The 8 dealers / 261 days might be because it's a V6 and 6-speed. My boss just drove 4 or 5 hours from Toledo to Pennsylvania to buy a Tacoma with the V6 and 6-speed.
Hello Jesse and Mike! This is BigMike from Marlin Crawler and I'd like to say thank you for posting pictures of my Tacoma here.
To answer your questions, the transmission isn't much longer than 5-speeds of yesterday. You might be referring to my drive train including transmission, Marlin Crawler TacoBox, and transfer case. Our Dual Case Unit for 1995 and newer Toyota trucks adds only 8-inches which is insignificant considering how the wheelbase of newer Tacomas are up to 40 inches longer than older Hilux pickups and 4Runners which we've been modifying into Rock Crawlers ever since our founder created the industry, hobby, and sport of Rock Crawling back in 1994. (Rock Crawling is derived from our company name, Marlin Crawler. See more history info here: https://www.marlincrawler.com/about)
In fact, the TacoBox is a neat fit into the Tacoma which has a two-piece rear drive shaft, in that only the front section has to be shortened and we're able to retain the carrier bearing in it's original location.
Regarding eight dealerships, this is correct! I placed orders with eight different Toyota dealerships in order to finally get my Tacoma built. Marc B is correct: This is a truck that will be used off-road so there is no place here for an automatic. The USDM is so hard-up for autos that when Toyota released the new 3rd gen Tacoma in August of 2015, the first Manual Tacoma did not roll off the assembly line until 6 months later in late January of 2016. It's a very sad but true fact. This is when my order was finally accepted by Toyota of USA, and four months later in April I flew to Dallas TX to pick it up and drive it back to California. You can read about this on Page 1 of my build thread here, https://www.marlincrawler.com/bm2
The drive train is currently even longer, now with a Triple Marlin Crawler Transfer Case Setup, with 48-forward, 8-reverse gears, and a new final drive ratio of 580:1. Here is a video we just posted demonstrating what 9 HPM (that's Hours per Mile) looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYWyJoV2o6U This is what Marlin meant when he coined the phrase, "Rock Crawling!" (His 1980 world-famous "Crawler Truck" has had a final drive ratio of over 1,000:1 since 1995.)
Thanks again and since I'm here I'll check out the rest of your blog! Have a great day and cya on the trails!
I dig where you're coming from, but we deserve little thanks, all we do is find and post cool stuff, you did all the work... and the waiting! I was also lucky to find Marlin's 1980 Toyota http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/10/possibly-oldest-most-traveled-rock.html outside the exhibit hall..... wow, that's a hell of a truck! I sure do thank you for taking the time to write out long form the nice note about my (relatively) short post, I just found that your call board was pretty thorough on most stuff, and I certainly don't have much interest in new trucks. That bobbed bed is freaking sweet! Well done! I didn't realize it had been shortened until Mike pointed it out to me! Heading over to the video to check out the HPM! Thanks!
The 8 dealers / 261 days might be because it's a V6 and 6-speed. My boss just drove 4 or 5 hours from Toledo to Pennsylvania to buy a Tacoma with the V6 and 6-speed.
ReplyDeleteHello Jesse and Mike! This is BigMike from Marlin Crawler and I'd like to say thank you for posting pictures of my Tacoma here.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions, the transmission isn't much longer than 5-speeds of yesterday. You might be referring to my drive train including transmission, Marlin Crawler TacoBox, and transfer case. Our Dual Case Unit for 1995 and newer Toyota trucks adds only 8-inches which is insignificant considering how the wheelbase of newer Tacomas are up to 40 inches longer than older Hilux pickups and 4Runners which we've been modifying into Rock Crawlers ever since our founder created the industry, hobby, and sport of Rock Crawling back in 1994. (Rock Crawling is derived from our company name, Marlin Crawler. See more history info here: https://www.marlincrawler.com/about)
In fact, the TacoBox is a neat fit into the Tacoma which has a two-piece rear drive shaft, in that only the front section has to be shortened and we're able to retain the carrier bearing in it's original location.
Regarding eight dealerships, this is correct! I placed orders with eight different Toyota dealerships in order to finally get my Tacoma built. Marc B is correct: This is a truck that will be used off-road so there is no place here for an automatic. The USDM is so hard-up for autos that when Toyota released the new 3rd gen Tacoma in August of 2015, the first Manual Tacoma did not roll off the assembly line until 6 months later in late January of 2016. It's a very sad but true fact. This is when my order was finally accepted by Toyota of USA, and four months later in April I flew to Dallas TX to pick it up and drive it back to California. You can read about this on Page 1 of my build thread here, https://www.marlincrawler.com/bm2
The drive train is currently even longer, now with a Triple Marlin Crawler Transfer Case Setup, with 48-forward, 8-reverse gears, and a new final drive ratio of 580:1. Here is a video we just posted demonstrating what 9 HPM (that's Hours per Mile) looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYWyJoV2o6U This is what Marlin meant when he coined the phrase, "Rock Crawling!" (His 1980 world-famous "Crawler Truck" has had a final drive ratio of over 1,000:1 since 1995.)
Thanks again and since I'm here I'll check out the rest of your blog! Have a great day and cya on the trails!
Regards,
BigMike
I dig where you're coming from, but we deserve little thanks, all we do is find and post cool stuff, you did all the work... and the waiting!
DeleteI was also lucky to find Marlin's 1980 Toyota http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/10/possibly-oldest-most-traveled-rock.html outside the exhibit hall..... wow, that's a hell of a truck!
I sure do thank you for taking the time to write out long form the nice note about my (relatively) short post, I just found that your call board was pretty thorough on most stuff, and I certainly don't have much interest in new trucks.
That bobbed bed is freaking sweet! Well done! I didn't realize it had been shortened until Mike pointed it out to me!
Heading over to the video to check out the HPM! Thanks!