Any news on the Marlin Crawler gears?

Fjamming · 12-04-2007, 12:54 PM

Hi LT,

How's the prototyping going in regards to the MC box? Can you give us an update?

Thanks.

**LT.** · 12-05-2007, 10:02 AM

We have the dual case installed and have told Marlin all the revisions needed to be done for the production unit. We re-designed the rear remote shifter assembly that we will be producing. We managed to shave 1" off the original triple stick shifter design.

So far we have had nothing but good from this set up. There are no leaks, breakages, nothing from the unit. You will have to talk to Marlin Crawler when they will be releasing the final version of the dual case set up. The one thing additional you will have to do is shorten your gas tank by 3". We stepped up and bought an extrusion plastic welder. So we welded our own gas tank up and there has been no leaks. We will provide a service where you send your gas tank in and we will modify it and send it back to you. You will have to plan to have some down time with your FJ if you want to do this modification.

Fjamming · 12-05-2007, 10:56 AM

That sounds exciting. Do you have any time frames? Is the final design still going to need modification to the gas tank? What was your ratio with the dual cases?

Thanks for the response!

**LT.** · 12-05-2007, 11:06 AM

No time frames as of right now. We will have to talk to Marlin Crawler to see when they are looking to start producing the crawler units.

You will have to modify the gas tank with the Marlin Crawler or Inch Worm dual cases. There is simply no way around it.

As for ratios is the same as the mini truck gearing. 2.28, 4.0, and 4.7. We went with the 4.7 gears in the marlin case and the stock transfer case has 2.28.

Fjamming · 12-05-2007, 11:24 AM

Did you get a chance to compare it with Inchworm gears? I seem to recall SBechtold writing something about using heat to re-shape part of gas tank to make Inchworm fit. I'll have to dig around. The 2 systems are very similar and I'd like to find out the strength and weakness of each.

**LT.** · 12-05-2007, 11:28 AM

Our FJC had the second ever production unit from Inch Worm Gear. We blew up the output shaft within a couple of trail runs and decided to go with the Marlin Crawler unit instead.

sbechtold · 12-05-2007, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Fjamming previously said:

Did you get a chance to compare it with Inchworm gears? I seem to recall SBechtold writing something about using heat to re-shape part of gas tank to make Inchworm fit. I'll have to dig around. The 2 systems are very similar and I'd like to find out the strength and weakness of each.

I used a couple of heat guns to heat up the end of the tank nearest the transfer case. I then reshaped the front of the tank so that it would clear the transfer case. Reshaping the tank worked like a charm and I didn't lose any fuel capacity from the tank.

Quote:

LT. previously said:

Our FJC had the second ever production unit from Inch Worm Gear. We blew up the output shaft within a couple of trail runs and decided to go with the Marlin Crawler unit instead.

Sorry to here about your output shaft.

I received a call from Jim and he informed me that a few FJ Cruiser owners running Lefty with the stock Toyota output shafts had broken the output shafts. Apparently the weight of the FJC is a bit much for the stock Toyota output shaft. He offered to replace my stock output shaft with a Longfield chromoly output shaft. Even though I had zero problems with the stock shaft in my Lefty, I opted to have the chromoly one installed. LT I'm sure Jim would be willing to help you out as well. Jim is now installing Longfield output shafts for anyone planning to run lefty in an FJC. I think it was pretty cool of Jim to proactively call me about the output shaft and install the Longfield.

Fjamming · 12-05-2007, 05:45 PM

Quote:

sbechtold previously said:

I used a couple of heat guns to heat up the end of the tank nearest the transfer case. I then reshaped the front of the tank so that it would clear the transfer case. Reshaping the tank worked like a charm and I didn't lose any fuel capacity from the tank.

Sol, I found your old thread where you stated you were able to push back another 1.5 inch so it would clear. Do you think it would be possible to push back 3 inches as required by the Marlin gears? How much for the upgraded chromoly ouput shaft?

sbechtold · 12-05-2007, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Fjamming previously said:

Sol, I found your old thread where you stated you were able to push back another 1.5 inch so it would clear. Do you think it would be possible to push back 3 inches as required by the Marlin gears? How much for the upgraded chromoly ouput shaft?

With some additional effort and heat you might be able to smash the tank back another 1.5", but I would be very careful as that is a lot to move it. The Longfield chromoly output shaft was right around $285 IIRC.

**LT.** · 12-05-2007, 06:13 PM

Quote:

sbechtold previously said:

I used a couple of heat guns to heat up the end of the tank nearest the transfer case. I then reshaped the front of the tank so that it would clear the transfer case. Reshaping the tank worked like a charm and I didn't lose any fuel capacity from the tank.

I would highly recommend not heating up the gas tank with heat guns. We did that initially with the Inch Worm cases and it severely weakened the tank. When we installed the Marlin Cases we cut the end cap off the tank to weld a new end cap and did an inspection of the heated area. It was scary to say the least. The safest way of clearing the tank is to cut it down and weld a new cap on to it.

Quote:

sbechtold previously said:

Sorry to here about your output shaft.

I received a call from Jim and he informed me that a few FJ Cruiser owners running Lefty with the stock Toyota output shafts had broken the output shafts. Apparently the weight of the FJC is a bit much for the stock Toyota output shaft. He offered to replace my stock output shaft with a Longfield chromoly output shaft. Even though I had zero problems with the stock shaft in my Lefty, I opted to have the chromoly one installed. LT I'm sure Jim would be willing to help you out as well. Jim is now installing Longfield output shafts for anyone planning to run lefty in an FJC. I think it was pretty cool of Jim to proactively call me about the output shaft and install the Longfield.

Granted the FJ is a lot heavier than a Toyota mini truck but you don't see output shafts blowing up with guys running 33" tires like we did. The output shaft let go in a spot where there is was no traction to be had or any pedal action going on. Mark was trying to climb up some rocks that where slick in dual low range letting the gears do the work. We heard a loud bang and no more power to the wheels. The output shaft broke right behind the bearing and not in front like what the mini truck guys experience.

We already talked to Jim about everything and in the end decided the Marlin Crawler route was best for us.