the release!

 

I’ll sign every NDA you want and give you all the ASE certified feedback i can

 

Looking forward to seeing the price for this setup

 

And hint of rear. I know 3 link is possible without moving the fuel tank, been considering myself... this would complete the goal.

 

Are you talking about dumping the rear leafs and do a rear linked setup? If so wouldn't triangulated 4-link be an easier option? Rear 3-link would require some type of centering link track/pan-hard bar. Maybe I'm missing something due to fuel tank or some other issue on the ass-end.

 

Biggest issue for me, is to be able to keep the stock gas tank. 4 link wouldn't be easy to to with that. So 3 link with a panhard bar

 

Check, makes sense....

 

If you go to his build thread, he already 3-linked the rear..