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

The guy in my area needed a new rear axle because his front was now 5.5 inches wider.

He got a Dana 60 axle.

 

looking at the website I guess stock width is available.

I wonder if it is something I’d regret

 

its not necessary by any means. you can just throw some 1.25" good hubcentric spacers on if width is your worry, but it really won't matter too much only being a 2.25" kit. and yes spacers are fine as long as you buy nice ones with there own studs, plenty of guys have jumped there trucks on rear spacers so it is not an issue. but if you really want to buy a dana 60 than by all means.

 

I don't see a stock width RCLT option on Marlin's website?

 

It’s in the name? rcLT idk how there’d be stock width. AFAIK it’s 2.75 or 3.5

 

I saw the 2.75 and 3.5, and I thought they were add-ons rather than mandatory options.

 

2.75 is the OG release version. The 3.5 is a more recent addition.

 

Yeah, that was a big part of my confusion. I was sitting here like: "I like the narrower track. I wonder how much RCMT costs..."

 

do drivers normally leave the front wider than the rear like a Land Cruiser 70 series?

Is that safe in normal situations? Never had or drove a setup like this before.

I already installed 4.56 gears and a rear locker. As you can imagine, that was not cheap. If I have to put a Dana 60 axle, then so be it. it would be a shame to have to repurchase gears and a locker, but if that is the proper path forward, that’s the way it is.

everyone on the Lexus forums with RCLTs also have Dana 60 rears. I thought was mandatory.

 

You’re fine with a front track width being wider than the rear. Leave your rear axle alone if you don’t want to redo it all.

 

there’s no disadvantage to have a front track that’s wider than the rear? I know a guy with a Land Cruiser 70, and he is spending thousands to change the rear axle.

why spend the money if there is no advantage? Why spend 10K+ on a Dana 60?


I did a few google searches, and I just end up back to Tacoma world.

 

They’re spending the money on STRONGER rear axles. Yeah they’re wider. But I don’t think these guys are spending the money to be wider…

 

Idk what other Lexus guys are running rclt other than a handful of the gx470 crowd, but most of those people in particular, as example, already know the 8” rear diffs are weak given a GX470 is a little over 700 lbs heavier than a 4x4 double cab taco for and factor in a v8 with more torque. Compound that with a lot of these guys slapping on 37-40” tires and I can see why they want to spend some extra money on a diamond rear end or whatever they throw under there. And then some people have a heavy offroad foot and snap everything they can apply throttle to.

And like Rob Ron said they aren’t dropping the cash with a primary goal to match front width. That would be asinine and could be solved by quality spacers.

 

A dana 60 rear isnt really any stronger than the 8.75 axle thats in your truck, maybe even weaker ontop of weighing more and having less diff clearance. If you're doing a rear axle, do a ford 9 as it will be better in every way compaired to a 60 rear.

A wider front is unnoticeable in both desert and in the rocks, if anything more handy in the rocks since if your front tires fit thru something, your rear definitely will lol. On these long trucks, the rear wheels take a beating since they snag on everything.

*edit, just saw your earlier post about you doing it on a gx. The 8"/8.2" or whatever the heck comes in those, they are garbage strength wise in the rocks with trucks this heavy, so a 60 would be an upgrade for that.

 

The fine nuances of different track width front to rear to tune for under/oversteer/traction I would say are not something to worry about. If it were a big difference you *might* see some wandering on heavily crowned pavement as the front and rear are in slightly different paths in the valleys... I see your biggest concern here being the 4.56 gears you've got setup. Quite a few folks going to RCLT are running 37+ and if that's your intention as well, 4.56 might not be where you want to be at.

 

Anyone else see this on Insta today?

That's a big steaming pile of awesomeness right there.

 

Didn't you know you're also supposed to spend $20k on portals for new spindles to avoid breakages like that? Get with the times...

 

Shit my first gen has done the twice and the entire truck cost me $5k

 

just looked up his insta and I guess he already sas’d it…

 

wtf broke? between this and all the axle shaft problems why would you buy?