Marlin Crawler's upcoming HD LCA Frame Brace Kit

Burnin' em' in!

 

I am denver based, just installed them today, was pretty straight forward. If anyone around denver is interested I can weld them on, just pay me for consumables and bring some beer and we are all good.

 

I ran into some issues when installing these. I had a local 4x4 shop do the job for me. This wasn’t the first brace kit they have done. LCAs came off for the job. The trouble was when al the pieces got burnt in it opened the space up for the LCA bushings. The truck would not hold alignment and the bolts would not torque. There was excessive play in the LCA. They ended up having to cut the plates and Torque the bolt down on the bushing to correct the space and then weld over the cuts. I wasn’t super happy about it all. Hopefully the pics show the issue better than I can explain.

so when you install them if you take off the LCAs make a pseudo bushing or get a sacrificial bushing and torque spec it down in the space to maintain the correct spacing

 

Looks good now.

 

just welded these in and got the LCA bolted back in, I noticed the "front leg" of the LCA contacts the bar connecting the 2 tabs on the underside going into rebound if I crank the cams to "max caster" setting, which I will be doing to get the tire away from the firewall.
I probably need to grind away 1/4" of brace away at most to clear, which in itself is fine, but bummed because I have several coats of rust bullet painted on already which I will have to redo.

something to watch out for, dont want to lose suspension travel!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHx0659n2tj/?igshid=y9nihg0kvbbo

 

so how'd the T4R get fixed

 

How would one install both TC and Marlin?
If you put Marlin first, now you can't hammer off the old tabs
but if you do it the other way around, you can chisel the old tabs off, weld TC tabs on, then place Marlin reinforcement on/around that to weld on

 

Assuming that your existing tabs are in decent shape these braces can be welded around stock tabs to reinforce them...so the TC kit isn't needed.

If you have the TC tabs already (or need to replace badly damaged stock tabs) you can grind a little off the braces to get enough clearance for the TC tabs. Either way if you're installing both kits the Marlin Crawler braces go on second.

There was talk about modifying the brace design to clear both stock and TC tabs but I'm not sure if that was implemented or not.

See post #268 in this thread.

 

the stock tabs are badly damaged
sounds like the way to go is replace them with TC tabs
then put Marlin on top after including whatever grinding may be needed to make them both fit/work together

 

i have the Marlins (and they are so awesome), and I've been intending to install the Bison stop sign cams eventually. I've been held up by front end work and installing those cams with the Marlins there is a commitment to my alignment which is still in process with the front end work happening. just throwing out an alternative to the TC tabs. I've been planning on some grinding to install them when i get to it.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bison-offroad-alignment-stop-cams-giveaway.682647/

 

By chance does anyone have Total Chaos LCA's and run these? Want to know if they fit. I see DK fits.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-frame-brace-kit.610921/page-14#post-21320451

 

Thanks! But that looks like it's discussing the TC tabs, I'm look more for feedback on the actual TC lower control arms.

 

I wonder if thinner steel would work
I think reinforcements are 1/4"
my buddy's welder only goes up to 3/8 (hair under 1/4) so I might even try buying some flat sheet of 3/8 steel or something (Home Depot may even have it), trace a cardboard design template, then stencil that onto the metal and cut it. To then weld it on.
As a temporary strong reinforcement to put before eventually maybe getting JD Fab lower pivots.

Could be as low as $20 that way and DIY installable with a cheap sub-$200 flux core welder
so $220 to DIY (well + grinder or something) and walk away with a big tool left over to keep or sell
vs those rates shops charge for tabs install $350...

 

3/8" is thicker than a 1/4". Do you mean his welder only goes up to 3/16"? Since the gussets are kind of a non critical piece if it fails, I would try and weld it up with that welder. Or try and weld a test 1/4" scrap to 1/8" and see how it does.

 

sorry meant 3/16

 

You aren't welding 1/4" to 1/4" so a 110v MIG should be plenty. You can only burn it as hot as the thinnest metal you are welding against...

 

Test fitting the MC brackets with the TC LCA they will fit.

I'm still new to welding so I'm going to take my time before mounting the MC brackets.

 

Perfect. Thank you! I have the MC kit already welded on, just running OEM LCA's right now.