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

You’re on to something I think is pretty intelligent - might’ve felt like you were put on blast there though.

 

All good man, this forum is about learning and I won’t even for a second pretend to know more than what I know, so if someone needs to correct what I said or ad to it, by all means - people need the correct info to avoid the “will this fit?” Shit lol.

from day 1 probably because I didn’t have the cash, I decided to just start cutting instead to stuff 285s and sure enough it worked and low

guys need accept the fact cutting is the only way to make it functional - these IFS fronts already blow articulation wise compared to live axles, gimping it even more just makes it useless to spend that kind of money on tires, wheels, gears, lockers, armor, etc - that type of mindset is what gives late model ifs rig a stigma in the offroad world (and least in the circle I know)

 

The uptravel will always be limited by the shocks, only way to change that is to cut the OE shock mount off and build a real engine cage. The horizontal uniballs do not max out at full bump. King runs the shortest body shocks that fit in the OE mounts and if you cut off the factory bump stop you can get almost 11” of travel with stock arms. The issue is the inner fender/core support on anything bigger than a 31” tire.

The bottom line is no matter what kit you have if you want tires over 31” and all the up travel the shock will allow you will have to cut things up. I say all this having spent a lot of time with the OE length arms as well as waaaay too much time figuring out the LT kit geometry

 

So it’s a good idea (or at least not a bad one) to start hacking my truck up on stock suspension to check on clearance for bigger meats? Lol because I’ve been doing it ahah

 

apparently so, only thing ill add about cutting everything up on stock suspension is that i have trimmed for my 33s at full lock at full compression and it wasn't all that hard, but with stock suspension and a cheeky spacer lift i don't really have much travel and i can see where the fancy suspension can change things and make trimming a bit more rigorous and especially if you have aftermarket wheels, with the trd pro wheels at 13 offset i didnt have to touch the cab mount but i know the second i go to the next step(some 34 in mt) or just a 0 or -12 ish offset rim im gonna need to look at chopping that up, and i know were past the firewall discussion but the firewall is kinda flimsy and its why we have such beefy cab mounts

 

I wasn’t really referring to 33s + it was a more rhetorical lol as I’ve already cut everything and fully stuffed 33s no problem on stock suspension without any modification to suspension components whatsoever. Simply cutting takes care of it.

and this was with -12 offset.

 

fair, i was gettin a bit worried about if im stupid

 

yeah fuck that, I’ll buy a Jeep and do it Way cheaper (and better) or grab an old 85-89 runner that’s already been SASd for half of that and beat on it.

don’t get me wrong, love my taco and will never sell it though

 

more or less, its why this kit is mildy intresting imo, it should keep the taco more or less a taco, just a little sendy-er

 

it’s very interesting to me, just not the price lol

 

fair point, but its not far off of what you would do for a normal lt kit and something like a solo motorsports tundra steering rack, and if you can run 37s fairly easily or even just 35s nearly hassle free it and it functions well enough to run things like koh it should really be good for most situations and you dont have to butcher it like a sas would

 

True, but I look at like so - if I have 12-15g to drop out of pocket (clearly doing really well financially) May as well Pony up the extra to just SAS it.

sure, more expensive and permanent, but you’re talking big money regardless most average folks who lift their Tacoma don’t have (or won’t) to spend - especially if it’s a DD.

to each their own though, I think it’s badass to see ifs that strong handling 37s-40s

 

The arms can do any tire size. The axle shafts and diffs might not like tires in that size range especially without the 580:1 ratio that 3rd gen with the 40's uses. If you like that truck, $30-35k is not an unreasonable estimate of all mods included to finish the typical overland rig.

 

Proving my point a SAS would look even better at that point if you have the dough anyways lol

 

than its not really lt any more and id rather centermount or even just beam it like a mad man

 

I think this is a thread that doesn't coincide with what the long travel forum is usually based on. Contending with other good setups designed to rock crawl seems to be the goal while most (literally 99%) of the guys on here (LT guys - not guys in this thread solely for the Marlin kit) want up travel and to blast over whoops and jumps out in the desert southwest regions. While any LT rig is very capable in lots of scenarios other than desert runs, the LT journey is similar to this for guys on here:

buy a kit
weld some sh*t
cut a ton
time for fun

take a trip
let'r rip
hit the whoops
and oops

your back end's buckin'
no more huckin'
get me here?
LT the rear

and then you cage
and then you sell
and then stock mob the hell
out of your 4runner
all day with your family
which you proclaim is funner

or something close to that.

Centermount would usually coincide with a LS swap and absolutely require a major diff upgrade plus $20k+ to keep 4wd or a solid $15k+ for 2wd which is no bueno to rock crawl with.

https://www.currieenterprises.com/independent-9-inch-center-sections-2

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/center-mount-4wd.308961/

There's a badass beamed 2nd gen in Baja, but you'd lose GC over most a arm kits.

 

I just want to say that was a good poem/rap and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bravo!

 

I am southern Idaho and A full desert long travel does not meet my needs. I wanted the RCLT, but gave up and went the TC +2 expedition. ARB’s front and rear this has been great on my rough and steep roads for the mountain area I travel and sufficient for the desert runs that take me there. Would have loved to go 37’s as claimed by MC, but stuck with 35’s. The rear is a SUA with relocated shock mounts and so far looking like will need to upgrade to a bed saver cage, but the rest has been perfect for my trails. Fiberglass will not survive on my roads and it is in for a vinyl camo wrap now. This thread is exactly what I want to hear discussed. Would be cool to run the places you guys do, but not what we have here and the RCLT should have met the need.

 

Yep - everyone has a different setup that is best for them, even two dudes that go to all the same places - you can do 37's even with stock arms and plenty of guys do. Once you strap on big rubber you're doing some method of clearancing and the better you can cut, weld, and mod, the less you have to spend on paying someone else.

 

Agreed. Wife demanded mountain smooth if modifying as much as we were and I need it to take me where she won’t want to go smooth or not.

Just wish MC wasn’t so unreliable, wanted a taco box as well, but will have to go atlas or wait for someone else to make something similar. Atlas is a bit overkill for me.

Camo wrap will look good and save it a little.