Marlin Ultimate Crawler in 2001-2002 Limited.

[MENTION=1795]sschaefer3[/MENTION] and [MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION] Since you 2 guys are the only ones I've seen that have the tacoboxes. How would you rate this Mod on difficulty scale of 1-10? with a 4-5 installing a lift kit. I'm thinking doing this in the garage, but I don't want to get over my head. Its a little intimidating with a lot of modifications to the driveline, gas tank, crossmember, etc. Been saving up $300 a month and its gonna be a Christmas gift to myself.
 
[MENTION=1795]sschaefer3[/MENTION] and [MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION] Since you 2 guys are the only ones I've seen that have the tacoboxes. How would you rate this Mod on difficulty scale of 1-10? with a 4-5 installing a lift kit. I'm thinking doing this in the garage, but I don't want to get over my head. Its a little intimidating with a lot of modifications to the driveline, gas tank, crossmember, etc. Been saving up $300 a month and its gonna be a Christmas gift to myself.

Not super difficult but there are a lot of little extra things that have to be done. Mainly you need to you have to modify the driveshafts which is another $300-500. Then you will want to build a beefier crossmember get a new 4xinnovations mount for it. Then you can get triple sticks to get them all in one spot if you want to be really fancy.

Triple sticks are on the to do list for me but i was able to cut and reweld the stick so i didn't lose a cupholder when its in 2wd. It sits in the rear one in 4high but its not really a big deal to me since i still have the front one and the 2 in the dash since mine is a 97.


Here is the post in my build thread that covers the install

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/65520-rock-lobster-7.html#post1292459

Also since mine is a manual, i didn't have to modify the rear crossmember or the gas tank at all since the manual trans is shorter. If yours is an auto, that will definitely add some difficulty to it.
 
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[MENTION=1795]sschaefer3[/MENTION] and [MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION] Since you 2 guys are the only ones I've seen that have the tacoboxes. How would you rate this Mod on difficulty scale of 1-10? with a 4-5 installing a lift kit. I'm thinking doing this in the garage, but I don't want to get over my head. Its a little intimidating with a lot of modifications to the driveline, gas tank, crossmember, etc. Been saving up $300 a month and its gonna be a Christmas gift to myself.

Taking the t-case out and putting a pre-assembed crawler in is not that hard. You will need a transmission jack. Taking the drive shafts off and having them re-sized is not hard. But the HARD part is the shifters. To do what I did you need some equipment. To stick a lever through the cup holder you are still going to have to cut and weld and use a short throw. My 2001 setup does not use a short throw, but the crawler in my 1999 Dana 44 4Runner did use a short throw. I found loosing a cup holder was more of a pain then I though.

Installing a lift kit is actually not hard at all, this is drive train work, you can get hurt and break things if you don't do it right.

Shifter setup we did in 2003, 10 Years ago.

061.jpg


Levers have to be cut and welded in positions to clear everything.


067.jpg


Did not want to loose a cup holder this time, I have also switched back to real Coke.


007.jpg


I also spent a week in Fresno with these guys and learned how to do it. Pre-Chris Geiger. When you could do that back in 2003.

That's Marlin and Rocky.
 
I want to know what a setup like this would cost....

The Marlin Tacobox is right about 2 grand for the 4.7 case. I think the 2.28 is like $1700. You can get a bit of a discount if you order it through Wyatt at RST. Inchworms are a little cheaper. You can also go TG if you want it to be China made.

Figure another $500 on the high side for the driveshafts. Triple stick setup is about $250

Not cheap but my favorite mod i've done by far.
 
Triple stick is 250 "if" Rory will make you one. It's not an offered product and you will have to talk him into it.

Then I spent hours and hours making those levers, bending them just right with the ironworker etc.
 
The Marlin Tacobox is right about 2 grand for the 4.7 case. I think the 2.28 is like $1700. You can get a bit of a discount if you order it through Wyatt at RST. Inchworms are a little cheaper. You can also go TG if you want it to be China made.

Figure another $500 on the high side for the driveshafts. Triple stick setup is about $250

Not cheap but my favorite mod i've done by far.

Mr. Steeze
I am curious what a fellow 5-speed guy thinks of the 2.28 instead of the 4.7? I plan to add one to mine this winter and cost isn't the issue but I am more concerned about the extra torque to the chain driven case. I plan to likely stick with 33 inch tires and stock gears. Any idea if the 2.28 would still be slow enough and have enough torque multiplication to crawl up most without stalling/working the clutch? Just trying to get an idea if the 4.7 will be overkill for me or if the 2.28 would probably make me wish I had purchased the 4.7 lol. Curious if you thought about this when purchasing yours.

thanks in advance!
 
Best part of this truck is the Leather Seats and the seat heaters. I have never seen another 3rd gen have seat heaters, even with all the trucks that come through here, none have ever had heated seats.

They come in handy.

IMG_0519.jpg

oh yes they do my 02 has those two magical buttons too. love em.

nice work. everything is super clean.
 
what's the difference with this and say an inchworm lefty with double cases.. Would it save any room?
 
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Mr. Steeze
I am curious what a fellow 5-speed guy thinks of the 2.28 instead of the 4.7? I plan to add one to mine this winter and cost isn't the issue but I am more concerned about the extra torque to the chain driven case. I plan to likely stick with 33 inch tires and stock gears. Any idea if the 2.28 would still be slow enough and have enough torque multiplication to crawl up most without stalling/working the clutch? Just trying to get an idea if the 4.7 will be overkill for me or if the 2.28 would probably make me wish I had purchased the 4.7 lol. Curious if you thought about this when purchasing yours.

thanks in advance!

Yeah in 95% of situations, i think the 2.28 gear would be fine. I rarely find my self doubled down with the 4.7 gear unless I'm on Hells Gate or Holy Cross or something stupid. Even then its almost too slow so the majority of trails i run, i either run it in stock low or with the 4.7 in low and the stock case in high.

If i were to do it again, i would probably still go with the 4.7 gears but it would be a tougher sell for me to do it. I was just tired of working the clutch when crawling so i wanted it to be as slow as possible :lmao:


Also this video of my coworkers old taco pretty much convinced me to go with the 4.7's

Crawling with the 4.7's starts about 1:30

 
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what's the difference with this and say an inchworm lefty with double cases.. Would it save any room?

The lefty is basically just a standard left hand drop t case like the non multimode ones but its gear driven instead of chain driven. So its shorter than what you have now but not any shorter than the manual case.

Its also stronger and you can change the gears in it to 4.7 if you want to be super mega ultra stupid slow.
 
The lefty is basically just a standard left hand drop t case like the non multimode ones but its gear driven instead of chain driven. So its shorter than what you have now but not any shorter than the manual case.

Its also stronger and you can change the gears in it to 4.7 if you want to be super mega ultra stupid slow.

I hope your loosly throwing stronger out there. The chain "case" is stronger along with some internals the only weak part is the short input shaft striping off
 
Mr. Steeze
I am curious what a fellow 5-speed guy thinks of the 2.28 instead of the 4.7? I plan to add one to mine this winter and cost isn't the issue but I am more concerned about the extra torque to the chain driven case. I plan to likely stick with 33 inch tires and stock gears. Any idea if the 2.28 would still be slow enough and have enough torque multiplication to crawl up most without stalling/working the clutch? Just trying to get an idea if the 4.7 will be overkill for me or if the 2.28 would probably make me wish I had purchased the 4.7 lol. Curious if you thought about this when purchasing yours.

thanks in advance!
double 2.28's is pretty friggin low.
I rarely run double low, but I have a v8, it might help. :D

but, when the snow gets grainy/sugary, sometimes idling in double low, and single digit air pressure is the only way to move.

I hope your loosly throwing stronger out there. The chain "case" is stronger along with some internals the only weak part is the short input shaft striping off

that's the first time ive heard the chain case is stronger than the gear case.
 
Did the "Bagel" mod, VSC only option. Now when you shift into 4WD you can turn only VSC off, just like stock 2001 Limited. But with the equivalent of 3 transfer cases and a full manual hub front drive train.

All with leather seats and set heaters. Don't forget the wood grain trim.
 
Triple stick is 250 "if" Rory will make you one. It's not an offered product and you will have to talk him into it.

Then I spent hours and hours making those levers, bending them just right with the ironworker etc.

Having spent many hours making parts myself I appreciate you doing it. Any plans to make them available to us fellow Americans who are down on their luck?
I'm a couple of years away from doing a full build, I'm driving my 3rd gen daily at the moment. I envision stockpiling parts from now til I'm ready, and I don't own a shop anymore so I'll buy what I think will work as opposed to reinventing the wheel myself. Drink holders are a high priority for those of us who drink!

:behindsofa:
 
I had an 1989 FJ 62 as well.

This was so complex and time consuming, I will just have to stay a custom job.

November_2006_002.jpg

I no longer have it, it has me! 17 yrs of constant tinkering with the pig. My son who is 12 would just die if I ever sold it.

I built fold out steps in to the side above the rear wheels, people ask me all the time if I could do that for them. I tell them it was a "one and done" thing, just like your shifters. I built custom twin stick shifters for my 62 as well, but I started with a kit for a 60. The trick was eliminating the vacuum actuator.

Some day I'll share a build with this forum, wish I could do it now.

:couch2:
 

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