Marlin Crawler is back at it for the 2010 King of the Hammers event, scheduled for Feb. 12th. Here is what's happening, all quotes are from our team driver John James (desertoy):

"Well, I have been working on the Marlin Crawler Formula Toy for the past few weeks getting it ready for KOH. We have been beating it pretty hard for the past 3 years and it has held up great. I take race prep serious because I hate breaking stuff and having to work on it during competitions. Basic race prep has worked for us so far, but with the new KOH rule book coming out for 2010 I needed to make some changes to the rig. While I was at it I decided to go ahead and move the motor back a few more inches to gain up travel in the front suspension for going fast but at the same time I have to keep it legal to compete in the Formula Toy class."

"Moving the motor back isn't that exciting, It's just alot of cutting and grinding. Here's a couple motor mount pictures."





"Once I got the motor back, That allowed the suspension to compress more. I was able to add 3 1/2" of additional up travel to the front suspension. that's huge when you take into consideration that up until now I only had 3 inches.

Here'as a couple pictures of the new bup stops."



"Once the motor was moved, the trans tunnel didn't work any more. So I took this oppertunity to cut out some of the heavy frame work over the trans and make a new transwmission tunnel."





"Once the trans tunnel was mounted I made a paper template to get the shifter cover plate just right. It turned out pretty good."






"all the expanded metal behind the seats have been bothering me for a while now, so I thought I might as well cut that out too."




"I needed to make a fire wall behind the drivers seat but I was worried that a big piece of aluminum would rattle (I hate that), so I decided to make it 3 pieces to fit between the X-brace.
I stared with a paper template. Rob Park (TinBender) showed me an easy way to make a template a few years back. All you do is tape the paper in place and rub the side of a sharpy on the paper along the tube you want to cut around. By rubbing the side of the sharpy on the paper, it makes a mark on the paper where the tube is."




"then I just cut the paper out 1/2 inch inside the line so it fits inside the tubing and traced it onto a piece of aluminum. "




"When I cut out the aluminum with the plasma cutter, I use a piece of square tubing as a straight edge, this makes the plasma cut almost perfect.
I put a bend in the bottom of the aluminum to make it stiffer and it fit great."





"Then I did the same thing to the other 2 panels. I had to make 6 small radius bends on the side panels to make them form the top tube."





"New KOH Rules. You have to have a fire wall to seperate the fuel tank from the drivers compartment. "

"The wheelbase is about 106, the motor is moved back 8", my rear driveshaft angle is good because I run a L52HD trans (6" shorter)."

"According to the rally tracker, we got up to a bone chilling 68mph accross the drylake last year."

"I got my tail lights yesterday. So I decided to make a tail light box to mount them on the top of the rig."




"Even though I only needed one amber light in the rear, I decided to install 2 of them to make it look better. Also, if I end up running a Best in the Desert race later, I can replace on of the amber lights with a blue one."



"I've been working my butt off but it doesn't look like I have done anything lately.
I sent the transmission ans transfer cases back to Marlin Crawler just so they can take a look at them. It's been a while since they have been inspected so I thought it was time.
I got them back and installed them over the weekend."




"Bobby and Tina Long were nice enough to send a set of the best birfields in the world so I thought it was time to install them."



"Since we've been doing this new KOH type "go fast" racing, wheel bearings and knuckle bearings need to be looked at more often. So I completely disassembled the knuckles, cleaned everything, inspected the bearings, and re-assambled with the new longfields."



"Once I got the front end back together (it took forever), I went on to the new springs. the 4" springs worked just fine for cone dodging but a new set of 5" springs will work better for KOH.

after looking at the shackles, I decided to put on a new set along with new bushings all around.

U-bolts are a consubable maintenance item in my opinion. I replace them every year weather it needs it or not. Brian from Diamond Axle was glad to send a set over."





"Mapping out the new fuel system without waisting a bunch of money on extra fittings was a challenge."



"The plan is to install an accumulator tank with a single feeder pump and dual high pressure pumps (one for a back up).
I found a piece of 4" x 1/4" aluminum tubing to build the tank out of and bought all the weld in bungs fron Summit. The problem is, I don't have a tig welder at home. Luckely one of my welders at work was willing to help. I had him weld everything up except the top cap so I could fit everyting and then clean the accumulator tank real well before he did the final welding. I was worried about contamination getting in the accumulator tank durring assembly, that is why I did it this way."







"I have been running a set of chromo birfields that Marlin Crawlers sells for the past couple years. But we're back to Longfields now.

The trans was fine. Marlin did some more upgrades to it while he had it though. These L-52HD tranny's are BAD ASS!"

I Hope to see this thing at the race....I took the days off

Is the custom shifter base for the L52 a short throw shifter? I need to fix that on my L52.

Sweet!

Thatd be nice to see more selection on here   

X2   

That would be awesome if a ftoy took #1 at KOH.  Doin more with less!!!  Good luck guys.

The W56 is a bit lighter, is much stronger than a stock L52, a little bit stronger than a Marlin Crawler L52-HD, but the L-series transmission is 4" shorter. So we can move the engine back and still have a decent rear driveline angle.

More updates from desertoy!!

"OK, we're about ready. I just have a couple more things I am waiting for like the seat belts and nets.

All of the aluminum is finally done. Hopefully it will go to Impact Signs in Victorville this week to have all the panels re-wrapped."





"Here's the fire wall"



"Fuel system is done. It works great with the exception of a minor fuel leak from the threads of one of the fittings."



"The seats were getting pretty tattered looking after 4 years so I had PRP re-cover them for us."



"I re-mounted the radio to the roof. Mike installed the GPS. I should have the in-car communications from Mobile Radio Communications by the end of the week."



"We took it out and did some shock tuning on Sunday. The front shocks are pretty close, We ended up making new shock mounts in the front. I need to get with Chris from FOA to get some more valving discs for the rear. Overall, moving the motor back to gain suspension travel in the front was well worth it. It is noticeably smoother in the front. We just need to stiffen up the compression in the rear."



"I took the rig to Impact Signs this morning to get the sponsorship stickers (wrap) put on. I'm getting closer. All I have to do now is get the inter-com from Mobile Radio Communications installed.

Jeff rKnoll made me build a hood scoop to cover the air cleaner and intake. Here you go Jeff."

Sick! Cant wait to see this thing in action!!!  9 Days!!!!!!!!

Is there going to be a Marlin booth so i can pick up some parts?

After raising the bumpstops and gaining up travel are the springs going negative arch when fully compressed? I wantr more up travel and have the room but i think my 4" Marlin springs will go negative arch if i do.

Got some more updates!

"Well, I think it's ready. I had a guy come by this weekend and take some pictures of it (Thanks Jan)."

Those don't look like the stock splines in your front case... Are you running 4.7's in your both your cases??

  That's a good point.. However is he running 4.7's in both cases? I'm thinking about doing it on my rig but I'm not really sure if it'll be worth it..