Topic: noob to all this

[localboi86]

Hi all,  noob checking in. I'm definitely new to the whole sport and Toyotas for that matter. Just got out of the military and moved to northern Nevada, where it seems that everyone I work with is in to crawling. I had a 2004 tj that I used just for camping until I was thrown into the Toyota scene accidentally on purpose by some guys from work.  I was taken on a short crawling trip by one of my friends so he could test out his new suspension, and since I had only heard of rock crawling a couple of times, I def wanted to see what it was about.. I was amazed at what his 85 runner was doing. I told him that this was something that I could definitely get into, and a week later I sold my jeep and bought a 96 4runner. First thing I did was put a toytec 3" suspension lift and a 2" body lift with 33's before I even brought it home. I am definitely a huge fan of the rock solid dependability of the Toyota. I look forward to learning a lot and hopefully meeting some of you on the trail one day   

[81 shortbed]

Welcome


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[monyman]

  from Central CA.

[localboi86 [OP]]

Thanks guys. My in laws live in fresno and I have never paid attention to the rigs, but man there are a lot. Def opening my eyes to a whole new world. LOVING IT

[BigMike]

Hello localboi86, and to the world of Rock Crawling!

Thank you for your service Good Sir

That's awesome that you got a 4Runner, but I'm sad that you gave up your Jeep. Was this the same TJ you had before entering the service, and if so, are you the original owner?

Also, you didn't mention if your 'Runner is a 4cyl or a 6cyl

Marlin has taken the Toyota platform to quite a level since he gave birth to Rock Crawling in 1994. I don't know if you've seen his "Walking the Crawler" videos on YT, but here is a taste in 13th gear. This was the first "Walking the Crawler" video we uploaded to YT:

You can find more of our videos like this on our T/Case Video Gallery here: http://www.marlincrawler.com/gallery/videos/transfer-case

While you can't do this in 13th gear in a Jeep, we still like Jeeps. I'd say their only advantage to a Toyota is their turning radius, but this can be countered with a FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser. I have a bunch of Jeep friends, and in my opinion the one thing I dislike about them is their inability to climb or descend, however the 4-door models have much improved on this, but you've got to put up a considerable amount of $$ to enable a JK to have an off road capability like the trusty Toyota pickup/Hilux/4Runner.

Wow in-laws live in Freshno, that's pretty cool! Did your wife grow up here?

Looking forward to seeing ya around the forums, and to see some pics of your 4Runner and it's mods

Regards,
BigMike

[localboi86 [OP]]

Hey big mike,
Thank you for the welcome,  it was my pleasure and I was having a blast service. Would still be in if the military wasn't doing a massive downsize.
I am very pleased with the 4runner, it's a 3.4l. My friends were telling me that the 3.4 is a bombproof engine,so I figured I would look for one.
I bought the tj from one of those shady used car places after basic training so I could drive to my first duty station. I ended up getting stationed in japan so I couldn't bring it anyway lol. It was a great little jeep and I had a lot of fun in it, but with a wife and two boys  space was def an issue.
That video is crazy!  I  didn't know that was possible.
Yes my wife is from fresno so I make trips down there when I can.  I've learned a lot from the forum already. I will def start building up the runner I'm ready to get out there and start exploring

[Wainiha]

localboi, thank you for your commitment.

When I see "local" boy I think Hawaii.  Where are you from?

[BigMike]

Hey localboi86,

Pretty cool stuff. The 3.4 is a proper 6-cylinder Truck engine attempt by Toyota. Toyota 6cyls initially had a bad rap because of the outgoing 3.0-liter the 3.4 replaced, but I don't like passing too much blame on the 3.0 as it was just a stroked Camry engine trying to cover a needed gap, namely Nissan kicking Toyota's butt in the mid 80s. Nissan came out with a throttle body injected 3.0-liter 6cyl in 1986 (the VG30i) and left Toyota scrambling for answers. They slapped a Turbo onto the good old faithful 2.4-liter 22R-E 4cyl which didn't do so well, so two years later in 1988 they came out with the only SOHC 6cyl I think they've ever made and tossed it in their trucks. It wasn't until the T100 came out when Toyota introduced the quad cam 3.4 to the tune of 40 more TQ and HP in a larger displacement package that takes up less room under the hood. Read vastly more efficient. If you search Google for turbocharged 3.4s you'll find stock internals can handle upwards to 400 HP. Pretty impressive for an engine that was never intended to see any boost.

Going back to why your buddies convinced you to get a Toyota in the first place, I'd like to quickly share what makes these things so much fun. Back in the 70s it was common to find CJs and FJ40s with Chevy 283 V8 swaps. Many Toyota Land Cruiser grills carried the Chevrolet badge and even custom "Chevota" emblems were made. Ford 289 swaps were around and Danny Warden - one of the original LC enthusiasts - really liked swapping in Pontiac V6s and even offered conversion parts to complete the job.

Then in 1979 Toyota introduced a 4WD version of their little wimpy pickup (called a Hilux in foreign markets), complete with a 96 horsepower 2.2-liter carbureted 4-banger. Back then people would either swap in a V6 Buick 225 or 231, or they'd get teased by stalling their 4-banger over and over at the high altitudes and steep climbs, having to get winched by a "real truck".

Marlin bought his red 1980 longbed September 17, 1983, but despite being a big-time Chevy guy, decided to stick with the 4cyl and did all sorts of stuff from Webber carburetors to hybrid 2.2-liter cylinder heads atop later-model 2.4-liter engine blocks. It wasn't until April of 1994 when he increased torque through gear multiplication instead of larger, heavier, less efficient 6- and 8-cyl carbureted engines. The rest as they say is history!

Take a look at this example of what the Marlin Crawler Transfer Case can do for a Toyota Truck. This is my 1981 short bed with a 4-cylinder engine and 37" MTR tires. It's final drive ratio was originally 37:1, but now with a Marlin Crawler it's new "Crawl Ratio" has become 511:1. In this video my engine is idling in 2WD at 800 RPM with no one in the cab. When you take the small amount of torque my 4-cylinder makes at idle with the throttle fully closed (what, 10 ft-lbs?) and multiply it by 511, take away a small percent for parasitic losses and the result is more torque than what the tires of a V10 Dodge Viper sees at full throttle and peak power in 1st gear. Pretty stink'n amazing, this Marlin Crawler thing

Marlin's red 1980 from my previous post boasts a Crawl Ratio in excess of 1,000 to 1, which is about ten times more torque at a closed-throttle-idle than even a 16-cylinder quad-turbo Bugatti Veryon engine at full tilt. This is seriously impressive beyond words.

So now we can use our light weight, small & compact Toyota trucks and completely dominate the off road world of larger more powerful 6- and 8-cylinder engines. We are exchanging wheel speed for torque, which is why Marlin created the term "Rock Crawling", but short of desert racing, this is what off roading is about in the first place: Going slow and getting to camp in one piece, taking your time and enjoying all of God's nature. And then, whenever you don't need to Crawl, when you don't need extra torque and extra traction, you simply shift out of the Marlin Crawler which reverts the truck back to it's 100% stock gearing. My same 511:1 1981 truck on 37" tires makes 20 MPG as it cruises the highways at 65 MPH.

Of course having a 6-cylinder yourself only makes the Marlin Crawler that much more impressive. However I feel there is a LOT to be said about doing the impossible with a little 4-cylinder, especially in today's world of corrupt power-hungry politicians threatening to take away public lands: The Marlin Crawler is the epitome of Treading Lightly.

Regards,
BigMike

[toe]

 

[Rocksurfer]

  II 

....and Thank You for your service!

[localboi86 [OP]]

Thanks for the welcome  guys!!!

[localboi86 [OP]]

Wainiha, thank you for the welcome.  Yes I'm from kaneohe Oahu. My friends ask me why I have that on my runner when I'm not from Nevada. I just tell them that's what we call ourselves. They tell me it doesn't make sense lol

[localboi86 [OP]]

BigMike,   Wtf did I just watch lol. My mind is completely blown right now lol. I'm sitting here thinking how awesome and impressive that is, but at the same time wondering how that is possible. I don't think I quite understand how that works yet. I would probably have come up to you and told you to get some new tires if I would have seen that in person lol.. That is extremely impressive coming from a 4cyl. You sir are definitely spitting some knowledge at me. Your introducing me to all new subjects and points that I need to learn about. Thank you very much for all the introductions and taking the time to explain some of the inter workings of marlin and the toyota platform. I'm can't wait to be able to go to a campsite that you can't bring a motor home to lol

[BigMike]

BigMike,   Wtf did I just watch lol.

Hahahahaha It sure is a lot of fun! No doubt. The low gearing is most impressive when you both climb and also drop off of something very steep.

When climbing, you can let the clutch all the way out and simply focus on tire-placement while you feel and sense the balance of the vehicle. You can feel each lug of your tires search for traction. Long past are the days of burning up clutches on the trail, bouncing all over the place and into rocks/trees.

For descending, you let the clutch all the way out and never touch your brakes. Just as you downshift into 3rd while heading down a steep highway grade, the engine compression braking effect is so drastically magnified with the Marlin Crawler, that given the correct setup even your full might of braking force with both feet on the pedal will not take any RPMs away from its closed throttle base idle. We can literally drop off of objects taller than your tire without inputting any brakes at all. The driver is in total control now. It's an entire different way to off-road.

We have these two reeaaaaaalllllllly old videos of the Crawler truck demonstrating this effect with a block of wood. Let me see if I can get them embedded here, hang on... hmmm can't get them to embed directly so I've uploaded them to my photobucket account. Hopefully they will load for you. Check out these classics, filmed with a toaster of course.


(click here if the video won't load)

Here is another video of the wood trick, and also showing the shifters of Marlin's truck. Remember, no brakes were used in either of these videos! It's purely engine-compression-braking at idle RPM.


(click here if the video won't load)

Marlin has what is called a "Triple Ultimate Overkill" which less than 1% of our customers use. Most customers have what we call a "Dual Case" setup, and fewer more hardcore customers have arguably the most versatile setup called the "Dual Ultimate", appropriately named as such in 1995 by Marlin because it's, well, pretty much the Ultimate setup But seriously don't worry about what any of this means right now. Just know that the bug has been planted into your brain and that I hope to wheel with ya on the trail someday!

I ended up getting stationed in japan

I am very jealous of this I have to ask, did you happen to pick up any of the language and culture while you were there?

Regards,
BigMike

[localboi86 [OP]]

BigMike, that is awesome. Yes the links worked, that's crazy how the rig behaves on such a small piece of wood. I would figured it would just shoot it out from under it. You have definitely planted the bug in my brain. I have started compiling a list of things I would like to do and now I'm putting them in order of preference. As soon as I win the lottery, I can start putting these into action lol. Yes I did pick up a lot of the culture and enough of the language to get around without too much difficulty. Being from hawaii we have a strong influence from japan anyway. A lot of guys get stationed out there and are so overwhelmed by everything they stay on base, but I'm one of those "shoot from the hip and figure it out once I'm there" kind of guys. I can't count how many times I got lost and had to use my tablet, and write where I needed to go in English and have it translated to katakana. Def a life saver lol. After I got out I took all of my money I had saved up and flew back for a month doing whatever I wanted and seeing all the sights I couldn't see due to deployments. Coolest thing I've ever done. Thanks again for all the help and knowledge your sending my way

[Wainiha]

Filmed with a toaster huh?  Where is the video of that?

 You're funny Mike.

[4x4-runner]

Welcome from Lancaster Ca!

[BigMike]

As soon as I win the lottery, I can start putting these into action lol.

This is pretty much how most of us feel with a new project!

After I got out I took all of my money I had saved up and flew back for a month doing whatever I wanted and seeing all the sights I couldn't see due to deployments. Coolest thing I've ever done.

Very cool and also quite jealous of this! I've been to Japan a few times and enjoyed every second of it. There are a few members here who have spent some time over there and I always enjoy listening to their experiences. I've met one too many guys who either stationed there of even lived there and yet never took the time to learn the language and appreciate the culture. Everyone's situation is different and while most of these guys I've met were there for work/because they had to be, any disinterest to some degree is understandable, but its nice to meet those who were either more open minded or had some interest in the community like yourself.

All the same, beings my love for Japan stems from my love for cars, I ask myself what I would be like if I was stationed or had to move to a country I wasn't already curious about? There are so many reasons why I respect our military personnel stationed over seas and away from their homes!

Thanks again for all the help and knowledge your sending my way

You bet man! Now let's see some pics of your 4Runner!!


Regards,
BigMike