metal22lica

ok..ok..this maybe sound like a noob question..but whats so great about these things? and why is there a need for another lever to control it?

Shane

Marlin Crawler is just one name they're known by, Marlin is the guy who originally came up with the idea and built the first adapter to stack Toyota reduction boxes. It has revolutionized rock crawling by allowing lower gearing and more choices of speeds to use. Advanced Adapters manufacturers the adapters for Marlin, as well as sell one of this old designs as their own. There's also Inchworm gear, as well as a few other smaller names.

Without it, you're forced to slip the clutch or overheat your auto to make it over those large boulders. With the lower gearing you can get up on top of them much easier because you can go slower and have lots more torque at the wheels. Then when you go back to the roads you can still drive at normal speeds because the reduction takes place in the transfer case (low range) and not in the axles. The hard-core guys also run higher ratios in their axles to gain strength there, without the crawlers they couldn't do this.

upndair

I'll let you know when I finally get to use mine. Here's why I did the upgrade. I couldn't go slow enough to crawl over difficult obstacles. One of these instances cost be a dent trying to jump off the brake, on and off the clutch, pulling the hand brake etc.

With the crawler I could have simply walked up the obstacle slow and under control.

The crawler is primarily an advantage for rocks, and very tight situations with slow and under control is required.

I usually run with my rear locker turned on for the same reason. I can go slower of difficult obstacle, reducing the risk of damage.

jx94148

It reduces your lowest possible gear beyond normal stock low range. It gives you normal low range 4WD and ultra crazy super low snail speed range without making the motor go too slowly.

That's the fewest words I can use to explain it.

crawler#976

Marlin Crawler

The Toy T'case is essentially split into two sections- a High Range/Low Range section and the 2 wheel/4 wheel drive section. Marlin developed an adapter plate that allows a early gear driven T'case low range section to be mated up to another complete transfer case. The Low/High unit is mounted in front of the original T'case and has it's own shifter. In my truck, I have stock low range gears in both cases: 2.28:1 and 2.28 :1 This gives me the following options:

2 wheel high range (20:1 crawl ratio, 5.29 R/P x 3.9 first gear)

2 wheel low range (47:1 crawl ratio, 5.29 x 3.9 x 2.28 low range)
I use this for most non technical wheelin' it's a great trail gear! It allows the truck to turn easy even tho the hubs are locked-

4 wheel low range (same as above)

4 wheel double low range (109:1 crawl ratio, 5.29 x 3.9 x 2.28 x 2.28)

At 109:1, the truck will not idle up a large rock, but it will take very little throttle to climb one. Even steep loose hill climbs can be accomplished at very low speed with no virtually no wheel spin. Down hill decents are much easier due to massive amounts of engine breaking. With a stock motor, this is roughly 20,000+ Ft/Lbs of torque to EACH WHEEL. It will shread tires, Birfield joints break, drive shafts twist, Ring and Pinion break, Inner axles snap, rear axles break, and lockers fail. It's really hard on equipment, but makes wheelin' much more fun

In Steve's 'runner, he put 4.7:1 gears in place of the stock 2.28 t'case gears in the high/low donor t'case. This gives him several more options- and much deeper crawl ratios. If Steve installs a hand throttle, he will be able to set it at 1500 RPM and litteraly idle over most obsticals.

later

upndair

I went with 2.28 in the front transfer case and 4.7 gears in the year. At 1000 rpm, my tires will turn over 4 times per minute!

44Runner

This is actually not true. He is the one who has done the most with the idea. He has made the nicest adapters and continued to redesign them to get them perfect. He took the idea to the next level, but the idea itself was ripped off from someone else. That's the word that I heard...

scott.475

You want one because hitting hard stuff fast breaks stuff. I want one, but don't have the $$$. Ahhhh priorities...what's wrong with me?

Shane

As far as I know it is, but then again everything on the net these days is heresay.


BTW, is anyone else getting DNS errors on Marlin's website? I haven't been able to get to it the last couple days, comes up "Non-existent domain" when I do a name lookup.

44Runner

Very true. I have a Marlin Crawler, so I obviously like his junk so nothing against him or anything.

I cannot get to his site either...

Shane

Just did a whois, their domain name expired. Gotta go find their phone number and make sure they know.

44Runner

HAHAHAHA, that is SO typical of the way that company is run. Their product is the best on earth, but everything else leaves a lot to be desired...:pat:

Shane

Ya, just talked to Tim at the shop and they were totally oblivious to what was wrong as they were still able to get to it. Apparently they're switching hosts or servers in the next couple weeks, but if I were them I'd be worried about the name getting stolen in the meantime.

44Runner

Yeah, no joke. Seems randy's ring and pinion would like that domain name

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...hreadid=144159

Shane